Hunt Family Connection

Hunt Family BBQ

We went to Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery's house this afternoon for a BBQ with Uncle Bill. We even managed to get a picture of what the Hunt family looks like right now...

 

I was reminded that 5 years ago today Bill and Jim's dad (Grandad) passed away, leaving a big hole in the Hunt family. We had a very nice time remembering some Grandad stories - he really was a pretty wonderful man and ohhh so memorable :)

Of course there are always stories (lots and lots of stories) when the Hunt boys get together...

 

As you can see, it's been awhile since the Hunt family has seen a baby girl enter their ranks - should be interesting to see how that all plays out!

Graham also had a blast singing and playing guitar (and occasionally playing tennis) with Grandma Chery...

 

She taught him a new song - "Home on the Range" and we heard a lot of it! There's a big finish coming here....hold on....wait for it.....

 

Good times - thumbs up :)

Last Weekend at the Coast

I know it was a week ago, but with all that's been going on I haven't been able to update as quickly as I'd like.  I finally edited some pictures though and want to make sure I share what fun we had staying with Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop!

 

We were very happy to leave our house and the construction workers behind on Friday and tried to coordinate our departure with a nap for Graham. He slept maybe half the way and did a great job of entertaining himself with a couple of toys the rest of the way there. I would say it's one of the better car trips we've had with him.

We enjoyed visiting and settling in on Friday night, then it was off to the aquarium on Saturday afternoon. Graham was there last summer, but I doubt he has many memories of that - it was fun to watch him rediscover it all.

 

 

Graham was especially excited about any large fish that he saw and commented often on the "BIG ONES!" He was a little nervous about the touch-n-feel opportunities and didn't want me to touch the fish either. He did get brave and touched this little pokey plant thing...

 

We stopped at the gift store before leaving and got a swimming shark tub toy (fun!) and a new book for his collection that we have read almost every night since - Mister Seahorse - it gets our highest recommendations :) It's actually quite a timely story in that it talks about caring for fish eggs before they hatch, focusing on the fish in which the father is the one that carries this burden....what an interesting idea! (tee hee)

On Sunday morning Graham and I made our way to the beach/ocean for a visit. Graham has no trouble walking right up to the water, but has a nice and healthy fear to not get too close or into the water. The noise still scares him a little bit, but he decided it was very fun to pick up and throw rocks into the ocean.

 

We also made some fishy sand castle-type things...

 

We went Sunday and Monday mornings and were there before the crowds arrived so it was really nice. As you can see by his outfit, it was considerably cooler on the coast than it was at home - I loved it!

This trip we also decided to try letting Graham use my iPod Touch (with some supervision) to watch his favorite tv show - Jack's Big Music Show.  He needed a couple of reminders to just watch and not touch, but did such a great job that we also used it on the drive home when he prematurely woke up from his nap.

 

This is very exciting as I look ahead to future plane travels :)  Graham also watched an episode or two of Jack on my computer - here he is watching with Pop-Pop...

 

Graham was also presented with that really awesome quilt that Mum-Mum made for his big boy bed and I don't think anyone could have anticipated just how excited he would be about it.

 

He wanted to hide in it, play in it like a fort, and just generally loved rolling around with it! Of course it helps that it is covered in airplanes :) 

 

He is very lucky to have such a talented Mum-Mum that makes him such special things like this quilt - we all really appreciate the hard work that went into it!

Thanks again Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop for a very fun and relaxing weekend on the coast (I think I forgot to mention that I was able to get away for some shopping at the outlet mall all by myself - heaven!!) We had a great time and look forward to seeing you again soon :)

Happy Anniversary to Us!

I dug up a couple pictures from our wedding SIX years ago :) One from dinner the night before the wedding, and one that jumped out at me as I was looking through wedding pics. I am happy to say that we are still standing right next to each other, holding hands through whatever comes our way. We’ve met our share of challenges but have also experienced some of the greatest joy that either of us have ever known.

We are extremely blessed to have our children, our home, our family and friends, our health, and each other. We know how lucky we are and acknowledge it often.

We’ll be spending our anniversary close to home with Graham. We usually do some looking back on the past year and talk about things we might want to work on in the year ahead. On Monday Graham will be at daycare so I think we’ll be going to lunch and then we’re scheduled for a little spa treatment in the afternoon – can’t wait!

And now it’s a scrapbook page…

I took the photo of G and his Pa-Paw and turned it into this:

If you click on the page you can find out more about the materials used to put this together and the page that inspired it :)

Mondays Are Special!

Mondays are very exciting for Graham… In the morning I ask G, “Guess who’s coming to get you from daycare today?” and he gets this sparkle in his eyes, a big smile on his face, and whispers excitedly, “Paaa-Pawwww!”

