Happy Birthday Gavin!

After much anticipation, we celebrated Gavin's first birthday on August 13th. It was a lot of fun (at least for me and Tony) and the beginning of great birthday traditions for our family.

THE BIG DAY
On the morning of Gavin's birthday we decided to institute our first family birthday tradition-- wake the birthday person up with a gift and the happy birthday song.

Of course, Gavin was the one to wake us up this year. And probably right about the time of his birth (6:46 am). So, Tony and I went in together to greet him. He was a bit distraught wondering what was in his crib and why wasn't he being picked up to get his milk.

We made him suffer through our singing and then finally let him have his morning milk. After that he was a much happier camper (notice the thumbs up).

We had to do a lot of coaxing to get him to open up his gift bag. And although he still wasn't quite sure what was going on, he was very willing to ham it up for the camera.

This is Gavin finally enjoying and discovering his first birthday gift-- ever. Well, not quite. You see, we gave Gavin his "big" birthday gift a week and a half before his birthday. We couldn't wait, and we figured he was ready, so we gave him his train. It didn't take long for him to figure it out and for it to become a favorite.

We spent Gavin's birthday at the beach with our middle school group. Note the sweathshirt and jeans-- an August birthday in Washington brings no guarantees.

After dinner Gavin enjoyed his first cookie (cake was reserved for the next day's party) and we opened the rest of his gifts from us and family and friends.

He got into the paper tearing a little bit, but definitely needed lots of modeling and encouragement. I'm sure that next year will be a different story.









THE BIG PARTY

The next day, Friday, we went to the pediatrician for Gavin's one year check up, took one year and family portraits and then geared up for Gavin's first birthday party.

We tried to keep the party small and invited just a couple of friends and their kids. It was a fun time.

Gavin and his friend Will. Gavin is about a month older than Will. I think they are destined to be great friends.

Here's the party crew.

The official cakes-- Gavin's very own cake on the right. Don't worry, I won't quite my day job to be a cake decorator. I found out it's not very easy.

Presenting the cake... Gavin was probably more attracted to the number 1 on top than the cake itself.

"This cake stuff is great. Tastes really good and is nice and squishy in my hands." -- Gavin

Gavin LOVED his carrot cake. We had to distract him with his sippy cup in order to wrestle it away from him (before he ate the whole thing).

Yummmm... Cake everywhere!

We ended up having great weather for our party and the wind even died down enough so that you could see the birthday sign I had made.

Family photo. I promise this toe-head really does belong to us. Note: Gavin stripped down after the cake episode while we are bundled in sweatshirts.

Gavin and Will again. Gavin's sugar high was a little bit much for Will as we were pushing baby bedtime.

Got most of the kids together: Gavin, Jeremiah, Joshua, (flying) Hannah, and Will. We remembered to take a photo after Lauren and Laila had gone home.

At the end of the day, our birthday boy was very satisfied.

The Cliff Notes Version

Now that life is slowing down a bit and I can reflect, there is no question that this summer has been pretty busy. In addition to a lot of travelling (i.e. packing, unpacking, laundry and packing again) Gavin has been getting more and more mobile, curious and active, so it seems like there has never been a dull moment.
We celebrated his 1st birthday on the 13th, but before I can share about all those festivities, I wanted to catch up a bit. So, here is the Cliff Notes Version of a few great summer happenings...


Middle School Camp

Yep, Gavin and I went with Tony, his volunteer leaders and the kids to Black Lake Bible Camp in Olympia. The Little Man and I had our own cabin which worked out quite nicely. We were able to have meals with everyone and participate when it worked with his schedule.


I even got a chance to go to some of the worship times thanks to Lainey and Mickey (some of our volunteers). It was good to be in worship and hear from the great speaker.

Gavin LOVES the kids, so he had a blast. It was an interesting week because a lot of kids got sick. And then, a week or two later we realized some of the kids had lice. Thankfully our family didn't get any of these ailments (although I will admit my head "itched" for a bit just at the mention of lice ).



This photo on the left looks a lot like Gavin's cousin Rocco (they are one week apart).

Visit from Gramme and Grampa
At the end of middle school camp Gavin and I went to Seattle to pick up my parents for a visit. They stayed with us about ten days and then we took them back to Seattle on the way to high school camp.

We had a great time with them. We enjoyed some recreation and exploration as well as some nice down time. It was great for Gavin to have such a nice chunk of time with his grandparents.

We enjoyed time out at Lake Sutherland with our friend Kevin. As you can see, the life vest wasn't Gavin's favorite but you can't really blame him. Grampa and Papa had a lot of fun with their respective water sports. Tubing was a first for Grampa and he did a great job.

While my parents were here we also enjoyed a visit from David (Tony's bro), Kei and family. It was our first time to meet Larissa-- what a beautiful girl she is. We had a great time together and loved the energy their crew brought to our home.

Our friend Kevin came through for us again and provided crab for our meal. The kids loved it!

It was a bit of a feat to get all of the cousins in the photo, but we did it. In fact, I think they are even all looking in the same direction. This one is a framer. (Left to right: Cyrus, Ivan & Gavin, Elitza, Larissa)

After a traditional (and large) breakfast at the Oak Table, we enjoyed a walk down to the Dungeness Spit. It was a bit cool, but beautiful and refreshing as usual. We finally got a photo of the five of us together-- I think just in time for my parents to leave. We enjoyed their visit and were especially pleased that Gavin started clapping again, seemingly as a result of their presence.

High School Camp

One down week (while my parents visited) and we were off to camp (same camp) again, this time with our high school students. It was the biggest group we've taken to camp so far. (We plug our students -19 of them-- in with the camp of about 150 to 200 campers.)

