Vacation Update - Part Three

Friday. Friday was super special. For the first time in 6 years all 5 Shone siblings were together and it was a BLAST. Yes it was very very busy and loud but it was still the best day all year.
Gibson woke up and had an early morning "air drumming" contest with his cousin Joe.

And then Mike, Mary, Jessica, Nick and Chris showed up.

This is my beautiful niece Jessica Shone. I have waited a very long time to meet her and I can't wait to see her again. She was pretty much smothered with kisses by all her aunts and uncles.

This is Nick and Chris Shone, the youngest twins in the family. Besides being absolutely adorable, these two are BUNDLES of energy. It was hard keeping up, but sure was fun trying.

Cousins at play. (and an aunt or two)

Gibson and his Uncle Mike.

Finally, the Van Rheenens joined the party. Soon after TnP and family arrived and we were finally all together.

Aunt Judy and the Jacob.

These are the most beautiful women that I know.

The Shone men. The only bad part of the entire day was Pop getting hit with a baseball. You can see his shiner get better and better in pictures that will follow, but that is the only part of the day I would change. First there were this many.

Then we added this many.

And now we have this many. (and we are still missing a few in this picture)

Seriously, even with the 2 am bedtime and the constant activity, Friday was amazing. The entire week/end was great, but Friday is a day I will never forget. I love you family!!

Vacation Update - Part Two

So onto Thursday - Gibson got to spend some good quality time with Papa and the Weates.

Waking up with Sammi.
Morning time with the Jacob.

Morning juice with the Weate cousins.

All together after breakfast.

Papa decided to take us on a tour of the local Alpaca farm. Here we are on our way to the farm.

Mom? What exactly is an Alpaca anyway?
Gibson got a chance to ride in a "big boy" car seat in Aunt Tricia's car. He liked it WAY better than the backwards view he gets in our car.

The Alpaca Farm (http://www.lazyacrealpacas.com/index.htm) was very cool. Mark, the owner, gave us an extensive tour and we got to walk right around with the animals. Everyone got an alpaca kiss or nibble and honestly, Tricia and I could have pulled up a lawn chair and stayed there all day.

There are over 90 alpacas on the farm and it seems like we got to meet them all (almost).
Gibson LOVED it. He was chattering away with them and even learned to cluck a little to get them to come closer.

Later that evening, Gibson got to meet his Uncle Tim for the first time. Needless to say, after a brief warm up period, he loves his Uncle Tim.
Last but not least on the "Rochester" Shone side - he got to meet his cousin Brianna. Brianna and Hannah spent countless hours playing with their little cousin. (there are even bathtub pictures coming!)

Vacation Update - Part One

To talk about the past 2 weeks in one post seems daunting. So much fun and so many pictures. I've decided to go day by day. Starting with our brilliant idea to drive at night on Tuesday so Gibson will sleep in the car. Yeah, no. That did not work one bit. Our normal 5 hour drive to Rochester took over 7 hours, putting us at Papa's house sometime around 2 am. Gibson screamed about 45 minutes out of every hour (it at least seemed this way) and it pretty much sucked the entire time.

But then - it started.

Family time.

It was amazing. I am going to sound like a broken record before this update is over because this weekend again solidified how wonderful my entire family is.

We woke up on Wednesday and Gibson and Papa shared some morning sun on the back deck. They were both very happy to see each other again.

Chris and Gibson share a swing the day before Daddy's birthday. Chris flew out to Seattle to rock while the boy and I got to hang out with family.

Meeting Cousin Alyssa for the first time.

Meeting Aunt Peggy for the first time.

Meeting Cousin Richie for the first time.
I wonder if Alyssa ever got that $4.50 from Richie for picking him up. (haha)

Time for VACATION!

I can't believe I haven't updated this in over two weeks! Well the flickr link (to your right) is full of about a million new pictures of our little man and I just uploaded a new CRAZY LEGS video on youtube (link is also right down there on your right...for those of you that need a little extra help around the blog)

We are off to visit family in about 3 hours or so. Gibson and I will spend the rest of this week and weekend with my siblings (and families) and my father while Chris is rocking away on the wrong side of the country. Then, if travelling goes well, we are planning on spending a few days in the mountains to see Grandma June.

Gibson v Nectarine. He comes RUNNING - ok CRAWLING when he sees me bring one of these out. And he does a pretty good job of eating it all!

Yes this is SO WRONG (you can't see, but the can is UNOPENED) but my kid does pretty well with the pictures and product placement.