Good Morning

Today Jack deviated from his normal 6:30 wake time and summoned me at 5:45am with an ear-piercing cry. Since we were up so early, we headed out to explore. We drove to a running path I had read about - The Dish in Palo Alto, next to the Stanford Campus(the dish as shown in the photo is actually a radiotelescope that's still in use). It was beautiful and quiet, the sun was just beginning to push through the clouds and the sky was a brilliant blue. I love being outside and seeing the vastness of God's creation.

Circling the Tent

Camping

We took our first camping trip with Jack this past weekend(Butano State Park). He absolutely loved it. He spent most of his time running wildly around the tent and picking up dirt and pine needles with his buddy Owen. It was great to get out for the weekend - our campground was great, and only an hour from home:)
Here's a few pics, I'll post a video soon....

Stopping Time

Many, many people have told us to enjoy the time we have with Jack b/c "they grow up so fast". And to be honest we really are enjoying Jack - well most hours that is. Here's some of the things that bring us joy right now about Jack:

- His hugs and kisses
- The sound of "chooo-choooo" that constantly comes from his mouth
- Sleeping in past 6am (new in the past 3 days)
- When he obeys a firm "no"!
- Playing - he's into stuffing our pockets with whatever is handy (blocks, etc.)
- New words: nigh-nigh, car, banana, choo-choo, Jack, more, milk
- Reading books over & over - and right now they have to be about trains
- Hugging his puppy, and doing downward doy into his blanket
- Walking around beating his tummy like a drum
- Running anywhere he can
- Taking us on walks around the block

These are just a handful of great moments with Jack. We'll omit the moments we want to sell him on Ebay (Scott's words);)

Friends

I think being friends at 18 months really means occasionally playing with another child but more often hitting them or stealing their toys. However, Jack and his friend Owen did have a breakthrough the other day and gave each other a hug - it was really cute. Here are a few photos of them playing at the park. You'll notice they weren't too excited to be in the same stroller on the walk over to the park...

Developmental Milestone: Dance

At this stage in our lives we hear the phrase "developmental milestones" at almost every turn. This can refer to a wide array of things in Jack's life - learning to crawl, then walk, the number of words he can utter, mastering the pincher grasp, etc. Dance is one of these skill - at least I think it is. Jack's been bouncing and doing what we call the "squat walk" to music for a while, but we are beginning to really work on refining his dance moves.

Now, any of you who know how Scott and I dance might hesitate to watch this video. But if you are so bold, enjoy. We're working on more dance moves such as the running man and break dancing...:)

You Bought a What?!!!

We just purchased a....minivan. And yes, some may say (and have said) that we've sold out. I personally am eating many comments I've made in past years about how I would never own one of these ugly beasts. The truth is, I love our new car. It's great, and somehow I don't think it's so ugly anymore:)
Here's some great things about our new wheels:
- I don't have to wrench my back leaning over to put Jack in his car seat
- It has something like 17 cupholders - that's actually obscene
- Window shades that Jack loves to pull up and out of the doors
- automatic doors - yes!
- It doesn't feel like you're driving a tank - a plus for my driving style;)
- we don't have to strategically pack and leave items out for our next trip
- I can take my bike everywhere:)

Jack loves the car. He'll see it out the window of our house and say "car" and try to coax me to take him to it. Scott spent almost a half hour watching him the other night roam around the car. It's like a Jack-sized house.

So yes, we bought a minivan and I'm still standing. Smiling too.