It's About Love: Gavin's Special Visit

Gavin spent the next two days visiting his birth family. He loved all the attention. All he could talk about was when we were going to see Tracy next. We played at a park one day and went to a forest for a hike and picnic the next.

Leaf fight with Tracy. 

She was a great sport!

Being silly together

Who wouldn't love all this attention!

My other kids didn't lack for attention of course.

A hike through the forest

 

Gavin and his birth sister Julia

Talmage loved being outdoors and carried

The fall colors were beautiful

We hiked to a stone castle and then when we went to the bottom of it, some of our group tried their hand at rock climbing including Lili.

Being in Tennessee was great. Our road trip home though was another story. We decided to do the 14 hours in one day to avoid the pain of the hotel and the many trips unpacking and repacking the car. Zane would also be able to use his day off helping with the unpacking instead of driving. This plan was tested though when we hit a traffic jam where we went 6 miles in two hours. Talmage and Lili had just fallen asleep right before the traffic jam and then when we stopped rolling, they woke up cranky as can be. Later on that afternoon Dallin did something to get stuck in his seat belt. In trying to get out of it, his seat belt just got tighter and tighter. We pulled over and tried to help him but eventually we decided that we needed to cut him out of it. We drove to the next exit to borrow some scissors from a gas station and cut his seat belt strap. From then on Dallin's and Gavin's seats were touching. This also tested our patience! With all the stops and traffic, we got home at 2:30 a.m. and crashed into bed. Despite the road trip, we had a great little vacation and Gavin felt like the special little boy that he is loved by so many.