beautiful living

it was a nice feeling to be in our town for the weekend. we were able to spend time with our asheville family and enjoy the bele chere festival. byron and i used to drive to asheville before we lived here just for this festival. it really is a great event, especially since we live within walking/bumbling distance.

we decided to head down on saturday a little later in the evening. and just as we locked the front door and walked off the porch, the rain came. figures. so, we sat on the porch, enjoyed the rain, and debated whether or not we should take this as a sign to stay home for the night. mary adelyn passed the time by playing on the front porch swing.

byron passed the time by talking on the phone

luckily for him, mary adelyn still finds that funny. 30 minutes later, after a quick weather check...

and a bump on the lip (notice daddy not paying attention),

we decided to take our chances and head downtown. so glad we did. the weather was perfect and we had a great time. mary adelyn handled the festivities very well. here are few shots from her first festival.

giving kisses is her new trick.

watch out layla and delia, mary adelyn is quickly approaching your trick capacities.

we also discovered new uses for the bumbleride.

the all-in-one stroller has taken on new meanings in the house of alday. mmm, funnel cake. for those who are wondering, mary adelyn and i are very much alike...

as long as we are fed, we are happy. we had a great time enjoying good music, food, friends, and our beautiful town.

(behind the scenes view of the outdoor crafts market)

although, i am sad to report that we did not get to watch the ultimate air dog championship this year. i know, i can't believe it either. this is the first bele chere that we haven't seen the dog show. so, for memory's sake, here's a clip of our own pride and joy competing a couple of years ago. the first 2 min is a "warm-up" period to prove that she'll even jump in the water. duh, she is a lab. the big show starts at 2:30, where she reveals that dogs can have stage fright, completely panic, forget how to get out of the water, and then nearly fall off the platform. duh, she is a lab.



needless to say, we did not receive any phone calls to join the circuit. delia had her very own cheering section (as you could hear from the video clip. amanda is the voice behind the video. she speaks the truth and nothing but the truth : ).

yes, this was before any of us had babies.

life's a beach

byron's always said that he could live at the beach. i've always kindly reminded him that it would have to be a beach with plenty of shade and a nice cool breeze. you know, like the kind of beaches they have in hawaii. i mean, who couldn't live there?

for those of you who didn't know or haven't ascertained already, mary adelyn and i are true whities. blonde hair, blue eyes, and absolutely no pigmentation talent to speak of. believe it or not, there are some disadvantages of having porcelain skin (as my nan always called it) and blue eyes. unfortunately, our skin tone doesn't exactly lend itself to beach living. although, we decided to put it to the test over the past month with two back-to-back beach trips. luckily, those who were blessed with tanning abilities took good care of us, making sure we were well shaded, sunglassed, and breezed.

speaking of those who tan...

aunt margaret and her coppertone boys, elic and j money, i mean jack (see pizza hut $ necklace he acquired on road trip to the beach). it's always nice to spend time with the boys. especially for byron. i think he gets a little estrogen overload sometimes in our house of women.

boys are fun. boys are active. boys are very, very active. here's a little taste of beach life with a seven year old.

pouting. kite flying. racing.

all within a 35 minute period. and i didn't include the shots of us playing frisbee. maybe the word active doesn't quite do it justice. don't worry. i let him win. and yes, i'm still sore. obviously, i need to start running again.

jack is a lot of fun and super sweet. during his brief resting periods, he'd run by and say, "she's so cute." directed to mary adelyn, of course. he's definitely a lover. among his list of top favorite things: uncle byron and layla.

holy, moly. he did sit down. and someone got it on film.

margaret kept saying how she wished her boys looked like her, if only just a tiny bit. i think this little cutie certainly takes after his momma.

it's crazy to think that these two are related. they are like night and day, in regards to their skin color. they're actually pretty similar-- they both love their mommas (a whole, whole lot) and really like eating (sand and/or food, doesn't matter).

looks like elic is wondering what that little white girl is doing. did i mention that she really likes other babies?

or is it boys?

it's hard to tell since we are surrounded by only boy babies. byron's hoping its just babies in general.

see mary adelyn, they break your heart in the end and then throw their hands up in the air wondering was it something they said, or didn't say? something they did, or didn't do? if only they could read our minds. everything would be much easier.