Grandma Chery took this picture over the weekend when they were playing outside and when I saw it, I thought it just perfectly illustrated how Graham feels about his Pa-Paw :)

Grandma Chery is out of town tonight, so it was just the boys – I’m told they had a great time. They played at a park and Graham helped make the hamburger patties they fixed for dinner.

Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery are awesome at taking pictures and documenting their time with Graham – I love that!  In fact, just got the hamburger picture a few minutes ago in my email :)

We feel so lucky to have family here to help care for Graham – they are a very important part of the village it takes to get it all done.

Wil and I took advantage of a little extra time together and went out for a late lunch together. We had a great talk and enjoyed a leisurely meal…a little different scene than when we take G with us. 

I didn’t plan on doing any major projects today, and instead concentrated on picking things up and putting them back where they belong. It was so easy to get stuff straightened up, and everything had a place to return to – yay! I filed away some things that were sitting on the desk and did a few loads of laundry. I also ran a couple of errands – Target for some stuff we need and Jerry’s to get some product information for the contractor’s estimate on the flooring (we’re planning to replace all of the different flooring downstairs with wood laminate and update the baseboard trim). The contractor came by today and took the measurements so now that he has the info about the materials we’ve chosen, he can give us an estimate.

This is a sample of the floor we picked. It looks much darker in this photo than it does in person – it’s called Burnished Cherry.

It will be installed throughout the entire downstairs and should make it all feel a little bigger without the divisions and different floor styles that are there right now.

I think this will also be a good surface to have with the cats – much easier on the allergies and to clean up.  We’re also looking at more pet friendly furniture – either a leather-like material or microfiber. I’m definitely looking forward to the updates….and to breathing a little easier.

I’ve been neglecting Sprout’s blog a little (the second child is getting cheated already!) so must go update that next. I believe the entry will be called Dance Party cause it looks like that’s what’s going on in my tummy right now!

Family Fun

On Sunday we took care of a couple of errands, then Wil took us to the park in the neighborhood where he grew up. Of course it looks a bit different now – the play equipment appears to have been recently updated.

It’s so nice that the grass pollen has calmed down enough that Wil can be outside with us for a length of time without allergy worries.  I LOVE this shot of my boys hanging out together at the park :) 

Graham’s getting a bit more adventurous and was trying to climb the little rock walls and other structures. Wil isn’t quite as nervous about this sort of thing, so is probably a better choice to supervise these activites than I am :)

The other structure that really held his attention was this version of the merry-go-round…

I’ve never seen anything quite like it, but it’s pretty cool! He couldn’t get enough of us pushing him on it, so Wil and I kept taking turns until we just couldn’t push anymore…

 

I think Graham could have stayed at the park much longer, but we decided to go have dinner together at Applebees. Graham let the waiter know right away that he wanted Macaroni & Cheese (if you ask G what he wants for any meal he’ll say “Macaroni &Cheese!!”)

I love it when we all hang out together – I can’t think of a much better way to spend a Sunday afternoon/evening.

Father’s Day (I know it was last week – just catching up!)

I just realized that I forgot to post about our Father’s Day and share a few pictures that I have.

Graham and I let Wil sleep in and went out to run some errands (which included getting Wil’s Father’s Day present :) We brought a coffee treat home to Wil and all had lunch together. After nap time we got ready to head over to Jim and Chery’s for a Father’s Day BBQ – it was raining when we arrived, but it managed to clear up enough for Graham to enjoy some outside time in their lovely backyard – Daddy and Pa-Paw had him flying high in the swing!

Chery and I requested a picture of the boys – it’s hard to get a good shot with Graham (too busy) and Wil (too camera shy). I stole this one from Chery – seemed to be the best of the bunch:

We had a yummy dinner of salmon and veggies and an awesome dessert of ice cream and Oreo cookies.

I also put together a scrapbook page to remember the day. I was watching Wil and Graham play in the yard and they were both laughing and having such a good time – those really are the times I love most and want to remember :)

 

Page Credits: all of the goodies used here can be found at Designer Digitals

There – all caught up! Can’t believe a whole week has gone by already. Time sure is flying by… No big plans for today, but I see the sun is already out. Might be a good morning to play at the park after breakfast…before it gets too warm out.  Hope you all have a wonderfully relaxing Sunday :)

Happy Father’s Day!

To all of the fathers in our life – we wish you a very relaxing day. Graham is very lucky to know and get to spend time with his daddy, three grandpas, and even one great-grandpa!  We love you all :)

I leave you with some pictures of Graham with his daddy…

Yurt Camping – Graham’s first time!

