ROAD TRIP!!

On July 4th everyyear, we (my mom's side family in the deep south) hold a family gathering at Uncle Stephen and Aunt Diana's. Last year's July 4th fell in the middle of the week, so we did not attend. This year's 4th was on a Friday, which worked out perfect for us! Before the roadtrip, we had some friends visiting us from out of town. It was Matt, LeAnna, and Patrick. We have not seen them in forever, and it was the first time we got to meet the much talked about little Patrick. For months, Tish + LeAnna had talked about how exciting they were for Grayson and Patrick to meet, and all the fun things that they would do. One of those things was playing at the Neighborhood splash park. Grayson had only gone to this park once since he started walking. He is a little intimitated by the strong jets (getthing his face all wet). But in time, he will be a pro. Here are some pics of Patrick and Grayson having fun...

*Note: AFTER Tish and I got to the spash-park, we realized how his swim trunk is kinda "fruity". We bought some newtrunks the next day...

The two dudes exploring!

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"YOU touch it!"

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Grayson loves water (and his ba-ba too).

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Something else we did was feeding the ducks at the pond nearby. It is Grayson's favorite past time. We thought Patrick might like it as well. Here are pics of the two sharing the red wagon and "breaking bread"....

"Gosh, they sure are hungry!"

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"Can we have some bread now?!"

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Patrick and Grayson had a great time, and did well sharing toys together.

The next morning, we let Grayson dictate when we were going to start our 4 to 8-hour journey. We wanted the drive to be as smooth as possible, so having King Grayson happy/content was key. I think we left Dallas around 10:30am. We made stops as much as needed (for the antsy boy and the pregnant mama). All in all, G did an excellent job in the car, with the help of DVD's, his parents singing, tiredness, and scenery distracting him. One time while he was napping for only 20 minutes, the stupid tolltag fell and woke him! He was not too happy. When we got to the Houston area, G was sleepy again but fighting it. After we got to the hotel, we immediately tried to put him down. We wanted a "refreshed" G when we present him to the family...but he had other plans. He was excited to meet his relatives! So we gave in, strapped him into the car, and headed towards my Aunt D's.

The hotel was fairly close to my Aunt's so we got there in no time. Everyone was already there awaiting for our arrival. It was so good to see the family. And it was also the first time Grayson meet his same age cousin - Koyuki! Koyuki is a month older than G, but she is a much smaller todd. She is a precious little doll! It took a little bit for G to warm up, but they were playing together before we knew it. Here is a good pic to give you a "scale" of the giant and the princess. :-)

Seems that the beach ball was the common denominator between the two.

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Grayson and Koyuki taking a dip in the heat! It is funny how they played in the water "together" but about 5 feet apart!

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One of things that my aunt tries to do whenever my mom visits for July 4th is to celebrate her (my mom's) birthday early. A mango cake (her favorite) was purchased as usual. When the cake was brought out and placed in front of my mom, Grayson was with her. He actually assisted his mah-mah on cutting the cake! Here is a family photo taken in front of the cake.

Grayson was distracted by the new toy that his grandparents got him.
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The following day, we decided to visit the Houston Aquarium. We have had plans to visit there for a long time, ever since we saw how cool it looked one time when Tish and I went downtown for a concert. Also, we knew that Grayson would love it. We got to the Aquarium around lunch time. When we got to the aquarium, this is what happened...

That is right. The man fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got there. It is so funny because it seems that every time we make plans to take him somewhere unique, he decides to snooze. We have so many pics of him asleep at cool places! :-)

Instead of going into the Aquarium, we decided to grab lunch while he sleeps. Just as we turned around to leave the Aquarium entry, our sleeping giant woke up. What would help a 17 month old toddler wake up on a warm summer day?! Giant fish!

"Mom, why is this thing staring me down? I just woke up!"

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Grayson and his ba-ba checking out all the fishies.

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The father and son admiring he cool white tigers.

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"Look behind you!"

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Mom and g having a good time while waiting for a table at the restaraunt in the Aquarium. They were doing some big time spinning.

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On the third day(last day in Houston), we wanted to visit the Forbidden Gardens. It is a replica/museum of the Forbidden City (Historical Chinese Palace/complex). It was a hot day and the place was in BFE, so we were worry about how Grayson would be. To our surprise, he behaved extremely well. We giggled at times when we noticed how focus Grayson was on the tour guide. See?

Maybe G found her sleeveless style interesting...

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GKT giving his grandma some sugar.
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Our ride home was a little rougher but not too bad. Like us, I think Grayson was just tired of being stuck in a car and ready to be home. Here is one of the happier moments we caught of Gray as we approached Dallas.

When we got home, Mi-mi was there to greet us with open arms. Grayson sure was glad to see her, the dogs, and his familiar territory. As a matter of fact, he was so delight that he started to squil and running around in our bedroom!

Our pantless bandit!

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Grayson wasted no time to take his new toy for a walk.
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We were so glad that we got to spend 3 days in Houston. The long weekend gave us an oppurtunity (time) to show our family who Grayson really is. And it was cool to see the he got to bond with his grandparents. Can't wait until we see everyone again!

peace,

Ray