at least, at the end of the day, you can always count on mimi to love on your wounds.

we were so happy that we were able to make the trip down. it's not everyday that we get to surround ourselves with family from california, new mexico, and georgia. family that we unfortunately did not get any pictures of in our camera. how did that happen!?

i guess we were too focused on this little girlie.

as you can imagine, we are trying to recover. 2 beach trips in 2 different states, 1 trip to ga, 4 airplane rides, 1 night spent in the atlanta airport by super-daddy byron, and 1 music/crafts festival (pictures to come) just might be all the alday clan can handle in a summer.

but what a nice summer it has been.

leaving on a jet plane

well, we've already left and returned again. we've been at the beach for a wonderful family get together with the alday's. more pictures to come from the beach. until then, here's a shot from mary adelyn's first plane ride. (i apologize for the poor picture quality. it's the best i could do with a baby in my lap, while trying to gather our things to deboard the plane.)



she was a good passenger. too good, in fact. we might have a world traveler on our hands.

thank you aunt margaret for the buddy passes!

georgia on my mind

we made a trip to georgia for a wedding a couple of weekends ago and were able to spend some time with my dad and pam (aka: papa pete and grammy pam). mary adelyn had a great time exploring their flowers and plants. but she wasn't quite sure what to think of the mini-moose.



and she quickly learned, that papa pete has a whole different way of holding babies.



by the end of the visit, mary adelyn was mocking any face that papa pete would throw at her. too funny. we can't wait to see y'all again. we had a wonderful visit!

straight from the sweat shop

i mentioned to byron when i was pregnant that if we happened to have a girl, i would try and make her clothes. now that mary adelyn is 7.5 months old, byron has reminded me of that statement multiple times. so, i went to work.



and the model herself...



it's just a tad too big. but i figured that she can probably wear it next summer too. i mean, surely she won't grow that much right?

there's more to come from the sweat shop de alday. i now have a slight sewing addiction. let's just hope i become more efficient. special thanks to my mom who passed along all of her wonderful sewing supplies and hopefully an inkling of her talent.

beach bums

we just returned from a wonderful beach vacation with some of our closest friends. we had a great time and are looking forward to making it a yearly trip. mary adelyn loved the beach, especially the sand, and somewhat tolerated the ocean. she wasn't the biggest fan of the waves, but neither is her momma.

it was definitely interesting trying to set up our spot on the first day. just imagine scenes from any national lampoon vacation. danna thought it would be a good idea for the babies to have a kiddie pool under the tent. chris thought there was no way the pool would make it back to the tent with water. brian volunteered to help out with the quest.



there is some major stra-tea-gery going on in this next picture...



keep in mind, we are all watching this play out from the tent. and wondering how in the world they are going to be able to carry that thing back fifty yards without it breaking.



now comes the true test.



success!



thank you d for your persistence. the kiddie pool is now a must for any beach trip. 3 trips to the ocean without any breakage. pretty impressive. although, my knuckles are still sore from carrying that thing.

here are a few snapshots of our kiddos at the beach...



check out that belly. girlie loves to eat food, but she's not afraid to try a purple walrus every now and then.



carson giving mary adelyn that all important advice--don't eat the sand, yuck!



notice, hand in mouth again. we're thinking maybe next year she'll get it.



mary adelyn sporting her favorite suit.



here's walker, doing what he pretty much did all vacation. eat.



carson and his mom-ee {pronounced in carson language}, lori.



a good time was had by all.



we learned multiple things from our first beach vacation:

1. there's no need to pack any books or magazines--it's just wishful thinking
2. the sand will keep showing up no matter how much you wash and rinse
3. it {sand} bothers us way more than it bothers the kids anyhow
   
4. the kids will never all be on the same schedule, or even have a schedule for that matter
5. it's always a good idea to reinforce the stakes in the tent (yes, we were those people on the beach who let their tent blow over w/ the wind. luckily, byron and mary adelyn were present to hold down the fort...literally)
   
6. we are much older than we used to be
   

and finally, i'll leave you with this--the man-kini.



appropriately named by brian. can you tell byron is married to a fair-skinned nurse?