Heavenly!

There is no other way to describe Gavin's first trip to the beach! The only thing that could have made it any better was if we could have stayed for a few more days.  Since this was Gavin's first trip, we didn't want to plan a long stay just in case he didn't really enjoy it.  So we decided to get up really early on Saturday and then come home around lunch on Sunday.

The plan was to leave around 6 so we could be on the beach around 8:30 to maximize our beach time before lunch and nap time.  I was also concerned about how much beach time we would actually get because when I checked the weather on Friday it said thunderstorms Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.  Of course no matter how well I plan, we never leave on time, but we did manage to get out of there by 7.

I know it is hard to tell from the fake smile, but Clay really was excited!

Once we got on I-10 we had to break out the laptop for the customary viewing of Nemo.  I am so glad he never gets tired of it because that is the only movie we have :-).

I also found out on Friday while perusing Facebook, that one of my really good friends that I haven't seen in FOREVER, was visiting her hometown of Jacksonville this weekend!!  She agreed to come and meet us at the beach with her super sweet nephew Aiden who was so patient with Gavin.

HAPPY BOY!

Gavin is mulling over the perfect timing for the ultimate destruction of all of their hard work, while he takes a snack break.

Gavin kept chasing all of the "birdies" and I had a fantastic idea to take some of his Goldfish and feed them.  the seagulls also thought it was a fantastic idea and did all kinds of tricks like catching them in mid air.  Gavin was very impressed and I was a little worried they were going to try and take the bag out of our hands.

After feeding the seagulls all of the sandy Goldfish, it was time to head in and change clothes so we could go grab some lunch.

Our precious little pack-mule, carrying all his beach toys.

Let me stop right here and tell you about this wonderful place we stayed, One Ocean Resort.  We had stayed there quite a few years ago back when it was the Sea Turtle Inn and loved the location and the beach.    We had requested an early check-in since Gavin would need a nap and they said they could hopefully accommodate us about 1:30.  So when we pulled up to park at 9:30 and they said our room was ready, we were so excited!  Even if the rooms had been a complete dump, I would highly recommend this place, for nothing but the great service that we got.  Not only did they get us in our room super early but every employee that we passed in the hall stopped to speak to us, they came in while we were at dinner and cleaned our room and turned down the bed.  I can't even think of all the things they did to impress me, but I will say I was very impressed.  Then to top it off the rooms were beautiful, comfortable, and had a view of the beach.  

So back to the trip, my friend Anne-Marie had recommended we go to a local diner down the street for lunch called the Sun-Dog, which served brunch with limited lunch but had our necessary requirements of hamburgers and hot dogs.  So we had a big lunch and headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap.  I was a little worried about this since we were all in one room, I wasn't sure if Gavin would go down very easy.  For some reason Clay and I had this genius idea that Gavin could take a nap in the big bed with me instead of in his pack in play.  Well after 40 minutes of playing and being threatened with spankings and sleeping by himself in the pack in play, Gavin finally settled down and fell asleep for a short nap.  When he woke up we rushed into our bathing suits and back downstairs to try and get in a little beach time before the afternoon thunderstorms began.

He wore both the "gobbles" and his sunglasses for quite awhile.  Funny little boy...

We were really blessed and the rain actually went around us so we got several more hours in on the beach before heading back to the room for showers so we could go in search of dinner.  One thing that is really nice about staying at One Ocean, is the fact that everything in the downtown Atlantic/Neptune beach area is right there.  So once again we walked to a little restaurant called Sliders and had dinner before we trekked to Walgreens to pick up some milk for Gavin.  Gavin definitely enjoys being carried and lately is in a Mommy  phase, so I got quite the workout lugging him around all weekend.  Hopefully I worked off some of the 1 million calories I consumed in the 1.5 days we were there....

This was taken right before Gavin hit the red button, which sounded the alarm..... praise the Lord, it only went off for a second and no one was waiting for us when we ran off of the elevator to make our quick escape.

Day 2 started out with a walk to the Beach Diner we had eaten at last time we came with THE BEST pancakes I have ever eaten and that is saying a lot because I have eaten A LOT of pancakes!!  They definitely did not disappoint and I definitely made a pig of myself.  Good thing it was a fairly long walk and I was carrying a really heavy toddler so maybe I worked off some of it.

We then raced out to the beach to savor the last few hours before heading back home.  Once again we were blessed with beautiful weather!

Gavin started to get bored with old Mom and Dad so he wandered off down the beach a little way to inspect some wake boards he had seen some older kids playing with.

Once I saw him getting a little to familiar with someone else's belongings I had to go down there to intervene before he tried to take it.

