Driving!

Ryland L-O-V-E-S to drive the car ... any car! He jumps right in (without any help from us) and knows just what to do. If his little feet could only reach the peddles ... we would be in trouble then!

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Dinosaurs!

Ryland L-O-V-E-S to play with his puzzles and his dinosaur one is his favorite! His puzzles usually stay lined up along the fireplace hearth. And then he will bring us the pieces one by one and then take them back to put it all back together. The other day instead of bringing the puzzle pieces to me he decided to line them up on the coffee table and play with them. And seeing them there just made me laugh ...


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Gulf Shores

This year we decided to change up the annual Gibson family reunion (my mom's side of the family) and head south to the beach! Tab, Ryland and I have not been able to make it to a family reunion in years because they are usually in October, in Alabama and on a Sunday afternoon so it is hard for us to make it. So we were excited about all going to the beach together and hanging out with family that we do not get to see very often.

Tab, Ryland and I got up really early on Thursday to drive south and ended up leaving so early that we decided to stop in Greenville, AL on the way to pick up the rest of the family and all caravan the rest of the way to Gulf Shores.

We rented a house on the beach that had a pool and a lot of bedrooms so that we could all fit. It was perfect and having the pool right outside the backdoor was really nice. There were 14 adults and 6 kids. The rest of the family were staying around the area and we all meet up in Orange Beach to eat and hang out.

Tab, Mark and Nate went fishing on Saturday morning and caught enough fish for everyone so they grilled it on Saturday night. And then we had a low country boil on Sunday. The guys did a great job cooking!

Miles is 1 week older than Ryland so it was really fun to see them play together. And since they all live in Chicago we hardly get to see them so it was nice to see them become friends.

Here are some pictures from our trip ...

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Playing the pool with daddy. We tried to get him to wear swimmies but he was terrified of them and that only lasted 30 seconds (just long enough for me to snap a few pictures!)
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Having fun inside ...
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Ryland and Miles ...
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All of the kids ... Ryland, Mandy, Nate, Marcy, Ki and Miles
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I snapped this picture right as a balloon had popped and it caught Ryland off guard ...
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At the Orange Beach community center were we met up with everyone for dinner on Saturday night and lunch on Sunday.
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Ryland fell asleep on the way to meet everyone for lunch on Sunday so he got to take his nap in the stroller!
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Did We Start the Terrible Twos a Little Early?!?

The last couple of weeks have been different and a little rough. Ryland's attitude and reaction towards certain things is definitely changing. And he has started hitting and throwing things when he does not get his way! Which means he has been spending some quality time in time-out. Surprisingly time-out seems to work in the moment ... he stays there for the minute and a half and after his time is up we talk to him about why he had to sit in time-out and he gives us a hug and then is back to his happy self. I just hope this is a short phase ... please let it be a short phase!

Dillard BBQ Competition and Bluegrass Festival

Tab and Greg competed in their 1st BBQ competition this weekend in Dillard, GA. There was a lot of preparation and excitement leading up to it. The Dillard BBQ Competition is one of the biggest in Georgia and they were excited to get in at the last minute. There were definitely some serious BBQers there ... I had no idea that people took it this serious! And I had no idea that there would be a majority of professional and commercial BBQ teams!

The guys got there bright and early on Friday morning. The smoker was fired up and meat added that night. They were up all night cooking pork, chicken, ribs and brisket. The turn in for each meat was around 12 - 1pm on Saturday so they had a lot of work to do leading up to that time.

My mom, dad, Ryland, Codi and I all drove over from Highlands on Saturday afternoon to see them and be there for the awards ceremony. Everyone was so exhausted when we got there and were all relived that all of the cooking was over.

The weather was really hot on Saturday ... and the sun was definitely bright! Ryland ended up getting more sun that afternoon than the entire time that we were at the beach last month!

Tab and Greg did a great job. There were no prizes this time but we are all so proud of them!

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It was really hot! Everyone was sweating ... including Ryland!
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Everyone came out to cheer on and support Tab ... even Codi!
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The competition! The Buttrub.com team took home the grand prize ... I guess they can now go and promote it on their nationally sold commercial butt rub!
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GT's BBQ area with all of their supporters!
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Ryland was definitely not in the mood to be held for a picture ... much too hot!

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The GT BBQ crew!
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Firetrucks!

Today was the annual Highlands, NC Firehouse - Open House. We all went up there to check out the big firetrucks! Ryland was so excited to see all of the firetrucks. They were letting people ride on top of one of the firetrucks but when we got up there with Ryland he did not like it so we came down. And then tried to ride in the front with the fireman but when he turned on the firetruck Ryland immediately wanted out. Maybe next year he will want to take a ride in it.

Here are some pictures from our fun morning.

Running to see all of the firetrucks ...

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Checking out all of the gadgets on the side of the firetruck ...
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Wow .. that is a big wheel ...
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Waiting in line to climb up on the firetruck. There was so much to take in ... as you can tell on Ryland's face ...
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Sitting in the front of the firetruck right before they cranked it up and he wanted out!

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Bathtime in Highlands!

We are having a great time in Highlands. Ryland is feeling much better and the blisters are going away on his feet. We will post more pictures soon!

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Hand, Foot and Mouth - YIKES!

They should actually call this the ... Hand, Foot, Mouth, Butt, Knee, Face, Arm and Wrist virus! Our poor little boy has this awful sounding bug. I feel like it has been coming on for some time now. Last week it started with an upset stomach and some random bumps that popped up on his arm and face. We did not think much about it thinking that he ate something that upset his tummy and that we did not scrub his face hard enough in the bath the night before. And then he got a really bad diaper rash and it was much more "bumpy" and not just the typical bright red surface area color. And then last night he felt a little warm so I took him temp before putting him in the bath and he had a slight temp of 101.3. And then I saw the sure sign as I was taking him out of the bathtub .... the bottom of his feet were covered in little blisters. I knew exactly what it was as soon as I saw them. And then I started putting all of the little signs together. Including the fact that all he wanted to do on the way home was take off his shoes and I kept putting them back on his feet so that we could go into Publix. Man do I feel like a bad mom :( Tab was at a dinner meeting last night so I called to tell him what I had discovered.

And to top off the night the following happened ... Ryland and I went back downstairs after his bath to get something to drink. Codi followed us and ended up throwing up a bunch of water on the kitchen floor. I thought I heard him throw up but when I turned around and did not see anything on the floor I thought everything was ok (remember ... it was definitely clear)! All of a sudden Ryland walks right in the middle of it and freezes. He looks down at his feet wondering what in the world he was standing in. I then realized that Codi had definitely thrown up and Ryland was standing in the middle of it. It was at that moment that Ryland decided that it was funny and started dancing in his throw up. Which prompted me to run towards him to get him out of it. Which then caused Ryland to run away from me. And then it happened ... He slipped and fell in it and it was a disaster!

Luckily Tab got home before Ryland went to bed. Ryland's favorite part of our nighttime routine is definitely he bedtime stories with daddy!

Tab took Ryland to the doctor this morning and they confirmed what I already knew ... He has the Hand, Foot and Mouth virus. There is not much that they can give him for it. We just have to let it run it's course. But we also found out that he has yet another ear infection in his left ear! So we are back on another round of antibiotics.

We are leaving tonight for Highlands, NC. We are going to be there through the weekend so this is actually good timing since Ryland would not be able to go back to school this week since he is sick and it is contagious. Tab is in a BBQ competition this weekend in Dillard, GA. This is his first BBQ competition so I will have to post more about it and pictures of the big event after this weekend!