Surprise Date!

Last weekend Kyle and Kyle told Kylie and I that they had a special date planned for us.  We were so anxious to know what we were going to do!

We climbed in the Pilot and headed to downtown Louisville where we met the Belle of Louisville on the river.  

The Ohio river runs right downtown.  It separates Indiana from Kentucky.  

They boys had booked us tickets on a lunch cruise.  Unfortunately, will call messed up and was trying to give us the "sightseeing only" tickets.  Luckily, they had extra food available and they were able to switch our tickets to include lunch. 

The cruise was fun.  It was 2 hours long and cruised up the river, turned around and cruised back.  Kentucky really is so beautiful and it was gorgeous looking at all the scenery.  The food was good.  However, I think this was the first time I really realized how different Kentucky is.  Their gourmet is different.  We had a buffet of fried chicken, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, rolls, ham, roast beef, potato salad, pie, cole slaw, pasta salad, and green beans.  Dinner cruises I have previously been on were serving steak or fish.  I suppose to the Kentucky native that fried chicken is better than steak! Anyway, we all had a blast and filled our bellies.  We also got to walk down to the steam room and see it operate.  The Belle is still on of the only operating steam boats in America!

Thanks to our boys for such a fun day!

We decided the next time we all wait in a line to board a boat better be for the company cruise in December!

It was so hot waiting in line we ended up taking Jude's shirt off...then we took off his pants too.  Poor kid roamed around in just his onesie!

So green!

All Boy

This week has made me realize something...we have our hands full with this little guy.

He now knows how to flush the toilet.

His reaching/grabbing is getting farther and farther everyday. 

Walking along furniture is no big deal.  

Toys are not as fun as electronics, papers, bags, cords, boxes...

And now, he can climb...

Oh, did I mention the little fits he throws when he gets removed from any of the above mentioned items?

The Fun Begins!

I don't know why, but I have really been looking forward to the 9 month old mark.  Something about it just seems so fun and like Jude is getting so old! Well, the day has finally arrived!  Today Jude is 9 months old! Let the Fun Begin!

I think that part of the reason is because the list of foods he can eat is finally longer than the list of foods he can't eat.  He still gets plenty of different foods, but at 9 months he should start consistently eating foods like meat, cheese, yogurt etc... all the good stuff in my opinion. The joy of this means that I can finally start just feeding him straight off of my plate without being too picky of what I am giving him.  Bring on the flavor! One year will be exciting too...that's when he can eat the really good stuff like peanut butter and ice cream!

Jude has mastered several things by now.  He crawls everywhere.  He has become a master and can crawl pretty fast.  As soon as he was crawling he was standing up on everything.  Now he has gotten his balance down really well and doesn't fall as often.  He is also walking along furniture, walls, tables, anything!  Today I saw him get a little risky and go from a end table to the wall to walk.  He does have a little push walker, but he doesn't use it for walking very much.  He has realized that while he is standing on one side walking he can't be on the other side playing with the toys!

9 Months old.  Eating breakfast/drinking from his straw sippy cup.

Jude also claps!  It's so cute.  He first started this on our drive home from Chino to Mesa, Az while in the back seat with his Aunt Melanie and I.  She started singing Pat-A-Cake to him and he just decided to copy!  I have been trying to get him to clap for months but I guess my clapping wasn't as cool as Melanie's!  Another talent Jude learned is to drink from a straw.  I don't know that he really learned this though.  I think he just came pre-programmed already knowing how to! One day I just put a straw in his mouth to see what would happen and immediately he was drinking my water!  This is his new favorite thing.  Anytime we have a drink he wants some too.  It's nice to be able to do this although Kyle doesn't love that I won't allow him to give him any soda pop yet!  After Jude started this I broke down and bought him two new sippy cups with straws instead.  We have bought several different types of sippys, but he never would take to any of them.  I had been getting worried that he wasn't getting enough liquid with his meals so luckily now problem solved!  Now we are just stuck with a bunch of useless sippy cups!

Jude and I flew out to Arizona and spent 9 days there and then Kyle flew out so we could all attend my family's reunion.  My family doesn't do these often. The last time was about 7 years ago!  It was awesome for us all to finally get together.  We were only missing my niece Bonita who was headed out to Africa for a mission trip with her church group.  I guess that was a pretty good excuse!  Jude did awesome on all the flights and was a good trooper throughout the whole trip!  We miss being back home already.