Spoiled...

I am spoiled! I am not going to deny the fact that I have been spolied my whole life. For instance, this morning, my Dad made me egg in a hole. Delicious! My parents have always tried to make me feel special! With this being said, I want to focus on the last two weeks (my fall break). I have been spolied with time. I have been able to spend every day with my precious baby boy. I am able to get him out of bed and not have to rush off to work, but spend time with him. I am going to miss spending all day with him when I go back to school.

I have been spoiled with my family. Gabe worked open to close at his store (8-8) Thursday through Saturday, so I headed out Thursday morning to my parent's house. There are a lot of things and people I could see when I am in town, but I am selfish and want to spend all of my time with my parents. They are wonderful! I also got to see my sister and nephew while we were in town. I cherish my time with them! I do get to see them a lot, but it will be a couple of weeks before I do again.

I think most of all...I have been spoiled with my time with Gabe. The first week of break, Gabe was able to take a week off and we went on vacation. I was able to spend all day every day with him. This week because he worked open to close at the end of the week (when I went to my parent's house), he was able to get off early Monday and Tuesday and had Wednesday off. We were able to sit down and have dinner together, play with Owen, spend time as a family, and just spend time with each other. I am going to miss it so much! He has to work tomorrow and then he will be back to his normal schedule closing 4 out of 5 nights during the week and working most every Saturday and some Sunday's. By the time he gets home during the week, about 8:30, Owen is already asleep and I am worn out. I have to say that I am so jealous of my friends whose husband's are on a set schedule and come home in the early evening and have every weekend off. I am not going to say that I am ungrateful for the job Gabe has, but I do long for a day when he will be able to come home at 5 and have weekends off. I miss him! I miss our family time!

Final days of Vacation

Friday morning we left to go to Johnson City, TN to visit Gabe's sister Lucy. It took about 8 hours to get there and we only made one quick stop. We were a little antsy by the time we got there. Owen thought he was living it up when he got to run around Lucy's apartment and thought everything was hilarious. We all went out to eat at our favorite restaurant, Mellow Mushroom. Delicious!Last view of the beach on our way out of town

Owen and Aunt Lucy

After dinner, Lucy showed us her pharmacy school. Then we came back to her apartment and played a little more and then crashed for the night. The next morning we hung out for a little while and then checked out some places in Johnson City. One of the places we went was a healthy grocery store. If you know us at all, that has Gabe written all over it.

Aunt Lucy was so funny jumping in the bed.

The next stop was Somerset, Kentucky for Nate's first birthday! Nate is Tara's son, one of my really great friend's from Western. It was so great to see her and be able to celebrate Nate's special day!

Nate- The Birthday Boy!

Nate's super cute birthday cake!

Nate checking out his gift from Owen.

Two of my friends from Western. It was an extra surpise to see Angela and meet her little boy Henry. The three of us are the three that have had little boys. Wish I could see them more often! Next stop...HOME! We had an amazing trip filled with family, fun, and good times! It sure felt good to be home again though!

Vacation - Day 6

Thursday started off with a breakfast at Pochantas pancakes. Apparently this restaurant has been featured on Food Network and Southern Living magazine. Owen and I in their teepee.

Gabe's breakfast - fresh strawberry waffle

By the end of breakfast, I was beyond anxious to get to the beach! It actually worked out very well because by the time we got there it had warmed up and was the beginning of a beautiful day. Here are a LOT of pictures of our fun day!

Gabe and Owen checking out the ocean. Owen liked us holding him in the water, it was a little too cold for his liking to actually stand in it very long.

Coming to Mama

Owen sure knows how to put a smile on my face! :)

He checked out the water for just a minute.

I picked up a sand bucket set on our way to the beach. Owen did not let go of his shovel or sand rake. At one point, Gabe told me that I should have bought 2 so he could play as well. :)

Look Mama, I am fixing Dada's castle for him.

Mr. Independent

Showing Mama how to do it.

Happy Boy!

After a fun-filled day at the beach, we headed back to the hotel to wash off the sand and Owen crashed. Gabe and I played hangman on my phone and let Owen nap. When he woke up, we went out and about. We ended up at Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach. Had a bite to eat and then decided to splurge and get some cookies.

Good idea Mama! The cookie was delicious!

After making a mess and doing some window shopping, we took him to the play area. He had a great time!

Slide # 1

Slide # 2

Slide # 3 (There were at least two other slides.)

Going for a little boat ride.

Giddy-up whale!

Vacation - Day 5

Wednesday morning we packed up our things and headed to Virginia Beach. One last look at Uncle Fred and Aunt Diana's beautiful porch!

First look of the ocean - Love it! :)

Owen's first time checking out sand. It's pretty cool stuff!

After we checked out the ocean, Owen wanted to play on the playground.

Can you believe there was a playground on the beach?!!! Come to find out there was another one down a little ways to. I had never been to Virginia Beach before, but especially having Owen now, I think this would be a great place to go back to!

Owen catching a wave.

Cool surf dude!

