Gavin's first time hunting....

Gavin has been asking Jeremy almost everyday to take him deer hunting. Finally Jeremy caved and said ok...and his delay in taking Gavin, well if you know my child that answers the question.
Thursday afternoon Jeremy went and picked him up from daycare early, brought him home, got him layered in head to toe camo and off they went. I snag one picture before they left....
When they got home I got all the details from their adventure, even details a mother doesn't need to know! Turned out they didn't see anything...but that was ok with Gavin, he was just so pumped about sitting in the tree stand.
Later that evening Jeremy gave me the full story, which goes back to the details I didn't need to know.
Jeremy had planned on taking Gavin to the box stand which is about 8ft off the ground, easy to climb into, a box that completely surrounds them, so no one can fall out!! My main question that I always ask or say " is this safe"!! Well the box stand was occupied by another one of the guys that hunt with them.
Well that is the only "safe" stand...and Jeremy couldn't come home, that would not fly over so well with Gavin. So off to Joey's farm to a deer stand Jeremy has back in woods. He said they get to the stand, he points up really high in the tree to show Gavin that is where they gotta go. Yea, it's about 15ft up a tree and very small, barely a one person stand, much less a stand for a 5 year old and his father!!
Oh but that's just for starters...Jeremy proceeds to tell me he ask Gavin to climb on his back so they could climb up to the stand. Of course, Gavin taking after me said "this is not safe daddy" and refused to get on his back!! He then told him to climb the steps and he would follow up behind him, Jeremy thinking this would be the next safest thing...Gavin again refused! Finally Gavin told Jeremy to go up first and then he would follow, this of course was the most unsafe of all, I was completely dumb founded, my mouth wide open and speechless by this point in the story. In order for them to actually go hunting today, he complied and Gavin followed.
They came home safe,all in one piece and Gavin was one happy little man!! That's all that matters....

Couples and Backward Skaters Only!!

Saturday was Bryson's 5th birthday party at the skating ring in Wallace. Gavin was very excited about going, not because of the skating but because it was Bryson! But Jeremy on the other hand was over flowing with joy, he could hardly contain him self!!
When we got there Gavin ran and gave Bryson a big hug and told him Happy Birthday. Jeremy ran straight for skate exchange, I'm pretty sure he even knocked over a couple of kids...just kidding!!
This brought lots of fun memories for Jeremy, he said he had not skated in about 20 years...that sounds so crazy I know!! He and his sister use to speed skate back in their younger days, I am on a mission to find a picture of them both, all decked out in there speed skating gear.

Trick or Treatin in Beulaville

This was the first year that we did Halloween in Beulaville.  Usually we go to Kinston and trick or treat in Castle Oaks with the family, but this year Halloween fell on a Wednesday so we stayed close to home.
We called our very good friends and met up with them, to let the fun begin.

Future Doctors

Tuesday, Oct. 30, the day before Halloween, the Woodman center in Kinston was hosting a Halloween party for kids.  It was for a really good cause, feeding the hungry, you got to bring cans of food instead of buying a ticket.
Gavin had a blast, they had all kinds of games, a blow up bounce house, and even Flimsy the Clown was there dancing up the night.  They even had a costume contest but we didn't stay that long, we all got a little hungry so went left and went to the famous Pizza Villa for Gavin's favorite, ham pizza!
But before we left we ran into little Ms Hayden, how cute are these two!!  I am pretty sure that they will end up in med school together, then opening up their on Plastic Surgery Center in about 25 years. 

1st Field Trip - Mike's Farm

Gavin's day school was brave and decided to take 13, 4 and 5 year olds to Mike's Farm for a field trip.  Jeremy and I tagged along thinking they were going to need a few extra hands.  Gavin was so excited that both his mommy and daddy were going, but I believe he was most exicted about packing his lunch in his cool new camo lunch box that he got for his birthday from Ms. Paula.  So the night before we packed his lunch, every snack you could think of : goldfish, chips, pickles, applesauce, oranges, PB&J, water, and the most important "Mix Up"!! 
We went to day school the next morning, even though we only live 5 minutes from Mike's Farm, Gavin wanted to make sure all his friends at school knew he was going too and that he was riding with his mommy.  About 8:30am everybody got loaded up and off we were, let the fun begin.
When we got there I got the camera ready and scored a few photos with Gavin and then multiple attempts with all the kids by the tractor.  We never got a good picture but we tried!!  After that caosis they loaded us up for the hay ride that took us to the pumpkin field where all the kids got to pick out their own pumpkin.  Gavin picked up a cute little one with a twisted stem and I of course snagged one too.  They rounded us back up and headed back to the main area where they educated us on how they use to make apple cider back in the day, then Granny Mae told us stories about washing clothes in boiling water and hanging them out to dry, this was the educational part of the tour.  The next phase of the day was my favorite and I believe most of kids favorite too, the Magic Show.  These were two guys that were amazing, so amazing in fac,t I got a card and I am 99% sure they are doing Gavin's birthday next year.  But after all that excite we had out to see all the aniamals, goats that we got to feed, a huge turkey, that goobled and scared Gavin some kinda bad, bunnies, and squirrels, but I think they just lived in the trees.  It was lunch time now, so we took a potty break, super cleaned up all the kids from all the animal touching and sat down for lunch at the picnic tables.  This was the quitest the kids had been all day...they all got there bellies full then head back to day school for a nap.
Gavin headed home with us and no nap!!

Gavin's 1st Dove Hunt

It's Labor Day, opening day of dove season. Jeremy and Gavin have been invited to go to some friends of ours corn field to hunt. Gavin was so excited, he went upstairs and got every piece of camo clothing he had. It of course was 85 degrees outside, so I had to go through and just get him some pants and a short sleeve shirt. And he had to get his gun, his BB gun that is! Off they went, but not before I could snap a couple of pictures and then send the camera with Jeremy to get some while they were hunting. This was a pretty big thing for us, Gavin doesn't stay still or quite for long, so to go hunting, well is going to be interesting. I received 2 texts that entire afternoon, one to tell me that Gavin was doing amazing and the second text to show me the dove that Gavin shot with his gun. I think the pictures say it all...one happy little man!!

Cotton Field - Fall Time

We have this beautiful field of cotton behind our house and I was on a mission to get some pictures of Gavin.  I got little man dressed, grabbed my camera and out the door we went about 5:45pm, right when the sun was beginning to set.  The most perfect time of day to get some fabulous pictures, just the right lighting, no shadows, and amazing sky colors.  Of course baby girl "Freckles" was right there with us and the picture taking was going so good I made Jeremy get in a few too along with Freckles.  So excited with the outcome, I do believe I scored a Christmas card out of one of these.