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.

More new friends

It's hard to believe its the middle of July. We spend every minute we can at the pool. Gibson loves the water and surprisingly, it seems, so does Chris. We have a beach date tomorrow with Chelsea, the Pearson's, the Cook's. I absolutely can NOT wait to get my feet in the sand and see how Gibson takes to it. Hopefully he'll take after me more on this one.

Recently Gibson got to meet two more new friends:

Uncle Nicky - he held Gibson twice in the 30 seconds or so that we saw of him.


Austin - the last Marxist to meet Gibson. How did Gary beat you over to our place Austin? hmmmm. Anyway, we are happy you finally made it over.

I cant wait to update with beach pitcures. With my luck I'll drop the camera in the ocean.

Happy Birthday Cali!

Miss Cali Scott Cotterill turns 2 years old. It's hard to believe that it was 2 years ago that I watched helplessly as her mama brought her into this world. It's even crazier to think that in just a few months we will get to welcome Cotterill babygirl #2 into our lives. We can't wait to meet little Gracie (not really her name, but its one that I'm pulling for.)

Yesterday we got to spend the day celebrating with Cali and a bunch of wonderful friends. Such fun on such a beautiful day. After crunching my camera on July 4th, my new camera showed up 15 minutes before we jumped into the car for the party. There are some fun videos that will be posted soon and there will be about 100 more pictures on our flickr account. (Link to the right)

Getting ready for the PARTY!

The BIRTHDAY GIRL!! Enjoying a dip in the pool.

Two more water babies.

Cali's cousin Kaitlyn, who is such a beautiful and sweet girl.

Mama Cotterill

Gibson and Alison have a LOT to catch up on.

Playing house

Riley and the girls.

I just LOVE this picture.

Alison, Kathy Jo and Jude.

Now its time for Gibson and Riley to catch up on the past week. Or maybe Riley is filling Gibson in on all the gossip he got from the girls. That's probably it.

Picking up change with Uncle Jim.

Group shot in the Cotterills "new" yard. Paul did a CRAZY amount of work on their yard (previously known as the doggie pen) and now its a family paradise.

Eagerly (?) awaiting cake.

Cake face. Gibson had his first ice cream cake. I think he's in love.

Oops...

How could I forget?! Gibson placed 4th - honorable mention - in the baby contest. You can see below his reaction. Is it wrong to mention that the winner had a unibrow? Clearly someone paid off the judges. Haha. Really though, I no sooner posted the last update when I realized there were no pictures of my newly hairless (sort of) husband. Look at that handsome face! I might as well post a few more pictures while I'm here.

Gibson chilling at the pool. I love his sillly faces as much as I love the smiley ones.

He loves to eat nectarines and sometimes he goes in for a bite at the same time as I do. He does NOT want me to give him a piece that will fit in his mouth already, he wants to get his whole face sticky and run his teeth up and down. It's really quite cute.

Proof of the aforementioned morning banana mashing ritual.

Look at what a little man he looks like here. He looks like he's about to ask to borrow the car keys.

Fourth of July Weekend

Happy Belated 4th! Such a fun weekend. Somehow long weekends never really feel long, they feel like the right amount of time, its the other weekends that feel short. Anyway, Gibson and Chris both got to experience their first Milltown 4th of July parade. Uncle Harry and Aunt Tami joined us and then Auntie Chelsea, The Cook's and new neighbors Casey and Rob all hit up the festivities in town and then back to our place for a little bbq. Good times, good friend.

Gibson is wondering why these men are all in skirts.

The only candy he kept from the parade, he didn't get to eat it, but he liked chewing on it for a few minutes.

Free hotdogs? WHERE?!
Gibson and Aunt Tami. He can't wait til next year when he can join in the kiddie fun some more.
Uncle Harry? What is a firework?

CHOMP! Gibson looks so cute in this outfit, and as you can tell here, he loves to play with balls.

This is how he looks after breakfast clean up. He loves to mash bananas all over - he does eventually get some in his mouth too.