More Fall Fun

It was a blustery day in Connecticut today, but our little adventurer just had to go "out-side". He starts begging to go "out-side" around 8:30am. He doesn't care what the weather is. He just knows there's exploring to do. So, gloves, hat, and sweatshirt on and out into the blustery world he went. He headed right back to the big field full of leaves and sticks. He also convinced Gram to ride the tractor around and around and around the yard.

Family Photos

As I've mentioned, Will has had a chance to hang out with a lot of family members while on our trip. He looked around the table on Thanksgiving Day and declared it to be his, "Lucky Day!" because all 4 grandparents were there to spend the morning with him. Thanks to Grammie and Grandpa for making the drive to play with Will in Connecticut!

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of a 3rd Thanksgiving with the Trainor side of the family. Great Grandpa, Great Aunt Pat, Great Uncle Tom, Becki, Chris, Anna (3yrs.), Emma (1yr.), Bridget, Jim, James (2yrs.), Kaitlyn (2 months), Gram, Gramps, Great Aunt Jane, and Mommy all in one house! The kids had so much fun playing together, we hope to keep up this tradition!

4 generation photo

Yearly James and Will photo... there's last year and the year before for comparison

Great Grandpa is soon to have more great grandchildren than grandchildren. Here he is with Megan and Will, Bridget and James and Kaitlyn, and Becki with Anna and Emma.

Duncan

Gram and Gramps have a chocolate lab named Duncan. He's 7 years old and is a real character. Will is absolutely in love with him. He hugs and kisses him all day long and has to know where Duncan is at all times. For once, I am glad Josh isn't looking at this because otherwise, we'd have a puppy delivered to our doorstep tomorrow. (not yet, hon!)

Duncan has quickly caught on to the pluses of having a 2 year old handy. For one, the kid is like a walking food machine. Will knows where the bones are kept, and if Gram doesn't give in to the real puppy eyes, she will surely give in to the 2 year old "Bone peeasss?" Lucky dog. Duncan has also found it useful to use Will to get things off the counter...like dinner rolls and then snatch them from the toddler hand. Gently, of course. And let's not forget the crumbs that fall from the table during meals. Duncan thinks he's gone to dog heaven. So does Will.

One Turkey to Another

Happy Thanksgiving! We are grateful for a lot of things this year. A happy, healthy, and rather adorable 2 year old, a healthy baby on the way, plenty of supportive family and friends, and all the service members, especially this group of Marines and Sailors working hard to defend our country.

Speaking of Josh, despite not hearing from him for 3 weeks now, one of Gram and Gramps' neighbors called last night to alert us to a package sitting on the front steps. It was for Megan! From Josh! We don't know where he is and we haven't heard from him in what feels like forever, but somehow, he managed to have flowers delivered for our anniversary. Thanks, hon! It put a little smile on my face...and Will sure enjoyed them, too!

And so, from our Turkey to yours... Happy Turkey Day!

"I hope we make the blog"

Since the beginning of our trip, we have had a lot of friends visit and we have visited a lot of friends. We haven't gotten pictures of everyone, but we sure are grateful to have so many wonderful friends who make the effort to see us when we are in town...or the state.

Every morning now, Will asks, "More friends?"

Ashley and her boyfriend, Ben, visited us in Connecticut from Vermont. Ashley was the maid of honor at our wedding and she is also Will's [fairy] godmother. She spent a few nights playing with us, and brought Ben along one night. Will enjoyed reading with Ben and Ashley. He ate ice cream cake with them...and really enjoyed it. So much so that he licked the plate (not entirely his idea) and then woke up the next morning saying, "More cake?" as his first words to Mommy of the day.

Tonight, Ashley helped give Will a bath. Mommy might have added a little too much soap to the water. Oops. I hope this answers Ashley and Ben's important question about making the blog.

4 Years

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Here's a quick re-cap of the last 4 years.

November 2005: Josh calls from Norfolk, VA. "Can we get married next week when I'm home for Thanksgiving? I'm getting stationed in CA."

November 25, 2005 (10 days later): Just married!

November 27, 2005 Josh goes back to VA

December 26, 2005 Josh and Megan drive cross country to CA.

February 2006 Josh deploys to Iraq, gives Megan Fenway before leaving Megan, Fenway and Donna drive back across country

April 2006 Megan starts grad school

September 2006 Josh returns to CA, Megan flys out to greet him and get an apartment and furniture; Megan returns to MA to finish grad school

November 2006 1st Anniversary, Megan visits for Thanksgiving

December 2006 Megan and Josh "honeymoon" at Zion National Park in Utah; Call back east on Christmas day to announce there's a baby on the way

February 2007 Josh receives word he's deploying again, Megan takes a break from grad school to spend time in CA with Josh before he leaves

April 2007 Josh deploys to Iraq, Megan returns to MA and finishes grad school

August 2007 Will is born, Megan officially graduates from grad school

September 2007 Josh returns from Iraq

October 2007 three Plateniks fly to CA

November 2007 2nd Anniversary

December 2007 Will's first Christmas

August 2008 Happy 1st Birthday, Will!

November 2008 3rd Anniversary, 3 week visit to New England

Summer 2009 Josh has many training exercises, each 2 weeks at a time

August 2009 Welcome home from training, Daddy; we're expecting! Happy 2nd Birthday, Will!

September 2009 Josh deploys on the USS Bonhomme Richard

November 2009 4th Anniversary...expecting baby #2 in April

Whew! We sure know how to spend 4 years and make it exciting! Love you, honey, no matter where you are or where I am. I miss you a lot...here's to the next 4 years in Virginia.

Edaville, USA

Grammie and Grandpa took us to Edaville on Sunday evening. It was such a nice place and Will loved every minute of it.

The first thing we did was ride the 2 mile train ride around the park, through the woods and over the cranberry bogs where there are Christmas lights everywhere. Will was so excited to ride the train and see the Christmas lights. His favorites were the sports themed decorations.

Then, we headed over to the big building for a visit with Santa. Despite the fact that every kid in line before him cried or screamed, Mom had to hold Will back from rushing Santa. He stepped right up there and waved at him, grinning ear to ear. He sat right on his lap and answered with a loud and clear, "YEAH!", when asked if he was a good boy this year. The pictures didn't come out that great, so we'll probably go meet up with the big guy again in California. Santa gave Will a candy cane, which confused him a bit, since he left saying, "Great Nu-nu cane?" You see, Great Nana walks with a cane...not the candy version though. Will informed me that he thought Lady Ho-ho had gone to the potty. We were able to find some mechanical versions of her to satisfy the boy, though.

After Santa, we played with the train sets, ate dinner, and headed up to the Cranberry Crawl ball pit. Will spent the rest of the evening in there, trying to keep up with the big kids and having, well, a ball. Of cranberries. It is Massachusetts, after all. We checked out the carousel on our way out of the park, at Grammie's insistence. After hugging the GIANT Santa on the way out, and kissing his boot, Will was ready to head back to Grammie and Grandpa's house. What a fun evening!