Beach-bound

I'm giving a talk at this year's plant molecular biology retreat in Wilmington, so tomorrow we're packing up everything we could possibly need for a weekend in a hotel and driving to the coast. It will be Gabe's first trip to the Atlantic, so I'm really hoping that it doesn't rain all weekend like the mean weatherman said it will. In packing, we've realized how much harder it is to travel to a hotel than to visit friends or family in their houses. I've been especially spoiled by traveling with or to see my parents - we don't have to worry about a bed, diapers, soap, wipes, babyproofing... in fact over Labor Day we were able to travel with just carry-ons. Not the case this weekend!

I got to talk to my cousin Jonah this evening and Gabe was babbling away in the background. Jonah is so sweet - after he invited us to go on the Nickelodeon cruise with him next summer (though warning me that I'd have to ask my Mom and Dad if I wanted to go swimming), he kept asking about Baby Gabe and stressed that he really wanted to see him playing with his toys. I snapped a pic with my iphone and sent it to Jan so that Jonah was able to see it in near-real-time. He was pretty thrilled with the technology - maybe next weekend we can set up the webcam so he can see Gabe live! Anyway, here is Gabe playing with his toys so that you can see him too.



Apparently it's a birthday-tastic week: Tuesday was Sam's birthday and (get this) happy birthday tomorrow to Moen, Sarah, and Tyrell and on Saturday to Nguyen and John Bracy.