Road Trip, Motorcycles and Sand

I thought I would post some pictures of our last few weeks in India.

We took two road trips out West. As always, Josiah was a trooper during those long hours in the car.




This sign on the highway cracks me up! Does this mean that they'll help you, but they don't mean to?


We figured that it would be fun to get some pictures of Josiah playing in the desert of Rajasthan. We'd never really let him play in the sand before so we drove out to some dunes and let him go.

Uncle Johnny and Aunt Heather went with us.


At first Josiah wasn't sure what to do with the sand.


Then he thought it would be a good idea to taste it, but as you can see from the picture he didn't like it.


Finally he figured out that it felt good just to run his hand through the sand.


Before Aaron got rid of his "precious", he wanted a picture of him and Josiah on it. Josiah was thrilled and now every time he sees a motorcycle he wants to get on it. Great! Now it's in his blood...


One day while we were busy packing, I left my cup of milk on the table, not dreaming that Josiah would be able to reach it. Well, he did and tried to drink it like his sippy cup but instead it poured out all over him. He even had milk on his eyelashes! We laughed so hard. Josiah brings so much joy to our house!


Crazy kid! He started crying immediately because he thought he was in trouble, but when Aaron and I started laughing he hammed it up for the camera.

Josiah's cool new stuff

Josiah has a new nickname that Aaron and I have given him..."Jim". You may wonder why we would call him that, but look at the two pictures below and compare the hairdo of "Jim Halpert" from "The Office" with Josiah's. It's a match - Josiah has the same hair as Jim. And yes, maybe sometime in the near future I will allow a pair of scissors to come in contact with Josiah's hair...just maybe.

Now that we have a small yard and a place for Josiah to play, he got a new bike from Grandpa and Grammy for his birthday. He hasn't figured out how to work the pedals yet, but thinks it's just as much fun to push the bike as it is to ride it.

We also have a really great park nearby in our neighborhood. Josiah has already learned the word "park" and starts heading outside for his shoes anytime he hears us say it.






This little swinging bike thingy is Josiah's favorite piece of playground equipment. It's the first thing he runs for as soon as we arrive.




Just a cute picture of a cute boy.


Josiah's new love is to fingerpaint and color. He was actually crying in this photo because I had taken the finger paint away while I went to get the camera. Needless to say there is lots of great artwork hanging up at Papa's desk at work!

Trying....

I'm really trying to get some pictures up, but blogger is not cooperating with me! Hang in there...hopefully I'll get it working soon. Sorry!

Goccia Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Printable family tree - Geneology

So it's been a while since we've last posted but we do have a good reason. We moved to Thailand four weeks ago and stayed in an apartment until our house was ready to move into. We finally moved into the house two days ago and now I'm able to upload pictures. So, here you go...a blog update!

I don't have much time to wait for the pics to upload right now, so I thought I would do another look-alike-meter, since it's been about a year. Here is the old one. I was so sure that it would say that Josiah looks like me (the one from a year ago said he favored my by 15%), but it says he looks like us equally. I'm still not so sure, so I want to know - what do you think? Who does Josiah look like now that he's a year older?

We'll get pictures of the house and Josiah up soon. Thanks for reading!

New York

Forgive me for not writing much, but we're in the middle of packing so it's kind of crazy around here right now.

Here are some pictures of our time in NY with Aaron's parents.


One day we went to the apple orchards. We were not able to pick apples but Josiah just enjoyed seeing so much greenery!




Josiah and Grandpa had a good time playing with the grass.




Josiah rode his first carousel at a park in Saratoga.


Josiah had fun watching the ducks at the pond.


We met Aaron's Aunt and Uncle in Saratoga for lunch and some window shopping. This is Great Uncle Marty, Great Aunt Janet and Josiah.

We went to a local fair and had such a good time! We see lots of cows in India but none this big! The owner said that this kind of cow normally weighs about 3,000 pounds!





Mark was a trooper! Even though he was not feeling well, he still rode a few fair rides with me. I'm not real sure what he's doing here, but I think he had fun.


Josiah and Grammy waiting while we were riding.



Josiah got to meet his Great Grandpa.


Josiah and Grandpa


Four generations of Goccia boys.


Josiah played the wash tub bass while Grandpa played the guitar.


Josiah and his Dixie dog! I can't believe it, but she loved our little man. Every morning she was so excited to see him and give him a big kiss. She's a good big sister.


Josiah had a second birthday party. Grammy bought him an ice cream cake.

He's signing "more" - meaning he wants more ice cream cake!

Chattanooga!

We were really busy while we were in Chattanooga, Tennessee so we did not get very many pictures. We were able to spend some time with Aaron's brother and sister-in-law, Travis and Bethany. Josiah met his little cousin, Matthew, for the first time. I think they had fun playing together...even if they didn't, Aaron and I had a good time!

The Goccia boys


"Josiah, are you okay?!?!"




Uncle Travis, Matthew and Josiah



While I was at a ladies brunch, Aaron took Josiah to one of our old stompin' grounds - Coolidge Park. I admit that I'm a little jealous that I didn't get to go, but at least Aaron took some pictures for me.

Our Time In Georgia

We arrived back in India yesterday afternoon, kind of depressed and really tired! We had an AMAZING time in the US! It was much too short, but we had so much fun. It was worth the long trip. We spent one week in Georgia with my (Mel) family, one in Chattanooga and one in New York with Aaron's parents. We have SO MANY pictures that we have to break it down week by week on the blog! BEWARE: there are a ton of pictures in this post!!


Aaron's Aunt Mary-Ann, Uncle Steve and cousins, Paul and Alaina, came from Alabama to see us...well...mostly to see Josiah. Here's Josiah with Paul.


And a family photo


Pawpaw bought a swing for Josiah and had it set up when we arrived. I think the two of them were out there everyday! Josiah really enjoyed his swing.


Josiah and Pawpaw taking a nap.


Josiah was able to spend lots of time with his big cousins! Here he is playing with Stephen.


And chewing on Amelia's hair.




Josiah playing with Aunt Elaine.




Getting love from Uncle Greg (or Uncle Greggles...or Uncle Peek-a-boo).


During our time in Georgia, Josiah went on his first boat ride. He really hated having to wear that life jacket and was not in a very good mood because of it, but he eventually got over it.
The wind blowing his hair!

This is fun!!

Pawpaw even let him drive.


On Josiah's birthday, we went out to my sister's house. We spent the afternoon in the swimming pool.



Josiah with Roo


Josiah and Papa

Well, that pretty much wraps it up for our time in Georgia. It was short...but oh-so-wonderful! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that most of my nights were spent beating Greg's butt at Rummicube!! hahahahahaha!!!