Oliver loves being outside. Tim made sure to take advantage of the acres of lawn around the homestead...
Down the road is one of Tim's numerous cousins. They own a dairy farm, so of course Oliver had to check that out.
I asked Tim what Oliver thought of the cows when they came home. He said O was a bit scared - you know, because they are big! Bippy in the mouth so he wouldn't put his dirty hands in. Yucky.
I also wanted to throw in an updated photo of baby Lexi - she is so cute, and would you look at her?? Her chubby cheeks are so nom-able.
Tim loves visiting his grandparents. Oliver loves all the toys! His grandparents have quite a few great-grandkids so they have a lot of things to play with when they come visiting.
The last bit of vacation was spent at Knoebels Amusement Park (and yes, you pronounce the K). Tim, Oliver, Amy, Christopher, and Kathy went and had a blast.
Love this one of Amy and Christopher.
Oliver got to go on some rides as well. He was one tuckered out little dude by the end.
Whew! What a whirlwind vacation, buddy! So glad you are home!
Tim and Oliver got back late Thursday night, and not only brought back pictures and video, but Oliver also brought back a cold! He gave it to me and my mom so far. He is such a giving little boy. My throat is so sore this morning, but work is busy and I have no time off... so there ya go.
On the way to Pennsylvania, Oliver did pretty good on the plane. He's a busy little guy who enjoyed playing with crayons, magnadoodle, and also listening to music. Tim said he enjoyed taking the ear buds out and putting them back in like it was a game.
They had a brief layover in Chicago, where Tim was informed that his flight to Wilkes-Barre was cancelled because they didn't have a crew (this is where you say, "WTF??"). He took an alternate flight to a different airport about 2 hours away from his home in PA. Tim's brother-in-law was nice enough to make the trek to pick up T & O. Oliver took a little nap while waiting.
Not only was the flight cancelled, but Tim's luggage got lost. Tim doubted it would show up on the next flight to Wilkes-Barre (which would be the next day), but a phone call was received Saturday afternoon that the bag had shown up. Note to self: American Eagle are a bunch of morons!
Oliver enjoyed having breakfast with his Grandma Kathy.
One of the reasons Tim and Oliver went to PA was to go to the Hobbie carnival. Hobbie is the township where Tim lived, and every year they have a carnival to raise money for the fire station. Tim's mom works the pizza stand, and Tim's sister and brother-in-law, Amy and Barney, work at the soda toss (ring toss onto soda bottles).
The little baby head at the end below belongs to Sarah, Tim's new 1st cousin once removed, or Oliver's new second cousin. And if you think Oliver looks sticky and sweaty, you would be right! East coast weather = hot and humid!
To beat the heat, Tim tried Oliver out in the pool:
The water was a bit too chilly as it got really cold at night and cooled the pool down. He still looks super sweet (did you see his little feet under the floaty?).
Look forward to part two, where Oliver goes to an amusement park! Fun!
I am back from the brink of death, so I thought I'd let you know how the rest of our trip went. We spent a lot of time hanging with Tim's mom's side, however we did drive up to see his dad one of the days, along with his dad's mom and dad. His grandparents live in the middle of the state near State College, PA, home of Penn State, and his dad lives about an hour and a half north. I did not have my camera mind going so I missed out on a family photo at his grandparents.
Both visits Oliver did wonderful - he was a big hit. Oliver is the last hope (so far) to carry on the Hollingshead name, so both Tim's dad and Pap were happy to meet the only hope!
We also spent a lot of time down at Tim's mom's parents (Pop and Grandma). Grandma goes by Aunt Grandma to the great-grandkids. It came accidentally but stuck after one of the great-grandkids called her that (apparently she had a lot of "aunts"). Her number one thing she wanted to do was sit in her rocking chair and rock him to sleep - which totally worked.
While we were there, autumn was in full force. Here's a few of the changing leaves.
Gorgeous, right?
Here is Tim's mom hanging with Oliver (and Christopher).
I'll finish up with two small videos - one is actually 3 small clips together, and then the other? That is Christopher. He's 2 1/2, and is off the walls with his energy! Whew!
I'll apologize ahead of time for not posting sooner - we got home on Sunday and I have been sick as a dog since! Even now, I should be at home, in bed, with a nice big bowl of chicken pho. Instead, I am here at work - I'm going to try and make it to lunchtime and maybe go home. We shall see.
I will post more later, but I wanted to share about some of our adventures to PA. We flew out on Saturday (Oct 23rd) morning. I was so nervous about flying out with the little man - will his ears hurt? Can we entertain him for 5 hours on a plane? Will we be "those people with the baby?" My fears were quickly diminished when Oliver still had his wonderful demeanor throughout the entire flight. Before we got seated, the pilot invited any kids/babies to come up to the cockpit for pictures. In our post-9/11 world, we were quick to do so!
You can see in this photo that there is another baby in the background. She is one day older than Oliver and she was busy screaming and crying the entire flight! I told little O he better not get any ideas!
We got in very late, and the very next morning Oliver got baptized! We had to get up at 7am which felt like 4am to us. The pastor at the church where Tim's family goes is amazing. Here are a few post-baptism pictures down in the basement (decorated for Halloween):
From left to right, me, Kathy (Tim's mom), Amy (Tim's sister), Christopher (Amy's son), Tim, Oliver, Pastor Dietz
I am going to end it here as I am feeling wiped! I hope I can beat this illness!
I originally was not going to do a blog - I get into these fits of updating and then... nothing. However, I noticed that there are multiple places to get an Oliver fix (multimedia-wise), and, thinking perhaps people would also like to hear about our doings, a blog is the most reasonable solution. So I will do my very best to update. ::fingers crossed::
Oliver is now 2 1/2 months old. A "quick" recap of his past 2 1/2 months? Well, on May 25, 2010, he came into the world at 4:58pm. By far, it was the most overwhelmingly emotional moment for both Tim and me. He was absolutely perfect. Oliver has met A LOT of people, and his happy disposition has been present at all meetings! Yesterday evening, we even had 8 and 9 year old girls holding him, and being good (for the most part).
Back to recapping (I knew this would take a while... I swear... last long post). Oliver here is just a few minutes old.
Some of his first family visitors:
One of his first videos:
We were lucky enough to have Tim's mom Kathy come out for a week to get some quality Oliver time in. Tim's sister Amy has a son, Christopher, so Oliver was grandbaby number 2 for her. Amy is due for another baby in March, and my other S-I-L is due in December! Baby explosion!
We went down to Seaside, Oregon for two nights when she was in town. She had not been to Oregon before, and as for me? Well, I just needed to get out of the city for a few days! I was not able to yank the binky out before the picture:
We went to Arcadia beach one of the days which is just a little south of Cannon Beach. Ask my Mom, and she'd tell you it's one of two favorite places in the world for her. Video from the beach:
Back in Seaside, the sun came out, so we played a little there, too:
To more recent developments, Oliver has FULL head control now, which means we can do "Super Baby" with him (videos and pictures to follow, I'm sure). He also loves to stand, as long as we hold him for balancing.
He is also cooing (or ooing) a lot more. Okay, so I think we've updated okay so far. I promise, they will not be this long in the future. Read often for updates on all things Hollingshead!
