Bath Boys...and the Last Two Weeks!

Well, we got back and jumped right back into life! Graham LOVES lying on his playmat now that we are home!  He's so much more alert than when we left!

 Josh and Joe had their second annual Mancation planned for a week after we got back.  They headed to Pittsburgh on Friday morning to see a Pirates game.  They spent the night and played golf on Saturday before heading back home.  The boys and I did ok, although there were more moments of not listening than I would have liked...  The best part was these two having a bath together!  Jackson LOVES helping me give Graham a bath!  Like, it's an excellent bribe, he loves it so much :)  Graham LOVES watching Jackson, so it's a win, win!  The baby tub and Jackson both fit in our master tub just fine together, so that's a fun change of pace!

Squeaky clean pirate and alligator!

How cute are these two brothers???

The Bascoms gave the boys matching jammies at my baby shower, and they finally fit both Jackson and Graham!

A couple shots Josh took of PNC Park on his trip:

Pretty skyline!

 Jackson picked out this awesome penguin toy that we totally remember from our childhood!  He LOVES it and as an added bonus, Graham loves it too!

 We had the Bashores over for dinner after Josh got back from his Mancation.  Avery and Jackson had a little accidental collision and a plate did this to Jackson's eye!!!  It actually hasn't bothered him since the initial impact, but it sure looks awful :(

To make matters worse, I took Jackson into the doctor the day after this accident, and found out he had almost infected ears (lots of fluid and some redness), swollen tonsils with lots of gunk on them, and a super stuffy nose.  The pediatrician did say that the color of his nose made her think allergies, and it had just spread to his ears and throat.  So, that's good that we weren't spreading a virus, but I feel bad for how miserable Jackson must have been!  She put him on an antibiotic and told us to resume with Children's Claritin.  In addition to this doctor visit, Graham had his belated two-month check-up, and I tried out a more local dentist who I LOVED!  YAY!  Nothing like real life to make you miss your vacation...

The Great Summer Road Trip 2012: Leg 8--Johnson City to Dumfries

 And...we're home!  17 states and 28 days later :)  Our last day of driving went pretty well.  We spent the morning at Becca and George's and left around 12:30.  Jackson napped for a bit and we stopped for dinner at Chick-fil-a in Fredericksburg before getting home around 8pm.  As you can see, these boys were happy to be home! 

 

We had SUCH a good time!!!  The car time went well and I LOVED spending time with my good friends and watching our kids play together--that makes my heart so happy :) :) :)  I am so thankful Josh worked so hard to make this all work out! 

 

Josh has now been to 49 states (only Alaska left)!  I have been to 45 (Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska, and North Dakota left).  Jackson has been to 24 states and Graham to 18.

 

On to enjoying the last two weeks of Josh's time off this summer!

Johnson City Layover

 Yesterday morning we headed over to check out the Hands On! Museum in Johnson City.  Becca had it on her list of spots to try out, and we were happy to help her explore :)

The rotating exhibit was Dinosaur Revolution.  There was an awesome maze to walk through first.  The way you decided which way to go was by answering different trivia questions.  If you got to a dead end, you answered incorrectly, but if the path was clear, you guessed right!

There were different activities along the way, like dinosaur feet.

Pretending to be paleontologists!

Once we went into the main part of the museum, there were tons of cool exhibits!  This one was about water.

Driving a rocket ship.

No children's museum is complete without a pretend grocery store

Getting ready to check out

Colby had a great time pushing around the carts

Cashier Becca checks out Shopper Jackson

Grant taking a turn at the register

There was a large stage with quite a few dress-up options!

Driving a tractor...

...then flying an airplane!!

Blowing huge bubbles

There was an awesome bank exhibit

There were old computers, calculators, and a drive-through window!

Jackson pretending to be a teller

Grant helping his mommy deposit some money

There was a large fish tank with a cut-out for kids to stand up in.  That way it let them get a view like they were IN the tank!

And, then there was this super fun slide in a pretend coal mine. Needless to say, many members of our group went down multiple times :)

All three boys pulling to lift weights.

Playing a fun hiding game :)

After naps, we headed to George's aunt and uncle's house.  Our first stop was playing with Grant's Power Wheels.

Jackson giving Colby a ride.

He shoots!

After checking out the basketball hoop and house, we got to go pet the horses and donkeys!!!

Petting the horseys :)

 

After saying good-bye to the horses and donkeys we went to One12 for dinner.  Becca and George have a fabulously long list of restaurants to try out, so we helped them get started!  The food was yummy, but it was not the most kid friendly.  The kids did pretty well, all things considered!

The Great Summer Road Trip 2012: Leg 7--Meridian to Johnson City

We left Meridian super early (5:45am) yesterday morning and started off for Johnson City, TN!!!  The drive went pretty well even though it was going to be a longer day.  I think having a few days off from driving paid off.  We stopped in Knoxville, TN for a lunchbreak, and that was interesting to say the least.  But, it did it's job, and then we had a little naptime in the car before arriving at the Langstaffs' house around 4:30 in the afternoon.  We were SO happy to get there to see their new house and it was really worth the long day of driving to see Becca :)

The boys hit it off right away :)  Grant turned 3 at the end of June and Colby turned 1 just about a month before our arrival.  Josh and I had met Grant when we were in California a couple of years ago, but we hadn't met Colby yet and Becca and George hadn't met Jackson!  George took a new job in Tennessee, so the Langstaffs moved across the country!  We could not be happier since they are a mere six hours from us AND in the same time zone!!!  The house they are renting is beautiful and has plenty of room for visitors... ;)

After a yummy dinner, Becca let these two lucky boys help her make some brownies!

Discussing the ingredients.

Grant gets a turn to add some flour.

Jackson's turn.

Cute little chefs!

Taste testing :)

Becca getting in some snuggles!

Meridian Photo Shoot

Brandi is AMAZING with her camera!!!  She wanted to try all sorts of sweet shots with my boys that I have always admired, so we were up for being guinea pigs :)  Here is a large sampling of what she took.  I have saved a few because I think these will show up on our holiday cards...

Go Bears!

Baby in a basket with his lovey!

Brothers :)

Big Kid Friends :)

Super artsy, and super sweet!

Baby in a basket!

Who doesn't love baby toes?

You have to look super hard to see it, but Brandi used her embroidery machine to embroider a "J" and a "G" on to Jackson and Graham's matching lovies.  LOVE how it turned out!!!