Memorial Day Getaway

To celebrate the long weekend, we rented a cabin at Douthat State Park with Angela and Joe. It turned out to be a great "first run" at a vacation with another family. The boys played together really well. The first two nights were not entirely restful - both boys had a hard time adjusting to sleeping in a new place. We gave up on the Pack and Play and Grayson and I ended up sharing a single bed despite him talking in his sleep saying "mine, mine." while trying to kick me out of bed. By the third night, though, everyone seemed to be sleeping pretty well! We had great weather - we were due! Douthat is a great park to visit if you enjoy mountain biking, lake activities, and just enjoy being outside. Grayson loved being outside all the time, but he wanted nothing to do with the lake - wouldn't even take a step in the sand. We'll have some work to do on his affinity for all things aquatic.

Here's our cabin...

Having fun at the playground with Daddy!

Joe, Jackson, and Angela

Family picture time - all four of us!

"Hiking" with Daddy!

Tim Ed, Terri, and Travis spent the weekend on their motorcycles. Terri let Grayson borrow hers for a few minutes!

Eeeewwwww!

Grayson's Nana doesn't mind getting her hands dirty. She's been known to show the grandkids how to entice worms out of worm holes with sticks and how to make friends with caterpillars. Since I absolutely detest worms and caterpillars, I will gladly leave this teachable moment to Grayson and his Nana!(P.S. - I think we see proof now of where Grayson got his dimples!)

Pandapas in the Spring

A few weekends ago Jackson came for another visit. We took the boys to plan in the woods at Pandapas. Despite some seriously obnoxious gnats, the weather turned out to be great that day and the boys seemed to have fun!

Jackson discovering leaves and sticks.

Grayson being a goofball.

Obviously this isn't a toddler who feels the need to stick close to Mommy.

"Oh how I love hiking!"

Trees!

Our neighborhood is a new neighborhood that was in its most recent history a cow pasture. So, as you might expect, there are very few trees. In an attempt to plan for the future and add a little shade, we've (I should really be honest here and say Steve) planted some trees. We chose two pear trees to be practical and useful, two crepe myrtles to be pretty, and two maple trees. Impatience got the best of us and we splurged on the maple trees and bought ones that are already about 15' tall. Here's a picture of Steve bringing them home in the truck and then planting them himself!

Hand, Foot, and Mouth (not the bovine variety)

Last week Grayson came down with a case of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease which basically starts with a fever (his was 105) and then is followed by spots (sometimes blisters) on the hands, feet, and - you guessed it - the mouth. He didn't eat for about a day and a half, but then after that seemed to be perfectly fine. Unfortunately the daycare wouldn't let him come back until all signs of the spots were gone - so we had an entire week at home by ourselves! Here are some of the fun things we did to pass the time...

We went to the ponds at the VT Horticulture Gardens to watch the "fishees."

We learned to kick a ball!

More fishees.

Naked time on the deck to help clear up diaper rash.

Quality time with Mack.

Naptime on the sofa - obviously this was when he still had a fever.

Playing in his new sandbox. He doesn't like to get sand on his hands.

Quality time with Gabe.

18 Month Portraits

Grayson turned 18 months old a couple of weeks ago! Wow - time has flown. I can hardly believe he's already a year and a half old and in less than six months now we'll be celebrating his 2nd birthday! He gets more and more fun every month - you think the one you're in is the best stage possible, then it just keeps getting better. Being able to communicate with him some has been fun recently. Most of the time he can let us know what he wants now. He woke up last night around 2:00 crying and when Steve got to his door he sat straight up in his crib holding out his water sippy cup and asked for more. That sure beat listening to screaming for a half hour trying to figure out what was wrong with him - which is how we've spent many nights! He's getting more words everyday, though I'm not sure many people other than his parents would be able to interpret. Tractor is still a favorite. Often followed by "WOW" which is probably the clearest word he says. Nannie is his new word from this weekend for my Mom, though we prefer that he calls her Nana like all of his cousins. We'll have to work on that. He likes to say "dog" now when he hears a dog bark, and "fishees" is a favorite! And, of course, there's "outside" which we hear non-stop when we're in the house. Fortunately the weather has been cooperative and we've been able to spend lots of time outside recently. At his 18 month checkup he weighed in at 23 pounds and was close to 32 inches tall - still a little on the small side, but a perfectly healthy little boy!