All roads lead to Athens...or is that Rome?

So assuming there are any folks out there still keeping tabs, yes it's been just over 3 months since we've last posted. I've actually started to get threatening emails at my office from fellow coworkers about not getting updated photos of Cedar every week. Erin has backburnered (assuming that's a word) the blog given the difficulties she's been having with Cedar over the last several months. Not that she hasn't been a joy, but she has not been what was anticipated. I'm pretty sure that's probably true for all new parents and we're no exception. All seems to be going pretty well and maybe (just maybe) I'll be able to manage the blog for a few months to bridge the gap until mommy is back at it again.

So a few months back - right around the middle of June, we headed down to Athens, GA. Never been, but I've got a cousin that lives there with her husband, their 2 dogs, maybe a cat somewhere, plus the addition of their new son Essex. My younger brother Scott flew in from Portland for a week of family fun and Athfest (an annual music & arts festival). Scott had not yet met Cedar or Essex, so we made it a group trip and even managed to see some other family in the process. I'm just going to include a few photos, didn't really manage to take very many with being so consumed with baby / mommy duties and trying to catch up with all of the family we hadn't seen in so long.

It was a long 12 hour drive, which we did through the night (hoping Cedar would sleep the whole time). Actually worked pretty good - here we are at some random gas station for a midnight feeding.

After arriving Scott quickly learned the fine art of keeping an eye & ear on the baby monitors at all times.

Here was the star of the show - Essex Sitler Forker @ 1 month old

Dave works with the local recycling group in Athens and had all sorts of misc giveaways floating around the house

Here's uncle Scott cheesing it up a bit for the camera (or is that a look of fear on both their faces?) - just in case you can't tell from the thick grease pouring from his facial pores - it gets pretty hot & humid in Athens come June, not necessarily the best outdoor baby weather

We forgot to get a proper photo with everyone that visited that week, but did remember just before hitting the road to take one with Heather, Dave, and Essex - thanks for having us guys and we can't wait to see you in a few weeks