Oh my gosh this kid is everywhere!

He's into everything. I can't even go to the bathroom without wondering where the hell this kid went. He really enjoys standing up now too. He can grab on to something and pull himself up, including standing up in his crib. We had to lower his mattress all the way down to the bottom setting so that he won't fall out. Its crazy. I'll put some pictures this weekend, as well as his pictures with Santa Claus!
So our Christmas plans are finalized as followed:

~Thursday night 12/24 Dinner with Kim's parents
~Friday morning drive out to Palm Springs, and Friday have dinner with grandma, dad, birdie and Max. Spend the night Friday night in Palm Springs.
~Saturday morning drive to Norco, CA, and Saturday night have dinner with mom.
~Sunday morning Christmas brunch, and drive back to Phoenix Sunday night.

So hopefully we can meet up with most of our friends and families during these holiday season. Let us know if you wanna meet up so we can work something in. For all those who we won't be able to see we Hamiltons want to wish you the warmest Happiest Holiday season. Best of luck in 2010 and be safe during these holiday travel times. Thank you for all the love and support everyone has given us this past year with Kim gettin gout of the military and the arrival of Gavin. Thank you!

Onward into December!

With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas upon us, we're saying to ourselves "SHHHHHHIIIIITTTTT" its all ready almost 2010? And we find ourselves scrambling in a panic. Kim's got finals here in the next 2 weeks, Liz has been busy busy at work, oh and did I mention that Gavin popped out 4 top teeth?
We had an excellent Thanksgiving feast. Jason and the kids, Kelsey, and Mom and Mike all came out for a delicious burned turkey. Despite the terrible turkey Kim and I produced, we heard the pumpkin pie wasn't so bad. It was a nice long weekend too. Much needed and deserved.
So onward into December we go. Kelsey's birthday is coming up (1st) and then Tyler's (2nd) and then it will be Christmas (3rd). Does anyone know if the Kirks are planning anything?
Other then that, please email you address if you're on the "naughty or nice" list aka the list on the email of people's addresses that I need. And check out the pictures! See everyone soon! Happy Thanksgiving!

Gavin pictures! He's 7 months old now.

We all do our part to take care of Gavin. Crash is in charge of cleaning Gavin after meals.

"Why can't I get to my big brother?"

"Crash, if you can hear me, its me, Gavin! How do I get to you?"

In the bath tub, I like to eat my rubber duckies! Yum!
If only my head wasn't so big I would be able to crawl, but its just too heavy!
Hi Family, my name is Gavin Hamilton and I love my rhino pajamas!

Gavin's getting ready to crawl....but only for the remote control.

Where have the Hamiltons gone?

Now I know what you guys are thinking.....where the hell did the Hamiltons go?

After a rough, rough, rough, 3 weeks, we have resurfaced and we're back in the groove again. We moved out of the house with Brent due to budget cuts in the Hamilton funding. We moved in with Kim's parents, which went for about 3 weeks. We found an afforable little 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment that is 1.5 miles away from Liz's work and we are all moved in and finally settled. Just in time for Gavin's first Halloween. Check out the pictures. For Gavin's first Halloween he was Master Yoda, Kim was Luke Skywalker, Liz was Princess Leia, and Crash was Chewbacca. We had a great Halloween!

We took Gavin trick-or-treating to 2 houses. (I don't give a crap if he can't eat solid food yet, we went trick or treating!) then we went to a co-workers house for a little Halloween shin-dig.

Last week Gavin also had his 6-month appointment. He is 19 pounds 4 ounces and 28.5 inches long. We are officially in 9-12 month clothes! The weather here in Phoenix went from 115 in August to 100 in September to 65 in October! We went from tanktops to sweatshirts in 30 days. THis place is ridiculous. Poor Gavin's little (or chubby) cheeks are red and dry as this weather turns into a bitter cold. Crash on the other hand couldn't be happier with the cold weather. We wake up every morning to Crash with a smile on his face, wagging his tail, holding his leash in his mouth. Now if only we could teach him to cook us breakfast.

