Oregon Day Nine & Home Again

Luke had the distinction of being fed ice cream by Grandpa Hughes when he was 6 months old, so I figured it was only appropriate to make an opportunity to let Grandpa Maloney have the honor of introducing Jonathan to ice cream at 6 months old.  :P  He loved it!  No surprise there - ice cream addiction is a wonderful trait passed down through their mother's side.  ;)

When we got home, Daddy was happy to meet us!  It was fun driving up and seeing all our rose bushes in bloom, when they were just green plants when we left.  :)  Here's Luke helping pick some of our first strawberries!  We had a wonderful time visiting family in Oregon, but it's good to be home again.  We're looking forward to our next trip coming up soon!

Oregon Day Eight

On our second to last day in Oregon, we met my sister, Jennifer, at her work and went to the park for a little bit.  This one park has a real, full-size train parked there that you can climb on.  Luke tried his hardest to move this lever!

Mom enjoying some cuddle time with Jonathan.

Jennifer, Luke and I on the train.

Peek-a-boo!  Another part of the park had these strange rocks and Luke had to climb through each one.  :)

Wheee!  Happy swinging like a big boy!

Luke had to try out practically every piece of playground equipment they had at least once.  :P

EDIT: Fun video of Luke laughing as Aunt Jennifer pushes him on the swing.

Aunt Jennifer found some kid puzzles to have on hand for nephew visits - so here's the nephew with his finished puzzle!

Jonathan and I spent the night at Jennifer's place while Luke went back to Grandma's house.  This is what we came up with to keep Jonathan secure while eating dinner in lieu of a high chair.  :P

Oregon Day Seven

Meeting my Aunt Kathy.

Rolling around on the floor is always fun!

Laughing with Uncle Doug and meeting my cousin David and his sons, Jahcobey & Orion.

Luke spent his time during this visit playing with a large ninja turtles van and various other vehicles of Orion's.  I didn't get any super good pictures of him playing, but just give him new cars to play with and he'll be content for a LONG time.  :)

Oregon Day Six

Jonathan and I shared a room at my mom's house.  On this morning, he was fussing pretty early, and when I finally decided to get out of bed to check on him, I noticed that he had his entire arm out of his pajamas!  So, off I went to get my camera, which he was NOT happy about (he thought he was going to be picked up!).  But, I couldn't pass up the chance to capture this silliness.  :P  (He was really happy to see me come back.)

Laughing at Grandpa through the window at Heidi's house.

Grandpa with the grandsons.  (I just realized we didn't get a nice picture of both my mom and dad with both boys on this April trip - we'll have to make sure we get a good one in July)

Curious about the kitty.

Wheee!

EDIT: Fun video of Jonathan's glee during this interaction!

Luke played an actual game of Carcasone with the adults!  He had only partial knowledge of the game, but he was able to match these little tiles as they are played throughout the game - he did great!  (Check out the "tongue of concentration" in the second picture.)  :P

Oregon Day Five

Jonathan with Great Grandpa Maloney - this is before Grandpa prompted another "unfamiliar-man-with-a-deep-voice" scare.  He seems fine until he realizes that he doesn't know who's holding him and they start talking to him in this low voice.  At least, given time, he seems to get over it.  :)

Jonathan with Aunt Carrie, looking a little nervous.  I think he was starting to wonder at all these new people he was meeting.  :)

Luke riding Great Grandpa's tractor!

Luke with my cousins Isaac and Elijah.  He looks so little next to them!

Holding a baby chick!  My cousin, Kayla, and her husband, Joel, had several little teenage and baby chickens that we got to see - very fun!

Jonathan meeting Kayla.

Excited about Great Grandma's necklace.  :)

Oregon Day Five

Guess what Heidi did that Sunday night???  Cut my hair!!!  Here I am with Jonathan at the park on Monday morning, not quite sure of how to style it yet, but you get the idea.  ;)

Luke climbed up this curvy ladder mostly by himself (needed assistance at the top), so we recreated a picture to show what he could do.  :)

EDIT: Here's a video of Luke snaking along a curvy slide, too.

Babies and beards - endless fascination!

Jonathan enjoying that little rocking chair.

Brothers!

Oregon Day Four

This was a nice day at church and just hanging out.  Here's Jonathan getting squeaky clean in the sink!

Matching Grandma while watching Grandpa come in from outside.  (This was also Palm Sunday, so I put Jonathan in Luke's first Easter outfit!)

Playing "bowling" with Grandpa - check out the expression on Luke's face!  He was really just throwing two balls in the direction of the pins - I think he needs to work on his form and execution.  :P  (EDIT: Link to a short clip of Luke's bad aim.)

Happy with Heidi.

We also introduced baby puffs to Jonathan on this trip for convenience sake.  He LOVES them!  He can't feed himself yet, but Luke enjoys helping him out sometimes.  :)

"Helping" Aunt Heidi play cards.  :P

EDIT: And a video of Jonathan laughing hysterically at Heidi's bracelets!

Uncle Andrew & Aunt Heidi - all three are wearing green!

Oregon Day Three

Our second day in Grants Pass, we went to feed the ducks & geese.  Both Luke and Jonathan really enjoyed it!  (EDIT: Links to fun videos of both boys!)

Proof that Jonathan warmed up to cousin Nathan.

Throwing rocks in the river with Grandpa!

Hanging out with Uncle Jim.

And as always, there are zillions more pictures of everything on our gallery - and large versions of these pictures if you need them.  :)

Oregon Day Two

Sipping on water to help his ears pop over the mountains to Grants Pass.  I decided to try using a sippy cup on this trip, and I'm very glad I did - came in handy several times!

Looking up our trail on the map with Aunt Faith.

This crazy goose was not very scared of people and we were able to get pretty close.  I think Uncle Jim even managed to touch it before it flew off honking!

Everyone enjoyed meeting Jonathan!

And no offense to cousin Nathan (I have very flattering pictures of him holding Jonathan on our next day there), but we found this rather interesting.  Jonathan is apparently kind of scared of unfamiliar men with deep voices.  He had this same reaction to my dad during our dinner the day before - took us all by surprise!  And we were giving the situation the benefit of the doubt, until it happened again the next time my dad said something to Jonathan.  Apparently cousin Nathan had the same first impression.  Thankfully, though, both men were able to secure Jonathan's good graces, and he warmed up to them during later interactions.  :)