This was his display of unhappiness at my insistence that he get off the wakeboard and come back with me.

This is his devilish grin of defiance :-)

After that it was time to head back to the room and check out.  I was really sad and REALLY wanted to stay another day but it was made obvious to me after we left that it would have been a complete waste of money when before we could even get on to I-10 a major thunderstorm hit and didn't let up for pretty much the entire drive home.  So the Lord blessed us with an absolutely heavenly family mini-vacation that reminded me how much I love the beach and that we really need to try and schedule another one before it gets cold.

Picture Dump

I finally got the camera cards from Clay so here are a bunch of random pictures from the past couple of weeks:

I was attempting to get a picture of Gavin and his cousin Landon, but Landon was the only one willing to cooperate

Wendy's has been giving these "Minute to Win It" games away in their kids meals.  The idea is to pick the key up with the hook on your head.  Gavin decided to give himself a little advantage and pick the key up and hang it on the hook.

Clay showing him how it is done :-)

Gavin loves to play in our bed, he thinks himself quite the hider although as soon as you say "Where is Gavin?" he pops right out from under the covers....  He also likes to pretend we are napping.  Below he is "snoring" and also keeping an eye on his Daddy and the camera, Ha!!

Cute boys watching cartoons

This past Saturday Clay decided to treat us with a trip to the Mix after Gavin got up from his nap.  At first we kept asking him if he wanted to go get some yogurt but then we wisely started calling it ice-cream after I realized he might start confusing that with the soft yogurt that he eats as a snack or dessert at home.  While Dannonino's are tasty, they can't hold a candle to the Mix's frozen yogurt!  As you can tell, Gavin thought he had died and gone straight to Heaven.  I had to agree with him :-)  I don't know why we don't go here more often, it is so good and low fat/calorie.

 "Hey, she just stole some of my ice-cream!!!"

Every weekend when we break out Gavin's kiddie pool, I always tell Clay we need to get a slip n slide.  Well I finally remembered when we made our weekly trip to Wal-mart after church yesterday.  It took Gavin a while to get the hang of it, no matter how many times Clay and I demonstrated the sliding on your belly part. Gavin preferred to run down the slide and then if he fell and slid, then that was great but if not, then that was fine as well.  All my joints were aching by the time the clouds and thunder rolled in and I was exhausted!!  

Lazy Days

After our whirlwind of traveling around the 4th, we haven't done much of anything!

I know the quality is poor at best, but I just loved this picture of Clay and Gavin going through the Your Baby Can Read book.  Clay is making Gavin repeat each letter of the word and then sound it out with him.  As you can imagine this takes FOREVER, so I lose patience with it pretty quick.  Good thing Clay doesn't or Gavin might be in trouble....

We have been trying to stay inside as much as possible unless we are in Gavin's kiddie pool, which is a site to see, since it has been a million degrees outside!  But we have ventured out a couple of times and two weekends ago we headed down to Lake Park for the Heirs family reunion which is the smaller and shorter of the two family reunions Clay's family attends each year.  Normally Gavin doesn't do well with the onslaught of affection and attention his older female cousins give him in their attempt to play and entertain him.  Usually he says something like "Go Away" and he runs and makes me pick him up.... Thankfully this time for whatever reason, he was all into playing with them and letting them attempt to carry him around and play chase.  So he was wonderfully entertained while we waited what seemed like forever to eat (Gavin and I were both starving when we got there) and then after lunch well past his usual nap time.  He was also joined by his favorite boy cousin Landon, who is so sweet and patient with his much younger cousin who adores him.

And then this past weekend, we were supposed to go spend some time with Papa and also get Gavin's hair cut.  We had arranged with Clay's Dad to come down to Lake Park that Saturday after Gavin got up from his nap and I assumed we would hang out and eat dinner that night since Gavin hasn't really gotten to spend much time with him lately.

As you can see from this picture, Gavin also desperately needed a haircut.

Well like all good plans, this one went south before it even got started.  Clay's Dad called about 30 minutes before we left to tell him that some chain thing had broken on one of the ice machines and he needed Clay to come and help.  So me thinking we could still salvage the visit agreed to come along with Clay and entertain Gavin while they worked.  Let me just tell you that the ice machine offers ZERO shade and it was hotter here than the surface of the sun last Saturday afternoon.  So after coloring, trying to kick the soccer ball around and not get into traffic, and keeping Gavin from interfering with the progress in the ice machine for 45 minutes, I gave up.  Gavin on the other hand screamed bloody murder because he didn't want to leave his Papa and Daddy.