Keep in touch with us friends and family. As the holidays season continues, I'm going to be asking for addresses of friends and families I don't have, so be on the look out for that! And eventually I'll have some kind of plans for the holidays for us Hamiltons. Right now it looks like Thanksgiving we're going to stay here in Phoenix, but we'll be making a whirlwind trip of California for Christmas. More on that later. Keep in touch!

Happy Halloween from the Hamiltons!

Where did all the teeth go? 6 month update

So I have had 2 horrible, terribly, screaming nights of torture with my son. He's screaming like he's getting his shots. Its not his normal wake up and "waaa! feed me" its his painful scream. So I'm thinking in my head, no problem, just teething. All part of a greater process called parenting that is keeping me up rocking my son from 230am til 4am. But now, 3 days after the night of horror and there are NO FREAKING TEETH!!! Where did all the teeth go? I mean if I was up for all hours of the night rocking gavin because teether were coming, I'd be ok with it. But there are NO TEETH!!! He still has only the 2 bottom ones from his 5 month old days. If no teeth show up here in the next couple days, I"m going to have a serious talk with Gavin's gums.
As for the 6 month milestone......we've got army crawling down pat. Give us another couple of weeks and we'll be full on crawling. We've got vowels like "da" and "ba" down really well. He's 18.5 pounds now. We haven't been to the doctor yet, that's going to be on October 26.
So we'll write again then, put up more pictures, and maybe get a video of the army crawl. Love you friends and family.

Gavin playing at work with Mommy

5 month update

Aloha Friends and Family!!! Happy September!


SO Gavin turned 5 months on Friday! With that 5-month birthday, we thought we'd introduce the high chair! He's been eating rice cereal really well for the past couple weeks, so we thought we'd keep introducing more solid foods to the little man and with that, comes a high chair!

Gavin is getting so big and so much more active. He can roll, scoot, and worm along on the floor. Hopefully crawling is in the near future. He's getting really heavy to carry around all the time. He loves to lay on his tummy and play with a toy in front of him. His favorite toy is his baseball.

Along with playing on the floor, Gavin's other favorite thing to do is bounce around in his little jumper thingy. He jumps in this for hours! He laughs when he gets a big bounce going on. One of Kim's favorite things to do is put Gavin in his jumper and play the guitar for him. Gavin will laugh and talk all the time in his bouncer. More than anything, it wears him out :)

So we are getting the heck outta of Arizona. We had another run in with Arizona wildlife. Only this time it was in our garage. It was a stormy monsoony night, the total works, thunder & lightening, rain, everything, it was awful. Auntie Christina goes out into the garage to put her car outside and get some free car washing going on. And out of nowhere comes this HUGE, Wild Looking, Menacing SCOPRION! I don't mind cockroaches, centipedes, spiders, and ants, but a mf-ing scorpion is not ok with me. Maybe its because of Gavin, maybe its because of Crash, but I turned into this crazy wild killing machine when I saw that scoprion. Needless to say, it got away from me, went under the car. I haven't been back in the garage since.
Kim is doing really really well in his college courses. He's working hard on homework and studying for tests, but he's doing the damn thing! And I am really proud of him. Work is going for Liz. Working at a preschool is hard work. But at the end of the day when a parent says, "In the last month my child's vocabulary has really taken off" it makes it all worth it. Gavin started coming to work with Mommy on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so Daddy can make it to baseball practice and have time to study. Gavin spends time in the infant room playing with the state of the art baby things that a day care can afford and Mommy and Daddy can't. All in all, we Hamiltons are in a rut, in a bit of hole, but we're working ourselves out of it. We're taking it a day at a time and enjoying the time we get together.

