Ryan - 6 Months

Dear Ryan,
You/we celebrated your half birthday! I can't believe you are already half a year old. The last 6 months have flown by, and you've grown so very quickly before our eyes. Your personality is starting to really come out and you have been increasingly talking and gesturing. You also have been signing quite a bit in the last half of the month!

You and Jake adore each other. Although, sometimes Jake gets in your face more than you'd like, but you quickly figured out, on your own, how to handle him -- by grabbing his glasses. If that doesn't work or if he doesn't have his glasses on, then you go for his hair or his ears and that makes him back up pretty quickly.
You have been BEGGING to try food -- you have been staring longingly at us when we put food in our mouths. I held off as long as I could, but finally when you were 5.5 months old I began to let you taste foods. Here you are with avocado -- not so sure at first.

Then comes the smile. You gummed raw carrot and honeydew melon. You love the taste of grapefruit juice from my pinky dipped in the fruit. You liked banana but it gave you a bad diaper rash so we are not doing that anymore right now.
You mastered the art of rolling over. And chewing on things. Which feels good because you've got some teeth working their way up.
People have been saying that you and Jake look more and more alike than when you were just a teeny baby.

Jake insisted on actually celebrating your half birthday with cake. So we got a small cupcake for us to eat. However, you decided you needed a nap during and after dinner, so we sang 'Happy birthday' without you there. If you look closely at the monitor, you can see your sleeping face!
Happy half birthday, sweet baby!

Alaska 2011 Day 4 and Trip Home

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3, Part 1

Day 3, Part 2

We woke up at Grandma and Grandpa's house that morning and had pancakes for the 4th morning in a row. Yum. There was more playing and hanging out. While Mike and his mom went shopping, Ryan and I hung out around the house and rested while Jake and Grandpa got busy out in the snow.

They made a snow cave -- you can see Jake's boots sticking out of the snow.

Jake LOVED playing in the snow.

Mike's cousin Devin came over to say hi. He's good with babies -- we have a picture of him with Jake when Jake was about that age!

Later that day, Mike, Jake, and Grandpa went flying in Grandpa's little yellow airplane. They flew for about 20 minutes and then landed on a frozen lake and got out and walked around in the woods for a bit. Then got back on the plane and flew back. They loved it!

Then going home was an adventure in itself. We left Anchorage at 9:30pm and flew to Seattle, arriving at 2am. The boys slept on the ride to Seattle but Mike and me, not so much. We hung out at the Seattle airport waiting for our 6am flight to Portland. Neither Mike nor Jake could sleep. Jake watched movies while Mike read and walked around. Ryan and I got a little bit of sleep on the bench, until there were vacuum cleaners running in our area. At about 4:30 the shops started opening up and we got hot tea and muffins.

We finally boarded our flight. Mike and Jake passed out as soon as the plane was in the air. Ryan stayed awake charming passengers until 10 minutes before we landed, which made for a very tired mama.

Back home at last at 8:30am we all ate a big breakfast and then took naps.

Alaska 2011 Day 3, Part 2

After lunch, Jake went out for a ski lesson and Mike and friend/brother Aaron went snowboarding. The rest of us took a walk from the house to the ski resort. I had fun taking pictures along the way.

Jake signed up for a group lesson but ended up as a group of 1! Nice to have 1-on-1 ski instruction.

Worn out from the skiing!

It was beautiful and sunny.

Snack stop with Uncle Mike.

Then Jake learned how to play Sorry and loved it.

Then we attempted to get a good picture of all 3 boys.

Later that night -- went to the restaurant Chair 5 with Grandma before heading back to Anchorage.

Alaska 2011 Day 3 Part 1

We woke up in Girdwood and spent the morning hanging out and playing and chatting. Grandma came over to spend the day with us.

Mike holding his nephew.

Jake was having so much fun with Uncle Mike!

Ryan got to enjoy Olin's johnny jumper and Jake thought it was pretty neat.

Jake helped Olin and Aunt Melissa do the calendar for the day. In addition to having the correct day/date, they had to pick the weather. It was a toss-up between sun and cloud, but sun won out. You can also see Olin patting Jake on the back.

Ryan and Olin had a vehicle race (with help from Grandma and Aunt Melissa).