Moving On

Sadly, this is going to be my last blog post for a while. Summer is coming up, finals are around the corner, and Gavin and I have busy times ahead of us. Hopefully I may revisit my blog in the future to do some catch up posts on Gavin, but other wise this is the end.

Gavin has enjoyed helping me do my blogs and being the star character, especially in one of my favorite blogs “Sports-Not Really a G Thing”. Over the course of my blog Gavin and I have had some prime bonding experiences and I am very thankful for that. I am always so busy with sports, school, and friends that is hard for me to have brotherly moments with Gavin. This blog has really made a difference to Gavin and I, and I hope you guys have enjoyed reading it. Over the duration of this blog I have gained a lot more readers than I thought I ever would. It just goes to show how many people love Gavin and how special of an individual he is.

It brings joy to me to know that many people love Gavin for who he is, no matter what his flaws are. Gavin needs all the support he can get as he goes through life, and I hope this blog in the future will help him. I chose to do my blog on Gavin so he can look back when he is much older and see how loved, funny, and inspiring he is. Gavin makes me laugh everyday and I just love spending time with him; even in the boring moments, he still finds a way to make me grin whether he realizes it or not.

Blogging has been an eye opening experience for me and I hope Gavin takes up blogging when he is older as well. Again, thank you readers for all the support, feedback, and funny comments (Lisa). It has been a wild ride for everyone this year and the ride seems like it is going to continue. I hope everyone has a great summer and maybe has the chance to see the man himself over the break, Gavin Murphy!

May 25, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: Family, Family LifestyleTags: blog, justagthing, love, MAD Academy, summer 2 Comments

Netflix and Crystals

Gavin and I had a very eventful Wednesday this week. We both had a very fun time. It is rare that we both spend time with just each other on week days since I am always so busy with class. We had to take advantage of this opportunity.

First, I came home from playing basketball around 3:30 to see Gavin starting his homework. I decided to do the same so we could have time to watch our favorite show together, Lost. Lost is the best show ever. Gavin and I can both agree on that. There is nothing you can not like about Lost, it has the aspects of any great show. It is also age appropriate for Gavin so that makes it even better. Anyways, some nail-biting, crazy moments have been happening in Lost that have cause Gavin and I to lose are minds! Every time something super unexpected happens we give a funny smirk to each other and then laugh. What I enjoy the most about watching Lost with Gavin is how much he understands it. The show is really hard to follow and normally Gavin would ask questions every time a character did something. However, when he watches Lost he tries his best to figure it out on his own.

After binge watching some Lost, Grandma came home from her trip and brought back presents. Her presents were a bunch of precious metals. Some of them were dull colored and not eye-catching, but Gavin got a really big rock that we got to crack open. When we smashed it open with a sledge hammer it was filled with crystals. Real or fake, it was still awesome. Although, the whole time we were doing this I was the one breaking the rock while Gavin was in the dirt pounding the ground with another hammer. He found this more interesting than a rock made of crystals… typical Gavin. Eventually Gavin started to find the rocks useful to play with his toys. He can now set up life like scenes with them to film with his toy figurines.

I wish I could do this more often with Gavin because we always have such a great time.  

May 18, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: Family, Family LifestyleTags: crystals, justagthing, Lost, netflix, rocks Leave a comment

G’s Outfit

Gavin’s daily outfit consists of shorts, t-shirts, and nice running shoes. But not only is this his daily outfit, it is is yearly one as well. He will literally wear the same outfit everyday, rain or shine. I would not normally judge Gavin’s outfit the way I am right now, but it makes me laugh and he doesn’t mind so I will do it anyways. Here is a break down of Gavin’s outfit.

First off, his shorts can be way too long sometimes. They will go way past his knees, showing only a little bit of his legs. Plus his socks are way too high up half the time so there is literally no skin showing! Thankfully, Gavin has some what stopped pulling his socks up too high, but the shorts are still a problem. And I do not know who to blame, my mom for buying them or Gavin for not caring.

Next is Gavin’s t-shirts. There actually is not anything wrong with the look of the t-shirts, he got them from me when I was younger so of course they look good. But then you take a step closer, and closer, and then a little bit closer till it hits you… that smell. The smell that you know Gavin has worn this shirt more than once, maybe three times, through out the week. And it is a really flaring smell, it is really bad. I can not stand it so I will yell at him to take a shower, but he will ignore me and take it as a joke. Then I usually beat him up and knock some sense into him so he will finally take a shower.

Last, but not least, are the shoes. This is the only part of Gavin’s style that he likes to switch up. On week days it his normal running shoes and on weekends it is sandals. With Gavin’s weekend outfit he also likes to mix in a hat every now and then which makes him look a lot like his dad during the weekends too.