Luckily when he realized we were going to Leapin Lizards, an indoor bounce house place, he quickly calmed down.  This was our first time going here since we live less than 2 minutes from the other one, Jump N Jacks.    It was a whole lot less crowded, which I am sure they don't like, but it did make the experience a whole lot more enjoyable for Gavin.  He didn't have to worry about all the big kids in the bounce houses so he was much braver and did things he would normally make either Clay or I help him with.  As you can see from the pictures below, our boy is quite the little climber!!

Not long after we arrived, I got a text from Clay saying that they had fixed it so he came down and joined us for a few minutes before we pulled a screaming Gavin out of there because it was dinner time.  Poor guy was having WAY too much fun and was NOT ready at all!

Turns out, Clay's Dad had plans that evening so we had to reschedule our visit and haircut for Sunday.  That was a complete disaster..... Gavin already hates having his haircut but when you add that on top of the fact that he had just woken up from his nap, disaster doesn't even begin to describe it.  Clay's Dad didn't want to wait because he had a tennis lesson scheduled in the neighborhood next to us in 45 minutes and when he brought out the clippers the squalling began.  I ran up the road to the gas station to get a sucker for him to  see if that would help.  When I pulled up to the house 5 minutes later, Papa was packing his stuff in the truck and heading out, while poor Gavin was still crying.  So we got the haircut accomplished but still no visit....

After that we put on our bathing suits and played outside in the kiddie pool and water hose for a little while and it was all smiles!  Clay keeps trying to convince me that he can build us our very own pool in the back yard with only a backhoe and some Quickcrete!  Although it has been easy to say ABSOLUTELY NOT so far, if it continues to be this hot, he may eventually wear down my better judgement and reserves.  So pray for my will power or that Publisher's Clearinghouse decides to stop by and award us the big prize!!

Funny to me!

For our trip last week I created a bunch of activity bags for Gavin to have in the backseat to keep him entertained and for any downtime we experienced while at the lake (not that there was any). In one of the bags I put one of those $2 packs of 20 dinosaurs from Wal-mart (side note: best $2 ever spent!!) and the bag was still in the car yesterday when I picked him up from school and as you know, since we live in South GA, it was between 95 – 100 degrees and super humid. So anyway he sees the bag and wants to play with the dinosaurs on our way home. So I hand it to him and all of the sudden in his super cute little boy voice, he says  "HOT Diny hoes, Diny hoes Hot”

Oh my word, I almost ran off the road I laughed so hard!! It was so funny!

4th of July 2012

Every year for the past 5 years we have joined our friends at Lake Sinclair for the 4th of July.  It is a trip we look forward to every year and I hope that we will continue to do it for many, many years to come.  Gavin has gone the past 3 times but this year was the first time he could really enjoy it.  We also stayed longer than we have the in the past with him so I was a little concerned about how we were going to entertain him that long.

Below is a picture from before we left on Tuesday that I just had to share because it was so cute, how he has his little hand in his pocket, propped up watching Curious George.

All the planning and choreographing of the schedules in the world to get the most nap time in the car only got us 45 minutes max when what we needed was 2 hours minimum.  I love everything about our car seat except the fact that it will not recline! Even in the recline position!!

Thankfully we made excellent time or at least until the horrible storm hit us right outside of Milledgeville.  It was raining so hard, I could barely see and apparently the wind was so bad, it took down several power lines across town which in turn, took out 95% of the traffic lights, 95% of all stores/restaurants, and even the crossing signals at the RR tracks.  It was a sweaty, nerve-racking experience trying to navigate our way thru town without instigating or being involved in a serious wreck.  Praise the Lord that our guardian angel was able to keep up with my lead foot on 75 and intercede on our behalf, once the storm slowed us down!

We made it to our favorite Milledgeville restaurant which thankfully never lost power, The Brick, and attempted to get three really excited to be out of the car boys, to eat dinner.  I apologize to all of the other patrons that night, although I have to say they were really good.  But even really good, their where still three of them.....

Thankfully we made it to the house in one piece and finally got Gavin calmed down enough to put him to bed about 2 hours late, but hey what is vacation for if not to stay up late, right???  To bad he didn't remember that you are also supposed to sleep late.....

Our wonderful view from the house

The serious lack of pictures is due to the fact that we spent so much time in or around the water and my camera spent most of the time packed safely away in a bag, so I am hoping to get some pictures from some of the other people who where there in the near future.  But figured I better post what I had before the details got fuzzy.

Tom and Anna brought both of their boys, Jackson is a couple of years older than Gavin and Griffin is about 8 months younger than Gavin.  

 And Julie and Michael brought their oldest daughter, Avery, who Gavin already had tons of fun with the weekend we went to the zoo.

