Wild Animals oh my!

Well we visited the Pine Mountain Wild Animal Park today. It's been open for many many years and I've never been and wow - that's about all I can say! We get there and keep in mind I don't know anything about it. I ask what do we do - we want to see animals - my son (Gabe) loves animals! She says there's a drive thru section and a walk through section. For the drive thru you can drive your own vehicle or for $11 more you can use their zebra print ones (basic run down but drive-able mini vans). I said "what should we do?!" Keep in mind I know nothing, well thank goodness she says well "sometimes" the animals get pretty close and they do have horns/antlers. And me with a new Honda Pilot I said $11 is petty cash, we'll take the Zebra print van for $11! THANK GOODNESS! Basically in this park all 400,000 animals are right up on top of your vehicle (you can feed them from your vehicle and they know it). My Aunt Bobbie kept reminding me of the commercial where an elephant sits on the hood of a tourist car. Well good news there aren't any elephants in this park but there were lions, tigers (these were in cages), camels, giraffes, buffalo, elk, zebras, pigs (all of these roamed everywhere and would have sat on your laps if we had opened the van door)! We started the car tour and the animals we waiting impatiently. Gabe did not care for it, the animals plain scared the mess out of him. I'm looking forward to nightmares starting tonight. It took about 30 minutes (half of the drive around the park) for him to get calmer and then he was all about trying to get my Aunt Bobbie to hand feed these animals - right into happening! Some of them have huge horns! After all this we did the walking bit and it was nice and Gabe enjoyed it but didn't quite understand why climbing fences wasn't allowed! Wow! Not sure about another visit! It's a great place to visit for a tad older children but if you aren't for keeping animals in their non-habitat then I wouldn't recommend.

How long does Halloween last?

3 days for us! Halloween . . . it's a busy time. Gabe had a wonderfully cute Jester outfit that was passed down from his nephew (Tyler) but was missing one of the booties so I purchased him cute little Penguin outfit to wear and the booty was found in Cincy so Gabe had not one but two cute outfits for Halloween - thank goodness Halloween lasted several days (did I say that?!). Okay Wednesday night we headed to my old Church (my mom's Church) for their Fall Festival - this is where we learned Gabe LOVES lollipops! He did a great job at all the games and enjoyed to the fullest digging in the bowls of candy for the lollipops! I think he totalled 3 lollipops that night and went to bed on time thank you very much! They had 2 miniature ponies which Gabe kept yelling "HORSES". So I said sure let's put you on one and at least take a picture - NOT! First we've realized just because you love saying a word doesn't mean you want to touch and second Gabe must have jinxed the camera - didn't work but only for that moment - it continued to work after we grabbed the screaming child off the miniature pony having a heart-attack. So no photos - sorry. Night 2 was in Valley, AL. The tri-cities (Valley, Lanett, West Point) celebrated Halloween the night before due to playoff football games Halloween night. So off we went to Nanna's. They had "Trunk or Treat" down there and I believe the entire city was there. But the craziness didn't slow Gabe down but he learned a lot about being patient! Gabe I don't believe ever knew you had to wait in a line to do something but to ride the train that is what he had to do. And that's where the lollipops started again! How many lollipops can be eaten waiting for a train - LOTS! In addition to the train due to way too many kids, Gabe stayed on the "trunk" of his Nanna's and passed out candy . . . or ATE the candy! Overall, 5 lollipops, 2 miniature peanut butter cups, sweet tarts, a peanut butter log (small), and some nerds and the boy was only 30 minutes late to bed - not bad - I do believe he takes sugar well! Day 3 of Halloween started with a Halloween parade at school - so so funny how parents surround edges of the gym pointing, shooting cameras and videos of the kids dressed up parading around the floor. There's no wonder why some kids don't make it around but once. That'll be Gabe, he made it around once then wanted Mom and I was able to get him back into the parade the last round by walking with me and his precious little girlfriends (whom he has a love hate relationship with - they love each other so but are the typical couple - has their fights which leads to their timeouts!). Okay we've now made it to Halloween night - we basically hit a house or two treat or tricking and then went up to our Church, First Baptist and did some carnival activities and once again he loves all the games but I believe the best part was the lollipops - I think we were back to 3 for the night. And since it was Halloween we let him stay up late but due to the long long week - he didn't make it, fall fast asleep and it's been a week with no LOLLIPOP!