Overall, I do not think Gavin cares that much about what he wears because he knows he looks good in whatever. I hope though that he will start to care soon because I can not handle smelling one more stinky shirt.

May 4, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: Family, Family LifestyleTags: gstyle, justagthing, outfit, swag, weekends Leave a comment

A Second Home

Gavin currently lives in Santa Barbara, California. But when he is not in SB he is in SV or better known as Sun Valley, Idaho. Gavin and his family try to go to Sun Valley twice a year for two weeks in the summer and a week or two in the winter. And Gavin loves going to Sun Valley during both seasons of the year.

Gavin likes the winter because of the snow, especially the epic snowball fights we have. There is a hill outside our condo in Sun Valley that is always piled with snow. Gavin, along with some other kids from the neighborhood, Ally, and myself, will have snowball fights that last from lunch until dinner. Even though Gavin is not the best snowball thrower he is always wearing at least 4 layers so he can’t feel any of the ice blocks being chucked towards him going at 30 miles per hour. One thing Gavin doesn’t really like about winter in Sun Valley is the skiing. Our whole family skis (I ski and snowboard) and we are all pretty good at it and enjoy doing it, but Gavin despises it. He just does not like anything about it. It is hard to get used to skiing, but Gavin will eventually have to learn how to ski because my dad will probably force him too.

Summer in Sun Valley Gavin loves as well. Since Sun Valley is such a small town everyone bikes, so a few years ago Gavin learned how to ride a bike around our neighborhood. It was such an exciting moment for him and you could see it on his bright smile. Now Gavin can keep up with us where ever we go. During summer time in Sun Valley we do a lot of activities, which means a lot of biking. So after only an hour and a half but what feels like eight hours to Gavin, a grumpy and mean Gavin will emerge. As I have said before, nobody likes a grumpy/mean Gavin. So a lot of cookies, toys and small breaks by benches will be taken when bike riding with Gavin.Sun Valley is one of those places that Gavin will always remember no matter what. So many memories have come from Sun Valley for him, and of course myself. Right now he doesn’t realize how lucky he is to have a second home like Sun Valley, but I hope one day he does and never takes it for granted in the future.

April 27, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: Family, Family LifestyleTags: bikes, Idaho, skiing, snow, Sun Valley 1 Comment

Easter Sunday

Holidays are a big deal for Gavin, especially Easter. He enjoys everything from the candy in his basket to the easter movies we watch.

Typically, on Easter Sunday Gavin wakes the whole family up at the crack of dawn, but this Easter we were lucky. Gavin let us sleep in until 8 in the morning. Then he went stomping around the house waking us up. To start off Easter, Gavin always runs out the front door to the rose garden to find his Easter basket that the Easter bunny has hidden. Once he finds it, all of the toys and candy that are placed in a perfect arrangement are quickly ripped open to pieces. Although, Gavin is not violent when doing this he is very careful and focused to not mess up anything. I think it is pretty funny.

After this Gavin will go back into the house and eat some of his candy for breakfast, along his real breakfast. Normally it’s toast with butter, but this year he tried some of our Grandma’s special Monkey Bread. If you don’t know what Monkey Bread is I highly recommend looking it up and trying it. When everyone is done eating their breakfast, Gavin is always the first to do so, we head towards the front yard for the Easter egg hunt. Even though there is only 3 people competing for 55 eggs, things can get pretty intense. And the Easter bunny was very clever this year with his hiding places for the eggs. Many were high in trees, in hard to get places, and unthinkable spots for eggs to be found. In the end Gavin came away with the most eggs but barely. Gavin had 29, Ally had 22 and I only had 4.At the end of Easter Sunday Gavin likes to play with his small toys he got in his basket, eat a bunch of candy, and watch Easter movies. His favorite Easter movie is Hop, so we had to watch that.

Gavin also had fun with his god-brothers, Marco and Leo. They had an Easter egg hunt the day before Easter. They always make each other laugh and had a really good time Saturday. Gavin hopes that you had a Happy Easter too filled with joy and candy!

April 20, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: Family, Family LifestyleTags: candy, Easter, Easter bunny, Easter eggs, toys Leave a comment

A Weekend Full of Spectating and Play

Over the weekend the Murphy family went down to Los Angeles to visit friends before COVID restrictions get too serious. Usually this is hard for families to commit too, but not for us because we have very good friends that live in LA so we get to visit them. We stay at our friends, the Garrets, nice house and invite our other friends the Goodes, Von Hemerts and Pistones over usually. Although, this time we all got together at the Von Hemert’s house.

