DC trip

Over the Easter weekend we took a long weekend while Steven was out for Spring break and headed to DC.  The last time I had been there for any length of time, was as a little girl with my Grandma Lareau and I still have such fond memories of that trip.  I was excited to be able to share that with my family.  We rented a place through airbnb and it turned out to be perfect.  We were in the Mount Pleasant historic district and were able to walk to the zoo and to places to eat all super close by.  The place we rented was perfect too- complete with toys for Gray!

Sunday was spent at the Museum of Natural History- Gray loved the insect zoo!

Fun at the National Zoo

My little naturalist :).  He loves using his "knock-ulars"

"He's saying hi to me!"

Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

My Great-Grandfather's headstone in Arlington

Easter at Maw-Maw's

We celebrated Easter early with the family over at Maw-Maw's, and as usual there was enough food to fed ten army's, cousins being wild and silly, and an Easter egg hunt.  Gray is starting to get the hang of the find the egg game, and had a good time playing with the big kids.  

My handsome kiddo :)

Gray with his pow-pow for Easter--I mean really, what could be more appropriate?

Big Boy Undies!

So in 10 years, this will be one of the posts, that Gray will hate me for, and I'll get one of those, "really, mom...really?" looks.  This past summer Gray was very close to being done with potty training, but then changed his mind...so we waited.  Then about a month ago he decided he was ready to quit wearing diapers.  Of course I was happy to oblige and do whatever I could to help the process along...i.e. bribery.  So we made a deal.  Only underwear for a week and I would get him a skateboard (scooter, but he calls it a skateboard...mostly because that is what he pretends it is, my little dare devil).

Well, he does it.  No accidents even!  So we get the scooter, and then guess what starts happening...accidents.  This kid is no fool.  So we have to take away the scooter.  Eventually it all works out, and now we are completely potty trained!  We have our moments, but life is so much easier...and cheaper!

My schedule has been super busy with work, so I took the rest of this week off.  Gave us some free time today to head to the library for the Easter Egg hunt.  Gray was so excited with each egg and the candy inside, that he only found three eggs!  The librarian felt bad, but he was happy as a lark because he had chocolate!  Love this kid.

story time

Stopping at the 2nd egg to get the candy out

"Cheese"

Grayism:  Lately Gray has been expressing how much he likes everything.  The other night we are tucking him in and he say's, "Mommy, I like your eyeballs".  

Last night it was even better- after I told him the next day would be a mommy and Gray day, he asked if we could go hike, and I said it depended on the weather.  He then says I like the greenway, can we go there?  I say sure bud, if the weather is ok.  Then he says I don't like the brown one, just the green one.  Silly boy.

Finally, snow!

Today we finally got some snow.  Not much, but at least Gray got to see some snow and play in it for awhile.  Last year we didn't get any, and I was starting to think this winter would be the same.  January and February are the toughest months for me around here, with everything dormant.  I actually enjoy seeing the snow and playing in it, so I was glad to finally see the white stuff.
We filled up at a spray bottle and let Gray pick out a color (food color), and headed outside to 'paint' the snow.  He had a blast.  We made snowballs, tried to catch snow flakes on our tongues and chased after all the snow flakes.

painting the snow

Catching snowflakes on our tongues

snowballs

chasing after snowflakes- he would try to spray them mid-air

Spidey pup enjoying his first snow.  He of course went crazy eating it and running around.

December

AJ and Gray

Wow, am I behind on this!  December brought Gray's first friend birthday party.  It was with his friend AJ, who Gray just loves.  It also brought beautiful, not typical December weather.  Weather perfect for our Monday hikes. 
December also brought us to Florida and a chance to visit with family and celebrate Christmas.

Getting ready for our shape hike

Gray was so excited about this "mask" he found on our hike

Blue Springs State Park

On our way to Florida we visited Blue Springs State Park.  It was one of my favorite places growing up, and probably one of the reasons I went into natural resources.  This park is famous for the manatees that come to visit it every winter.  The day we were there, there was over 240!  It was so much fun sharing this with Gray.  He loved the manatees.

Momma and her calf

My happy boys

Mam-moo chasing the boys with the dust buster!  They thought it was hilarious!

We stayed at my grandmothers new condo, but mom is taking care of her, so Gray was able to spend a lot of time still with his Mam-moo.  They were able to be silly with each other and have a good time. 

On Christmas Eve, Jessie, Brian, Kaleb and Jim came over for dinner and to open our gifts.  It was good to have everyone together, and the boys of course had a great time.

Jessie and Kaleb

Christmas morning

Gray was so excited about Christmas this year.  He really got into Santa and his elves.  It was really a lot of fun.  Gray got a puppy for Christmas and named him Spidey. On Christmas morning Santa also brought a cash register and a leap frog scan and count toy. 

Mam-moo bought both Jess and I family memberships to our local science centers.  So before we left, we all got together to go play and explore at the Orlando Science center. 

Silly Kaleb at Light up UCF