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!"



Weekend in Geneseo

This past weekend our little family headed out to Geneseo for a fun filled weekend!  Ryan and I joined Kyle and Allison and Andy and Shari for the Iowa v Penn State game.  We tailgated, we met up with friends, we got front row seats, and we ended up on ESPN!  (Check out facebook for the clip of us being, as my 8th graders put it, "famous" :)  Gav hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Gillespie while we were at the game.  They took him to the Niabi Zoo, where he roared at every animal.  And then they visited Uncle Bren at St. Ambrose and Gavin gave Bren a lesson in picking up ladies.

On Sunday, all the brothers and their wives/girlfriends got together to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Shane and Karyn's baby!  It's a rare occurrence for all the Gillespie boys to be home at the same time, so we took a family pic:

The Gillespie bros and their girls, plus Gav, Grandma, and Andy and Shari

 Gavin is a lot more snuggly these days.  We get kisses when we ask for them, and he gives random, unsolicited hugs.  But this also means he wants to be picked up a lot more often, which means I see this pose a lot!

 The happy couple!  About 6 weeks left until we get to meet Gavin's first cousin, and Ryan and I become an Uncle and Aunt!

 I had to include a pic of CJ and Melanie's cleverly wrapped present!

 Gavin and Grandpa are the bestest of friends.  Its nice that Larry found someone who appreciates his jokes!

 I love this pic...our baby is all grown up!

 Having some quiet time with Mommy.  Like I said, he's a snuggler now!  We only had to wait a year to get a baby that likes to hang out with his Mommy and Daddy!



Gavin's portfolio

As I think I've mentioned in previous posts, Gavin is obsessed with all things technological these days.  That includes my camera.  And of course, none of these toys are any fun unless they're turned on, so Gavin spends a lot of time experimenting with all the different modes on my camera.  And short of resetting my camera to the factory standards, I have no idea how to fix it!  Sometimes Gavin finds a great combinations of crazy settings that take great pics, but other times we end up with some crazy blurry messes.  So the pics below are just some of the photos that have resulted from Gavin's experiments.

This pic does a great job of capturing the look of determination on Gav's face when he sees me or Ryan using a camera/phone/iPod/laptop/remote....you name it, he wants it, and he wants to figure out if it plays Yo Gabba Gabba!

 Pouty boy...

 A good example of a blurry setting Gav selected.  I kind of like this pic though, because it sometimes feels like our world looks this way...Gav in the middle of a spinning mess!

 Thoughtful Gav

 Checking out Grandma's iPhone

 Gav playing with his "mini-blankie," a Grandma Mayner creation.  Gav is obsessed with his blankie (we have 2 in case of emergency) so we bought and third blankie and Grandma cut it up and sewed it into 9 mini versions.  These are great for the car, the wagon, Miss Jeanne's...they are a lifesaver!

 This kid really knows how to work the puppy dog eyes.

 Getting ready to watch some Monday night football.

 Gav loved trying on Mommy's Bears beads....

...but he immediately wanted to take them off the minute we put them on!

Random Stuff

Ryan is out of town again for work (or at least he is trying to be out of town.  As we speak he is stuck at O'hare and keeps getting bumped to later and later flights.  ew.) so Gav and I are on our own for the next few days.  I've already tried to write the first few sentences of this blog three times, and my head is just so fuzzy that I can't seem to write what I want.  I don't know if I should blame the tiredness of playing with Gavin until 9pm, or this stupid cold that just won't die.

Anyway, like usual we've been busy since we blogged last.  Two weekends ago Ryan won the amazing father and husband award by offering to stay home with Gavin while I road tripped out to Iowa City with Andy and Shari for the Iowa v Iowa State game.  It was a great time with family and friends, but I missed the Booger and Ry terribly!

This last weekend Grandma and Grandpa Gillespie came up to visit.  Gavin is getting better and better at talking, and apparently his word for "grandpa" is "pop pop pop."  Everytime we said the word Grandpa or Gavin saw Larry, he would start making that noise!  He is also much better at using mama and dada correctly, and he is starting to say his own name!  Granted it sounds like "DaDin", but I'm starting to think that's an even cuter name than Gavin ;)  Gav can also point out himself and Ryan in pictures.  Someone contact Mensa!

Our pictures this week are once again from the park.  I feel like that may be a common theme this fall, since it is Gavin's favorite place to be.  He now understands the question "Gavin, do you want to go to the park?"  and this is always met with an enthusiastic head nod and then a rush to the door.  Its funny to me that these pics were taken on Sunday, because in them Gav and I are wearing pants and coats, and then today the high was almost 90 degrees! 

This is the face of a kid who LOVES the swings

More adorable-ness. And in the top left you can see the cop cars.  Middle schoolers were throwing pine cones at passing cars.  Classic.

Gav's new favorite activity, wagon pushing!  See the video below to see this fascinating game in action!

Not a fan of hoods.

Exploring the park grounds, and learning that it is NOT cool to eat the goldfish on the ground.

Gavin made up this pose all by himself, including putting Ryan's hat on backwards!

Why, you ask, would I include a pic that shows our couch, the carpet, and a bit of Gavin's toe?  Because this shows another new favorite activity of Gavin's: photography.

Gavin's first attempt at a self portrait.  He also loves to change the settings on my camera.  Although I can't complain, he somehow changed it to take the pictures quicker, which I have been trying to figure out for forever!  (This picture is also proof that NO ONE - even a baby as cute as Gavin - can take a flattering self pic, so I don't know why I keep trying!)

And this is a video of Gavin pushing the wagon all over the park.  After rewatching this video, I realize I may not be helping Gav's fear of the grass by yelling "Ahh, grass!" when we almost veered into the green stuff ;)

Labor Day part 2: The park

Ok, its 11 pm and really I should be in bed since I have work and Curriculum Night tomorrow, but I really wanted to get this blog up as well.  So pics will be posted, but my narrative is going to be pretty boring because my creativity is pretty much out the window at this time of night!

Today our little family enjoyed a lovely lazy Monday off of work and daycare.  We took 2 naps, we went out to lunch, we played, and we went to the park.  Gavin loves the park.  I usually take him there in his wagon, and he now starts getting excited the minute he catches sight of the park.  The park is actually made up of three separate areas:  the "big kids" playground, the "little kids" playground, and the "baby" swings and rocking horses.  The baby part is the farthest away walking from our house, so I usually have to pick up the speed the minute Gav catches sight of the big kids playground because he starts trying to unbuckle out of the wagon and keeps doing the more sign and pointing at the swings!

The swings are definitely Gavin's favorite part of the park.  I always have to cut him off, because I think we would be there for hours if I waited for him to get bored.  Here's a few swing pics:

The normal happy swing face.  Gav is pointing at the rocking horsies.  He always wants to go over and check them out, but once we get up close, he gets terrified and practically climbs up my legs.  I don't blame him, the paint job makes those horsies look a little crazy.

If you pull up this pic to full size, you can see that Gavin has another tooth popping through on the bottom.  He also has a molar coming in on top!

During this trip to the park, Gavin figured out that he can lean forward in the swing and be even more of a daredevil!

A good action shot of Gavin doing laps around the playground.

This was also the first time Gavin successfully got up to standing without anything to pull up on!

One last walking shot.  These were hard to get with me constantly envisioning Gavin falling face first and knocking out a tooth.  I was a worrier before I became a parent, but when Gav went gleefully roaming around the playground today, I realized that I will have lots more to worry about in the years to come!