Gavin is one of the youngest kids in the group, but everyone loves him and wants to be around him all the time. At the Von Hemerts, Gavin stayed in in their pool all day long. He got to play pool basketball, but not without getting crushed by his best bud Roane Goode. After an exhausting day in the Von Hemert’s pool, Gavin comes out for a feast. But being the picky kid he is, Gavin only ate a hot dog and some chicken. Later Gavin got to meet one of the four Von Hemert turtles that freely roam around their house. Gavin had never seen anything like this and was intrigued. He also got to meet their bearded dragon and hold it.  

However, the fun was over and the next day Gavin had to watch sister, Ally, at her dance performance in Disneyland. Gavin finds this very boring and the worst way to spend his time. He likes to sit the furthest away from everyone  with just him and his ipad. Just as my mom says “Gavin Murphy, table for one”. People like it though because when it gets quiet while someone is performing, you can hear Gavin’s game and it makes them laugh. Gavin is so oblivious of what happened during the performance that he asks if did well or not and says she did great even though he didn’t look up once to see what was going on.

After a long car ride home filled with traffic, naps and ipad games Gavin is pleased to be at home once again. He greets his toys and plays with them for the rest of the night while using his out of this world imagination. All in all, Gavin had a great weekend. He hopes you did too!

April 11, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: Family, Family LifestyleTags: basketball, bearded dragons, dance, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, turtles 1 Comment

Born to be in the Water

Gavin has a lot of fun with his toys and his ipad around the house or around town. But Gavin has the most fun in the pool and ocean.

Over weekends, the Murphy family will go to the Coral Casino at Butterfly Beach. We absolutely love it there. Everything about it, from the famous oreo shake to the views from the over sized jacuzzi of the channel islands, is overwhelming and unique. But Gavin enjoys himself too much to notice any of that while we are there.

Gavin wears the same matching outfit every time we go to the pool or beach. And looking at him walk away or jump off the diving board you can’t help but laugh. His funny googles that look like they are crushing his head and poking his eyes out are the funniest part of the outfit I think.

To add to Gavin’s swim clothes, Gavin always brings these three toys no matter where we go. These toys are an: alligator, penguin, and hammerhead shark. Gavin will carry these all around the pool and even bring them in the ocean with him. Sadly, this is how he lost the alligator that my dad and I had to look for until dark so Gavin would stop crying. We never found it though and I don’t think Gavin ever got over it.

Watching Gavin in the pool cracks me up but is a scare for others, especially the lifeguard. Gavin likes to float on top of the water, face down looking at the bottom of the pool or ocean floor with his goggles. A while ago, lifeguards had to be constantly on the watch for Gavin in the water and wanted me or my sister to be in the water with him so they felt more comfortable. Now I think they know that when they see a black and blue figure resting atop the water they don’t need to jump from their tower into the water to save Gavin.

At the end of the Murphy’s pool day at the Coral Casino Gavin likes to change back into his normal clothes. Usually Gavin strips down naked in front of everyone because Gavin has no sense for what he is doing. Its very embarrassing for us but now Gavin has grown out of that phase and changes behind a towel that I have to hold up. So now Gavin is only flashing the people down at the beach, not at the pool. Hopefully Gavin becomes normal and starts changing in the locker room, but for now Gavin will be Gavin.

Here is an old picture I found of Gavin and I at Butterfly beach, my favorite beach ever.

April 7, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: Family, Family LifestyleTags: Butterfly Beach, Coral Casino, ocean, pool, toys 2 Comments

Gavin, Table for One

As I have mentioned before, Gavin has such a creative mind and it really makes up for the logical part of mind that is used for classes such as math in school which he struggles with. My mom likes to say “Gavin Murphy, table for one” because Gavin is always submerged in his own world.

Gavin is always putting together master pieces of situations that he can have his toys go through. Watching and listening to Gavin do this is funny because it doesn’t look like much. Just a crazy kid talking to his toys, but my family and myself know something amazing is happening according to Gavin. No one will ever know though.

Sometimes Gavin gets caught up in his world so easily that his awareness level is at 0, even
lower than that in certain situations. When ever the Murphy family decides to go to a big city, or anywhere with large groups of people, we must be prepared to deal with Gavin. For example, whenever we go to San Francisco one of us, usually me, has to hold Gavin’s hand for majority of the day. This is because Gavin is unable to watch where he is going. He gets too caught up looking around or asking me some random question that he doesn’t even notice where he is heading. And when he runs into someone it is always the other persons fault in Gavin’s eyes. Gavin will usually yell at them and the person will scurry away in fear and confusion on what just happened. My sister and I can’t help buy laugh while my parents feel embarrassed. To the couples that walk down the sidewalks holding hands you better move out of the way or break it up, because Gavin will plow right through you no matter what.

