10 Months

To say it has been a busy month would be quite an understatement.  We've had tons of fun keeping up with a busy schedule and a BUSY boy.

Our happy 10 month old.

Bet you can't guess where he gets his busyness from?

Daddy is attempting to keep him still in the rocking chair.
Can you tell he prefers climbing much more than rocking?

His sister "wuving on him" and trying to help him be still to take a picture with her. 

By the way, his sister is also in to dressing herself these days...esp selecting what shoes she will wear...not always appropriate for the occasion...but hey, if you can do something independently around here, we like it.

Speaking of independence, he is on the move and soooo close to walking.

 Showing off his skills at cousin C's birthday party.

He still LOVES to eat and he also likes to test everything out to make sure he is not missing out on anything tasty.

Here is a shot of him trying a bite of sand.

We all like playing in the water during the summer, but this boy really LOVES the water.

 Trip to the spray park with some of our buddies.

  Our BIG trip to Arizona

The 5 of us in Dilkon, AZ.  Make note of Mt. Dilkon in the background.

We traveled with this sweet group of people from our church to do a VBS for a church on the Navajo Reservation.  Our group ranged from 9 months to 80 yrs old.  There were some challenges along the way but the Lord took care of us and we feel so blessed to have been able to be a part of this ministry.

Our last day of VBS


McB and some of his "new friends"

SLiM had a blast getting to do some of the "big kid" stuff.

Our kiddos had a blast and even provided some entertainment for the team in the afternoons.

McB trying his hand at UNO

 Mountain Climbing

SLiM and Daddy getting ready to go mountain climbing.  SLiM has consistently told us that this was her favorite part of the trip.

Getting ready to climb Mt. Dilkon.

At the top!
  It was more steep than we initially thought on our way up.  Micah was quickly tied to daddy with the rope you see connected to his water bottle. 

Here is how Mommy and IP decided to climb down.  He thought it was a great idea and laughed the entire way down...he had no idea how much danger he was in;)  The loose lava rock was a bit of a problem when you could not really watch your step due to a baby carrier blocking your view.

Just as we reached the bottom of the mountain, one of the Navajo girls we had met found us and told us about a community fitness event taking place...immediately.  The Navajo "Just Move It" 5K or 3K run/walk.  We did the 3K kids-run-while-parents-walk/limp;) This made for a great opportunity for us to interact with the community.  We all slept well that night...well almost, IP started running a fever. 

On your mark, get set, GO!

We made a few sight seeing stops on our way home.

Grand Falls

Grand Falls is a "chocolate" water fall that only flows during Monsoon Season.  We were told that the drop of the fall from top to bottom is larger than Niagara falls, but it is spread out in several drops.

 The Grand Canyon

McB and SLiM loving their 1st bus ride.

Our sweet friends in NM hosted us for a night on our way home.

Carlsbad Caverns

McB learned about stalagmites and stalactites but he prefers to call the stalagmites "rock monsters".  This was his favorite part of the trip.  Sarah quietly and frequently informed us that she was hunting for tigers.  She was convinced there were tigers hiding in the cave.  

Check out McB's face of amazement.  He has not stopped talking about being "inside a mountain."  Sarah was keeping an eye out for tigers while the rest of us posed for a pic.

Glow sticks in the caverns were a hit.

The kids did great in the car.  They each had a gift bag that our church mission board put together for them to help the trip go smoothly. They were able to open a small present (little toys, stickers, candy, band-aides, painters tape, magnets, coloring books, gak, memory cards, glow sticks and more) from their bags every few hrs throughout the trip.  McB cried when we drove in to our driveway saying, "I want to go back to Arizona."   He has asked several times since then if we could go on a long trip again.  I'd say that the efforts of our mission board (esp Mrs. Dawna and Mrs. Elizabeth) were a success.

 It was a great trip but we were glad to be HOME.  I think we are still trying to catch up on sleep.  By the way, IP had 3 new teeth break through during the trip and Daddy got to practice his ear manipulation skills to get rid of ear aches for both the boys.  Micah's ear manipulation took place at about 3am and the only place we could go where his screaming would not awaken anyone was over to the sanctuary building...that was a little odd;)