New Territory

Gavin has discovered "new land" in our living room. He now frequently hangs out behind the love seat and has also discovered the fun of looking out the window. He is so quick now -- pulling up on EVERYTHING, even balancing with no hands for a few seconds, cautiously falling to his bottom, cruising around the furniture and his toys. Everyday he perfects his skills a little more -- it's like a count down to walking on his own. Who knows how far off it is. Some days I think it could be a couple more months. Other days I think it could be any minute. Hard to say since this is our first go round with the experience. And I've noticed each day that Gavin's playing skills are evolving. He's starting to understand how to really play with some of his toys now and has fun doing it. He dances to music, bops his head, goes back for more of what he likes to hear. It's a lot of fun to watch!

 

 

 

Winter Warm-Up

Ah, five days of sun! We had just a lovely time in San Diego...plane rides and all! Gavin did a great job traveling, napping for the majority of the long flights, making friends with the fellow travelers the rest of the time. The weather was beautiful -- upper 60s and sunny every day. We spent one whole day at the zoo, complete with a nap for Gavin in the stroller. I had such a great time at the zoo. San Diego's is the best in the world, from pandas and koalas to cheetahs and exotic birds. It was fantastic -- more for Brad and me than Gavin. Though Gavin did enjoy some of the exhibits, like Janey the orangutan and the fish. He also liked the monkeys and gorillas. And we saw a baby Giraffe who was just 3 weeks old, though about six and half feet tall. The pandas are amazing. It's rare that you visit a zoo with four pandas -- one baby, one momma, and two little ones (two and four years old). Amazing little (well, big really) creatures.

We spent another whole day exploring Coronado Island and beach. It is rated one of the top 10 family beaches by Travel Channel (one of our favorite television stations). It was beautiful, somewhat "old world" with the classic Hotel Del Coronado that is reminiscent of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

Our hotel was on Mission Beach, another hot spot. Beautiful ocean runs in the morning. And many a surfer wading the day away.

Here's our vacation summed up in photos. Many of the zoo, and some from Coronado.

PS -- Gavin turned 11 months old today. Just one more month until the big birthday. How bittersweet. So hard to believe a year has gone by so swiftly. He is just such a sweet, funny little guy who is growing more and more independent every day. He loves playing cars (pushes them around on the floor), pushing around his two big trucks, playing mini-basketball, crawling everywhere, playing peak-a-boo, clapping (real clapping now with hands open), spitting, talking jibberish, thumbing through books, playing with his activity and music tables, and petting his "Giddy" horse. What a guy!

Sunny California Here We Come!

We're off to San Diego for a five day warm-up! Pray for us that our travels are safe. And that our very active 11 (almost) month old is content on the long flight, without crawling, vertical blinds and toys to keep him occupied. This will be a computer-less trip, so more to come later on the details! And pictures of course!

Here's a flash-back pic from our first warm-up vacation with Gavin, back when he was just 7 weeks old!

 

PS -- Happy Birthday Brad (Dad) on Friday! The Big 3-0! I won't be able to post on your actual birthday, so here's my shout out a few days early.

Video, finally!

So, I've been wanting to post some video for a long time now. I was having difficulty uploading them...but alas, success!

Here's video of Gavin walking with his dump truck walker that he got as a Christmas gift from the Brown's. He's really developing at such a rapid rate this last month or so...