More summer fun

After a busy and fun filled Labor Day weekend, we realized our summer has come to an end. Jazzie is back to work at the schools and Zander will be going back to daycare next week -our daycare has been closed for vacation the past 2 weeks so Zander had some babysitters as well as a few days with Grandma Lynne and Zeb. We had a ton of fun this summer and it is amazing to see how much Zander has grown over the past few months. He is now a really good walker and is really good at climbing and even starting to run......uh oh!! He is also very vocal and says many words and will point out of lot of things he sees (airplane, bus, truck) and ask for things (shoes, outside, etc). It is also fun to see him problem solve things and is very smart and sometimes creative (example.....I told him I was going to put the peppers that we just picked away so he picked them up and tried to hang them back on the plant!! good thinking!!)

We had a fun day with his best buds again including a hike (of course playing with bugs and worms...gross)
followed by a trip to the park and out for ice cream

Zander attempted his first "Race" with a half mile this Labor Day weekend although he decided he was not having
fun and only walked a small part of it and wanted to be carried the rest of the way......maybe next time!



We love spending time playing outside in our backyard and Zander loves to help water and
pick vegetables from our "garden"

We have been enjoying many areas of the city including the many parks, pools and fountains
and even found some time for a beach day!

Summer Fun

It is now August and we have not posted in a while, so I wanted to give one big update about all the things the Gilliam family has been up to this summer. Zander is enjoying having more "mommy time" over the summer as Jazzie is only working 2-3 days a week (summer break from the schools). Most of those days include a trip to the park (we have over 20 parks/playgrounds within a 2 mile jog!),  library and a few other fun outings.  Zeb has been able to join us on a few afternoons and of course spending family time over he weekends. We have also had some friends visit us over the summer and have done some traveling ourselves to see family and friends. So far it has been a very busy and fun summer that is going by way to fast!

Zander loves cars and trucks so he loved the 4th of July parade in Shullsbury

 

Zander with his cousin Brynn

Jazzie's Grandpa Kruser with a whole bunch of grand kids and great-grandkids

Zander loved the bouncy toys with his cousins at the 4th of July festival

 

 

A few fun photos playing in the dirt (right before he ate a handful!) at Grandma and Grandpa's house

 

Pool day! It took him some time to get used to the cold water, but had fun after

Hanging out at our church festival

Some of the parks have fountains and splash pads that he loves to explore

Waterpark day with some of his buddies

Lake front run followed by a trip to the Lincoln Park zoo for mommy's birthday!

 

We also made a trip to the Milwaukee zoo this summer

 

Cubs game (he did enjoy the game, just not sitting still for the picture)

And he's off.......

Zander has been taking his time with learning to walk. We're not sure if it is because of his size (very tall with a huge head and tiny feet!) Or if he's afraid to let go (he has been waking and running with his push toys for a while) or if it is  his stubbornness, but we have been waiting for him to achieve this milestone. He started taking a few steps earlier this week, but this weekend he started letting go and taking more than a few steps!! We are so proud!! Now we will really be chasing him around.....are running shoes are laced up!

Ocean visit

This weekend we took Zander on his first trip to the ocean. Zeb was in Orange County for a work conference last week and we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Jazzie and Zander flew out to meet Zeb on Friday. Zander did well on the plane and was so cute (or threw a tantrum waiting to board the plane) and they offered us our own row of seats which helped him nap then have more room to play. We spent Friday hanging by the pool at our hotel and enjoying some California sunshine. On Saturday we enjoyed playing at our hotel then went to visit friends at another nearby hotel to join them and their son for some more pool time. We ended the day by taking Zander to a nearby beach to spend some time playing in the sand (he did OK at first then decided he didn't like how it felt on his feet) and taking a dip in the ocean. He liked watching the waves and thought it was funny when the water washed up onto his feet. When the wave was over Zander would ask for more "mo, mo, mo" On Sunday we found a nearby park to play at then traveled to another nearby beach in Newport. It was a long weekend, but we had a lot of fun and hope to have some more beach time this summer in Chicago and will plan another trip to the ocean sometime.

 

First Words

Zander has always been a very noisy baby with a lot to say and recently he has begun to say some words. He is now saying "mama" and "dada" pretty consistently and generally appropriately to greet us or to get our attention. He also loves to throw things to the floor and say "uh oh." All of these are pretty typical for babies to say so we didn't really consider them true words. We are giving that credit to "choo choo" as he began imitating that in the bathtub while playing with his favorite bath tub toy, his choo choo train. Then one day last week, Zander crawled up the stairs, went into his bathroom, found his train and turned around and looked at Zeb and said "choo choo" while proudly holding up his train!! We're looking forward to hearing what else this crazy kid has been trying to tell us over the last year!

Gilliam Family Vacation

Last week we took a Spring Break vacation to Portland and Seattle. Zeb and I love to explore different cities around the country and love the outdoors and wanted to share this with Zander. We left on Saturday morning and flew to Portland and Zander did well on his first flight. It was a 4 hour trip and he slept through take off and for about 45 minutes and we spent the rest of the time finding things to entertain him and he was pretty good for being confined to a small space. We took it easy and just explored Portland's downtown Saturday night. Sunday morning we got to view the city by running a 5K road race across 3 of the city's bridges then spent the rest of the day on a hike in one of the many nearby parks. Monday we took Zander to the zoo and he enjoyed looking at the animals. We drove to Seattle on Tuesday and made a stop at the Mima Mounds state park on the way then finished the day by exploring Pike Place Market and downtown Seattle. Wednesday was spent touring more of Seattle including a trip to the Space Needle. Thursday was a rainy day spent driving back to Portland so we delayed our next hike to Mount Tabor to Friday morning before our flight back to Chicago. Luckily he took an almost 2 hour nap on the flight home then entertained himself playing with the kids in front of us for most of the flight! It was a busy and very fun vacation and Zander was a great traveler and loves the outdoors as much as we do!!

 

Zander was the fastest baby running the 5K!

Zander enjoyed exploring the outdoors and we look forward to many more family hikes!

 

Fun at the Oregon Zoo

 

The weather was beautiful in Portland and we spent time hanging out in a local park 

We love checking out new breweries and had the chance to visit several on our trip

We made a quick trip to the Mima Mounds on our way to Seattle

 

Zeb and Zander enjoying the (cloudy/rainy) view from the Space Needle in Seattle and the Seattle waterfront

 

The view from Mount Tabor in Portland

Zander was practicing his climbing skills at the Park before out trip home

Although he was a very good traveler, little man still had his moments!!!

Happy Easter

We celebrated Easter this year in Shullsburg with Jazzie's family. It was a quick trip as we just got back from vacation on Friday night (vacation pictures to follow), but wanted to make the trip to see family. We also wanted to return Parker dog to the Gilliam family after he had a vacation in Milwaukee with Abbie, Garrett and their dog Kiki. Zander has been a very good traveler and been very flexible on the trips.

We are so happy to have Parker back home with us!

 

Zander loved his Easter egg hunt

He had a lot of fun playing with Grandma, Grandpa, and of course, his aunts