We're gonna be headed to California for the weekend of September 26. Our schedule is pretty packed for that weekend so far. Saturday we've got a Fiedler Family Reunion and then Sunday we're going to take Crash to Huntington Beach. We've got to head back to Phoenix by 2-3pm on Sunday. Happy Birthday to Nolan Fisher that weekend! Sorry we can't be there. But be sure to tell your mommy to send auntie liz lots of pictures. And go ahead and face plant that cupcake!

Take care of each other all you friends and family out there. Keep in touch with us and your lives. We love you all. xoxox.

Let the teething begin!

So here it is:
Friday, September 4 we have Gavin's first tooth in sight. Its what appears to me, as the bottom left tooth. It hasn't totally cut through to the surface yet, but I can see it and I can feel the top of it with my finger. Those little teeth are sharp!
So as for our Labor day weekend, it consisted of Baby Tylenol, Chilled teething rings and burp rags. Gavin's druel totally picked up. I thought he was druelly before this, oh he is druelly now. And his druel changed to a much thicker slime. He's got mild poopyness, and a temp in the 99s. Only today, Sunday, did it break 100. But its been real low grade fever. 100.3 exactly. Other then that, we're just hanging out waiting for the tooth to break to the surface. Every day since Friday, it comes up a little bit more and a little bit more. It's almost completely to the surface now on Sunday night. He has been slightly cranky and he has no appetite what so ever. He's eating his rice cereal all right, not as good as normal. And he's really not taking to my nipples or his bottles well at all. I'm not too worried about him not taking to my nipples because as soon as these teeth pop through, I'm done with the breast feeding. I'll go to only pumping. Right now I split it up 50/50, but it'll go 100% if he's got teeth.
If you have any pearls of wisdom or advice that I can use to get me through this teething time, all is appreciated. So far we've been all right, but I feel like its the calm before the storm. Ok, I'll blog again soon and let you know how we're holding up in our time of teething.

A day in the swimming pool

Mommy and Daddy trying to beat the Arizona heat.

Liz and the Gavitron

Can't help but kiss those chubby cheeks.

The Hamiltons in the Arizona pool, not at the Hawaiian beach

Blahhhhhhh!

Floatin' around like I'm on a lazy river

I love my turtle!

Pictures Pictures Pictures

Hi, my name is Gavin, and I druel a lot!

I'm learning how to use my feet, so I hold my bottle with them!

This is what I do all day with my dad while my mommy goes to work. I love that football is back on! Go Dolphins!

Gavin's first major league baseball game. The Anaheim Angels vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks. At this game Gavin (as well as his parents) saw Mathis steal to home base. The first person they have ever witnessed steal home on a non-pop fly. It was a great day. Did I mention that it was kids Sunday? So Gavin got a free nightlight.