Fall with the Shaws

Howdy - It's been a bit - let's see if I can remember everything that's been going on! For the most part this fall has flown by and before you know it Gabe's going to be 2 (1 week away!!!!) Life is so so different from the times I could come home from work and relax. Thank goodness for TiVo that's all I have to say! Okay to begin the Fall we hit the Atlanta Aquarium. I put going off long enough - I was trying to let some of the newness wear off since the Atlanta Aquarium is fairly new but since the boy has been showing so much interest in "fish" I figured the time had come and it wasn't too crowded. We had a fabulous time. I would dare to say the Penguins impressed him the most. He loved those penquins. We even let him pick something out of the gift shop afterwards (something I was never allowed to do - thanks parents) and he chose a penguin which he quickly named Ping! We'll definitely go back but we're thinking about stepping it up and going to Seaworld next summer in FL - I have a best friend, Tiffany whom lives near Seaworld, maybe she can show us the ropes. Okay, trip two was to the beach, our last of the year sadly but it was a wonderful trip to Seabrook Island near Charleston with some of our closest friends (Beth, Dan, and Fenn whom is not quite a year younger than Gabe). Leading up to this trip we spoke about the "beach" so much I think Gabe thought Fenn's name was "Beach". At the beach we had a great RELAXING time. We rented bikes (Gabe liked day 1 but not so much day 2 - never quite understood why his dad had to be in front of him?!) It was chilly but we made it out on the beach both days and the weather was fabulous, water was a little chilly for me but the boys loved it! I think Gabe made a good friend in Fenn aka Beach, we were a little worried since Gabe's a little older - he might teach him some bad tricks?! But I don't think Gabe did too much damage. Overall we loved our beach trip and hoping it can be a yearly trip. A big thanks to our friends, Pipers! Finally we've made it to Tech for a game, sort of. We ventured up to Georgia Tech for Homecoming this year but decided against going to the game - we were hoping to see the "Wreck Parade" but this Saturday morning Gabe decided to sleep in and I hated to wake him. So we got to Atlanta at the tail-end of the parade but still were able to meet up with a lot of ZTA sorority sisters whom I haven't seen in years. And we were even able to meet up with Uncle Jeff (he had come in as well for the game from Cincy). And sorry no photos - we can't remember everything on trips - I forgot the camera (and I hate that because they have all the cool Buzzes around campus painted with different themes and Gabe wanted to hug them all). Well that about it up to Halloween and stay tuned for the next posting on that!

Borbet (ATS) Family Day

Saturday we had Jim's company's Family Day at the Water Park in Auburn, AL. It was a fun day. First let me tell you that Auburn was playing at home so the traffic getting there was quite crazy but we made it and weren't too terribly late. Upon walking into the park Gabe got a big grin on his face and started shouting "wawer wawer wawer" and barely would allow us to get him changed (can't put that swimmy diaper on until we exit the car!) We finally got him suited up and life jacketed and off he ran. We got him luckily in the direction of the kiddie area and let the fun begin. He loved everything. They had a see-saw that shot water at your partner (which started as Jim and I - what fun - but quickly changed to another little tot thank goodness). Then there was a rocking snail I believe Gabe was quite adamant about either Jim and I sitting on - and this didn't go well for the other kids that wished to enjoy it, but we were able to move on. And off to a distant there was the kiddie slide which wasn't too little - bigger than those at the local park and mommy saw another kid a tad older than Gabe going down and really enjoy it and mommy knew that Gabe loved those slides at the park so off we went. Well . . . Gabe needed a trial run - the first time down he turned over half way down and then stopped and once the water built up he went flying down and somehow got turned around and went straight into the pool head first - daddy of course was waiting. Well . . . Gabe figured that was a blast let's do it again - only the next time he was a pro and sat up and let the water do the work! After all that we got Gabe kicking and screaming to leave the pool for a quick bite and to grab the camera. We were able to head back over to the kiddie pool for a short bit for some video and photos and yes even tried to get the slide in there - we'll see how it turned out?! BTW - that Lazy River wasn't for Gabe - too slow!