Gavin and I had our own digs again (this time with a kitchenette) and enjoyed hanging out with the students and Tony when we could. This week happened to be the hottest of the summer (as in record-breaking temps in the 100s) so we did whatever we could to stay cool. A couple big fans in our cabin were helpful, but didn't quite combat the heat.

Gavin started getting heat rash on his neck, back and in the creases of his elbows. Poor guy. So finally on Wednesday I took him on an excursion to Target so that he could be in air-conditioning for an hour. On Friday, it was a little overcast and I was finally able to put pants on (good thing because everything else was dirty).

In the midst of the heat, God was doing some great things with our students. I loved being a part of it and was really renewed in my passion for Tony's ministry. Did I mention that the camp provided for me and Gavin to stay both weeks? Isn't that awesome?! God's provision is great.

Some personality poses from Gavin while we were at camp. (Sorry, no pics of the students on my camera.) He sure is a Happy Camper!

Visit to Texas

Hello there.

It's me again. Back to tell more about the race we've been on called "summer."

Don't get me wrong, it's been a lovely time. But when I stop and sit down I feel a bit like I've been running a marathon.

Pack, travel, play, travel, unpack, laundry and then more laundry and then the cycle begins again. And don't forget the house guests we've enjoyed in between. We have had a great summer so far and thankfully August will bring a nice change of pace from all of the "active fun" we've been having. Looking forward to some "lazy fun."

But I'm off topic. Now on to...

TEXAS

A week after Gavin and I returned from California we were off again, with Tony, to Texas to visit Mimi and Bapa (Tony's parents). They've lived in New Braunfels for 18 months and this was to be our first visit.

We spent nearly two weeks with Mimi and Bapa and had a blast. We stayed mostly in air-conditioned areas to avoid the heat, and got out a few times to sight see. We visited underground natural caves, Landa Park/Water Park, Gruene and relaxed in the local river. Tony and I got to go to the movies, Six Flags Fiesta Texas and San Antonio River Walk while Mimi stayed with Gavin. We also celebrated Father's Day and my 31st birthday together.

Gavin loved his Mimi and Bapa. The love was definitely returned, especially by Mimi, who shows considerable enthusiasm for Gavin even though he is grandchild #11. What a treat for us to spend time with both grandparents in the same month!

Gavin also had some of his first experiences in the water. He preferred to be gradually introduced to the water (especially when cold) but once he got used to it, he loved it.

Cold at first and then the river was lots of fun.

The kiddie pool was a big hit!!!

There's surely more to tell, but at the rate I'm goin, I'll stop here. Otherwise, I'll be several months behind before I know it.

11 Month Photos (finally)

We're just over two weeks from Gavin's first birthday (gasp) so I figured I should get on it and upload his 11 month pictures. I still have many stories to tell from our adventures the last 6 weeks, so stay tuned. I hope to add several postings this week.

Here are a few photos from Gavin's 11 month birthday. We spent the week at Black Lake Bible Camp in Olympia with Tony and our middle school kids. The setting is beautiful!
Demonstrating one of his new favorite skills-- Thumbs up! Sometimes he does both hands which reminds his Aunt Tonia of "The Fonz." Gotta love the genuine delight in this expression. Gavin is amazing and so much fun with all of his facial expressions.

Love it!

Action Shot-- Gavin has for a long time expressed his enthusiasm by shaking his arms up and down; sometimes in front and sometimes to the side (seemingly winding up to take off). It brings a smile to my face every time to see the joy he has as he takes in and discovers life.

Demonstrating his exploratory skills. It goes something like this..."Hmmm. What's that? Let me quickly crawl and reach for it and put it in my mouth to see what it is. And if mama sees me do it, it will be an even better game to see if I can get it in my mouth before she stops me."

Other skills we're enjoying:

*Waving-- to anyone, anytime, anywhere (almost)
*Blowing kisses-- again, not always well timed but so cute (Tony's not so sure it's something a boy should do, but I figure since he's still a baby it's harmless.)

*"So Big"-- Raising his arms with and without prompting to show how big he is

*Peekaboo-- Gavin has begun initiating this game. The best is when he finds ways to move is body behind or below objects to play.

We recently took a ferry ride to Seattle. He enjoyed most of the 35 min ride alternately standing on the bench and then bending down behind it to play peekaboo with the other passengers.

*Extrovert-- no question. He is one to scream (yes, scream) with delight when others are around but especially babies and kids of similar size. I may have mentioned this before, but I was keenly aware of his enthusiasm on our recent ferry ride. After a few minutes of "screaming" his greeting to a 10 month old I realized that his voice was probably being heard a long way down the boat. Oh well. I'll take screaming in delight over any other kind of screaming any day.

SUPER BABY!

We just got back (okay, so it was a week ago, but time is really flying) from almost two weeks in Texas with Mimi and Bapa (Tony's parents). While there will be more blogging and photos about our trip later, I wanted to get these photos up as soon as possible.

Introducing... SUPER GAVIN!
While we were in Texas I thought it would be great to get Gavin a "Don't Mess with Texas" t-shirt. However, halfway through our trip I still hadn't found a shirt that met my standards. Then, while Tony and I were at Six Flags (and Gavin was with Mimi and Bapa) we stumbled across this outfit at the end of the Superman ride.

Let's just say after all the hemming and hawing over the rigth DMWT shirt, there was no conversation needed over this one. We saw the onesie, looked at each other, nodded in agreement and delight and the onesie was ours. Couldn't wait to put it on him when we got home. I'm also looking forward when he will be walking around in this one-- then the cape will have even greater dramatic impact.

"Official" SuperBaby stance.

Action Shot.

Would you dare mess with this Baby of Steel???!!!