4 month update

Can you believe our little monster is all ready 4 months old?
So you know what that means, another round of immunizations. But this time, Gavin was much more prepared. We started telling him that he was going to be going to the doctor, like 3 days in advance. We told him about the shots and told him to be brave, and although he has no idea what we're talking about, he did a lot better this time. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Mommy figured out that Baby Tylenol BEFORE will be better than after.
So the doctor said that Gavin is a very healthy baby boy, who is in fact in his teething process. He said as far as teething goes, "you could see one tomorrow, you could see one 6 months from now, but you're in the process" of course Gavin is Mr. DruelMaster 5000 and he's got this white line across the bottom of his gums. We'll just have to wait and see how that goes. Teething, yeah! You know now that I'm a mom and am raising a baby and stuff......honestly whatever there is in life, Bring it On! After going through childbirth, and teething, and oh! the black newborn poop, I really honestly feel like I can do anything.
Gavin growth wise looks amazing. He's above the 100th precent in height at a whopping 27.5inches. He weighed in at 16 pounds 10 ounces, doubled his birth weight in 4 months, not bad, he's in the 60th precentile for weight. And his head circumference is 17inches around, in the 50th precentile. So we're pretty happy, we've got a long chubby baby with an average head. Rock on!
Update with us Hamiltons......is summer over yet? we're dying over here in Phoenix where the average summer temp is 106. wtf? Average temp, that means there are days that are above average temp. Its cool, august is more that half way complete, and in september we'll start seeing more Livable conditions. Liz's job is going great. Still breastfeeding and pumping out on breaks. Its beginning to get annoying and things are starting to dry up. Hopefully between what I am left to produce and the freezer full of breastmilk, we'll be able to get Gavin on breastmilk all the way til he's 6 months! We've also started him on rice cereal 3 times a week. Boy does that change his poop!
Kim has probably the best news of all of us Hamiltons. He got all enrolled in Mesa COmmunity COllege and starts classes on MOnday. But......he got wind of some baseball tryouts for the CC's baseball team.....and Made it! He's pitching for the Mesa Thunderbirds! He's got baseball practice everyday, weight training MWF morning, and mile sprints 2 times a week. His GI Bill benefits start this September, so....we're finally getting all settled in and starting to get the ball of life rolling.
I wanted to give a big shout out to our Uncle Curtis and Aunt Candy. They helped Kim and I purchase another car this past weekend that has proved to be essential. Between Liz running to work from 7am-430pm and Kim running to practice from 5pm-7pm then night classes from 730pm-1000pm, we really needed another car. So thank you, thank you very much for helping us get that car so that we Hamiltons can once again be in two places at once.
Oh I can hear the baby Monster waking up, oh I'll give him 5 more minutes and then go get him. Have a great rest of summer everyone, and keep in touch with us.
We are planning a CA trip the weekend of Sept. 26 depending on how Kim's baseball is going.

Gavin's first 100 days

We survived!
We've made it 100 days and we're all alive. Everybody is doing great! Gavin's growing and growing and getting stronger and stronger. He can roll onto his belly now, he actually perfers to sleep on his tummy too. He enjoys his tummy time when he's awake too. He's an amazing druel master, whats with that? He's only 3 months and 1 week, (100days) so i don't think he's teething, but druel master is in full effect.
Kim and I are doing good. Kim has assumed the roll of stay at home dad. He gets dinner out on the table every night when I come home, and takes excellent care of Gavitron during the day. He is all ready to rock and roll at Mesa Community College, with 12 units, starting mid-August, with classes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. We get our GI bill benefits starting in August (or September) so we should be able to get some bill paid here soon.
Liz got a full time lead teaching position at KinderCare in Gilbert. She works 730am to 430pm Monday through Friday in room 2A which yes.......is 2 year olds. Diapers, biting, pushing and grabbing are just another day in room 2A. Its a lot of fun, we sing songs "ABCs" and "Animal Actions" and all that good stuff. Reviewing colors, shapes, is how I spend my day. Its good times, I'm exhausted at the end of the day. babysitting 16 2 year olds all day is tiring. Especially when i'm still breastfeeding and pumping. I've got 8 pounds to go until back down to my prepregnancy weight. Thank you very much 2 year olds.
I'll put some picutres up on Gavin's 100 day BBQ next week. Keep in touch with us. Much love to all our friends and family. xoxox.

A Tribute to MJ

The thriller dance by Gavin and Taco

Gavin Pictures

Bath time is a joyous time for Gavin. He pees in EVERY SINGLE bath he's ever taken. My kid's got talent!

