Zoo part 2

Gavin loved the zoo so much the first time that Grandma and Grandpa Mayner wanted to come with this time to see their grandson's experiences with the animals.

Gavin observing the butterflies...he was very thoughtful in this exhibit.

Tracking some butterflies with Grandpa.

Gavin and I tried to pose with the giraffes but the lighting wasn't right. 

My sunscreen warrior.  Who says protecting yourself from the sun has to be nerdy?

The Gav Man and I in front of Baboon Island.  What an awesome name, it sound more like a really twisted reality tv show than a zoo exhibit.

Gavin is a well documented monkey fan.  His favorite stuffed animal is a monkey named Maurice.  Every time Gav plays with Maurice, Ryan and I make the monkey noise (ooo oo, eee ee).  Well, apparently Gavin thinks that all stuffed animals make that noise now, because he says eee eee every time he picks up a stuffed toy.  Time to work on our animal noises!

Showing Grandma and Grandpa how awesome Tropic World is!

Gavin was really interested in the fences in Tropic World, he's trying to convince Grandma that we should stay and inspect them longer.

Gavin's first ride on a carousel was thrilling for us both!

More evidence that Gavin is just like his Daddy...Gav is inspecting and delighting at the inner workings of the carousel instead of enjoying the view.

4th of July

I love the 4th of July, its right up there with Thanksgiving and Christmas as one of my favorite holidays.  But I was a little sad this fourth, because its the last of Gavin's "first" holidays.  After this, Gavin has experienced every major holiday once, which means my little boy is growing up!  Less than a month from today, Gavin will be 1 year old!

We spent the 4th of July in Geneseo this year.  Gavin started the weekend by watching his parents "run" a 5K.  Ryan ran the race...I spent most of it wheezing and walking :(  Luckily Gavin loves me even if I am out of shape!  Gavin helped Grandma and Grandpa supervise the race and cheered us on at the finish line. 

The rest of the weekend was spent playing softball and volleyball, grilling out, and of course, watching fireworks!

Gavin and Grandpa about to go cruising for chicks.

A rare family pic!

Aren't we cute with our cheesy pose?

Much to our surprise, Gavin LOVED the fireworks!  We thought he would be scared of them after his trip to Busch Stadium, but he must have been scared of everyone clapping instead.

Ugh, I definitely should have cropped my face out of this pic, but check out the look of wonder on Gavin's face, so cute!

Showing our appreciation for the show.

Gavin can barely contain his excitement about all the "booms" (his cousin's word for fireworks).

Daddy and Gavin watching the grand finale.  This is the part where Gavin got a bit scared, so we brought in blankie reinforcements.

Gavin at the park on the 4th.  They put up flags for all the veterans that have passed away from the Geneseo area. 

A cool view of some of the flags in the park.

Uncle Andy and Aunt Shari's Wedding

On June 26th, 2010, Gavin attended his third wedding when his Uncle Andy married Shari and made her officially Gavin's second Aunt!

Ryan and I both stood up in the wedding, so Gavin spent most of the wedding day hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Gillespie.  We did manage to get a few pics with our cute little guy though!

Gavin LOVES his Aunt Shari, so we let him see the bride before she walked down the aisle.

We seem to get a lot of pics of Gavin telling long involved stories, not sure what this one was about!

Looking cute in his baby suit.  Thanks Grandma Mayner for making the Booger look stylin' at the wedding!

I managed to sneak a picture in with my favorite little guy!

Thanks to Mary and Larry for watching Gavin so Mommy and Daddy could have a fun night celebrating with Andy and Shari!

St. Louis

Our family has been enjoying a fun and busy summer so far!  We've taken lots of trips and done a lot of fun things.   We have a ton of blogs to catch up on, which will explain why some of these pics are from almost a month ago!

This blog is about our family trip to St. Louis.  Ryan and I have gone to St. Louis together every year since the first year we started dating (except last year...8 months pregnant in St. Louis heat didn't sound very appealing to me!).  Sometimes we've gone just the two of us, sometimes we've been joined by Kyle and Allison and some of the other Gillespie bros.  But this year, the entire Gillespie fam made the trip down for Gavin's first trip to Busch Stadium.  We had a great time, and it looks like Gavin did too! 

Gavin and Daddy about to head to their first Cardinals game together!

Gavin checking out Busch Stadium

Gavin doesn't realize that home runs are actually a cause for celebration :)  But really, Gavin just didn't like all the clapping after Matt Holiday homered.  We thought he didn't like the fireworks, but as you'll see in our 4th of July blog, thats not the case!

Gavin's first trip to the Arch!

One good looking family.

Gavin meets Fredbird for the first time.  He was really interested in Fredbird's feathery thumbs up.

