Surviving the Love Chariot and now a Big Boy Bed!

So I survived the camping trip after all! The Love Chariot wasn't actually all that bad! It's sort of a long story as to why we decided to give this lovely camper it's name.... really, it's not that complicated....you just have to see it and you'll understand why! It's a beauty! It's lovely appearance aside, it did it's job, in that it gave me a private place to pee, a warm shower at night and a comfortable place to sleep! Grayson had a blast hanging out with his cousins and exploring all there is that nature has to offer! We had some great meals at Buddy's camp, did a little fishing, saw some deer, elk and wild turkey's and just had fun relaxing and soaking in the 70-80 degree weather!


So this is our camp and the "love chariot!"

Cousins Reagan and Lauren with Blaine and Grayson out fishing!

I caught a picture of a butterfly!

Grayson followed his four year old cousin Reagan around everywhere! They spoke the same language! It was too cute!

Chasers!!

Playing ball with Daddy!

So after 11 hours in the car on the way home and 7 loads of laundry later though, I was more than ready to say goodbye to our vacationing and SO HAPPY to have a normal shower and sleep in my own bed!

And speaking of beds, we are now on our 4th night in a row of putting Grayson to bed in his new room. Yes, he is officially out of the crib now and sleeping in his "big boy bed!" Although he loves his new room and his new bed, it hasn't been the easiest transition. We now have to deal with a "toddler on the loose" when he wakes at night, and putting him down for bed & naps has gone from a pretty simple routine 20 minutes to taking at least an hour or more now. After reading him a few books, we pretty much have to lay in there next to his bed and rub his back until he falls asleep. Sounds so easy, but when dealing with a restless, tossing, turning, kicking two year old, it often takes what seems like forever to wind him down! We recently put a baby gate up in his doorway, which keeps him from running into our room all the time, so now he just stands there and says, "mommy, come out now?" until I get out of bed to him to put him back down. All in all, I'd say it's going pretty well though, as he seems to have already forgotten about his crib and his old room.

Here are a couple videos shot last night of Grayson getting ready for bed. I had to cut them into two videos to make them short enough to upload them onto the blog.

Hope everyone is doing well and having a great week!

SUMMER VACATIONS!

So it’s a little after 4am and we are now on our way to the White Mountains for our camping trip. We left the house at 2am so that Grayson would hopefully sleep for maybe ½ the trip, but so far he’s been awake on and off. It’s going to be a LONG drive! We just got back late Saturday from our vacation to Laguna and Washington. We both worked Monday & Tuesday and are off again now until Sunday to spend some time up in he mountains. While I look forward to the scenery and cooler weather, I’m a little hesitant about the whole “camping” thing, especially with a two year old. Ok, granted, we are staying in a camper trailer that has a toilet and water, but it’s still camping to me!!

We had an awesome time in Washington visiting my Aunt Lizzie and her family. I will post some pictures from the trip below. The weather was awesome and the country was beautiful. We got to take a day trip up to Mt. St. Helen, which was an incredible site. We also made a trip out to the Oregon coast and enjoyed a great lunch and shopping at a farmer’s market in a cute little town called Astoria. Grayson got to ride one of their family horses and had a blast playing with Page & John. Blaine also took a trail ride with Lizzie & Paige and did a little fishing with Mike. We had a wonderful time and thank the Hause family for all their hospitality!

Paige showing Grayson around!

Mount St. Helen in the background.

Travel buddies!

Little cowboy!

Grayson meeting his Aunt Lizzie!

John turns 8!! Happy Birthday!

Laguna was relaxing and fun as always, although we missed having the McBurgorris’! We spent some time at the beach, took the ferry over to Newport for an evening and also took Grayson to Knott’s Berry Farm for the 1st time! We wavered on taking him, being that he isn’t even 2 yet, but we were so glad we did. He was actually tall enough to ride most of the rides (“all by self!”) in the Camp Snoopy area. I thought for sure he’d be too timid or scared to go on his own, but he was all over it! His expressions on some of the rides were just priceless. He sort of had this drunken (“I think I might throw up!”) smiley grin on his face on a few of them; although, thankfully he never got sick. I think he may be a little like his mama after all, in terms of loving roller coasters and any thrill ride! He loved Snoopy and really enjoyed watching the cowboys in the gun show. Of course, he had a few small meltdowns, but all in all, I was really impressed with how well he did, especially being that we were there from the time it opened until about 7:30.

Too much fun on the Merry Go Round in Newport!

On the ferry ride to Newport.

Giving Snoopy loves!

Driving his very own "BIG TRUCK!"

This is that "drunkn' smurk face!"



Below are just a few random pictures taken earlier in July.

Grayson can hate me for this one later, but I thought it was too cute!

Sportn' a mohawk!

First time bowling! They actually had shoes in his size! Too cute!

Future baseball player/ fashionista!!!

So now we’re off to enjoy the last of our vacation time and then back to reality next week! And then in only a few weeks, our little monkey will be turning two!! Hope everyone is doing well!