I was worried that the older kids may not want Gavin to play and that all the boys may overwhelm poor Avery but they got along SOOOO well!!! They played and played and played and played! The only hiccup was when it was naptime or bedtime for Gavin he flipped out, because he was having so much fun and didn't want to quit.  


On the 4th we took a lot of boat rides and went out on the jet ski several times, all of which Gavin thought was super fun.  

We even attempted to catch a fish or two.  Jackson caught two that day and all Gavin did was pull his worm out of the water, yell "I got it" and then drop it back in....

My little fisherman

 What an adorable picture!!

We decided to let Gavin stay up for the fireworks this year, and even had some of our own.  Well the late night before and the early rise that morning, didn't help Gavin's mood any so I probably should have just put him to bed. And then Tom nearly blew off the left side of my rear end with a incorrectly loaded firework, while I was holding Gavin.  We also didn't consider how loud the fireworks were going to be since we were all sitting on the dock while they were shooting them off.  All of this added up to Gavin thinking that fireworks were horrible and scary and not even wanting to watch them from inside the house, instead of how cool and pretty they really were.  And he really missed a wonderful show from someone right across the lake from us that had to have spent a zillion dollars to shoot them off in their yard.  Oh well, maybe he will have forgotten the experience by next year....


Thursday was pretty much the same, except another couple with two kids joined in on the fun and poor little Avery finally had another little girl to play with.  

I don't think I took a single picture on Friday so I am really hoping that Tom sends his to me, hint, hint..... because I know he got some really funny ones of the impromptu dance party that we had with all of the kids.  Julie had just turned on Avery's favorite song, so we were in there dancing with her and Jackson when in rushed Gavin from outside, with the funniest look on his fact, like " hey don't start the party without me!!" I wish I could properly describe it to you in words, because we all died laughing.  Gavin loves to dance!!  And thankfully has more rhythm than his poor Daddy :-) but is still really funny to watch.  I really wish one of us would have had a video camera.  We probably could have entered it on AFV and won a bunch of money.  


We woke up Saturday all tanned and relaxed and loaded all our cars for the trip back home.  It was a wonderful time full of laughter and great friends.  I hope that we can continue this tradition for a super long time and that all of our kids grow up to be great friends just like their parents are.  

Fathers Day and weekend with Pa-pa

Being on vacation has gotten me off schedule again, but boy was it worth it!!!

Gavin and his Pa-Pa Waldron on Father's Day

The weekend after our trip to the zoo, was Father's Day and we spent the morning and early afternoon of Father's Day at my parents house.  Gavin was at 150% from the time we got there until after we left, it was almost like he had snuck some of Clay's Monster energy drink.  I was exhausted just watching him race around my parent's house and I was worried that my Dad was going to back out of his babysitting duties for our anniversary at the end of June.   I kept telling Dad, that he wasn't like this all of the time, and apparently I convinced him because he still agreed to keep him that weekend.  All I can figure is that it was the fact that he had different playmates and a bigger audience than normal.  


Thankfully my brother has an I phone and can take decent pictures so we could at least document part of our day because we had forgotten the camera AGAIN, which is why there are no pictures from Clay's Dad's house.  We did have a really nice time though and I think all of the grand pa's did as well.  Poor Clay didn't get much attention after breakfast that morning although he did get to go fishing the day before :-).  


Fast forward to the last weekend in June....On June 29, 2002 I married the most exceptional man, God has ever created and to celebrate our ten year anniversary, we dropped Gavin off with my Dad and headed to Tallahassee for a couple of days of alone time.  It was WONDERFUL and very over due!  


Meanwhile, my Dad is spoiling and entertaining his 2 year old grandson and of course Gavin is taking full advantage of the situation and among other things, decides he wants to play with Pa-pa at 3 am on Saturday morning.  Dad said he finally convinced him to take a nap at around 8 but to say they were both tired when they headed to the Fun Station with my brother and his girlfriend would be an understatement of epic proportions I am sure, which can be evidenced by the following pictures, again thanks to my lil bro.  

Dad said that all Gavin really wanted to do was ride the bumper cars, which of course he is way to little to ride.  And every time Pa-pa would tell him "No", Gavin would throw himself on the floor and give him the "poor, poor, me" face.  I told Dad he was lucky, it wasn't the screaming banshee fit instead.

Apparently Gavin perked up considerably when they went to lunch and then slept like the dead until they got home and the two evil yappers that my parents call dogs woke him up at the house :-)

I am pretty sure my Dad slept for at least the next 3 days straight after we picked Gavin up on Sunday but I know Gavin had a blast and Clay and I were SO SUPER thankful to have the time alone.