After playing hard at the beach, we went to the hotel and had some dinner. Owen was cracking us up during dinner because there was a little girl close to his age sitting at the table next to us. He kept looking at her and then began making kissy noises. (You are a little too young Owen!)
Then it was time to check out the swimming pool.

Very excited about going in the pool!

Splash!

This is awesome!

Vacation - Day 4

Tuesday morning we had another visit with Grandpa. As I mentioned, he was having a hard time on Monday with who we were and the conversations that were taking place. He was a different man today! He knew who we were, he knew that Bonnie was Gabe's mom, and he made relevant connections to the conversations taking place. He even randomly asked me about Kentucky schools, when I had not even mentioned teaching. I am so glad that we were able to visit him on a good day like this! Talking with his Uncle Fred, it had been a long time since Grandpa had had this great of a day! Man do we feel lucky! Snuggling with Great-Grandpa. I am pretty sure they could have dozed off together. :)

Owen with Ms. Becky (grandpa's care-taker). She is so sweet!

Giving Great-Grandpa a big hug!

After our visit with Grandpa, we decided to head to D.C. for the day. We drove close to Alexandria, VA to catch a ride on the metro.

It was a little chilly. Here is Owen in his winter gear. (The Old Navy pea-coat was $2 from a thrift store and his Adidas hat was 47 cents from Gabe's store. We are pretty proud of these great deals!)

Owen and I on the metro for the first time.

Washington Monument

We walked through the National Art Gallery Walk. I think Owen liked the house.

The tree was pretty neat too!

When we first got off the metro, we were very close to the Natural History Smithsonian museum, which is where we planned to go. However, we were hungry, so we decided to walk to Union Station and grab a bite to eat. When we got back to the Natural History museum around 3:30, we saw a sign that they closed at 3:00 that day. Bummer! So....we decided to go check out the Air and Space Museum.

Owen decided he would rather push the stroller than ride in it.

After his hard work, he needed to refresh himself.

Gabe and Owen inside of a Jumbo Jet.

I had to take a picture of this for Pops. He has been teaching Owen morse code. :) Just in case you were wondering Owen is (O) -dah dah dah (W) -dit dah dah (E)-dit (N) -dah dit. (By the way, sorry Dad, I had to look this up. Maybe one day I will remember it.)

Owen and Gabe with the Wright Brothers

After all of our fun, we got back on the metro and headed back to our car. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Not so much! When we got back to the station we headed out to where we thought our car was. Looked in the parking garage, didn't see it....huh? We walked some more and found another parking garage...didn't see our car. Gabe, being a man, did not want to ask someone how to find our car. Me...not so much! After carrying Owen around for 25 minutes looking for our car, I asked and found out that there are apparently 2 exits from the metro station. Oops! Once we went out the correct exit, it was pretty simple to find our car. :) By the way, I am being nice, I had taken pictures of the same escalator we rode on a lot of times and the same parking garages we kept looking at because Gabe apparently thought our car would magically appear. Haha. Love you babe! :) Anyway, since we were so close to Gabe's cousin and her family we decided to go and visit with Jaime and Chris and their two little girls Alice (super cute curly headed 2 year old) and Dorothy (six weeks old). After an eventful day, we headed back to his aunt and uncle's house and Owen being the trooper that he is still decided to play with Uncle Fred for a little bit before heading to bed.

Vacation - Day 3

Monday morning we got ready and headed just down the road to Gabe's grandfather's home. Today was the day Owen got to meet his great-grandpa for the first time! Checking out great-grandpa

"Reading" his book to great-grandpa

Having fun in great-grandpa's rocking chair!

Ms. Becky (Grandpa's care-taker) cooked us all lunch along with her friend Evelyn. Great-grandpa enjoyed watching Owen slurp up his noodles and Ms. Becky loved feeding Owen ice cream. All in all, it was a pretty good visit. Gabe's grandfather knew who we were when we first got there. It went a little downhill after that, but nonetheless, we felt very blessed to have been able to introduce Owen to his great-grandpa because I know there are a lot of people that don't get to have an opportunity like this.

After our visit, Gabe took us to Baltimore to go to the IKEA. (One of my favorite stores!) This was a great idea because it was cold and rainy outside. We then went to a mall and headed back to his aunt and uncle's home.

A long tunnel on our way to Baltimore

We were able to visit with his Uncle Fred and Aunt Diana when we got to their home. I cannot believe I didn't get a single picture of them! Owen had the best time with Uncle Fred. All giggles, all night! His aunt and uncle remind me a lot of my Aunt Gusty and Uncle Mike. They are very welcoming, have a huge heart, and make you feel like this is the way it has always been. We got to talking about Gabe and Uncle Fred, and man are they a lot alike! Aunt Diana and I were talking about them 'helping' us clean the house and how Gabe will clean the junk drawer in a rushed cleaning frenzy. She related it to how Uncle Fred used to organize his tool-box to help her get ready for a big family party. Needless to say, we enjoyed getting to talk to them! I wish we lived closer and had these opportunities more often!