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!

Vacation - Days 1 and 2

With my two week fall break and Gabe's week of paid vacation, we decided to head to Maryland for the week. Gabe's 96 year old grandpa lives there and we wanted a chance to introduce Owen to his great-grandpa. Our car was packed full!
Owen was ready to head out.

The first day we drove eight hours and made it to Roanoake, Virginia where we crashed for the night. We did stop in Tennessee to do some outlet shopping. :) We woke up the next morning and loaded back in the car for another four hours and made it to D.C. I really wanted to take Owen to the National Zoo and what we saw on the forecast we figured this should be our first stop.

Owen and I at the D.C. Zoo

One of the first stops we made at the zoo was the prairie dog exhibit. Right behind the exhibit they had tunnels where kids could act like prairie dogs. Owen had to think about this for awhile.

He finally decided to go for it!

Pretending to be a prairie dog can be a lot of fun!

I think it was close to lunch time.

Owen loved the lion, he was up walking around and roaring. Owen kept pointing to the lion and wouldn't take his eyes off of him.

Chillin at the zoo

My favorite part of the zoo! I think Owen liked it too because my parents brought him a panda bear from the Memphis Zoo and it has become his go-to stuffed animal.


We had a great time at the zoo!!! After that we headed to a mall and then to Gabe's Uncle Fred and Aunt Diana's house to stay.

Sister Saturday

A few Saturday's ago, Owen and I headed to see Jill and Mason. We met them at their house and let the boys play for awhile. A few accidents happened where Owen ended up bonking his head....to retaliate Owen decided to be very sneaky and take one of Mason's favorite stuffed animals, quietly walked out of the room, and dunked it in the toilet. Little turkey!!!!! After Jill and I got way too much enjoyment out of that, we headed across the street to the school playground. Mason just hanging out the window. :)
Giddy-up Horsey!

While we were at the playground, Nate called and asked if we wanted to take the boys to a pumpkin patch. So we headed back to her house and loaded up in Jill's car. I have to be honest, when Nate mentioned pumpkin patch, I thought it was going to be more like an orchard. Little did I know that we would be driving through someone's yard they didn't even know to go to a real pumpkin patch. :)

Jill and I with the boys...thanks for the great picture Nate!

Owen and I in the pumpkin patch

The Howard's

After all of our fun, Jill and I headed to Owensboro to grab some food and do some shopping. While we were eating, the boys had a great time with matching sunglasses that Gabe got them. I think people probably thought Jill and I were nuts for the endless amount of fun we had watching the boys doing this.

Mason is one cool dude!

Owen being super silly with his glasses.

We had such a great day!!! It is always refreshing to hang out with Jill! I think we should have "Sister Saturday" more often!

We ended the night by going to see Dada at work. Who knew that punching bags were so much fun?!

Weekend Fun!

Saturday we headed to Bowling Green to watch WKU's first home football game. The game started at 4, but we headed out early for some tailgating before the game. We met up with the Watson's and set up all our stuff in what was apparantely a no tailgating zone. A worker for Western came to tell us we were not allowed to be there but saw Owen and Eli along with all of our stuff and let us stay. He said he couldn't say no to the babies. :) We had a perfect little spot with picnic tables, shade, and a somewhat gated area for the boys to walk around in. Morgan brought carpet for the boys and a pack-n-play.

It's tailgating time!!! Morgan and I couldn't wait any longer to try a piece...here is a post picture of the cute cookie cake.

Helping Gabe put Baggo up.

They got a little toasty by the end of it.

Heading into the game...

GO TOPS!!!!

Looking cool wearing Dada's hat.

Morgan and I took the boys behind the bleachers into the shade and let them walk around a little bit. They were so proud of themselves.

After seeing a few people get over-heated and hot ourselves, we decided to leave the game at half-time and head to Bruster's to get an ice cream.

Yummy purple dinosaur ice cream.

The boys were trying to figure out how to get another ice cream cone. :)

Eric and the boys

After Bruster's we didn't want to stop hanging out yet, so we decided to take them to Chuck E. Cheese's. Owen had not been before and definitely enjoyed himself!

First ride at Chuck E. Cheese's

Owen and Eli getting into the bus ride.

Owen already knows what to do when he drives. He had his arm around the mouse the whole time. It cracked me up!

A clock ride. In my opinion, this one was pretty weird.

Monster truck ride

On Sunday, Gabe and I took Owen to Kentucky Down Under. I have always wanted to go and just had not made it there yet. I found out that this weekend was Logan County days, which meant we got in for $5 instead of $22 a person. I couldn't pass this deal up!

Gabe and I were impressed by how adventurous the cave was.

Owen being super silly down in the cave.

Gabe and Owen checking out the stalagtites. I actually listened. :)

Family picture down in the cave.

Even though this picture is pretty blurry, I think you can tell they were both a little unsure about this. Owen did pretty well to begin with, but then the waterworks started. I don't blame him! I would have felt the same way!

They all stood up when they saw the camel walking around. Two of them hopped right in front of Gabe and Owen.

Makes me think of that movie Kangaroo Jack. He just needs shades.

Owen petting the kangaroo. I was amazed by how soft it was. I also think it is interesting that they don't get fleas or ticks.

Owen petting the emu.

Gabe and Owen feeding the birds. I went in just to take pictures, but the birds still landed on me and were pecking at my neck. I think I take after my mom a little bit because I was totally freakin.