The Gorge

Let me explain my long hiatus from blogging. There is a little curious, button-loving almost 9 month old baby who won't let me. When I open my computer his eyes light up and he immediately crawls over to abuse my keyboard. So it's only while he is sleeping that I'm able to use the computer and I usually have his naps booked. By booked I mean every second is being used to frantically wash the dishes, cook, clean, etc... I previously relied on his exersaucer and johnny jumper to occupy him but he isn't in to being confined anymore. He is crawling all over the place, pulling up on everything and standing all by himself. He even took a tiny step the other day. He may be over confident in his standing skills so I am watching him like a hawk these days. He also has started eating much better. He eats anything we are eating or something close to it. Pureed foods are NOT popular with this baby. He prefers chunky foods. My mom told me I also had nothing to do with baby food. Today he ate blueberries and oatmeal for breakfast and chicken, barley and steamed apples for lunch and dinner. He still eats relatively small amounts but he is finally interested. He also has a expanded his vocabulary, to include not only Maaama, but Daada, Naana, Yaaya, Baaba and lots of car noises. One really cute thing he is doing everyday is crawling to the bathtub to take his bath. Esten always strips him down while I get his bath ready. One day he just took off to the tub before he could get him undressed. Now he does it every night and when he turns that corner into the bathroom he has the same delighted look in his eyes that he has when I open my computer.

We just got home from a vacation to Washington where we reunited with some of our best friends. We all met at our friends Joel and Clint's grandmother's lake house. She was such a saint to let 14 of us stay with her. Then we traveled via 12 passenger van and minivan to The Gorge to camp and see Phish. It was an amazing trip and we had a blast. It was Rowan's first camping trip and he did really well. The time change made things a little difficult but he's a trooper. We saw Phish two nights and the first night Rowan stayed up and danced (jumped) for about 30 minutes, the second night he passed out before they even came on. This is from his dancing night. I made those Huck Finn's.

Mama and Ro.

Still dancing.
He loved the tent. And yes, we used disposable diapers for our vacation. His carbon footprint grew a wee bit but it's still smaller than most.
This is a group photo of the crew. We had a baby and pregnant mama with us.

Rowan eating his shoe. One of two pairs that actually fit him. Most shoes are too tight due to the chub on the top of his feet.
Family photo at The Gorge.
This was Ro's first beer. He loved it and slept through the night. Only kidding, it was not open but he liked it because it was cold on those gums. Oh yeah, since last time, Rowan has two teeth! The bottom front two. They are adorable.