Another cute family pic

Gavin and Grandma having some drinks in the bar.

Grandpa and Gavin regaling the bar with their stories.

Every morning we took Gavin on a walk around St. Louis after breakfast.  This morning we went to the park by the old capitol.

We also stopped by Busch Stadium one morning.  Here are Gavin and Daddy posing with Bob Gibson? (I'm still learning my Cardinals history, or at least thats what I tell Ryan!)

Gavin trying to channel Ozzie Smith.

North Carolina pics

We're back from a fun vacation in North Carolina, only to head right back out this weekend to see the Cardinals in St. Louis with the Gillespie fam!  So before we get wrapped up in another vacation, I wanted to get these pics up!

It was fun to get away, and nice to see what life is like for Ryan when he's on the road for business.  The weather in Charlotte was hot and steamy, which I didn't mind, but I think the boys like things a little cooler!  We spent a lot of time in the water, either at the pool or at a nearby lake.  As we suspected from his bathtimes, Gavin LOVES the water.  I'm thrilled because I love to swim but Ryan isn't that interested, so I finally have a pool buddy!

Enjoy our vacation pics!  (And I apologize in advance for the massive amount of pictures :)

Gavin taking a much needed nap at the baggage claim in Charlotte.  Our solo plane ride out there could have gone better, but it also could have gone much worse!  It definitely helps to have a cute baby...people literally stopped me in the middle of O'Hare to tell me how cute Gavin was!

Gavin's first pool experience.  As you can see, he clearly hates it :)

Gavin and Mommy in the pool, I swear the water combed his hair over that way.  But I might have to replicate his little businessman hairdo sometime!

10 months old and already trying to borrow the car

Gavin's first "beach" experience (although I don't know if I count a lake beach...its just not the same as the ocean).  Apparently, Gavin likes to play in the water no matter what his surroundings are.

Enjoying the ability to splash freely.  This if forbidden behavior in the bathtub these days (although you wouldn't know it if you asked Gavin, he makes his own rules).

This is a common scene with Gav and I.  I try to show Gavin some affection and he promptly rejects me.  Actually, this is usually accompanied by a hand to my face, so this was a nicer rebuff than most.

Gavin and Daddy at the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens.  I wish I had taken more pictures because it was really beautiful, but the trails were not really made for cheap-o $19.99 strollers.  The only reason this pic opportunity came up is because we thought Gavin had some fertilizer to add to the grounds.

This is Gavin playing at a water table at Discovery Place, a very cool children's science museum in downtown Charlotte.  There was a whole section devoted to activites for 0-4 year olds, and Gavin (and we) had a ball!

A good shot of the adorable aprons they had for the kids to wear.

Gavin playing in front of the funhouse mirror.

More fun in the pool.  This day, Gavin's favorite activities included trying to drink the pool water (one of the many gross things Gavin tried to do and Mommy tried not to think about on this trip), Gavin splashing Mommy in the face (but somehow not getting himself wet at all), and Gavin taking my sunglasses off and throwing them in the pool.

Gavin and Daddy playing at the Charlotte airport during our 3 hour delay.  The delay ended up being pretty great for us...we got a free seat for Gavin, Gav napped most of the flight, and Ry and I got flight vouchers for a vacation to be determined!

Mommy posing with a nervous Gavin.  I'm not sure why he got nervous all of a sudden, but this is definitely his anxious face, and that's his security blanket he is clutching.

Gav gets over his fear of flying and naps in Daddy's arms...so cute!

Gavin's favorite things

So, as a peace offering for such a long absence from blogging, we have FOUR new blogs for your Gavin fix :) Check out the other 3 blogs below this for lots of Gavster cuteness. This blog has a couple of videos showing some of Gavin's favorite activities.

This first video shows that Gavin loves bath time almost as much as he loves defying his parents. We could be in some serious trouble if I don't start practicing my mean Mommy face!


The second video is one of our new favorites. Its simply Gavin being the giggly, silly boy we know and love.

All that splashing and laughing really tires a boy out:

Random cute pics.

Gavin has taken off lately. He won't sit still... always squirming and wanting to explore the world. He loves to "read" out loud and he eats any and everything you put in front of him. He's had spanish rice, italian beef, pasta, steak, bagels with cream cheese, cereal, waffles, etc. and loves them all.

Gavin reading his new books in his fort.. aka under his jumper.

Such an interesting story. The protagonist really has a well defined story arc.

"Look Daddy! I CAN READ!!!"

"What? I like spaghetti... you try keeping clean with someone else shoveling food into your mouth."

And finally, here's a video of Gavin trying waffles with syrup for the very first time... he likes all food so the question was, how much would he like this.