Ben...smiling, talking and trying to crawl.

Ben is almost 9 months old. He's talking, trying to crawl, and smiling all day long. He loves to play with his brother's toys and works all day to try to get to them. On his belly, back to sitting, a little crawl here and there, eventually he makes it to the toy!

He gives the brightest smiles when someone new comes into the room. I love big baby smiles! He has 3 teeth and another one trying to come in. He puts his arms up to let us know he wants to be picked up and tries to help a little when we dress him. The other new "accomplishment" is screaming. When we aren't feeding him quick enough, a loud piercing scream comes out of his little angelic mouth. It works...we move quicker and try to get the food in his mouth. Anything to stop the scream.

Ben loves the water! Cold, freezing, pool, lake, bath tub...it doesn't matter. As soon as he sees water his arms flap and legs kick until he gets in...then they continue to splash and kick. He giggles and bounces up and down when he's in the water. I love it that he enjoys the water so much.

Happy Birthday Pa!

The Rockies

1900 miles away from home....We had a wonderful family adventure to the Rockies in the beginning of July. We camped in Roosevelt National Park at Pawnee Campground. The campground was surrounded by mountains and beautiful lakes and streams. We hiked to the Indian Peeks Wilderness with 8 kids to see Mitchel and Long Lake. All of the trail heads were walking distance from our campground. Charlie had his "poker" stick out for all of the mud and snow we encountered along the way. He made pokes in them all...

Our campground was at 10,300 ft above sea level. Everyone got a little altitude sickness the first day but most were great by day 2. There was lots of playing in the snow at our campsite, moving of rocks from one place to another, and digging in dirt. The nights were cold but the days were perfect. I can't wait to go back and take the hike to Isabel.


The BIG rock we played on everyday at the campground.

Hiking through snow and making pokes in wood. Notice poking stick in hand on last picture....my favorite one from the trip. Love the mountains and trail in the background.

Charlie had a blast hiking (most of the time) with all of his cousins. Ben and Sam were in backpacks most of the time. Charlie put his feet in the mountain water at Mitchel. It was COLD.

Everyone enjoyed throwing rocks. Sam is throwing into Brainard Lake, walking distance from our campsite.

Ben won the best camper/traveler award. He was excellent the whole trip. The boys all did so well with the long car ride and tent time. I can't wait to plan another adventure for next summer! Any ideas?