moving days (and nights)

Nathan and Krista are moving into their new house this week and invited us over for pizza the first night. The kids loved having the whole house to explore with no furniture in their way!



The family with their wonderful real estate agent, Kim.

when the parents are away...

the kids will play! This weekend Krista and Nathan are up in Portland, so we spent the day playing with Mia and Alex. We met up at the Farmers Market and enjoyed a picnic on the waterfront. Then headed to the pool in the afternoon for a little swim time. And finished up the day with a BBQ at my parents house.

giggles

Here's a little video that Olivia shot while we were in Portland this weekend for Keli's baby showers. I can't figure out how to rotate it, so you'll have to watch it with you head tilted to the left. But it's worth it! I just love Cole's laugh! I could watch this over and over. Check back soon for more photos from our weekend in Portland.

9 months old

Today Cole turns 9 months old. We are so fortunate to have such a happy, healthy, curious, independent, silly, strong, smart, handsome, loving little boy. I was thinking earlier about our good friend Keli, who is heading into her last month of pregnancy. And remembering how anxious I was feeling 9 months ago, wondering what this little guy was going to be like, what he was going to look like, which personality traits of ours he would inherit, and how he would be unique. As we learn more and more about Cole each and every day it just warms my heart, and makes my eyes fill up with tears, to think about how much we all have grown and changed in the past 9 months.

People who have children will always tell you how quickly they grow up. How each year seems to fly by, and then all of a sudden they are graduating from high school. Telling you this as a way to say, stop, and enjoy each day. Don't rush through. Just enjoy. And I am starting to really appreciate how true that is.

We took him into the doctor the other day and he weighed in at 21 lb 8oz, so he's moving up the chart in the weight category. At 6 months he was in the 40%, and now he's more like 62%.

In the past couple weeks Cole has mastered several new skills.
* Crawling: He now does the "normal" crawl more often than the worm, although he breaks out the worm move when he wants to get somewhere quickly.

* Opening cupboards and drawers.

* Pulling himself up to standing. In this picture he's also showing off something else that he has picked up -- the fake smile. That's right. Our child has already mastered the fake smile, and the fake laugh.

* Clapping

* Soooo big!

* No, no, no - shaking his head back and forth (probably not the best one to encourage, but it's pretty dang cute)
* Feeding himself. His favorite (and our favorite, too!) is Cheerios. They will keep him happy and occupied for quite a while. Especially great at restaurants.

* Climbing the stairs

* And this one isn't a skill, so much, but he has a total fascination with Farley. Not so sure that the feeling is mutual, but I think Farley will take pretty much any attention that he can get.

Colorado

(I have lots of great photos from the trip, so instead of inserting them all individually and adding to what is already going to be a super-duper long post I'm going to try using the photo slideshow feature in Picasa. We'll see how this works!)

My good friend Maya's wedding was last Saturday in Boulder, so we decided to make a family vacation out of it and went out the week before to explore. I've always had this fascination with Colorado, and Boulder specifically, so I was excited to check it out. And I wasn't disappointed in the least! What a great state. And an amazing trip. And a beautiful, wonderful wedding. I could go on and on. It was perfect.

Boulder (days 1 and 2)
My parents friends live in Boulder and offered to host us for the week, so without hesitation, we took them up on it! There's nothing better than having a local to tour you around a new place. We arrived on Saturday and hung out in Boulder on Sunday. Walked around Pearl Street, a really cute shopping area. Went by to check out the CU football stadium. And hung out and relaxed in Jim and Pat's backyard, drinking lots of water in order to avoid altitude sickness and playing with their dog Buster.



Rocky Mountain National Park and Breckenridge (days 3 and 4)
On Monday morning we hit the road, heading for the mountains. We took the long route so that we could enjoy the scenery along the way. We drove through Rocky Mountain National Park, and along Trail Ridge Road, which crosses the park and rises to 12,183 feet, with ten miles of road above tree line. Beautiful! We stopped for a picnic lunch, as well as for a hike up to the highest point. Late in the afternoon we landed in Breckenridge, a quaint little ski village nestled into the mountains. We arrived at our condo, a 3-bedroom, 3-story place, perfect for our crew. And walking distance to Main Street. After such a long drive on Monday, we decided to take Tuesday to relax and explore our surroundings. If you're ever in Breckenridge, be sure not to miss Daylight Donuts. Yummy.



Vail (day 5)
On Wednesday the crew split up, Pat & Jim headed back to Boulder, and we decided to go on a side trip to Vail. And I'm so glad that we did! It was well worth the detour. The town itself is nice, but it was the gondola up to one of the peaks that made it really special. It was a beautiful day, and the views were just amazing. These photos don't really do it justice.



Denver (day 6)
On Thursday my mom was sweet enough to offer to watch Cole while Cory and I headed into Denver for the day. First stop, the Wilbourns home (or the soon-to-be Wilbourns at that point). We got to visit with the bride and groom for a bit, and they gave us some pointers on where to go in the city. First stop, a neighborhood call Highlands, which is a couple blocks of cute shops and restaurants. My favorite spot was a super cute stationery store called Wordshop. After lunch, we headed downtown, where we met up with my dad, and we headed to Lodo, the neighborhood by Coors Field, for some pre-game festivities. I was also able to meet up some of my very favorite people -- Kathleen, Tara, Greta, and Chris -- for a drink before heading into the stadium. The Rockies played the Marlins, and we happen to know one of the pitchers for the Marlins, so that was fun. And Kevin even got in to pitch at the end. Another fun surprise was the Cory's brother Brad was also at the game with Mercedes' family. And they were sitting just 2 sections over from us! Our seats were fantastic (thank you Jim!) and it was a great game.

While we were in the city, my mom, Pat, and Cole had quite a nice day as well. They went to the Humane Society to visit Pat's daughter. And Cole loved all of the animals. He gets so excited when he sees a dog or cat, it's hilarious. And then spent the evening at a classical music concert at a venue in Boulder near their house. I, myself, would have been nervous to take Cole to such an event when it didn't even start until after his bedtime. But my mom is fearless! And they packed up and went. And it was good that they did. Apparently Cole LOVED the music, and everyone around them was commenting on what an amazing baby he was and how well behaved he was. You go, Cole! I wonder if all of that classical music that I listened to when I was pregnant and that we listen to every night before bed actually is influencing his preference for music. Anyway, good day had by all.



The wedding festivities! (days 7 and 8)
I don't actually have many photos from these days as I was mostly camera-less, but there are lots of photos out there on various people's cameras that I will post once I get them. And I'll fill in with details of the wedding festivities at that point. The short version is -- IT WAS AMAZING. Simply amazing. Maya looked beautiful. Everyone that we met was so super nice. I love the Mississippi drawl. We danced our butts off. And it was so wonderful to see the UO crew and to meet the newest addition to the crew, Chris (Kathleen's boyfriend). Anyway, I promise to add more details later. But for now, I'm going to sign off.