Trip to Cape Cod

Let me just say that spending time with Jenn and Emma and getting to see Cape Cod and Boston was wonderful!!  I can not wait to go back but I assure you that I will not do things the same way that I did this time.  Most importantly I will not travel without Clay, Gavin LOVES his Daddy and has never been more than 24 hrs without him until this trip.  Add to that, the plane ride, a new house/bed to sleep in and not his normal schedule equaled an exhausting first couple of days.  Gavin did love the plane ride and thanks to the tubes in his ears, suffered no ill effects from the changes in pressure.  What he did not love was being confined for 2+ hours or trying to fall asleep in my arms with his legs all scrunched up in my lap.  The poor man sitting next to us on the ride back to Jacksonville willingly sacrificed his iPad to a 16 month old in order to get some peace.  Well I hope the Lord pours out His blessings on that angel of a man because it worked! And Gavin fell asleep almost immediately after we started playing some Elmo app.  The other angels on our trip would have to be Jenn's Uncle Bobby and Aunt Coll, who slept in the other room upstairs and got much less sleep than they are probably accustomed to and way less sleep than anyone would expect to get on vacation!  Jenn's Dad and Patsy also were wonderful but they got to escape to a bedroom downstairs and were not subjected to the 1st night of no sleep all screaming and the remaining nights of interrupted sleep with screaming and 5:30 wake ups. Everyone was so sweet to Gavin and he absolutely loved all of them.  He was so good especially when you take into account all of the sleep he didn't get and not being on his normal eating and napping schedule.

Friday morning we struck out in the van and went to visit Plimoth Plantation in Plymoth MA.  Everyone there dressed up and spoke as if it were 7 years after they landed.  It was neat, and pretty funny at times.  Gavin enjoyed all of the rocks and chasing the chickens.

 Gavin and Grandpa Phil checking out the big cows.

 Gavin throwing rocks, his second favorite thing to do with them other than eat them :-).

After Gavin's nap in the car on the way home we headed out to the beach down the street.  It was a bit chilly but Gavin was appropriately in awe of all the sand and water.

Saturday we went to downtown Hyannis for a little shopping and lunch, which was not the best activity for Gavin since he needed to stay strapped into his stroller, but we all survived and had a super yummy lunch.  We also took a ride on the fastest carousel ever, that no one but Emma seemed to enjoy!

 Sunday I decided for the sake of everyone, me included it would be better if Gavin and I not accompany everyone on the day trip to another one of the towns on the Cape.  I told Auntie Jenn that her and Emma should go but she sacrificed herself to stay behind with us.  So we went to Osterville instead and ate lunch and took a bunch of pictures and then were home in time for Gavin's nap time.  After he woke up we walked down to the marina for some ice cream even though it was like 50 degrees outside with a 40mph wind.  It was well worth it, that ice cream was SO good!  I ordered Gavin an ice cream cookie sandwich thinking it would be one of those things you get at the grocery store.  Boy was I way off!  It was two HUGE homemade chocolate chunk cookies with 1/2 pint of vanilla ice cream in between. Needless to say he didn't get to eat much of it and was very unhappy when I took it away.

I was so surprised at how few pictures I actually took and I hope that Jenn got a lot more than I did.  Monday we headed into Boston for a bit of sightseeing and to stay at Jenn's house since Gavin and I were flying home EARLY on Tuesday.

There was so much to see and I can't wait to go back and see so much more.  I will be forever indebted to the kindness and hospitality that Jenn, Emma, Grandpa Phil and Patsy, and Uncle Bobby and Aunt Coll showed us.

Labor Day Pics

I know I am way late, but better late than never.  Saturday was the usual hotter than the hinges of you know where but our little boy LOVES to be outside so we braved the heat.  Gavin decided he wanted to help his Daddy mow the backyard, which we had obviously let get a little out of hand.  

 

Then it was time to play on his swing set, he loves to climb and has no fear and fortunately is really good at it!

Then we finished up the day with a little yoga :-)

Sunday we spent at church and just being lazy, trying to entertain Gavin in the A/C.  Monday we gave up and it was a little bit cooler so we headed outside again with Gavin's JD tractor that actually used to be Clay's. He obviously has a while before he can pedal it himself, but that doesn't stop him from trying!

The pictures below were from that next Tuesday but I thought they were so cute!  Gavin had on Clay's T-shirt and was carrying around my phone.

16 months old.....almost

I figured I might as well go ahead and post about Gavin's 15th month since I will most likely be overwhelmed with the looming tax deadline and packing for our trip to see Aunt Jenn on the actual day.  One of my Baby Center emails said that the 15th month was the month of milestones, and I would have to agree, at least in the talking department.  Gavin will now pretty much repeat any word that we say to him.  But he has also REALLy expanded his vocabulary of words he can use in context.  I am pretty sure there will be a few more by Monday but this is the list that Clay and I came up with last night.
Block
Box
Baby
Door
Teeth
Shoes
Book
Tickle
Bite
Tractor
Blue
Purple

His skills with a regular fork are also vastly improving.  However, all of the sudden he has become concerned with not making a mess with his food.  So he frequently says this word that sort of sounds like bite but not quite when he wants me to come and help him get his food on the fork.

I have been trying to work with him on waiting.  Instead of knocking all the blocks over as soon as I put one on top of the other, I am working with him to wait until I get done and then when I count to 3 we can both knock them over.  I am also making him help me build it back and not just enjoy the knocking over part.  I am happy to say it seems to be working although Clay doesn't enjoy the same success with this as I do.  Probably because Gavin can tell how much more it bothers Clay when he knocks his creations over.  Clay is usually actually building something and I am always just putting random blocks one on top of the other.

At the beginning of the month Gavin and I went to visit my Dad in the hospital, he had a minor heart attack so he had to stay a few days after they put 4 stints in.  So me and Gavin made the trek to T-ville to provide a little comic relief.  Gavin did not disappoint and was acting just like a 15 month old, running, screaming, sticking everything in his mouth, and constantly touching things you told him not to.  My Dad thought it was hilarious, not sure about the nurses.....  Gavin had just finished almost ripping some cabinet doors off of their hinges from banging them, when my brother walked in.  David picked him up and it was an immediate change in Gavin.  I think the Lord must have instilled my brother with some sort of super human baby whispering abilities.  Gavin didn't make another peep and within a couple of minutes of him and David sitting down together, Gavin was dead asleep on his back on David's lap.  It is the darnedest thing I have ever seen!!

The next weekend we went out to some land Clay has been managing and got to ride around with him on the golf cart checking all his trail cameras.  Gavin had a big time getting to ride around out there and then pulling up plants in Clay's food plots for the deer.

Gavin's comprehension of how things work is really growing also.  One day he will get so frustrated and scream because he can't get something to work the way he wants, and then the next day poof, he will figure it out.  It is really neat, you can almost see the gears in his head turning.  Of course we think he is the cutest and smartest little boy EVER!

Next week Gavin and I are taking our first plane ride together.  I have flown hundreds of times probably, but NEVER with a super squirmy toddler who unleashes his fury whenever he is made to sit in one place for too long (5 minutes or more).  I am hoping and praying that he will exceed my SUPER low expectations for behavior in public like he usually does, but just in case please say some prayers for both of us and all of the other passengers.  Also be praying for Clay because he has never been away from Gavin this long, and I bet he will miss us both like crazy, even if he gets to hunt the whole time we are gone :-).