We decided it was about time Graham came out camping with us. Not wanting to rough it entirely (I am rather pregnant after all!) I decided a yurt was a good option.  For those that don’t know, a yurt is a glorified tent – has beds/futon, table/chairs, electricity, and a hard floor. Oh – and heat….heat was definitely a good thing to have this past weekend :)

The adventure really started in the wee hours of Friday morning when Graham woke up crying…and then threw up all over his crib. Wil helped me get the crib stripped and we took G to bed with us…where he threw up again. We eventually all got to sleep and Graham was in great spirits when he woke up Friday morning. I got him into the bath tub and gave him some breakfast…which he threw up :(  Do you see the pattern forming here?? Apparently several children at the daycare had the same kind of evening, so between Wil, Jim, and myself we stayed home with Graham on Friday.

I thought Graham was doing much better by the time evening came – he had no fever, was running around like a mad man, and had kept down everything he had eaten since breakfast. I also thought it would be much easier to travel in the evening instead of the next morning…so off we went to our campground at Honeyman (on the coast!)

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that Graham threw up (twice) on the way over – oops.  We finally made it and got beds set up quickly – we all really needed that. 

We all slept quite well and Graham even slept in a little since we got to bed later than usual. He was ready to go when he woke up, so we (cautiously) ate breakfast then headed outside to play a bit. It was chilly and a bit misty at times - not ideal, but Graham was prepared with his raincoat and frog boots. We tried to take a walk to explore a bit, but Graham wanted to turn around and head back after just a little bit, and wanted me to carry him - good workout for me I suppose! 

While Graham napped after lunch, Wil and I enjoyed some quiet time outside. I had my book (thanks mom!), a magazine, and my word find puzzles to keep me busy. Wil did some reading and also walked around exploring a little. He got fire wood for the evening and learned that there was a program about butterflies at the Nature Center at 3:00. Graham woke up in time to get to the butterfly presentation, but when he saw the HUGE playground next to the Nature Center, there was no way he was going anywhere but there.

Wil built a fire when we got back to the yurt and I got started on dinner. Graham definitely got lots of good outside time to play.  I thought it would make him good and sleepy, but instead we had trouble getting him to sleep (he sat on the couch with us and watched a movie) and even though he went to sleep at 10ish, he was still wide awake and ready to go at 5:30am Sunday morning - EEK!  

I had not slept very well at all, and Wil wasn't feeling well Sunday morning so it was hard to get started. Once I got up and moving though, Graham and I headed over to the dunes/beach. We had lots of fun building and stomping on sand castles (I'll let you guess who did which). Graham was also quite entertained by some birds that were dropping into the water looking for a morning snack :)  We heard a lot of noise coming from the dunes right behind us - G was convinced they were airplanes and there was no telling him otherwise. He firmly told me "NO Mama - AIRPLANE!"

After the beach we went to the Nature center for a talk on slugs and "thoroughbred" slug races. We learned a lot about slugs - they tried to get Graham to touch one but he wasn't havin' it. He managed to stick out the whole presentation AND our slug won the race - woo hoo! Of course we had to visit the playground when we were done though.

We packed up and headed for home around lunchtime - Wil was feeling much worse by then and got sick in the car on the way home - luckily we still had the throw-up bowl handy.  As a side note, I think it's funny that Graham has the same reaction to daddy throwing up as he does to mommy's singing and dancing - "NO DADDY/MOMMY NO!!" I assured him that daddy would be just fine - he asked Wil many times on the way home..."daddy allright?"

And so the yurt adventure came to end and we are left with piles of laundry and things that need to be unpacked. My sweatshirt has that great campfire smell - love it!  Despite the less than ideal moments during the weekend, there were some very good and peaceful ones. Wil and I have always enjoyed hanging out at the yurt together - reading, soaking up the great outdoors, etc. It's fun to experience it all through Graham's eyes now - definitely an adventure :)

Quick Suki update: She looked good when we got home - I think a little stronger and definitely eating more as evidenced by the kitty throw-up upstairs....seriously, as if we needed more of that this weekend?! We will be talking to the vet today to see what kind of follow up is needed. We are cautiously optimistic about her condition...will have to wait and see I guess.

I will be heading home after work to get the house cleaned up a bit from our weekend away - Graham is excited to be spending the afternoon/evening with Pa-Paw.  I have a few more pictures from the weekend and they can be found HERE – enjoy!

Memorial Day

It was a very good day :)  It was wonderful to get up not dreading a Monday – relaxing in bed until Graham woke up….heading downstairs to make muffins and play….walking to the park with a bucket and shovel…heading back home to hang out with Wil and have lunch. 

After lunch Graham actually asked to go down for his nap – while he was sleeping I managed to clean up my desk (it was a bigger task than I had anticipated – how does it get so messy when I hardly ever sit there?!)

Later in the afternoon Pa-Paw, Grandma Chery, Kara, Brian, and Sam all came over to hang out and have a BBQ. We had a blast playing inside and outside – there was a LOT of laughter….love that :) 

I leave you with a few pictures from our day…

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