Life's a Parade

I am going to start off this post with a tribute to a good friend of ours, Brad. Now Professor Brad Cosentino,  he made his move from Urbana to Geneva, New York, on Saturday. He took a position at the college there. Brad and John have been friends for over 7 years here at U of I. They shared an office together while working on their graduate degrees and became very close. While the boys keep up their manly dispositions, we are all sad at the departure. We are also so proud of our friend for his accomplishments. He is going to do amazingly in his new position. Hopefully we'll be able to visit him in a year or two and check out New York's wine country. We also look forward to his visits back here, so the men can catch up on their NCAA tournaments. We wish all the best to Brad!

John and I both left in separate directions Friday night towards our respective parent's. John went to see one of Kolton's baseball games Friday night, which from the sound of it was a pretty good time! He had to come back Saturday to work Sunday morning. Gavyn and I had a good time in West Chicago, and went to the Northlake Days Parade on Sunday. Gavyn just loved the parade. He got to see fire trucks, a marching band, and lots of interesting vehicles go by! It was a hot day, so we didn't stick around the fair long. Gavyn got to see his Aunty Dot (Dar) and Uncle Jeff too. He had lots of fun playing at Nana's house with his new mower, pool, and other toys! What's that about Grandmother's spoiling their Grandchildren? My Mom wasn't going to let that role slip by her!

Gavyn's Nana got him a little mower....and he did this for a good amount of the weekend!

Fun!

Have to make sure the settings are right...

Mowing is serious business, you know

King of the mulch pile

Nana also got him a little pool to play in. Good way to beat the heat!

Sliding the ball down Mama's legs

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Sittin' naked, eating goldfish and milk. Doesn't get better, right?

Fueling up his mower

Happy boy

At the parade with Aunty Dot and Nana!

There's Uncle Jeff on the old fire truck!

Nana and Gavyn

Nana, Gavyn, and Mama

Marching band!

They threw out a lot of candy!

Fire truck!

They also handed out flags

Very patriotic

We did have a little experience Saturday night. Gavyn had some stomach upset most the day Saturday but it took a wild turn for the worse at about 6:00 that night. After 2 hours of trying to console him, we decided to take him to the ER. Gavyn has never been so upset, and has never screamed for so long do to something hurting him. It was heartbreaking that there was nothing I could do. Everything turned out OK, but after 4 hours in the ER we were exhausted! So our first ER visit is concluded. Gavyn was good as new on Sunday. Hopefully we don't experience something like that again!