The thriller dance, by Gavin Hamilton and Uncle Taco

Gavin's first doggy ride. You know with a brother like Crash that we had to start Gavin off small, a ride on Doyle. And we'll eventually get to ride big brother, just a few more months....or years

Da Hamiltons

The adventures of Willy

So we had our first encounter with the Arizona wildlife this week. While starring out the window, which we do often in Phoenix because its too hot to actually go outside, my brother (Taco) noticed a pigeon on the edge of the waterfall. Now Taco hates the pigeons on his waterfall, they poop on it. Brent has even gone to the extent of purchase not 1, but 2 owl statues to tackle his pigeon problem with no success. So Brent starts "Look at this pigeon, not only is he on the waterfall, he's going swimming" and as the rest of the family (Christina, Kim, Gavin, and myself) look out the window sure enough, pigeon has slipped, jumped, or slid into the pool. He's all flapping around, Brent starts again, "Oh my gosh, pigeons are so stupid". And he's correct, this pigeon has got himself into the pool, but now can not get himself out. He's trying to climb up the side, which clearly, he won't make, so pigeon accepts his fate and regrets his fatal choice of jumping in for a swim. Taco, feels for the pigeon and decides to try to save it. He gets the filter cleaning net for his pool, pushes the pigeon up onto the waterfall. The pigeon doesn't move. Taco goes to pick him up, again, the pigeon doesn't move. Brent pulls him out of the water, puts him on the concrete, now the pigeon runs for cover in a nearby bush. Brent has this look on his face of sympathy, but in his eyes you can see he's thinking, "what a stupid bird, that jumps into my pool, now I have to save you, what a stupid stupid bird". So Christina runs out to help Taco. They put the pigeon in one of the dog's carry cases kennel things and give him some bread. Taco comes inside, dips his hands in rubbing alcohol and gives himself a 5 minute scrub of the arms/wrist/hands. He turns around and confidently says, "We are going to name him Willy, because we are going to free him!"
So now we have this stupid pigeon Willy that we're trying to nurse back to health so he can fly away. We decided to leave him in the kennel for the night, let his feathers dry, and set him free the following day. Later that night, approximately 4am, we hear coyotes. Howl, Howl, Howling for like 15 minutes straight. Crash is sitting at full attention on the edge of our bed. Kim wakes up, wakes me up and says, "Oh, the coyotes got Willy". Ok, the coyotes are definetly not in our backyard, Crash wouldn't be just sitting at the edge of our bed if there was a coyote in the backyard, and I'm sure the howling would be 10x louder. So I'm confident Willy's fine. Taco and Christina being on the front end of the house did not hear the coyotes.
Morning comes, Taco goes and checks on Willy. He's shit EVERYWHERE! If Taco didn't like bird poop on his waterfall, oh he was so excited to see bird poop all over his dog's kennel. I'm talking, major bird poop, this bird got poop outside of the kennel! He's locked in there, and still managed to get poop outside of the kennel, he crapped all over the place! So, then Brent unlatches the dog kennel and sets Willy in a safe place in the backyard. Willy doesn't fly away, and while Willy is standing there, Brent and Willy have a moment. Brent realizes, "i saved this bird's life, I will always have a spot in the good ol' heart for Willy". Willy still doesn't fly or go anywhere. Brent's gotta go to work, so him and Christina leave. Liz and Kim wake up sometimes later and go on about their day, totally forgettting about Willy. Brent calls about 2pm asking about his new BFF Willy. So Liz goes out to check on him and what do you know? Willy's gone.
Every night now, around sunset you can find Taco starring out the window at the waterfall. Although he never says it, he doesn't say a word actually, you can tell he's waiting and hoping for Willy's return.
Check back next week, maybe we'll have a pet scorpion by then.

Our River Trip

Here is naked Crash, trying to beat the heat. Don't know if you keep up with the weather nationwide, but in Arizona, it was 110 degrees today. I just about melted. Needless to say, Crash, Gavin and I spend a lot of time indoors.

What did Gavin do at the river? Eat, Slept, and Pooped. Well, he did do more then that, he's finally getting to an age where there is some personality. But this picture was too cute to pass up. He's wearing his aloha shirt for the first time.

Liz and Kim on the Sea-doo. Kim drove so slow in the beginning. It took him awhile to warm up to the watercraft. But once he did, there was no stopping him!

Getting ready to hit the river! Kim and Liz on the Sea-doo.

