11 Months Old

Here we are at 11 months old!  (Well by now you're almost 12 months old.  I'm behind on blogging again as usual).  You turned 11 months old while we were on our vacation in Chelan.  What a fun time this is!  You are so cute and have such a funny personality.  You really are a ham and keep us laughing every day.

Here are the things going on this month I don't want to forget:

*Cameron has started playing games with us where he wants us to chase him and tickle him or he'll hide in the drapes and play peek-a-boo.  He just laughs and laughs.  It's fun to watch him initiate those games.
*He is officially walking all over the place and getting good at it and more stable every day.  He's even wearing shoes now too!  I can't believe he's walking this early.  He loves being able to keep up with big brother.
*He loves the stairs lately.  We might be in the kitchen and all the sudden it's mysteriously too quiet in the living room.   That's our que that he's probably half way up the stairs already!  The thing that makes us nervous is he's not that skilled in coming down the stairs yet so we finally just purchased a gate to keep at the bottom of the stairs.  I don't remember Nathan being that interested in the stairs so this is a new thing for us.
*Cameron cracks us up in that he tends to find 1 toy that he really likes and then carries it around with him everywhere he goes.  He does this at school too.  I think it's his way of "staking his claim" to something since he has an older brother who usually has more control over all the toys.  Some of his favorite toys to do this with at home are the mini whisk from the play kitchen, other play kitchen tools, and magnets.
*He is babbling more and more everyday.  And he's started doing more baby sign language.  He can do the signs for "all done" and "water."
*Cameron is our star eater.  That kid will eat anything we put in front of him!  I don't even really know what his favorite foods are because he eats anything.  Even vegetables!  It's awesome and hopefully this trend continues.  But probably not.  Especially when he observes his big brother avoiding vegetables at all cost.
*New skills include using a sippy cup, feeding himself mostly with finger foods and using a plate, dancing to music, and climbing up on things.
*Cameron has about 3 teeth now--2 on the bottom and 1 on the top.

What did our family ever do without Cameron?  He brings so much joy and humor to our household.  We love you buddy!

This is probably one of my most favorite all time photos of him

Summer Vacation: Lake Chelan

Our big summer vacation this year was Lake Chelan with the Warners.  We did this same trip 2 summers ago and had such a great time that we wanted to do it again.  We stayed at the same condo at Lake Chelan Shores because it was so nice and such a great location.   The trip was wonderful and disappointing all at the same time.

From a family time standpoint, this was probably one of the best trips we've ever taken all together.  Everyone was relaxed, we had a good mix of time all together and time doing our own thing, everyone was in good moods and we just enjoyed being together.  As family time for an extended period usually goes--it doesn't always work out that way.  But this year we just really enjoyed each other's company.  All of us went on the trip including my brother and his girlfriend, Carly.  They were good sports and stayed on the hide-a-bed.  Our boys loved spending so much time with their grandparents, uncle and Carly every day.

The bummer part of the trip was the weather.  Just a few days before we arrived, a wildfire in the region that had started end of June erupted and spread from lightening.  The fire was up north from the lake, but all the smoke filtered down the lake and just stayed in the valley.  We could barely see across to the other side of the lake.  We could constantly smell the smoke and ash was floating everywhere, covering our clothes and towels on the deck.  It was warm, but we rarely saw the sun as it was clouded over by the smoke.  We made the best of it and still went outside to enjoy the pool, water park, etc.  But not much laying out and getting a good dose of Vitamin D like we were hoping.  By the end of the time James was feeling claustrophic and we just wanted to be back in fresh air again.  Luckily by our last day, the wind picked up and cleared out much of the smoke so we finally had a nice view.  But it was short lived as the smoke began to filter down the lake again the next day. Sadly the fires over in the Chelan have gotten worst in the last couple of weeks and many people have been evacuated.  Multiple homes have burned too.  What a tough summer.

Like I said, despite the fires, we made the best of our time.  Here are some of our fun memories:

*pool time with the whole family and Cameron trying out his little float
*making dinner all together in the evenings
*a rowdy game of Mexican Train--Ryan had us rolling on the floor with laughter and treated us to his lovely "Dentist Office" playlist of songs from the 80's and 90's
*making big breakfasts and hanging out in our pj's most of the morning
*mom and I exploring downtown Chelan
*Slidewaters--Chelan's fun waterpark that we had never been to.  It was great--fun things for everyone in the family.  Dad even went down a major waterslide.  At 68 years old it was very impressive!
*Yummy dinner at Sorrento's
*Burgers, fries and ice cream at the Lakeside Drive-In overlooking the lake on our last night
*All working together to finally get mom on Facebook
*Getting time to actually go to the gym--that rarely happens at home
*James and I getting some couple time by the pool
*Reading magazines and books--heavenly!
*Nate sleeping on the top bunk bed every night--so brave!
*the beautiful sunset on the last night
*the boys playing frisbee on the grass at dusk
*Ryan doing a family photo shoot among the vines

And here are the great photos my brother captured for our photo shoot: