What summer?

Wow?! Where did the summer go? We were the crazy traveling family. We started with a beach trip to Hilton Head with Grammy, Grampy, Addyson, Rorie and Macy. The boys had a BLAST and didn't want to leave. They lived in the water (beach and pool).

Cousin LOVE

Why yes Mr. Ducky, I LOVE the beach

G's first FULL juice box

After the beach trip to Hilton Head, Gavin had a camp at school for one week in June an one week in July called Summer Fun Days. They played outside, made crafts, jumped in a bouncy house, had music class and Popsicles on the playground. Gavin LOVES school (ESP his teachers) and mommy and gage enjoyed a little time to regroup.

Summer Fun

After Hilton Head we also were blessed with an amazing gift- ISR swimming lessons. We had taken music at our church with a little boy named Christopher and his mother Janet. Janet had told us she was an ISR swim instructor. I didn't have a CLUE as to what ISR was and what it meant. We had enrolled Gavin in swim lessons at Little Otter here in Charlotte, but it was more 'fun in the water' than learning how to swim. ISR stands for Infant Swim Resource and a resource is EXACTLY what it is!  We had approximately 6 weeks of lessons and I now feel confident that if Gavin fell into water, he could either make it to the side or turn over and float on his back until someone could get to him.  I have a couple pictures below.  My greatest fear this summer was having two kids under the age of two at the pool ALL BY MYSELF.  I think we all know that Gavin has no fear, so these lessons were more than a gift for the Milgate family.

 

After ISR we had another family beach trip.  This time it was with Brian's family in the Outer Banks- Rodanthe, NC.  Again, the boys enjoyed spending every minute with their cousins, Shane (and his girlfriend Ally), Sarah, and Violet.  Lots of beach time with day trips to Ocracoke for a ferry ride and Kitty Hawk to fly a kite on the sand dunes.  We LOVE the water!

Cousin LOVE!

Mommy and her Gmen!

Daddy and G flying a kite

Cousin LOVE- Shane giving gage a bottle

G LOVED the candy store in Orcracoke

Daddy and G made S'mores

 Overall we had a FABULOUS summer!  We are now in the midst of Fall which means football, chili and soups, sweats and sweaters and cool crisp weather to enjoy. 

Col Francis Beatty Park

Today we had an impromptu visit today at Col Francis Beatty Park. The G-men were at Grammy and Grampy's in the morning while I went to my Accupunture appointment. The park is close to their house and Gavin was getting stir crazy being in the house all morning, so OFF WE WENT! This park is a GREAT park for running / biking on trails, fishing, turtle / duck watching, playing softball/baseball and enjoying the beautiful weather.

There are two play areas of this park. We started at the small play area and then strolled to the larger area. On our way to the larger play area we passed turtles sunning on a log. There were probably over 100 and of course I didn't get a picture!

Once we got to the large play area Gavin was ready to run, jump, climb, dig, hammer (pretend with sticks), and slide. The GREAT thing about this playground is that most of the equipment is covered with a sunshade. After we played for a bit we decided it was time for lunch, then we played a little more and headed back to the car. On our way to the car we passed Gavin's all time favorite farm animal...DUCKS! Not just one ducks, but 20+ ducks!

As always, I have pictures below, but please know that they are NOT in order.  I try to load them correctly, but they always seem to get out of order. :) Next week we are going to try Latta Park as long as the weather plays nicely with us. I hear the spray park is a blast for the kids (young and old) to run through! Please feel free to join us.

Turtles sunning (there were TONS more in the other lake)

DUCKS!

Swing time

Climbing

All this playing wore this ghetto superstar OUT!

Gage LOVES his thumb

Yes Momma, I can climb the rock wall

SLIDE!

Watching G play wore g out too!

My sticks are my hammer and nails mommy

Lunch time for the G men with Grammy

G... IS... OUT!

Up or down the slide, I am still having fun.

Sunshades are GREAT!

g is happy to be in Gammy's arms

Here I come BIG slide

Yes I can do a pull up mommy!

Hall Family Farm

So today instead of going to a park we went with a couple friends (the normal crew- Lawson, Logan, Taylor, Lucy- Taylor's 4 week old sister, our new friend Logan and of course all their mommies) to the Hall Family Farm to pick strawberries. Well, The Gmen and I didn't pick strawberries because I had little G strapped to my chest but we did have a ton of fun! We played in the water with the water pumps with the ducks, we played with the BIG bouncy balls in the maze, we played in the sandbox (and had sand dumped on Gavin by some little girl who was decided she didn't want to play nicely- she stole a couple shovels from him and then looked at him and dumped a bucket of sand on his head that went down his shirt, pants and we later found more in his diaper), rode tricycles, pulled and rode in wagons, and FINALLY a tractor ride while looking at strawberry fields, chickens, bunnies, buzzards (or whatever those mean scavengers are called), a pond and tons of other fun stuff! We had a new friend join us today, Logan (the boy not our lovely LoLo) and his mommy Heather. Heather and I played volleyball at UNCW and recently found out that we live around the corner from each other! Small world! She has an adorable little boy and we were very happy to have them join us. I hope you enjoy the pictures below of our adventure at Hall Family Farm. I would highly recommend a visit to this farm to pick strawberries and enjoy all of the other fun activities.

Gavin is admiring the beauty of the Phillips women!

Lawson enjoyed the strawberries, LoLo crawling along the bench, G making a dash!

Mommy and the Gmen on the tractor- Please forgive the self portrait. :)

Heather and Logan!

Gavin enjoying one of the wagons on the farm

Can we get this tractor going please?

Mommy, I NEED one of these!

I am trying mommy, I am trying!

Picking strawberries at Hall Family Farm

Pump the water to get the ducks to the other side

Chantilly park

Today the Milgate clan hit Chantilly Park and the Phillips family joined in the fun. We decided to go earlier than our normal time of 10:30, so we were there around 9:00 am. Gavin had a blast learning how to climb a rock wall, walk over a swinging bridge, go up and down steps, crawl through a tunnel, slide down a steep slide, ride a horse or 'neigh' as he calls it, take a moment to enjoy a swing ride, climb a ladder and hang from the monkey bars. When Logan (aka LoLo) came with her mommy, she and Gavin had a blast running back and forth on the ramps and the trail. There was a brief moment of peek a boo on the ladder. They literally ran themselves out, so much so that Gavin had to take a snooze in the car on our way to our next adventure for the day!  Gage enjoyed himself as well. The warm sun was shining on him and made him a very happy baby.


This is a great toddler park. There are very few openings for rambunctious toddlers to fall through and climbing toys are pretty low to the ground, so the fall is not far. Overall another great park visit. I have attached a couple pictures to enjoy. (Sorry they are not in order, they were posted from my phone.)

Next week we will be going to Latta Park and more info can be found on the link below:
http://charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/ParkandRec/Parks/ParksByRegion/CentralRegion/pages/lattapk.aspx

Hope to see you next week around 10:30 a.m. at Latta Park!

Gavin taking a snooze AFTER the park visit

Yes I can, Yes I can

Pull ups for Gavin!  He made daddy proud.

Come on mommy, climb the stairs with me

Rocking horse- NEIGH!!

It's a castle, no it's a climbing wall.

VERY steep slide- Here he goes!

G can climb mountains!

Now he can climb rock walls

Gage was a happy baby enjoying the cool morning and the sun shining on him.

Peek a boo with Logan and Gavin

Come on LoLo, you can do a pull up too!

I see you, do you see me?