Vacation!

We were on vacation last week. It was really great. We went to Georgia to visit our friends the Gleasons and then to a wedding for a friend in South Carolina. I have no pictures from the wedding (I stink), so I’ll focus on the Georgia part. You may have heard me mention my friend Lisa and her family in previous blogposts. I think they’re pretty great.   The only problem with them is that they live so honking far away.  The trip should be about 12 hours.  Buuuuuut, it was more like 15 . I think.  I’m not really sure since we broke it down into two days, and then it felt like we drove for two whole days…. and I’ve become kind of a baby about long trips.  I think it’s because I had to drive ALL the time it felt like when I went to school 9 hours away…  I’m just sick of it forever.  ANYWAY, kids make the trip longer.  That’s just the truth.  I bought Caleb some sweet toys from the dollar store for our trip.  I think it was brilliant.  I would do it again for sure.  Here he is playing with those sticky hand things.  I thought maybe it would be a terrible idea if he started hitting Grace in the face or something, but I think he only came close to her a couple of times.  He loved it.

Since we had so much time in the car, we started writing down some things that Caleb would say that would make us laugh our heads off.  So here are a few of our favorites…

“I have lots of ideas.  Good ideas.” — he’s super humble

“I’m not crazy! I’m just weird!” — We think he’s both.

I think we started ignoring Caleb after a while because listening to him nonstop for so many hours was draining and so was helping him pick up whatever he dropped every 2 seconds.  He finally resorted to… “Anyone?!?!  Can anyone pick up my banklet?!”  HAHAHHA! I’m STILL laughing about that one. (That’s how he says blanket by the way)

We stopped at Jimmy John’s for dinner on the way home, and Caleb was trying to let out 10 hours worth of energy in the restaurant.  We tried to extend some grace, but had to tell him to cool it a few times.  We knew it was time to go when he said….. “Watch this dad!” and then purposely drooled all over Grace’s highchair (she wasn’t in it at the time)…..

There were plenty more, but I’ll stop there because I have other things to write about!

Swimming.  Caleb went swimming.  Now, the pictures may look like he loooved it….

the truth? He loved/hated it.  It was a bit of a weird reaction.  He loved the baby pool (first picture).  However, the big pool was terrifying for him.  We encouraged him to go in the last day we were there, and we kept him in for a long time (holding him of course).  He would have fun and then remember that he was in the big pool (or something) and start crying.  Or, he would be fine and then some innocent child would come splashing by and he would get one drop of water on his face and start screaming like he’d just been stabbed.  Overall? I’d say we made some HUGE steps.  Now at home he actually puts his body in our little pools in the backyard.  He also throws play bowling pins in our pools and names them the names of the Gleason children (there are 10 names to choose from but he has 4 favorites– I won’t say which ;) ). He has them doing flips off the “diving board”– so CLEARLY he was impressed by their swimming abilities.  That’s good news.  Gracie Bean LOVED swimming.  I know she’s too young to really be afraid of water, but she loved sticking her face in it.  I don’t think Caleb has EVER liked getting his face wet (even in the tub).  She and Ben went for a swim in the big pool, and he put her under.  Apparently she loved it.  I wouldn’t know since I was over in the baby pool with Caleb….. or maybe that was when I was trying to control the fit he was throwing in the bathroom….

We went to the pool almost every day we were there, and while the Gleason kids had their swim team practice, we would walk and play at the park.

Somebody even got a little daring– although you can tell he’s uncomfortable from his face, can’t you?  This picture was taken right before or after he called me over saying… “MOM, I don’t want to be up here”

Charlotte is pretty cool STANDING on the tire swing and all.

We also had a family morning and went to the Augusta river walk.  It was lovely! We stopped at a park there too, and Grace especially had fun climbing up the slide.  It looks like she has a bald spot here.  Hmmm… she’s in bed, so I can’t double check, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t really have one.

Gracie turned ONE while we were gone!  We sang her a nice happy birthday (on the second try because the first try everyone came in on a different key and it was horrendous) and gave her some cake…. which she loved.

Laken (#2 Gleason) took some REALLY cute pictures of Grace while we sang to her, but this is really the only picture I have of her birthday.  My sister and HOPEFULLY brother are coming out next week, so I plan to have a party for her then.

And finally, BIG NEWS! My little Grace WALKED!  I can’t say she’s actually walking– since her main mode of transporation is still crawling, but she’s walking more confidently all the time.  She can go pretty far by herself, and it’s SOOOOOOO fun.  I wasn’t really ready for it since Caleb didn’t walk till he was 14 months, but I’ll take it!  This way she can be a proficient walker by the time Baby K comes along (that will be ESSENTIAL).  Oh and no one panic, I didn’t see her first steps.  What was I doing?  Oh, you know, I was in the other room washing dishes….  If I remember correctly, I TOTALLY called it since I’ve missed every one of her firsts.  I guess it’s ok since I’m having another baby– otherwise I’d be freaking out.

This is getting long, I better get going! Hope you all enjoy the holiday tomorrow!

-Melanie