Gavin has a different way of thinking and it is always fun to see what his mind comes up with next. He keeps my family and I constantly on our toes, not knowing what is to come next. The ideas he comes up with for such a young age and knowing such little knowledge is astounding. I am excited to see what the future holds for him.

March 30, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: Family, Family LifestyleTags: fake candles, justagthing, San Francisco, tippy toes, youth 1 Comment

A Boy and His ipad

Gavin’s favorite thing to do whenever he has free time is to play on his ipad. The ipad that our family has is an ipad 2,  and this is the one that Gavin uses all the time so basically it is his now.

Gavin lives off his ipad. He brings it everywhere and does almost anything with it. He eats while playing games on it, plays with his toys and plays on the ipad, he even watches TV and plays on the ipad at the same time which is just unnecessary. Sometimes Gavin will want to watch a childish movie with him in the comfort of our home, but as soon as it starts he starts playing the ipad. I yell at him and say “Gavin I don’t want to watch this unless you are watching it with me.” Gavin yells back with anger saying “I am watching it, and I am playing on the ipad.” We will go back and fourth yelling at each other trying to have the other do what we want them to, but I always win because he knows I can whoop him.

Like all little kids, when they are addicted to something it can become annoying for others. Gavin is addicted to the ipad and will never get off of it unless he feels like he has played on it for long enough. If my family or I even speak to him while he is on the ipad he will say “Stop interrupting me!” and then mumble some naughty words under his breath that he thinks we can’t hear, yet we hear him loud and clear. When on the ipad, Gavin will turn it up to the highest volume and sometimes put it up to his ear. I tell him this will make his ear blowup but he doesn’t care, he’s Gavin. So the whole house has to listen to his to the weird and awfully painful sounds the videos/games Gavin plays throughout the day. Since the ipad is an ipad 2 everything is out of date. So all the cool games that are coming out Gavin can download but it is very ‘glitchy’ (Gavin’s favorite word to use when talking about the ipad). This causes Gavin to scream, wail, cry, punch, and just throw an all out tantrum. It is funny to seem him like this but after 3 times in one day you will want to throw a tantrum yourself. My dad does almost every time.

Besides the downsides that come with Gavin and his ipad, Gavin actually learns a lot from the internet on the ipad. He watches a lot of informative videos about Earth, animals, countries, etc. Too much electronics are bad for Gavin, but every now and then he learns something new that he will remember for a long time and be able to use his new knowledge in school.

March 23, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: Family, Family LifestyleTags: Family, ipad, justagthing, multitasking, videogames Leave a comment

Sports – Not Really a G Thing

Sports are not a strong suit for Gavin. He enjoys playing them but he is far from the best.

I always try and encourage Gavin to try new sports. Gavin has learned how to play basketball, football, hockey, soccer, etc. He knows how to play all of these sports but he is not that athletic. As a matter of fact he is very uncoordinated too. Watching him run and try to catch a ball is comedy. He catches the ball like an alligator closing its mouth. It is probably the worst way to catch a ball that I have ever seen.

Even though Gavin is bad at sports he is hard to catch. He loves the adrenaline rush of people chasing him, so obviously Gavin’s favorite game is tag. However, he does not like to be “it”, so if you tag him you are still “it”.

As a said before Gavin is not that coordinated. His body is pretty built for a 9 year old, or is he 10? I forget. Anyways he is very strong but his legs don’t seem to work in unison with his upper body. Nor do his arms seem to work with the rest of his body. Basically what you see when Gavin is running is a bunch of body parts flying all over the place.

What really surprises my family and I about Gavin is how strong he is. He easily beats up my younger sister, Ally, but that’s not that impressive. Gavin has his moments when he is wrestling my dad or me. Sometimes Gavin front kicks me in the face when I get him pinned down so he usually beats me that way. Maybe Gavin should try boxing.

Gavin is really good at Karate. He is an orange belt and is getting super good with every day he practices. Right now Gavin is taking a break from Karate because he is focusing on school. Gavin is also a pro trampoliner. Yes that’s a thing… in Gavin’s universe. Gavin is proud of the way and height he gets on the trampoline in our backyard. He continuously jumps on it seeing how high he can go. He hopes he can reach the sky and aim for the stars as we all should.

March 14, 2020January 24, 2021 by From Letters to Actions Categories: FamilyTags: boxing, notreallyagthing, sports, tag, trampolines 1 Comment