happy thanksgiving

We had a busy weekend filled with many fun family activities. On Wednesday we hung around the house with Aunt Keri and Aunt Lori and helped Grandma prep for our Thanksgiving feast. Of course and as karma would have it, Jackson came down with a cold for the holiday. We decided to not spend the night at my parent's house, but drove back down to Toms River on Thanksgiving day. It was a good thing too-Jackson was up all night! We helped Grandma prepare the food and celebrated with the family and Aunt Peggy and Uncle Leighton. Later in the evening we got to see Nana and PopPop. On Saturday, Aunt Keri & Aunt Lori, Grandma, & Grandpa took Jackson to pick out their family Christmas tree. Aunt Lori made sure to teach Jackson that the best Christmas tree is one with lots of room underneath for presents :)

my baby is ONE!

I CANNOT believe that a whole year has gone by and Jackson is now ONE! CRAZY, CRAZY, CRAZY!!! He's gotten so big and is soo active. It makes me sad when I go through his clothes and know that he'll never wear them again.

For his birthday party we went with a sock monkey theme, and I even went as far as dressing Jackson accordingly....in a sock monkey hat and color coordinating clothes, of course! ha! We invited family and friends over to celebrate Jackson's first year, and boy was our house crowded. Thankfully I was wise and arranged to have a bounce house in the backyward for the kids and they all LOVED playing outside & jumping around. And by kids I mean Keri, Lori, Bill, and Becky :)

where did october go??!!

So October was kind of a crazy month, and was over before I knew it! Between celebrating my birthday (glad that one quickly passed by!), going to Disney for Meghan & Mark's wedding, and then heading out to California, we spent the majority of the month on an airplane. Of course, we had the camera with us, but didn't take many pictures. So here's a verbal highlight of the month :) We had a blast spending a long weekend in Disney with my girlfriends from high school. It was fun to get away and be in warm, sunny weather. We never made it to the Magic Kingdom, but we figured Jackson, one, doesn't even know what it is, and two, wouldn't even remember it. We'll take a trip to Disney when he's older and it's worth it. From there, we headed out to California. While Bill attended a conference in LA, Jackson and I hung out in Santa Monica. We spent the day(s) running and walking/strolling around an outdoor shopping mall. We then had the opportunity to visit Bill's aunt & uncle's house in Malibu. What a beautiful house right on the ocean! It was amazing to be able to sleep with the windows/doors open and hear the waves crashing on the beach. It was great to be able to spend some quality family time with just the 3 of us. Once we landed back in NJ, it was back to reality and prepping for.....JACKSON'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

hartshorne woods

This past weekend we spent a lot of time outdoors since it was so nice out, and especially since it's supposed to rain almost the entire week! I was soaking up the sun because I hate being inside! Anyway, on Saturday, we drove down to Seaside Park and took Jackson for a run (hmmm...I'm pretty sure that was more for us than him...). Since he took a decent nap while we were running we then met our friends on the beach and he enjoyed playing with all the toys in the sand. After his nap, we decided to go for a bike ride before making the drive back up to Red Bank. It was a gorgeous beach day with lots of sunshine :) Then, on Sunday, we decided to go to Hartshorne Woods and go hiking. Normally, Bill and I like to run there, but I think it's going to be awhile before we get the chance to go running there again. Close friends of ours kindly donated their backpack to us since their boys had outgrown in and we put it to good use. Jackson loved it! He had so much fun looking around at all the trees, plants, and animals. He LOVES being outside! Then, before dinner, we ventured over to Dorbrook Park, and spent some time at the playground...I think that one is his favorite...well, if I were a kid, it would be my favorite so I'm sure it's his too :)

Rock-n-Roll philly half marathon

This past weekend, Keri, Lori, Bill and I ran a half marathon in Philly. Jackson got to spend the night with Grandma & Grandpa. Bill & I left late Saturday and after checking out the expo & picking up our race packets, we went to visit our friends-Brooke, Carl, and baby Claire. She was born 6 weeks early and is still in the NICU, but getting better each day! On Sunday, we woke very early to drive to Philly and run the race. It was a beautiful day and the course was perfect...except for the hill right before the finish!! I was very surprised to see Jackson cheering us on right at that moment, but it was the perfect spot! Unfortunately, it was too loud for him and he was hysterically crying when we got to him. After settling down, we enjoyed a great lunch. A fun weekend was had by all :)

i just wanna swing II

So Jackson is finally big enough to go on the swings at the playground, and he LOVES them!! Since the weather has been beautiful the past few days, I've taken him to a local park on Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday. Monday I met a few newly-made friends at Dorbrook Park, and they have an awesome playground for kids...they even have a SPRAYGROUND!! (Ha.. I never knew what it was either until I checked it out :) It's basically a playground water park/playground for kids. Very neat. I'll definitely take Jackson back there again when he can walk/run around! Tuesday afternoon Grandma (Jane) and I took him to the park at Sickles and pushed him in the swing for a bit. I think he had more fun flirting with the little girl next to him! And Wednesday evening we drove to Fair Haven fields and went on the swings there. Once again, he was more interested in the older girl swinging next to him. Ah, my little flirt ;) Who knows where we'll go today?!

In honor of the touch-a-truck event, I went out and bought Jackson his first toy truck. He had so much fun playing with it that I could hardly capture a picture. Sorry for the blurry images but he wouldn't stop & smile!

touch-a-truck

While on our way home from running in Long Branch yesterday, we decided to stop in Fair Haven at the touch-a-truck event for little kids. We weren't sure how Jackson would do because as we were approaching the parking lot, we could hear all the loud sirens and horns ringing, and boy, was it loud! They had all different types of trucks on hand for kids to sit in, beep & honk, and play on. There was a fire engine, a UPS truck, a Comcast truck, a dump truck, a police car, an ambulance, etc...you name it, they had it!

Jackson had fun & loved it, but he's still a too young to enjoy it :( He did have fun looking around at all the different trucks and watching all the other kids, but we think next year is his year to play!