Halloween!

Last year we "celebrated" Halloween with Gavin by putting him in a puppy costume he absolutely hated for about 2 minutes.  I then tried to hand out candy to packs of teenagers while juggling a cranky 2 1/2 month old.  This year we decided to go for a costume that didn't have fuzzy hands and feet, so we made Gavin a cowboy/old west sheriff.  I didn't really think through the fact that this costume still required a hat, so we spent at least an hour before we went trick or treating trying to convince Gavin to wear his hat, and every time we tried, Gavin just took the hat off and chucked it in our faces!  But miraculously, when we headed out to get some candy, Gav kept his hat on the whole time!

The milk chugging sheriff

 "Stick em up Mommy!  Give me all your candy or I shoot!"

 Ready to uphold the law

Riding in the traditional old west wagon

 Gav's first trick or treat!  He LOVED his sucker!

 A good sheriff never cracks a smile

 After 4 houses of trick or treating, we're ready to head home!

 After struggling to get Gavin to wear his hat at all, he demanded that he wear it for dinner as well!



Gavin's favorite activities

I logged on here to blog about Halloween, but when I uploaded the pictures from our camera, I noticed we had some good pics showing a day in the life of Gavin.  So here is a short blog:

Gav starts the day with a snuggle from Rufus while watching Yo Gabba Gabba...

 ...Then he moves on to arts and crafts....

...And he doesn't like when we limit his freedom of expression!

 After a nap, Gav likes to take a chauffered ride through the country

 All that fresh air makes Gavin very hungry, time for a snack...

 ...or not.  Time for bed!

Pumpkin Patch Take 2

So this weekend Gav and I spent some time with my parents while Ryan pounded away in the basement (Ry is hard at work turning our unfinished basement into livable space...we're all very excited for a whole extra floor to flood with Gavin's toys :).

Saturday we tried to take Gavin to a place called Monkey Joe's (I know, the name alone sold me) but Gav was passed out cold after the 10 minute car ride to get there, so we turned right around.  Then the Hawkeye game was on, and sadly we watched that debacle.  But we did leave at halftime to take Gav to the park nearby.

 Like usual, Gav was really only interested in the swings.

 When Grandpa pushes Gavin, they play a game where they high five after each push.

The rest of Saturday was spent mourning the Hawkeye loss, although Gav didn't seem too upset.  He spent the rest of the night coloring pumpkin pictures and throwing footballs backwards (we've decided he's practicing to be a center someday!)

Sunday morning Gav and I took a great 2 hour nap, slept through the rain, and woke up to a beautiful, sunny day.  So we decided to head out to the pumpkin patch I went to as a kid, Sonny Acres.  Sonny Acres is a little different from how I remember it as a kid...there's a few carnival-type rides now, and maybe some more food, but for the most part its still the same laid back pumpkin patch.  Which was a welcome change from the insanity that was Didier Farms the previous weekend!

 Another petting zoo and Gav can't wait to get in there and start petting some farm animals!

 Grandma makes for a good bodyguard.

 Gav loved this petting zoo as much as the last one.  He kept running around in circles and making happy, giggly noises!

 Getting a sheep kiss.

 I had to include this pic because it looks like that goat is taking a bite out of Gavin.  I'm 85% sure that didn't actually happen.

 Gav's first pony ride!  I had no idea what a workout it is for the parent when your kid rides a pony.  These guys were going pretty fast, and Gav hasn't really mastered finding his center of gravity just yet :)

 "I'm on a horse."

 Getting ready for the train ride with Grandpa.

 Gav was very serious about this ride, while Grandpa was just trying to squeeze his 6 foot frame into a ride meant for 5 year olds!

 Apparently Gav did not inherit his Grandpa's love for trains.  I'm sure Grandpa has plans to change that.

 The obligatory cut-out picture...and Grandpa getting his head stuck in the pumpkin!

 OH. MY. GOD.  Look at that scary clown.  I am terrified of clowns and haunted houses so this is the perfect storm for me.  Gav thought this clown was funny while I was having a mild panic attack.

 "I love Sonny Acres Mommy!  Let's come back next year!"

Pumpkin Patch!

This weekend our friends Brian and Nichole and their beautiful daughters Payton and Allie came to visit us, and we all went to Didier Farms (a pumpkin patch place for those not from Lake County).  I had never been before, but Nichole and I knew we wanted to take the kids to a pumpkin/fall place for the day.  What I didn't realize is that Didier Farms isn't just a chill pumpkin patch with some ponies and some bales of hay, it is fall fun insanity!!  We got a sense of what we were up against when the police and state troopers directed us to our parking.  Whoa. 

