Hunter Camping Extravaganza

Last Monday we loaded up the car (literally) and off we went to the Oregon Coast for a camping adventure. After our little trial run camping trip in July, we thought why not give a 4-day'er a go. And this time we'd be meeting my folks at Fort Stevens, who have a big trailer (w/ a shower), which made the trip w/ 2 little boys a lifesaver doable. I'm more of a 'let's stay in a hotel' kind of girl, but Ian lives & breathes for camping, so in the name of love I'm all for it.

We couldn't have asked for better weather, and the kids did pretty good. Cal's the best little camper around and B's learning the ropes, aside from it taking a couple nights to get sleeping in a tent down (let's just say, the first night I don't think we made any friends with his 11:30, 1:30, 3:30 & 5:30 wake-ups). Looks like we have a new summer family tradition on our hands.

Little fish.

The boys finished up there summer swim lessons last week. Cal had a rough first couple classes since momma wasn't in the pool with him this year, but he warmed up to his teacher and loved class by week 2. It's been pretty cool to see his swimming skills really take off over the last month and he ended up having so much fun, that we might just add one more session before the summer is over. And Bennett, I have to do some bragging about this little one. He's such a fish and I swear, has some crazy swimming skills/instincts for a 1 year old. He was such a natural in the water, blowing bubbles, back floating, going underwater, etc. He loved it.

under water he goes

Houston, we have a walker!

I think it's safe to say, Bennett is officially walking. After a month of taking steps here and there he's walking about 75% of the time & crawling 25%. There's nothing I love more than watching those adorable wobbly little steps, but man, it has me on edge.

My attempt at getting a video of him walking for the last couple of weeks has been a big fail. Between Cal jumping in front of the camera, the Flip battery dying mid-video & Bennett refusing to walk whenever I get the camera out, I've only got a couple less-than great videos. More to come (hopefully)...

A little model in the making.

The other day Cal told me to get the camera and take his picture. So that's just what I did. I told him to show me some poses and this is what I got (the poses were all him)...Model shoot round 2... A day later he asked me to take some pics of him in his new Coug basketball outfit. I'm thinking the finger point might just be his signature look.

I love my little cheeseball!

Big boy

We're in milestone mania over here. B's doing all kinds of new tricks - walking, talking, you name it. This kiddos is keeping me on my toes. He's into everything (seriously, everything. Plants, cords, cabinets, stairs, etc.) and he's the quickest little guy with no fear, not a good combo.

He's saying a handful of words: mama, dada, Suz, night-night, duck, fish, no-no and he's repeating all kinds of sounds. And for the big kicker, for the last month B's been taking solo steps here and there but in the last week he's kicked it into high car and a couple days ago took 7 consecutive steps all by himself and yesterday, 10! The funny thing is that he's such a stubborn bugger that's it's all on his terms, we can't stand him up and have him walk to us, he just drops to him knees (so don't expect a video anytime soon ).

Bennett had his 1-year check-up Tuesday, here's how he's measuring up:

weight: 26 lbs. 5 oz (88%)

height: 31 7/8 (93%)

Cal's 1-year stats:

weight: 27 lbs. 12 oz (96%)

height: 33 inches (99%)

my baby @ 5 days old (his first post-birth check-up)

and my babes at B's 1-year check-up

Obviously, teething just a bit (#8 should be popping through anyday)

sweetest little voice.

A nice little (wet) Saturday hike.

We live in such a great place w/ so many great places to play outside & usually the weather cooperates this time of year. Not so much this last weekend.... We planned to hike Silver Falls on Saturday and a boat load a little rain wasn't about to stop us. We knew rain was in the forecast but we enjoyed blue skies the whole drive up. Then we got there and this happened...The kids were troopers. Cal hiked the whole thing all by himself. It was a really cool, fairly kid-friendly hike and we're looking forward doing it again, rain-free.

After hiking, Lo came over and slumber partied at our house. The kids just adore her and she's such a great helper.

Camping Adventure

We braved our first camping trip with the boys a couple of weekends ago for Ians' family's annual campout. This year we were at Mineral Springs up on Blewett pass. I was a little worried about the kids sleeping, Bennett getting crazy dirty since he isn't completely walking yet, naps, etc. but it went much better than I expected. Cal's def. his dad's son, he LOVES this kind of stuff.

hiking!

Cal was such a trooper and hiked all by himself uphill, keeping up w/ us, until he ate it.... big time. So I played Sherpa.

And we can't forget, this was the trip that I discovered my new talent in life.