Vacation (part 3)

Midweek brought a couple more fun and relaxing days.  We headed to the south end of the island to an area called Sea Pines.  It's known for its shopping area and the Salty Dog Cafe.  We checked out the docks and stopped to snap a few family photos

 

The girls...

 

The boys...

The Heines!  :)

Reegan...

Later on in the evening we took the opportunity to go on a sunset dolphin cruise.  There are hundreds of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins around the island and so we hopped on a boat to try to see some of them.

We did find a couple!

They swam all around the boat.

Gavin just enjoyed the fresh air.

On Thursday we ventured over to Savannah, GA to explore the historic downtown area.  We decided to take a trolley tour around town to make sure we saw all of the important things.  First stop - Lady and Sons restaurant.  This is Paula Dean's place and it's a very popular spot for tourists. 

So, naturally, we ate there!  It was some pretty good southern cookin'.

The rest of the tour took us around all of the original squares that made up the city back in the colonial days.  The original colonies in America all had 24 squares in their capital cities and Savannah still maintains 21 of those 24.  It was really interesting to see all of these.  Nearly every one had some sort of fountain or statue in the center that signified a piece of American history.  It was really interesting.

I think the kids enjoyed the trolley ride too!

 

Only one more post on this trip.  We just had SO MANY pictures from our adventure we just keep posting!  Hope you're enjoying them!  :)

Vacation (part 2)

This post is a pretty solid summary of about 70% of our trip.  Hanging out at the house, the beach, and the pool, and Reegan and Gavin being adorable.  :)

 

Reegan helped Ashley check some emails...



Grammie helped us get Gavin to sleep...

Reegan is really into posing for the camera these days.  Can you tell??

The beach on Hilton Head Island were beautiful.  Nice calm waves, lots of sand to play in, and very small amounts of people.

Reegan really enjoyed making sand castles!  We had a few different sand toys to play with and she loved digging up the sand and filling them.

We worked as a team to create a little fortress...

Nothing fancy, but hey - pretty good for amateurs.  :)

I think Reegan could have done this the entire trip!

And Gavin could have done this the entire trip...

Believe it or not, he was awake some of the time.  And he's such a happy boy!  (He also drools a lot...)

Family photo time

Reegan being a ham.  What's new?

They just love each other!!!  Our beautiful babies.  :)

Vacation (part 1)

Whew!  We're back.  It's been a long time.  Partly because there wasn't anything exciting going on for awhile, and then partly because we spent the past week in Hilton Head, SC!  We packed our bags (all 18 of them it seemed...) and took off for some relaxing vacation time at the beach with family.

 

We had a great trip!  And we took tons of pictures (of course), so there will be a couple posts need to recap our adventure.  :) 

 

It started out last Saturday by heading to the airport.  This was Reegan's 3rd trip via airplane and obviously Gavin's 1st.  The kids did GREAT on the plane.  Reegan had a blast telling us we were going fast and high up in the sky and Gavin mostly slept.  Here we are about to embark on our first trip as a family of 4!

 

This trip was for the whole Larson clan, so Grammie and Papa were on our flight too.  This was extremely helpful.  Especially when trying to get through security and on and off the plane.

We were flying on Delta, which of course meant we had a layover in Atlanta!  And that also meant a 2-hour delay in the ATL airport.  :)  Luckily our gate had windows nearby where you could see the runways.  Reegan had fun watching the planes take off and land.

Grammie and Papa had rented us all a house for the week on Hilton Head Island, and it was a short 10 minute walk to the beach!!  We were so excited for the kids to experience the sand and water.

The first day out at the beach Reegan really enjoyed herself.  She played in the waves and just laughed and laughed!  It was so fun!

We also picked up a few sea shells...

 

Meanwhile, Gavin slept through the whole thing.  We set up a little "tent" of sorts for him on the sand.  :)

 

In the afternoon, we mostly hung around the house.  It had a pool in the back yard that was great for relaxing and catching some more sun.

Reegan enjoyed a snack poolside...

Sunday night we went to dinner at Skull Creek Boathouse.  It was recommended by the owners of the house we were staying in.  The restaurant was right on the water and they had some AMAZING seafood! 

Reegan and Aunt Ashley enjoyed it for sure!

