The Many Adventures of Evan and Abbie

Graduation!! Jeff officially finished all his coursework in December but the actual graduation ceremony was in mid-June. We decided that after the years of work on the degree a trip out to California for the ceremony as well as some much needed fun was in order. Amy's parents (Grandaddy and Lela) came along with us and we had a great time.

The Graduate and family before Graduation

Jeff and Evan before Graduation and moments before Evan had a huge meltdown. The time change meant naptime hit earlier in the day and he just fell apart and cried for about 15 minutes before we could get him calmed down. He soon fell asleep in his stroller with Lela walking him around outside - as you can see below. This nap only lasted about 45 minutes, but it was something.

Lined up and ready to go inside

If you look carefully in the middle of the picture you can see Jeff on stage shaking the President of the Seminary's hand. (I really do want a new camera someday!)

Jeff with Amy's parents after Graduation

After Graduation

Our next stop was Disneyland! We went back to our rooms, changed clothes, packed up some food and off we went to Disneyland for the rest of the day.

On the tram with Dad and Lela...almost there...

We got there just in time for the afternoon parade. Evan was practicing his jumping - he can almost catch air with both feet now - and jumping off the curb a lot. There was a large family across the street sitting waiting for the parade as well. After a few attempts at jumping Evan had an audience. Some clapped and cheered for him, other took pictures and some even filmed him. Not sure if that bothered me, it was strange though. He started going over there to give them high fives as well. It was quite funny.

The Parade

We took the monkey harness along and I continue to think it's great. It allowed Evan so much freedom to walk and look at things without us worrying about losing him or someone snatching him away. We saw quite a few others and one dad came up to Jeff and asked him where we got it. When Jeff told him Target he was disappointed as he thought we had bought it in the park and he wanted one.

Waving at Minnie Mouse. Evan was so excited to see all the characters.

When it was his turn to go say hi he ran up and gave her a huge hug, even lost a shoe in the process. It was so sweet.

Evan and I just before the kids roller coaster. Evan saw it go by and continued to say "Evan do that" until we decided to give it a try. It went a little faster than I thought it would but Evan absolutely loved it. At the end he just said, "Evan do that again" over and over.

On our way up at the beginning and waving hi to Lela and Grandaddy

Evan and Goofy. He ran up and gave Goofy a big hug as well. Here he is showing Goofy his Goofy hat that he got. He still wears it all the time.

Riding the Tea Cups with Dad and Grandaddy

The Dumbo ride with Daddy
The Merry Go Round
Evan and his Mickey Mouse ears

These four pictures were taken in the car on the way back from Disneyland. It was about 9pm California time so Evan was just silly. At the most a total 3 minutes past from the first picture to the last. He was so funny and then just crashed out.

On Sunday we drove up the coast to the Napa Valley area. We stopped in Carmel to see the ocean. It was sunny our whole trip except for Carmel, very strange. It was pretty chilly but Evan loved it.

We then spent 4 days in Napa Valley. Evan made friends with two labs J.J. and Bodega when we visit Vincent Arroyo. He had a great time throwing the tennisball for the dogs and has asked for a tennisball every day since.

We stayed at a hotel with a pool so that Evan could swim and play. He loved it. There was a small hot tub that he called the "hot pool" and he would go back and forth between the two pools.

Jeff bought tickets for my dad and I to go to a San Francisco Giants game one night while he and my mom stayed back to take care of Evan. It was a beautiful night and we enjoyed the experience. The ballpark overlooks the bay and it was really amazing. We sat in the bleachers which was really fun as most fans there love the game but are usually your more outgoing fans as well. We both wish Houston would have put in bleacher seats when they built their new stadium.

One of Evan's favorite things to do was to play baseball in the hallway of the hotel. Thankfully the hotel wasn't full and the staff was awesome. Evan got to know everyone who worked in the lobby during our stay and made lots of friends everywhere we went.

After toting Evan around with us for a few days we thoughts we'd take him to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA about 20 minutes away (or so they say - more like 40). It was interesting to go on the tour and Evan enjoyed the Tasting Bar afterwards.

It had been a long day with not much nap for Evan so here he is at dinner.

Lela and Grandaddy at dinner

We flew out of San Francisco so we stopped and saw the Sea Lions on our way to the airport. I think Evan was much more excited about all the boats he could see.

We ended up being delayed initially an hour, we boarded, sat on the plane for quite awhile and then deplaned because our plane was taken out of service because there was something wrong with it. They reissued us a plane for 5 hours later - so six hours late in all. We were supposed to land in Dallas at 8:45pm on Thursday night and ended up landing at 2:45am Friday morning with our luggage 2 terminals away. Evan was a trooper and did really well. Again he was just silly sleepy and quite entertaining. Needless to say, Evan slept 2 hours on the plane and then went to bed at 4:40am. It was a long few days as we all caught up and adjusted to the time change.

Evan loves to hang and swing. As we were waiting in line after being deplaned Jeff entertained Evan with a cart he found by an empty gate.

Reading with Grandaddy while waiting for the plane.

Coloring with Grandaddy and Lela...still waiting for our plane...

Coloring with Grandaddy and Lela...still waiting for the plane.

We purchased Bunkbeds for Evan about a month ago and set them up in his room to let him get used to them. We started reading for bedtime on his "new bunkbed" and talking about going to sleep there. One night last week he said he wanted to "go night night in new bunkbed." I said okay, he pulled in some animals and blankets and went to sleep; he did great.

He's up against the rail

The next day he took his nap in his bunkbed great but that night we had some trouble. After having been in bed for 40 mins, out he came and into Jeff and I's room. I put him back and within 10 mins he was out of his room again and this time asking for his crib which by this point I thought was a great idea.

However he continued to napped in his bed so on Sunday we told him to say goodbye to his crib because he was going to sleep in his big boy bed now. He had no problem. He is however getting out of bed some because I keep finding him with books in his bed in the morning, even if I leave a few for him.

I went to get Evan yesterday after naptime and this is what I found...his bed looked just as bad. He somehow had managed to reach a large tub of vasoline (I really can't figure out how he got to it) and he must have played with it before he fell asleep. He moves a lot in his sleep and it was everywhere - and the once full tub was empty! Vasoline is very hard to wash out (oil and water) and it was covering most of his sheets and animals as well as himself. He still has a nice glow this morning. On another note the tub says to call poison control if any has been ingested. I asked him if he ate any and he said no but he is two so I called anyway. The man told me that if he did ingest any it would just work as a laxative...oh great!