We had a great trip home, even though typically it went by way too fast. We had Gavin's party on Sunday and we didn't get to Ill. till Saturday afternoon so it was a mad rush to get things together for it. Unfortunately on Sunday morning there was a death in Jacob's family. That made the day a little sadder and understandably not many Abels made it to the party. Besides that, the party was a good time. My mom had borrowed a blow up jumper thingy from a friend to keep the kids happy. There were only 3 kids but it worked really well and I thought it was a great thing to have. Gavin adored all the attention and ran around like a crazy person half the time. When it came time to blow out his first candle his little cousin Peter, who is 2, did it for him. Gavin got to eat his first cake and he LOVED it. Actually he got more icing than cake but he didn't care. He got so many good gifts!! He got lots of big boy toys (he loves playing with them - great for me :) ), he got quite a few adorable summer outfits (I want to change him 3 times a day so that he can wear them all), and gift cards and money which always comes in handy with a 1 year old. He also got an adorable book with a teddy bear that goes along with the story - so cute!. Everyone was really generous and Gavin did pretty well for the first birthday of his life! After the party when we were cleaning up, his Winnie the Pooh balloons that said 1st birthday stuff accidentally flew away into a tree across the road. I was really bummed because I wanted them for keepsakes but they were high in a tree, there was nothing we could do. Later, right before we left, either my mom or Jacob's mom (or both I don't remember) started yelling that the balloons were moving and all of the sudden they flew out of the tree and somehow went over the building and ended up flying down Main st. Jacob and Rachel took off chasing them - Jacob kicking of his shoes and Rachel throwing her purse down- yelling all the way. They did catch them (actually they got stuck on something so they stopped but we will ignore that) and it was one of the funniest things I've seen. I realize that is a story were you really had to be there to understand everything but trust me it was funny and in the end we got the balloons back.
We had a really good visit with both our families and again Gavin loved all the attention he got. One time at the Abels' he was touching there fireplace when his Grandpa started shaking his head and saying NO. Gavin thought that was hilarious and he would go over to the fireplace and barely touch it just to make grandpa do it again. He laughed his little head off (that's what the first picture is of)
On Wednesday, his actual Birthday we lit his candle again and put it on his mutilated cake. He got to eat more cake and this time he did eat the actual cake, it made a BIG mess. My parents had saved their gifts so he had plenty to open on the real day too. It was just a really nice day and the only thing missing was Aunt Ellie who couldn't be there.
We were lucky when we were there this time because Gavin actually slept - we were there last June, September, and December- and he never slept! We actually left early at Christmas because of it. Before he never had a crib at my parents, we just put him in his playpen and that did not go over well. This time my Aunt Karen borrowed one for us and it worked. It was good that he slept so well this time because now he is walking (running) and using a lot more energy.