Vocabulary scary!

The boy is growing up quite fast. He can do the easy puzzles now - the ones that have the nobs on them but not quite the ones that are jig-saw puzzles. We're working. We're quite into flashcards as well. He's gotten to the point if I ask for him to point to something he'll point right at it, no matter what the word is for the most part and even try to say it. His favorite word is still "NO!" and Friday night we heard him say (even had him repeat it) "No Way!" and then Sunday we got a 3 word phrase from him "No I'm not!" Wow - where does this come from - let's hope daycare and not home!! So I guess it goes down in the baby book he's up to 3 words - just not sure if I'll include what 3 words - could be worst! But overall we're so proud of the boy and he amazes us daily with how smart he is. He's not even 2 and it blows me away at how he says so much and knows so much. And here I though Mommy knew everything and said everything - I do believe I have competition!

Past couple of weeks!

Let's see . . . not much has gone on the past couple of weeks in the Shaw household to speak of. We've been in a spring cleaning mode - or one might better put it as a "fall" cleaning mode. And to clarify that would be Jim and Kama doing the cleaning and Gabe doing the de-cleaning! I tell you one thing the boy loves the "Clean-up Song". He'll dance to it as you clean up - somethings wrong with that?!?! Anyway, we've been cleaning b/c we're considering putting our home on the market . . . for a reason or two or three. First, Gabe's taken over our home - imagine that. The dining room is a playroom, the den is a funroom, the sunroom is a specialtime playroom, his bedroom is a occassional playroom (dare we mess that room up), our bathroom and bedroom is a when-in-need playroom. So do you get the picture?! And did I take photos - nope - should have, could have, but didn't. It's been like those before and after photos when you're remodeling your home; we were just cleaning up!! We need space!! So that would be reason number 1. Reason number 2 is we want to get closer to town - ok for any of you that live in a big city - we might be close enough to town but those that live in a small town a matter of a couple of miles is huge! We live in a great tiny subdivision with wonderful people but it's one road not even 1/4 mile and it's a hill like a black diamond out in Colorado - not the best wagon pulling street - ok maybe it is for the 35 year old legs but don't think so - kind of boring. And to add to it we'd like Gabe to one day be in the "city" school district - we're in the county now. And for the final reason is some great homes have gone up on the market lately and got our juices flowing! Wish us luck!!
In the midst of all our cleaning, we've continued on our lives and enjoyed watching Gabe grow up each and every day - he's learning words every day and to our amazment has picked up several. Basically if you say it chances are you'll be hearing it soon from him. Right now his biggest words are the typical "No", "Mine", "Abby" (my mom's neighbors dog whom he loves, care less about our two mutts), any animal he'll say (like when we went to 641 - new restaurant on the lake and he saw ducks in the water and wow - he loved them and preceeded to let everyone know DUCK, DUCK, DUCK - guess he won't be invited on any hunting trip anytime soon - he'll have the ducks flying south in no time), "Big Truck" (for the longest time if it had wheels it was a "Car"), "Herm" (that would be short for Herman his forever best friend, teddy bear), and our newest one is . . . "Beach" (grandma just returned and we're fixing to go with our dear dear friends from Knoxville, Beth and Dan, whom we miss so much, they have a soon to be 9 month old, Fenn, and we're so looking forwarded to a relaxing several days with them down in Seabrook Island, SC, so we're hoping in the next 2-3 weeks we'll get him saying "Fenn" "Beth" and "Dan", shouldn't be too hard). Regardless the boy loves to talk - not sure where he picked that up - wasn't his daddy! That's it for now - check back and maybe I'll get some photos to add to this!

Let's play ball!

Go Jackets! Wait a minute . . . maybe I should just wait for basketball season?!

Teeth?

Well it's just another day in the life at the Shaw household - Gabe stirring life up. For the last week he's been waking up I would say every other night and he NEVER wakes up. We're very fortunate. I think the nights Gabe's friend - Fenn sleeps Gabe's awake and then the other way around. I'm thinking teeth - the 4 canines (fags), he has his first 4 premolars and we're just waiting for the ones in front of those but strange thing is when he wakes in the night he's not upset (once you get in his room), he's just awake - fully awake for 1-2 hours!! Wow - mommy's not used to this!

Friends

Well Gabe had his second birthday party to go to and absolutely loved it. They had it at the First Baptist Church where he attends day-care and it was one of his classmates - SaraLynn's birthday. Several of his classmates were there. Although we had such fun for those 2 hours it was quite sad because all of Gabe's "Toddler" class but his friend Cadence are moving up to the "Twos" this week. He's been with this group for several months as he was with this group for several months in the "Creeper" room before. There's a break between Gabe and the next older boy - Carson, by 3 months so I guessed they figured it was a good place to split. So this party was kind of like a last hola for Gabe until of course he moves up to the "Twos" in a couple of months - potty-training! With all this said we're excited to have a great group of kids moving up and he already has several friends within them. And Gabe will be the "oldest" - kind of scary!! This is quite an important class since they learn to sleep on a cot instead of a crib (strangely I find out last week that Gabe has a cot away from everyone else on the other side of the room on the other side of a table since he enjoys talking with everyone over sleeping but this way they say he's the first one asleep every day - minus one day last week when I guess he had too much sleep the night before and decided to sing to everyone the entire nap-time - whose kid is this?!?!), they drink out of a big people cups (Gabe still enjoys pouring all over him instead of drinking it however - he comes home in different clothes quite often b/c of this), they eat at a table in a chair rather than a highchair and eat on their own (minus the mashed potatoes I hear - they still need assistance with that to avoid a mashed potato war) and they are learning colors, animals and all sorts of new things. This is quite an entertaining class. So with all this said Good-bye to the old friends for now and Welcome to the younger group - BEWARE!

Closer to 2 than 1!

Jim, Gabe and I just returned from a beach trip where I quickly came to light that Gabe is growing up quite quickly. I realized he's closer to 2 than he is to 1. Wow! He's just so big and quite independent. We had a great time. We traveled up to Atlantic Beach NC for a week with family. Gabe appeared to really enjoy the beach. The first day I was told "don't let him get his face wet in the ocean or he won't want to get back into the ocean" but too late upon first steps into the ocean - he was knocked right down - and LOVED IT! From that moment on he wouldn't get out of the water. I must say after a week at the beach he's got strong legs from withstanding the currents. If we had let him I'm sure he'd be half way to Europe. I have always enjoyed swimming so I'm very happy he's so comfortable with the water (maybe a little too much - no fear!). Throughout the beach trip Gabe (whom loves dogs) made friends with well over 20 pups. The beaches were quite busy with dogs this year (sadly our two mutts were back in GA visiting with the Vet). To add to the list of NO FEAR - Gabe has no fear of dogs - he'd go right up to them and pet away! There was the most adorable dog there at the beach all week named Frazier that I was always quite amazed Gabe had no fear of - a beagle Great Dane that was approximately 3 feet tall and only 7 months old. Such a sweet pup and nope I forgot to click a photo. One day I'll get the hang of taking photos. There were several good ones I got but several I wish I had gotten. Overall it was a great trip and we hope maybe end of the summer or early fall we can take another weekend trip to the Gulf.

P.C.

Gabe's first visit to the Gulf went well. We all traveled to the coast with the Summers/Shaw clan and had a fabulous time - good company (family of course), good food, and good weather. Gabe seemed to be indifferent about the ocean. We're keeping in mind that the Gulf and the Atlantic are a tad different. We head to NC beaches later this summer. We couldn't have asked for better weather, sunny skies and warm but not too hot of weather - just right. And the nights were prefect - Gabe even got his first golf lesson one night.