Thursday, July 30, 2015

Columbus

This past Saturday we took a day trip to Columbus, GA. Since Gavin is so into everything Army, we wanted to take him to The National Infantry Museum for a visit before school starts. The museum was incredible, very well done, and we all enjoyed touring. If we hadn't had kids with us we probably would have stayed all day - lots to see.







 Afterwards we took a quick drive through part of Ft Benning. It's an old base and it was interesting to see the old buildings with spanish tiled roofs and the housing with screened in porches. Then we visited The Columbus Museum, a historical and art museum. It was Gavin's first trip to an art museum and I think he liked it:




 After lunch at Fudrucker's we stopped at Woodruff park for the kids to play in the splash pad, followed by a brief stroll on the river walk. It was fun to watch the rafters, kayakers, and zipliners. Gavin really wanted to go rafting. It was about a million degrees, we would all like to go back when its a little cooler and walk further.

Amelia really loved the splash pad, running right in and happily letting the water soak her:




Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Goodbye Tyler

On Monday the time finally came to say goodbye to Tyler. He's been going downhill for a while now, and we knew he probably wouldn't last much longer. He was going deaf and blind, was very stiff, and  was losing use and control of his back legs. He couldn't sit anymore and had a lot of trouble laying down. Because of this he was spending a lot of time standing, placing all his weight on his front paws. His balance was going, and sometimes when walking he would lose control and splat on the floor. When he started having accidents inside over the weekend we knew the time had come. When we weighed him at the vet Monday afternoon he was 11 lbs, down from his normal adult weight of 15 lbs. Nevertheless it was hard to let him go, and we mourn his passing. I've been getting choked up and teary eyed at random times all week. We've been telling Gavin for months now that Tyler probably wasn't going to make it much longer, and he has taken Tyler's loss pretty well. He talks about seeing Tyler again in heaven some day, and said "I think Tyler is playing with the good dinosaurs in heaven."  A few times Amelia has called for him, "Puppy!" Tyler was such a good dog. He was so, so sweet, and great with the kids. Even as his health deteriorated he never growled or snapped at them. He turned 14 this month. We bought him from a pet shop at the Macon mall a few weeks after moving to Warner Robins on September 10, 2001. As we drove home from the mall with Tyler we were trying to come up with a name for him. We bounced a few around, and then an Aerosmith song came on the radio. I said, "What about Tyler?" (lead singer of Aerosmith= Steven Tyler) and thus he was named. We had only been married a year; Jake was 23, I was 22. 14 years is a long time.

Monday morning:













Fall 2001, almost 14 years ago:



18 Months

Last week Amelia turned 18 month old. She weighs 23.5 lbs (34%) and is 32.25 in tall (67%). Sunday she started going to nursery by herself. She lasted both hours and I was told she did well, no crying. At one point I peeked through the window and found her properly sitting still in a little chair during singing time. She has been a firecracker at home lately, so I was not sure how she'd do in nursery. She's been throwing more fits lately, as well as getting big bursts of energy and running around willy nilly, climbing, and throwing. She's taken to throwing her food at times, and today in the grocery store she was grabbing stuff out of the cart to throw on the floor. Not cool. She likes being in the pool, but would rather I leave her alone on the stairs (nope). At times she attempts to just jump off the stairs or out of my arms, with no fear at all. But she is still a sweet girl, and still gives the best hugs.

This was 2 Sundays ago, couldn't get her to sit still long:

This past Sunday, her 1st attending nursery. Photo session didn't start out too well: 

 But got better, especially when Gavin helped make her smile:










Saturday, July 11, 2015

June/July

We're having a good summer. My parents moved to Georgia and bought a house, staying with us for about a month in the process. We enjoyed having them here and and are glad they found a house on our side of town. Amelia still asks for Pop Pop many mornings when she wakes up -she's used to him being up early with her. Amelia's sleep schedule was a little messed up while we had company but is now back to normal and I am finally rested for the first time this summer. The kids have spent a lot of time playing with each other this summer, which is fun to watch. Gavin is a great big brother. Most of the time. He is tall enough to reach the bottom of our pool this summer, and swims many evenings. Gavin's reading continues to improve as he reads 45 minutes or so each night. He's been getting a lot of Magic Tree House books from the library, along with his usual non-fiction - airplanes, pirates, insects, and sharks. He does a few minutes of school work each day before he is allowed to play Minecraft. The game keeps him occupied and quiet while Amelia takes her afternoon nap. We've been reading out of the real Book of Mormon instead of the kid's version, and Gavin impresses me with his ability to pronounce a lot of big words. The end of June was sad as we had to say goodbye to our good friends the Jessops as they moved away. Before they left, Gavin was upset about losing his best friend and told us, "I know, I will go with Brayden to Pennsylvania!" We are looking forward to visiting Dale, Angela, and Brayden when Amelia gets a little older and easier to travel with. We had our usual 4th of July festivities with friends, and once again I didn't take any pictures. Amelia sat on my lap happily for 2 hours while Gavin and friends played with sparklers and such and watched fireworks all around us. I didn't want to ruin her contentment by going to get the camera. It is nice not feeling like I have to photograph everything for adoption stuff anymore.

Gavin & Brayden



4th Of July, after the pancake breakfast at church and before the party at our house:
   








 One day last week it was raining in on our front porch- the kids loved it. Gavin ran around in the yard in the rain too (until it started lightening), and said it was the "best day ever."




  



  

 Earlier this week Gavin decided to introduce the Wiggles to Amelia: