Caleb and I flew to SLC on Thrusday, November 6th and we had a wonderful week in Ephraim. The flight went really well. I came prepared with all sorts of snacks and things to do on the plane and hardly used any of them on the flight--but better safe than sorry. :) Our flight was delayed but since we had a great view of planes and all that goes on with them Caleb was quite content to watch out the big windows and snack on crackers. Here's his first view of the planes out the window. This isn't quite to our gate and it was tough to convince him to keep walking. :)
The flight was completely booked so Caleb sat on my lap and we sat next to a nice retired couple that wanted to play with Caleb. We also got to sit next to the window. It happened to be over the wing which I found nice because I could point to the wing and tell Caleb we were in the airplane and that was the wing. He was pretty fascinated. I thought he'd like to see out the window but the most interesting thing about the window was the little shade that went up and down. We made sure it worked and didn't break. For all reading, you can count on the durability of Southwest's window shades. :)
Needless to say my parents were really happy to see us and Caleb slept most of the way to Ephraim.
In Ephraim there were many high lights. Probably at the top of the list is the pets. My parents have two dogs and four cats. None of which are very good with kids. They have an old little dog who is mostly deaf and blind and wasn't good with kids to begin with. Since she can't see or hear she wasn't too much of a problem as long as Caleb didn't get really close. One time he walked too close to her on his way to get me and she lit into him, but thankfully, no harm done. Our other dog is scared of everything and would growl at Caleb if he got too friendly. But if my dad was there she would play. Caleb got to throw sticks and toys for her when Grandad was around and he loved that. Most of the cats just tried to stay away. Maggie, one of the cats was very patient and Caleb would chase her every chance he got. He loved to see her jump off of things and would stand in front of her as she rested on the arm of the couch and yell, "Jump! Jump!" Then if she would finally comply, he wanted her to get back up and do it again. :) For the most part she was very tolerant and let him pet her and command her to do what she had no intention of doing. At the very end of our stay, Orleans, the youngest cat warmed up and nozzled Caleb. I wasn't there but Grammy said it was really cute. I suppose it goes without saying that the Gardner pets are resting easier and do not miss a certain little boy.
Other high lights inculded throwing stick and leaves off the bridge into the water and generally playing outside. There is a stream that flows through my parent's back yard and Caleb loves to go out on the bridge and throw things into the water. These are pictures from our last day here of Caleb and Grammy throwing leaves and sticks into the water.
Here comes Grandad!
It wasn't the best outside weather for most of the week, but on Saturday Grandad, Caleb and I went for a walk. According to Grandad's GPS we walked a whopping 1/3 mile and then turned around and walked back. Caleb loves to dig in the dirt and he had a grand old time. We also picked dried grass and made a boquette for Grammy, threw rocks into a puddle, threw sticks for Sunny (the dog), and did lots of running and a bit of jumping. He is currently obsesed with jumping. On Sunday my mom and I were walking home with Caleb and my dad had ridden his bike home. Caleb kept wanting to jump (have us swing him in the air) which is not safe unless you hold them at the shoulders--and doing that hurts my back for some reason. So we told him that when we got home Grandad would jump with him. As soon as he got to the house, Grandad opened the do0r and Caleb shouted "Jump!" Here's a video of Caleb playing with Grandad on a different day, but you can see that they had a lot of fun.
Grandad bought Caleb a book and they read it together for bedtime. At the end of the video Caleb was pushing Grandad because he wanted him to lay down. Caleb and Grandad would "go boom" by falling down on the bed and I guess Caleb decided they needed to read the story laying down, only I stopped recording since I didn't know what was going on.
I realize there are a lot of videos of my dad with Caleb. He d id have a wonderful time with everyone. I think when my mom was playing with him, I was busy doing other things and my dad played with him in the evening after dinner when we were all just sitting around. Here is one evening when they were playing with this game that we grew up with. My Grammy is amazing with wood and carved all the pieces and made up the game. We loved playing it and Caleb loves putting all the trees in the holes.
We also can't forget a wonderful visit from one of Caleb's favorite entertainers. Aunt Katie, my sister, has been able to entertain Caleb and make him happy from the first few days of his life. I think they have a special bond. Unfortunately I was not very good at taking pictures. Here's a picture of them paying with some of the dishes from our childhood. My parents have a cupboard and chairs that go back at least 4 generations and Caleb loved playing with the dishes, taking them in and out of the cupboard, stirring, pouring, and lots of pretending.
My grandparents live a few blocks from my parents so we got to spend a little time with them too. Here's Caleb walking with Great-Grammy in their back yard. We also had a great time playing in the leaves.
My grandparent's dog, Toke, stole Caleb's stick and he was very upset about it.
My mom accompanied me to the gate. Caleb had fallen asleep and she carried him while I pushed the stroller with the car seat.