Ryan and Brian were not too thrilled about missing the Bears game to pick out pumpkins amidst the pig stench, but I enjoyed it, and I know Gavin did too! The pumpkin patch did have pumpkins (as well as super delicious apple cider donuts...I'm glad I didn't know about these when I was pregnant!!), as well as a bunch of kiddie carnival rides, hayrides, a super slide, a train ride, pony rides, arts and crafts, you name it!

Here is Gav enjoying the wagon ride into Didier Farms

 We decided to check out the petting zoo.  Mommy immediately took Gavin over to see the pig, but Gav wasn't too sure about all these farm animals just yet.

I thought those animals looked familiar...

 Gavin quickly went from nervous to extremely confident...here he is yelling at the goats

 Looking cute in his flannel shirt

 Learning how to pet the animals.  Gavin's idea of petting the animals was one quick, light tap.  Then he would look up at me and smile.  What a sweetie!

 That white goat in the corner of this pic really liked Gav.  He kept coming up behind Gavin when he wasn't looking and Gavin wasn't a fan of the surprise attack.

 Posing with Mommy.  Mommy didn't anticipate going in a petting zoo this day and foolishly wore flip flops.  I've washed my feet twice since then and they still feel dirty!

 Come pet the babies!  25 cents for a handful of goldfish crackers to feed them!

 "Look Mom!!!"

 Gavin having a standoff with the chicken.  There is some great video of this as well, but of all the animals in the petting zoo, Gav liked this chicken the best.

 Time to pick out some pumpkins!

 Expert pumpkin pickers know you really have to get down and dirty to pick a winner.

 Allie lends a hand in the pumpkin selection process.

 Family photo op

 The Kutmi attempt a family pic as well. Two girls = twice the difficulty attempting to get everyone in the family looking at the camera at the same time.  This was as close as we got before we had some escapees.

 We had some tickets to burn after our adventure in the petting zoo, so Gav and Daddy played a fishing carnival game together.

 Gavin catches a shark!

 Our attempt at getting a pic we can take every year...Gav wasn't too interested.

Just something fun

On Friday during our Teacher Institute, we learned about a lot of "Web 2.0" tools, aka, cool websites to use with your students.

The pic below is a "word cloud" comprised of the most popular words that appear on Gav's blog.  The bigger the word, the more times it appeared.

Back soon with more pics of the Boog!

Another blog about the bog

Today I had a teacher institute, so I got off work earlier than usual.  Since it was such a gorgeous day, Ryan and I decided to take Gav back to the bog.  We Gillespie's are big bog fans, and Gav hasn't been since he was about 3 months old.  Back then, the only way Gav could indicate to us if he liked something or not was to spit up (and really, we never knew if that meant he was excited or annoyed!).  But now, these are the reactions we get:

Gavin and Daddy ready to take the 1/2 mile trek on the floating walk-way.

We would have taken more pictures of Gavin standing by this part, but apparently he thinks he can walk on algae so sitting with Mommy was safer.

Mommmy Mommmmmy  Loook!  It's the BOG!!!!!!!

Gavin and Daddy heading off on a great adventure.

Gavin is never too sure about nature.  He hates grass and only tolerates leaves... but these weeds were too exciting to pass up.

Smiles all around as the bog starts to close in around everyone.  You really feel like you're walking deep into a nature sanctuary at this point... and Gavin really wanted to play hide and seek in the bushes.  Slight heart attacks aside, it was a lot of fun.

Gavin accidently took a leaf off the bush and is trying to figure out how to reattach it.  Such a sweet boy.

Gav's got his Mommy, his backwards Cardinals hat, and all the birds, turtles, and beavers a bog can hold... what more could a 13 month old want.

Half way through the bog there's a nice spot to stop and take some pictures... Mommy was a big fan of the little bugs running along the water, and Gav was a big fan of the floating, bouncing platform.

The annual family bog picture.

 Once we got closer to dry land Gavin wanted to stretch his legs...

... and then immediately decided to ignore the sign and try to take a quick swim.

Gavin does not like... check that... despises grass.  He's okay walking on it.. but the moment he falls he attempts to keep all points of contact away from the horrible substance.  Here's a picture of him purposely holding one of his legs off the ground because the grass was touching it... it's amazing you can't see the whimper sounds coming from his mouth.

After running through the bog, we decided to let Gavin run around on a little safer grassy area... there was a definite melancholy feel to it as we watched our baby expand his boundaries and leave his parents behind.  He'd go farther each time, then turn around to make sure we were okay... then head out another 10 yards... cute and bittersweet at the same time.

 "Dad it's cool... don't look so sad... I'm one yearses old.. I can take care of myself!"

 Exploring by yourself is fun... having mommy toss you up in the air is THE BEST!!!

 Daddy was trying to fix the camera after letting Gavin play with it again and stumbled upon this really sweet moment / wonderful picture setting.  

"Time for home... I am bogged out!"