Memorial Day Camping – Byer’s Lake

This year’s annual camping trip to Byer’s Lake was a little botched.  We had planned to leave Friday afternoon but then Noah got super high fever on Sunday night and couldn’t really shake it all week.  We took him in to see his doctor twice and stayed home on Friday with him.  As it goes with kids, he seemingly bounced back to good health on Saturday morning so we packed up the truck/camper and headed North to meet up with our good friends, the Andersons, Wes’ parents and my parents.  It is a little over a 2 hour drive up there, but anyone that knows Wes and I, knows it takes us FOREVER to get anywhere with the kids.  So after packing up the camper, stopping at the grocery store, swinging by Home Depot to get a few supplies and making a few potty breaks for Noah, we finally pulled into the campground around 4:30 (4 hours after we had pulled out of our driveway)!! 

The weather was kind of cloudy and there was even some rain, but we still had a great time!  Noah and Bodi rode their bikes down to the lake, played on the dock and we went on a hike around the lake.  We ate yummy camp food, made smores, played games around the campfire and Jan made awesome scratch margaritas.

Callie did great on her very first camping trip ever and was a trooper during the long car ride.  She did get a little antsy being held and put in the baby carrier most of the time because she loves to crawl and explore.  Probably her happiest moment was when we set up the pack n play outside and she crawled around in there and made faces with Bram through the net.

Another great trip to Byers with friends and family!

(I am way behind on posting photos ... hopefully I can get caught up soon cause we have some great ones from this camping trip.  this blog entry was written almonst a month ago so I figured I would just post it and catch up on pics later.)

Callison is 8 months old!

Yikes, this past month just flew by and I nearly missed my chance to report on Callie girl's 8th month!  This month was crammed full of milestones for Callie.  She is crawling everywhere, still an army crawl but boy can she book it from one end of the room to the other!  She is learning how to get her knees underneath her though.  The baby gates are back up everywhere. 

She loves to pull herself up to STAND holding onto her crib rail, the sofa, or whatever she can reach! She hasn't quite figured out yet how to get back down to the ground without falling so once she gets herself up, she gets kind of stuck and cries out for one of us to help her out.  We still can't believe she is standing.  Since she is so petite, it looks kinda funny to see a little baby standing. 

She is also babbling tons and using her voice. Dad swears he heard her say "da da" but I am holding out her first word for when we both hear it.  Plus, that gives me more time to practice "ma ma" with her when dad isn't looking. :)

I know I have said this before, but Callie is Noah's number one fan!  Whatever Noah is doing, she wants to be right there doing it too.  At bedtime, we read books to the kids and have both of them on the chair/couch with us.  Noah will point things out in the book as we read while Callie will lean way into the book and happily slap all the pictures on the pages.  If Noah is playing with something, she will crawl over to him as fast as she can and crawl on his back/pull herself up on his shoulder to see what he is doing.  She loves to be close to him all the time.  Thankfully, Noah seems to have lots of patience with her and doesn't mind sharing (of course, he wants to decide what he will share with her which is a little backward, but she doesn't seem to care as long as she can be with him).

One thing that we really noticed this month is that Callie does not like to be put down to entertain herself. We used to be able to set her in the jumperoo while we cooked dinner, but now the moment you go to set her down, she will cry to be picked up.  She will play on the floor with toys or brother but doesn't like to be by herself much.  Her favorite spot is in our arms, making cute faces wtih us and smiling at brother.  She also developed a little bit of stranger anxiety this month and doesn't like being held by others.  Previously, anyone could hold her, but now she definitely is more reluctant with new faces.

Last weekend, Mommy had to travel up to Fairbanks for work and was gone from Callie for two whole days, one night.  It was our longest separation yet and I missed her so much!!  Daddy was on kiddo duty and said they both did great but that Callie girl didn't smile as much with me gone. My poor baby missed her mama! It is so hard with babies because it isn't like you can explain why you are leaving and when you are coming home.

Pictures to come soon! The sun has been shining up here in AK, work has been super busy and I am training for the summer races.  This all leaves very little time for blogging/downloading photos, but I will try to get on it this week.

We are excited to take the kids camping this weekend for our annual Byer's Lake Camping trip!  Noah has been talking about going camping ALL winter long so he was jazzed to see the camper back up on daddy's truck.  Can't wait to introduce Callie girl to one of our favorite family/friends outings!