This is Taco and Christina on the Sea-doo.

The River was so much fun. We are definetly going to go back soon. Just after the job situation is a little more successful.

BTW, we had this thought while driving out to Laughlin. Gavin has been to Hawaii, California, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, with layovers in Georgia and Texas. That's 7 states. Not bad for a kid that's only 2.5 months old.

So we made it with Gavin 10 weeks now. Its had its ups and downs. Gavin still doesn't sleep through the night. I've thought about giving up breastfeeding 100 times, but still haven't done it yet. And we made it though our first round of shots. Thank you to all of our family and friends that have supported us with Gavin accessories, baby advice for Kim and I, and your love. We really appreciate it during these tough times.

Write again later.

Gavin's first video

Gavin's 2 months old

So today we had Gavin's 2 month old well baby visit.

Oh my gosh my heart broke when they gave him shots. 5! 5 shots today. My son is not a pin cushion thank you very much! I hate that they have to immunize today's children! The whole time (whole time being appro. 15 seconds long) I wanted to scream "Stop! Stop! we'll finish the rest tomorrow." He just kept crying and crying. The pediatrician's office knew what they were doing though. They had 2 girls giving the shots at the same time. So one girl had 3 shots the other had 2, and they were going at the same time to get it over with faster. Oh it was just heart wrenching. And I have to do this again at 4 months, 6 months and a year. Screw that, Kim can take him to the dr. appts from here on out. That was really hard.

But growth wise, our little chunky monkey, is now 13.5 pounds. He can have a whole drop of baby tylenol for his pain tonight with the shots! A whole drop! He is 25 inches long. His head has grown to 16 inches around. He placed above the 95% on his height, above 75% on his weight, and above 80% on his head size. So he's all in all, a healthy baby boy.

As for Kim and I, we are still unemployed. I have been offered a job as a 2-year old lead teacher at a preschool. They do not offer infant child care discounts, only after they turn a year. So we're still debating on if we should take that job or not. Kim has got a call back from Auto Zone (get in the zone, auto zone!) about more references, but not confirming a job. We decided that if Auto Zone doesn't call back by tomorrow with something, then I'm going to take the preschool teaching job and Kim is gonna have to stay home and be Mr. Mom.

Arizona is freaking hot! We're not adjusting to this well at all. Crash got shaved on Tuesday, so he's naked. And Gavin can't go more than 2 diapers without baby powder or its diaper rash central. We Hamiltons are not designed for 101 degrees and more. But this weekend, Taco and Christina are taking us to Laughlin. So hopefully the river out there will cool us off. Kim and I have been getting a little depressed and frustrated with the job searching. Well Kim more than me, but noneless, we're frustrated. This economy is stupid. Companies are looking for cheap labor, but you know what, there are families out there. Families that need health insurance, families that need diapers, families that need money. And its hard right now to find a job. But we know that God has us in his hands and he's got a plan for us. So we put our faith and trust in Him.

Well check back next week, I'll get some river pictures up, and you've got to see naked Crash. Sorry it took me so long to blog again. You try having a kid and finding time. No, seriously, I promise to be back next week.

Breast milk to the rescue

I think I have stumbled across the greatest cure all medicine. Breastmilk. I am going to put it on every cut, sore, and rash from here on out. Now I know a lot of you are thinking, "thats disgusting" and if you read my blog about my breastfeeding class you'd know, that I was once in those shoes. There was nothing more disgusting to me than breastmilk. Well, I have a story for you that changed my perspective and made me a boobie believer!

