July Trip to West Yellowstone

Since our trip to West Yellowstone in June was a quick one, we planned way back in January to take our longer vacation in July and coordinate it with my family's monthly turn at the cabin. So we headed there on Friday, July 11th, and left on Tuesday, July 15th. We crammed a lot into our days there and had a great time. Here's some pictures of the highlights:

At Grandma's and Grandpa's house, Bridget and Felicity loved picking the never-ending supply of wildflowers and picked numerous bouquets while we were there.

All of the kids enjoyed tractor rides with Grandpa, and Felicity and Dayton even enjoyed some naps on Grandpa's shoulder during their rides.

 

I'm a s'mores fanatic, so we had to make a fire and do a little marshmallow roasting while we were there. Even though we have a fire pit at home, there's something about a fire pit in a mountain setting that just seems to make it better.

 

I love this girl and her messy s'more face.

 

We also made it over to the cabin a couple of afternoons so the kids could play on the beach and in the lake. Afternoon thunderstorms seem to be the norm, but any time the sun came out, all the kids got in the lake. The mosquitoes were fierce, but that didn't stop them. Both of the girls enjoyed jumping off the end of the dock multiple times as well.

I'm pretty sure this was the first time ever both of the girls got to go on a boat ride in the super old fishing boat. I have many fond memories for riding and driving that boat in my youth.

The absolute highlight of the trip for me was getting to meet up and hang out with my best friend from high school, Angie.

This was the first time we'd seen each other since her wedding 6 years ago, and hopefully it won't be that long before we see each other again. We are the kind of friends that can talk about anything and pick right up where we left off even if we haven't communicated in a while. She is one amazing woman, and I couldn't wait to give her a big hug and talk with her and her husband, Kevin. We've communicated a lot more frequently the past few months since she and Kevin suffered the devastating loss of their baby girl Ella at 35 weeks - just days before Christmas. And following the delivery, Angie almost died herself. She and Kevin continue to struggle with their grief and loss, and it was wonderful to finally be able to give her the hug I was dying to give her these many months and to reconnect. I'm so glad they made the trip so we could finally see each other again!

I forgot to take a picture of our other dear friends we got to see while there, but our friends Sandy and Bill were camping in Island Park and drove over Sunday evening to visit with us. Even though we get to see them all the time at home, it was fun to meet up for a short visit on vacation.

Certainly a wonderful trip for everyone and lots of great memories made. As usual, the girls didn't want to leave Grandma's and Grandpa's house, but hopefully we'll get there again for a short trip this fall.

9 Months

Cutest father/son picture ever!!

As I think I stated in a previous post, 6-9 months is my favorite baby age, and sadly it's now over. Now that Dayton is 9 months old, he's much, much busier and getting into trouble faster than I can keep up with sometimes. It is fun to see his personality continue to emerge, and I do look forward to hearing that little voice of his make some actual words soon.

 

Not too much has changed with him in the past month other than he's probably a little bigger in size and he continues to get faster at crawling, pulling up to stand, and getting into things. I know he'll start to slim down soon, but even though he's been crawling for about a month, there's no noticeable difference yet.

 

One thing I find interesting with each of our children is that each of them got into different things as babies. Bridget loved the plastic food containers. Felicity loved the dishtowel drawer and sitting in the cupboard with my Bosch mixer and largest pot. Dayton loves that same cupboard but just prefers to take the lid off my Bosch and sometimes even the bowl off the stand. He also loves the lazy susan cupboards, and a large bottle of honey that's in one of them.

 

He still doesn't clap or wave and just stares at me when I try to get him to, so hopefully that will come soon. The fact that he's still not stranger-phobic is a big plus because he does well when we leave him with other people or if he gets passed around in a group setting.

 

9 Month Stats:

Height: 29 inches (76th percentile)

Weight: 24 lbs. 5 oz. (97th percentile) - Whoa!! That was about a pound more than I expected.

Head: 19 inches (99th percentile)

 

I love my chubby boy!

Swimming Lessons

First day

First day

2nd to last day

This summer was Bridget's first experience with swimming lessons. I intended to have her take them last summer but didn't know that you had to register in May to get in. Anyway, she was enrolled in Level 1, and due to my dislike of water/swimming she hasn't really had much experience in large pools.

After the first lesson, I could tell that she had a much bigger fear of the water than I anticipated and couldn't help but feel like it was my fault. The other 6 kids in her class had obviously had lessons before or at least much more experience in the water. She was the only one struggling to do front floats and back floats, and I knew that it was unlikely that she would pass this level in 2 short weeks of lessons.

In order to improve her confidence and give her a little more individual attention, Nate took her swimming 2 evenings during that 2 weeks. It helped a lot, but she still wasn't able to pass her level. I am proud of her for the progress she did make.

I'm going to do my best to not make the same mistake with our other kids and plan on getting them in the pool more and starting at a younger age. Felicity has to be 4 to be in lessons without a parent, and she's already anxious to take lessons next summer.