Again...Gavin slept.  :)

 

The trip got off to a great start!  More to come so stay tuned!

Giving

Like any parent, I have many hopes for my children's lives and how they grow into adults.  I want for them to be patient, kind, and respectful of others.  I hope they feel free to express themselves creatively and explore their curiosity of the world around them.  I hope they are happy and love often.  I hope they are gracious and polite.  I hope they become worldclass atheletes and support Jason and I in our old age (kidding :)  More than anything I just pray they know how loved they are and believe that they can accomplish anything with hard work.  Figuring out how to teach them these things is my challenge and I am embracing it.  I want for my kids to be givers and do so joyfully, so this year for Jason's birthday I had Reegan pick out what she wanted to give him and the plan was to give no guidance and offer no input from myself.  We went to the dollar store so she really could pick whatever it was she wanted to give him and pick out a few things.  She loved it, she walked through the store with her head high, saying "follow me guys".  We walked around the entire store a few times and I only guided her choices one time when she was wanting to buy Jason tampons. 

The next day we wrapped the present together and when Jason came home from work he opened it up.  Or kinda opened it up.  I think Reegan opened most of it and told him exactly what it was before he could even see it.  She was excited. 

At the end of the day, Reegan picked out chapstick, 3 coffee mugs, dishwasher soap, kitchen spongues, and 2 little cars.  I am excited for more opportunities for her to give, not only gifts but time as well.  I'm already starting to think about operation christmas child.  I think I will have her give boxes to little girls her own age and have her help with what items to include.  We are so blessed that we can provide not only her needs but many wants as well and I hope one day she learns that this is not the case in most parts of the world.   

A Lot of Nothing

We've been doing a lot of nothing around here lately and yet the days are flying by and we seem to be busy.  We've been hibernating and doing lots of potty training.  I think (fingers crossed) we're there and just about done.  More on this later but we haven't had an accident in 10 days and have made it through a day of daycare and a few short outings.  The weather has been kinda crazy but we're enjoying the cooler weather.  We've made it to the zoo once, the pool, and otherwise its our front yard.  

We've had a few playdates as well.  Here is Nona, she is 6 weeks older than Gavin and it barely shows.  They are almost the same size. 

 2 month appointment brought on some shots and tears. 

I started work this week so our evenings together are limited and they are busy.  Dinner, baths, and bed are about all we have time for most days.  Reegan likes to watch/help bathe Gavin, and on this night she wanted to take over.  (I told you we are potty training, so someone is pantless in all our pictures lately). 

 Gavin is not sure if this is a good idea :)

 Last weekend Reegan got her haircut and it was quite tramatic... for all of us.  With all the crying going on we decided to be done quickly and just have the ends trimmed up. 

 Gavin reached 10 weeks old, so we decided to bring out the bumbo chair. 

I'm working on adjusting to being away from the house 3 long nights a week.  I really enjoy my job and coworkers, but its been tough on me.  Summer has been rough and I am welcoming fall with open arms! 

2 Months

It's happening.  My little baby is growing up and getting big.  Some of it is really exciting, he's smiling and laughing and sleeping much longer stretches at night.  The rest of it is very sad.  I love watching them grow and learn new things and I am absolutely my kids biggest cheerleader, but time goes too fast. 

Gavin is still growing like a champ and is becoming a much easier baby.  Once 6 weeks hit, our evenings became much easier as he likes to take long afternoon naps, sometimes 4 hours (I don't think Reegan has ever taken a 4 hour nap, ever) and therefore he is happy when Jason gets home from work and wants to play.  It does make dinner time a little more challenging because he is awake and can't sit up on his own yet.  When he is awake he wants to be held and doesn't like to be left alone.  This sometimes causes a stressful morning if I'm trying to take the kids to do something, because if he is awake he'll probably cry until I pick him up.  He loves his baby carrier and falls asleep within minutes of me strapping it on.    

Starting to fill out that crib.  Bumpers were removed a few weeks ago because this guy scoots in his sleep.  He never wakes up in the same place we layed him down.

 Very serious, not sure about all these pictures.

Gavin went to the doctor this morning for his 2-month visit.  He's now 13 pounds, 5 ounces, and he's measuring 23.75" tall (82%-ile for both)!  He just keeps growing so fast!  He's a healthy and happy baby.  :)