Gig Harbor

Gavin has now officially made it to every state on the best west coast. The trip came together last minute and involved Dylan visiting SeaTac on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, whether to fly in or out or to pick me up. I worked Monday, he worked Wednesday and Friday, and he flew back and forth twice...but the important thing is that we made it! Dylan flew solo with Gavin on Sunday. We confirmed on our final flight home that flying alone with Gavin is just not something I'm up to doing. I sat in the row in front of D & G and held Gavin for about three minutes before pushing back from the gate, but I was so uptight about him bothering the elderly couple next to me and couldn't manage him, huge and restless as he is, that I handed him back to Dylan for the remainder of the flight. But to Dylan, it was no biggie. He can shoot the breeze with the flight attendants in the galley while rocking a cranky, screaming Gavin to sleep and change poopy diapers in the airplane lavatory during turbulence and come out of it unscathed. That's enough to give me an in-flight panic attack. Furthermore, Gavin, who hadn't taken a dump in 50+ hours, decided to not upset his streak on the way home from Seattle and made another in-flighty doody. (Let the record show that he's 3 for 4 for making poop at 30,000 feet.) Unfortunately for our fellow passengers, this occurred on our descent, and so it was not a situation that could be taken care of immediately, or very soon at all. After all that Dylan had put up with, I took my turn and changed him in the airport restroom back on the ground in Phoenix. What a dove I am, right?

But the trip...

It was really nice. We stayed in the houses that Dylan's grandparents owned in Gig Harbor. He spent a couple weeks there every summer growing up, so it was really fun for his family to be back. All his siblings and their families were there. The houses are on the sandspit right at the entrance of the harbor, so both houses have a shore on both sides. When the tide is high at night, the water comes all the way up to one of the houses (the one appropriately named Dos Rivas), so it seems like the house is an island. Boats, jet skis, fishing, sitting on the deck or around the fire, and, of course, many shenanigans on the indoor hammock that Dylan's grandparents built into the original house. I could not get enough of the cool, overcast weather, and the same goes for Gavin. It's been a long, hot summer in Arizona for a little boy who is almost exclusively happy only when he is outdoors.

Playing with rocks and sticks on the sandspit

Hello, Mom?

Looking for jellyfish

At the public dock

Driving the Livingston. The houses are in the background.

Three little cousins

Loved spending so much time outside!

Playing in the bucket for rinsing feet.

Z trying to give G his drink.

Sharing an apple with dad.

Dylan loved being with his nephews.

Rocking on the hammock.

Going for a ride on Uncle Henry's boat.

Excuse me captain, what seems to be the delay?

Good-bye, Washington.

Gavin loved being around his big cousins, and I think I enjoyed Zealan's commentary more than anyone. Thanks for the laughs, Z! He even cheered up Gavin when he was cranky by singing a song he made up and doing a little dance. It went a little something like this: "Bee-da-ba-da Gavin, Gavin, Geeeeavin...bee-da-ba-da Gavin, Gavin, Geeeeeavin." It really worked to get G to stop fussing. What a great big cousin.

Now we are back home and wishing we could escape again...we are dealing with a rat infestation in my car. Yes INSIDE my car. It's chewed up various non-valuable plastic items, as well as some valuable items like Gavin's cream of the crop carseat and the center console. It's been there FOR OVER A WEEK, and despite the many traps we've set, we cannot find it or get rid of it. It is absolutely foul and disgusting, and it's also chewed up various crap inside our garage, too. A serious problem, actually. Why do I always have weird and unfortunate things happen to my cars before I've ever even owned them for a year? I wouldn't mind leaving this disgusting heat and our disgusting rat problem for the rest of the whole summer...