A Camping We Will Go!

We are extremely excited to be taking our first family vacaton.

We will be escaping the city life to spend the Fourth of July week in a small town. We're heading up to Cedar City, Utah.

Owen has been enjoying the packing process. We bought a new cooler and, of course, he thought that it was a new toy for him. He opened and closed it. Climbed inside and climbed back out. Climbed on top and sat down. Climbed off and flipped it over! At least an hour of fun!

Then getting the new plastic dishes out to wash, was a good half hour of fun, as well. He stacked and took apart, stacked and took apart.

Hopefully, we can find equally entertaining activities for him while we are camping!

Dare Devil

Owen has been very active since the moment he learned to crawl. But the true adventures began when he learned to climb. He has climbed on everything including the kitchen table! He is not afraid to try anything. He has made my heart stop on more than one occasion as he teeters on the edge of the couch or when he stands up on his chairs, just barely balancing.

His latest dare devil act was at the park this afternoon. Owen decided that he should be able to go down the big park slide head first. Fortunately, I was able to catch him before he was able to follow through with that idea. Enjoy the video!

Then finally he accepted my request and went down the slide properly!

Restraunt Style

For about a month or two dinner time with Owen has been a battle. He had been sitting fine in his booster seat at the table, but since we hadn't been buckling him into it, (because his tummy was too big), he finally discovered that he could stand up. So that didn't work anymore.

Then we moved on to more creative ways to get him to sit still. We tried turing his two chairs into a table and chairs....

But then that was a constant battle to keep him seated. He preferred to grab a little bit of food and run around the house while chewing. Since, I do not enjoy scrubbing walls and vacuuming frequently, this was not working for me.

We also tried sitting at his picnic table outside....

Again, this works for a few bites, but then he would prefer running around while chewing.

While we had been struggling at home with him sitting still to eat, we realized during our occasional dining out experiences, that Owen would eat just fine at a restaurant and eat anything we put infront of him. So we decided to bring the restaurant to Owen. We purchased a restaurant high chair, and at the risk of jinxing it, he is eating great.

New Shoes

Well, they may not be from Barney's, but I think they are cute!

Shhhh

Auntie Erin was here to visit and Owen wanted her to read him a story. I handed her the book titled "Doggies," which I find extrememly annoying because there are no real words just 10 different noises that a dog would make. For example you have to say, "woof," Ruff," and nnn...nnn....nnn." Seriously, what dog says "nnn....nnn....nnn?"

So, I hand her this book, fully prepared to laugh until my abs hurt, while she tried to make all the doggie noises and she announces that this is one of her favorites! I couldn't believe it!

But anyway, on page six of this book, there are six quiet dogs. Auntie Erin taught Owen how to say "shhh." That became my favorite page!

Pretend Play

It fascinates me how much my 16 month-old son pretends. He loves to talk on the phone and will pretend that anything is a phone, including his sippy cup, puzzle pieces, and little people. His latest pretend play is to pretend he is making and feeding us dinner. Now if he would just eat his real food, we would have no problems.

Donut Thief

While Daddy was loading the dishwasher, Owen decided to sneak a donut that had been left on the table from breakfast. Before Daddy knew it, he had snatched the donut, climbed up on the rocking chair, and was savoring the two bites that he scored, before Daddy took the donut away.

Price Check

My sister Erin was recently in town for a visit. We were on the strip, strolling through the Venetian, when I pointed to the display window at Barney's and said, "look a shoe made out of hangers."

"Oh, wow," Erin responded, "and the shoes are on sale."

"Let's go in, I would love to see how much a sale price is at Barney's," I said.

I walk up to the first rack of shoes, which happens to be size 9 and 10, pick up a pair of shoes, and say, "Ohmigod, $592 on sale!!!!"

Erin walks past me saying, "yeah but those aren't my size!"