So Gavin was about a month old. And he wakes up from a 4 hour period of sleep with a bunch of gunk in his eye. Ok-gunk in the eye.....holy shit pink eye! Thats the first thing that popped into my head. So I start thinking, maybe its just sleepys in his eye, and it will go away. So we wipe it away and go about our day. Until Gavin takes another nap and wakes up with double the gunk, so much now that its stringy between his upper and lower eyelid. Ok, full on pink eye! So I'm thinking in my head, our temporary insurance hasn't kicked in yet, we can't go to the emergency room. He's a month old, his poor little immune system.....oh my gosh, he's going to loose his eye if I don't do something!
So what do you do when you have a burning question and no medical insurance.....you google it on the computer. So we googled. And what did google come back with. Put breastmilk in the eye. My first reaction.....hell no! that's disgusting. But then I saw Gavin's eye, it was awful. I felt like such crap for letting it get this bad and I felt even more like crap because there is something I can do about it, and I haven't. So I give the eye a little juice. What do you know? It like melted all the gunk away within minutes. We put a warm wash cloth on the eye and wiped away remaining gunk. It was amazing. So everytime I fed him for 24 hours I put a little breastmilk in his eye, and the pnk eye never came back.
So I chamged my mind about disgusting boobie juice. If it weren't from breastmilk, my son would have lost his eye. Well maybe not lost his eye, but it would have been bad.

Come and see the baby parties!

I know there are tons and tons of people that Kim and I want to see and introduce our newest family member too. So since we are car-less until the end of May, we thought we'd have a couple parties so family and friends can come to us to meet the little man. There are 2 events happening, let us know which one you'd like to come to. Please RSVP so that we can get the right amount of food for all to enjoy.

When: Friday evening, May 22
Where: Mom's house in Norco
Time: anytime after 5pm

next meet the baby party,
When: Sunday, May 24
Where: Dad's house in Orange County
Time: 12 noon

Ok hope to see you all soon, and then we can snap more pictures and I can blog about you coming to our party! Please RSVP, by email, text message, phone call, facebook, whatever.

Florida Vacation

Sorry its been so long since our last blog. We had our Florida vacation! We had such a great time!Although it wasn't easy getting there. Gavin's first airplane ride went really really well. He were all prepared with bottles and binkys. We were told that if the baby's ears are popping and they are crying, the best thing to do for them is feed them so the sucking action will pop their ears. Check out gavin's first plane ride.

We were able to spend time with Kim's grandma and auntie. One of my favorite parts of our time in Miami was the gator farm! I wrangled myself an outrageous gator......it was about 2ft long, about 8 pounds, 1 year old, and its mouth was taped. At this gator farm, there were no joke, over 1,000 gators of all different ages. As an added bonus, it was mating season. So we got to see some male gators fighting over a female. Got to enjoy the "love is in the air" atmosphere at the gator farm.

We also got to spend time with Kim's past. We met a lot of Kim's friends from high school and their kids. This is Edward and his daughter, Charlie and his daughter, and Kim with Gavin.

Check us out in South Beach Florida. I stopped and ask a local about the South Beach diet and if they had any tips for me. He just looked at me and said (with a lisp) "Girl, you look about as good as a cabana boy in a speedo". Kim and I said thank you and continued on our way.We then packed up shop and headed to Walt Disney World in Orlando. We went to Animal Kingdom and went on this fun safari adventure and this totally awesome rollar coster. We also went to Epcot center which was amazing!

We rode the Finding Nemo ride (check us out in the clam).
Epcot center puts on an amazing firework show. Gavin, our little trooper slept through the whole show. Its ok though, Kim and I had such a great time, we want to come back in a couple of years when Gavin is older. Maybe go to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios parks. It was a great vacation.

But the best part about our entire Florida trip was spending time with our friends. We have such great friends from almost every corner of the United States and we all met up in Florida to go to the Disney theme parks. We got to see each other's kids and how much they've grown, we got to catch up with each other's lives, and make new memories. These are friends that Kim and I made in Hawaii through the Chafee. All of the guys used to work with each other on the ship and we have all been relocated and restationed across the United States. Thank goodness for email and phones so we can all stay in touch. I can't wait until 2010 because we want to make this an annual thing. We want to meet up with our friends again maybe in the snow next time.