Plane Rides and Buggy Sightings

A couple weeks back Grayden and I (Jen) took a weekend trip to Ohio for some family time. My great Uncle Larry and Aunt Jo Ellen from California were going to be in town and a Doyle reunion was in the works. Because we've been traveling so much we've had little time to get the house worked on, so Rob stayed home and invited his Dad and Grandpa to help do some handy man work. I was really hesitant to make the 9 1/2 hour drive to Ohio with Grayden by myself. (Just the thought of stopping at a rest area for a potty break brought pictures to my mind of myself on the toilet and Grayden crawling under the stall and being grabbed by some lunatic woman...I could just see how it would all unfold. The chaotic trip to Ohio) Anyway, because of my crazy anxiety disorder, I decided it would be easier for Grayden and I to fly. I made the flight for the late in the evening and to fly back early in the am. I thought Grayden would do better if it was close to his sleeping times. The whole airport experience with a child was a little terrifying to me- again my anxiousness was sinking in and I was just afraid that he would have terrible earaches just like Rob or that he would want to run up and down the aisle way. We got to the airport, checked our carseat and suitcase, and said our goodbyes to Rob. And then it was just me. In the airport alone. I got in the line for security. I was holding Grayden, the diaper bag and pushing the stroller. As we got closer, I started to close the stroller to put it on the conveyer belt (I think that's what it's called, correct?) Holding a child who wants to get down and trying to close a stroller is a bit of a task, but I mastered it pretty easily. Just as I fhad finished getting everything on the belt (sandels, diaper bag, stroller), the nice security man looked at Grayden and said" Ma'am you will need to take off his shoes too, please." I looked at him appalled. I didn't say anything, but with one hand started untying his shoes, which let me explain; we have to double knot his shoes to a perfect science so he can't take them off. It takes me forever to get his shoes off somedays...and this was one of those days. I was holding up the line trying to untie my 15 month old's shoes!! Are you kidding me? He's not even two! Do you think he has a knife hidden in those shoes? Ridiculous. After much effort and the nice security man finally offering to help untie them, we got his shoes untied and made our way through the metal detector. We made it through, with no problems. I start to get my things, when the next nice security woman approaches me to tell me she needs to check Grayden's sippy cups, which was to be expected. As I struggle to get the stroller out and open, place my screaming son into the stroller, get my sippy cups back, and move out of the way, a buisness man walks by laughing hysterically at me and says "they made you take off his shoes??" I shoke my head yes...and he continued on laughing like a mad man. I was glad I wasn't the only one who thought it was silly.

The actual flight was good- Grayden had his 15 month shots that morning and was pretty worn out, so he fell asleep as soon as we got on the plane. The flight back was similiar... And overall I was relieved. We made it through our first airport and plane ride.

We had a great visit with family. We spent Friday in Dover, Ohio and went to Amish Country for the day. Grayden enjoyed some fabulous amish food (grilled cheese, creamed corn, and yeast rolls...), saw some horse and buggys, went to the petting zoo at the flea market and enjoyed his own ice cream cone. Saturday we cooked out at my Uncle Chas and Aunt Lori's house. Grayden got to spend time with several of my family and we had a great time. Overall, the hectic airport experience was worth it...


Here are some pictures from Amish Country and our Reunion:



Grayden with his Great Uncle Charles (they matched!)



My cousin Meagan and I trying on hats.


Uncle Brian, Grayden, Jen, and Gr'ma


Loves ice cream!! (This was a free kids scoop!)

At the petting zoo.

Part of the family at the reunion.



Grayden and his second cousin Zachary in the pool.

Have your cake... Eat it too. How about a trip to the Zoo?

We're a little behind in our blogging. I've been waiting on pictures before I updated. And now that we have them, here we go!


A few weeks back, Rob, Jen, Grayden, and Miss Riley packed our bags and made the long trip to Michigan. Our niece Blair turned 1 on May the 21st, but her birthday celebration was held on May the 30th and we couldn't miss it. She did great opening her presents, but after Grayden's birthday, we were a little disappointed in her cake eating efforts. She couldn't have been more uninterested. I don't even know if she ate any. Grayden even seemed a little disappointed and when no one was looking, I let him steal a few bites off her tray. I just love when we get the cousins together. They are just so funny together. One minute they are SOOO interested in each other, the next minute, it's like they don't even realize the other is there. My favorite moment was on our way to my brother Jason's softball game. They were in their car seats right next to one another, and Grayden kept laughing out loud (it sounds as if he's faking it), and Blair would start dying with laughter. They kept doing this back and forth. It was a riot.


The birthday party was on a Saturday. Rob and I were planning to leave Sunday morning immediately after church. Well, my sister Mandy and I just happen to love the zoo. And all day Saturday we kept whispering to each other that we should go to the zoo Sunday morning (instead of church). With much effort for some and little effort on others, we convinced the family to join in our hypocrisy and go to the Detroit zoo instead of church. Our winning argument? "The kids never get to see each other...when will they ever get the chance to go to the zoo together?" Honestly, the kids could probably care less. But Mandy and I, we couldn't be more excited. This was Grayden's first trip to the zoo. Overall, I think he was still a little young to understand. He wasn't interested in the boring sleeping tigers, bears, camels, rhinos, blah blah. He did LOVE the meerkats though. He laughed at them the entire time. The pink butt monkey intrigued him for a little while. And his third most favorite animal? The emu. Attention Gamma Xi brothers, Rob did not force this upon him. It was a natural fascination. Maybe it's fate.

Overall, we had a fantastic time, and for those of you who are judging us for skipping church, I will have you know we listened to Grayden's "Jesus music" the entire way there. We even sang along- showing our praises to the Lord. And we thanked God for the animals that we saw that day.
Pictures below!

Rob, Jen, and Grayden at Blair's party

Checking out the cake

Even Grayden and I got cake on our faces...

At the zoo: Gr'ma, Jen, Rob and Grayden in the meerkat cave.

Uncle Jason with Blair and Rob with Grayden

Grayden and Blair hitch a ride on the rhino.

The kids passed out.

Grayden asleep with the stuffed meerkat his Uncle Brian bought him.

3 Ladies and a Baby go to the BEACH!

A few weeks back, Grayden and his Momma left Daddy at home and took off for the beach. One of my very best friends, Christa lives in Pensacola, Florida and is getting married in November! Christa and I began our friendship our freshman year of college, and it has continued to grow through graduation, weddings, babies, etc. She was in my wedding and now she has asked me to be in hers! YAY! Now, I wasn't about to make this trip alone with Grayden, and my other dear friend Heather (Schow) who is also in the wedding and the last amigo in our "3 amigos" trio, jumped at the chance to see Christa. And of course, who would turn down a chance to go to the beach!??

It was a great reunion. No matter how long the three of us go without seeing each other, it's as if nothing has changed from the days we spent at Lipscomb together. I really don't know what I'd do without these girls in my life. They are truly a blessing. We had a great visit, even if it was only for a weekend.

The trip to Florida was a long one. It's a 7 hour drive, which should be a piece of cake for me since I'm used to making 9 hour trips to Ohio and Michigan. However, I NEVER drive when we go to Ohio... except maybe for an hour. But, I offered to drive, since we were taking Grayden and I didn't want him making a huge mess in Heather's new car. The trip went well; Heather and I always find enough to talk about. Grayden was a good boy and really enjoyed Heather's attention. He did have one ridiculously long tantrum that caused him to lose his voice a few days later. He screamed for about 45 minutes straight, which was a little miserable, because we were stuck in rush hour traffic and weren't moving. But it may have been a bit of a blessing too, because just before he started screaming, the conversation between Heather and I had hit a bit of stall. So Grayden's temper tantrum timing was perfect. :)

Saturday was a very busy day. Grabbed delicious bagels at the awesome bagel shop, spent hours at David's Bridal trying on bridesmaid dresses (Grayden was very confused by all the mirrors there, he kept running into them. He always looked very confused afterwards...), spent some time laying out at the beach, spent time with Christa's family, took Grayden to to the beach for the VERY first time, and had a delicious dinner on the beach. Grayden wasn't really sure about the beach when we got there. He didn't want to walk on the sand and when I sat him down next to the water, he cried. He seemed very confused by the concept of sand and often looked at me, like "Mom, why is this stuff on my hands? I can't get it off..." But overall, I think he enjoyed himself. I know he really loved spending time with his "auntie" Christa and "auntie" Schow.

Here's some pictures of our trip!

Heather, Jen and Grayden

"Mom, what is this stuff??"

Christa and Heather