T-Rex goes camping

Suck my thumb or play with my feet or take a nap? I'll just do all 3!!

The little man has gone from a frog (when he was Kermit) to a lamb (all of the little bleeting noises he used to make) to a T. REX. He has 2 teeth that he shows mainly when he is mad. He can bite with them and has also used them to shave off little pieces of watermelon. He is turning into a man-killing meateater.

We went in for his 6 month appointment last week and here are the stats:

Weight: 13 lbs 10 oz

Height: 25.5 in

Head: 17 in

This puts the little dinosaur at the 3% for weight and the 25% for height and head- he is a great eater and very energetic- no worries about anything!! Here is an example of how wiggly he is:

This weekend was a busy one for us! We ran the Goodview Gallop- Garrick got a 19:29 and I got 22:29- not too bad!! and luck for us our wonderful friends/neighbors Mike and Julie were there and they watched Pete for us so we could run with out the jogger! After the race, we packed up and went to Beaver Creek Valley State Park to camp for a night. We went for a few walks, Garrick fly fished and caught a trout, I read and let Peter nap in the tent and had a campfire. Lots of the hikes went through and around streams- the water is so cold! We had to drive through a few streams to even get back to our campsite!

Early morning hike on the ridge tops.

Pete and dad enjoying the campfire.

We had questioned if he would be able to sleep in the backpack- the answer is YES!

When we got back we hung out around the house, Garrick went biking for a while and we had a picnic by the lake with our friends Chris and Lindsey and their new baby Oscar-

While it seems that the sweet little quiet frog we once knew is turning into a man eating, giggling, chomping, rolling, grabbing and somewhat ferocious T.Rex, this is proof that he is still the little tadpole that we all love to snuggle with...

6 months old

Check out the Long's Peak update below- it is in JULY, but I just finished it today...

Peter is going to be 6 months old. We've come a long way since our first bear picture that I had to prop him up next to the bear. He is sitting up nicely next to the bear, reaching for the bear, and eating the bear.

We also got a new toy to try out with him, I wish that I had gotten it way sooner, but this sling will actually work to carry him for another year or so on my hip. He is still small enough that we can try a few different carries- this is called the kangaroo carry- his feet are scrunched up by his chest and he is all snuggled in, but he can still lie in it and sit a few different ways. It's kinda hot, but works well for walks at night.

Speaking of walks at night, we walked up to the lake last night and took Scout to do his favorite activity- DOCK JUMPING (well this is after eating) but he always has so much

fun! We took some action shots of him.

Scout is also discovering the joys of having a baby learning to eat in the house. We don't have a high chair yet, so we sit on the floor with Pete in his bumbo or bouncer and eat that way. Scout is usually around and I went to go and get a washcloth to clean Pete up, but Scouty had beat me to it!

AUgust Already?

Every time that I look at the calendar and see it is August, I panic a little bit- back to school soon and pete will be going for a few hours a day to his babysitter's- a mom of one of the kids in my room who loves to play "grandma" (spoil/love em- send them home). We went to visit her house and met the other kid who will be chillin' there with Peter.

Pete also goes for his 6 month appointment this week- Here are all of the things that we'll be able to tell his nurse that we do: roll back-front-back-front etc..., eat potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, avacado, bananas, rice cereal, sit up alone, laugh, turn to find objects, reach for objects, scoot to get a toy. He also recognizes me and Garrick for sure and when I go in to get him in the morning he gives me the biggest smile. We are going to "adjust" his schedule a little bit in the next month so that he can eat with me 2 times before I go to school and then have his LONG nap and solid lunch at Susan's house and then a bottle when he gets up. So far it's been working out alright- we get up a little earlier (6:15-6:30) and then also go to bed a little sooner too (7:30ish). This will be nice so I can get a lot of homework done after he goes to bed!

The garden has been growing like crazy- we have been eating a few tomatoes a day and have already started to can them to be used this winter in soup and chili- YUM!

Ani also came and visited which was such a special treat since she lives so far away (Utah)! We went for lots of walks, picked apples, made apple sauce, went to Pete's swim lessons, swam and just got to spend a lot of time talking and playing with Pete. (We were pretty busy and didn't take too many pictures!)

Pete also has started his swim lessons this week. We go for 30 mins every day. Travis is his swim coach and we do all sorts of things- play ring around the rosie, go for walks in the shallow water, find rings on the bottom of the pool, float on our tummies and backs. We'll take pictures this week and put them up later! Pete's favorite part- I think- is that he can walk in the water because it makes him lighter!

Gorilla Baby

Peter wanted me to update you on all of the things that he has learned to do since we've been home. First, he wanted to let you all know that he is SO glad to be out of the box, back in his own crib and that he has recovered from the trauma of it.

He is loving eating solid foods. (See the video below) We eat: potato, sweet potato, avacado, and carrots. The carrots were actual baby food and I think they were a little too thin for him to eat actually, they just kinda slimed all over his face. I'm excited to take him to the hospital and weigh him on Wednesday to see if he's gained weight with this new food. Last time (4.5 months) he was 12.7 pounds- we're hoping for 13 1/2ish this week which will keep him right at the bottom of the chart- BUT still on it! This is a picture of him sucking the slime off of his fingers when we were finished up eating one day.

Edited to add: We went to the clinic to weigh in and he was 13 lb 5 oz!

We have a new nickname for him- first it was Kermit, then BP and pete-star, now he is our little baby gorilla. He can sit up on his own, but needs to put his hands out to steady himself. He looks just like a baby gorilla and is so proud of himself that he can do this.

We still do call him Linus though- this is how he always sleeps, I think that it is SO sweet- sometimes I find him with his face completely covered with his little lovey blankie.

He is also starting to play with toys- sucking on their noses mainly, but it showing an interest.

Here is Pete and the bear at 5.5 months.

He also wanted me to let you know what a fun weekend he just had. He's watched us play a lot of darts outside- we put up a dart board on our garage wall, went to his second wedding of the summer and Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. He is always on his VERY best behavior when they are here: no crying at all and lots and lots of smiles, but they are so great about helping to keep him on his schedule that we love so much. We went for a walk, went water skiing, went to church, and he got to spend one on one time with grandma while we went mountain biking for a while! Then I stayed at home and took a nap while they took the dogs to Lake Winona for a swim and to go dock jumping since I had to waitress last night! What a busy day- Sunday felt like a whole weekend in itself! We were SO busy that we didn't even have time to take any pictures.

Eat at Pete's

Long's Peak

On our trip to Colorado we made a huge plan to climb Long's Peak. It is 14,255 feet tall- the tallest mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park. This is a big deal to climb- you start at 2 or 3 AM and need to be off of the summit before 12 in order to miss afternoon storms. It is a round trip hike over 16 miles with over 5000 vertical feet climbed. The first 6 miles are hiking, the last two are scrambling and grunting.

We started at 2AM- signed into the log book and began our voyage...

It was SO cold- just about 35*... So we kept moving as much as we could- But around 5:30 we stopped for a break and took these pics. It was so cool to be above the treeline and also above the clouds with the sun coming up.

Checking out the summit and where we were headed.

At around 6:30 we made it to the Boulder Field. This is a spot where there are actually campsites that you can stay at and then go for the summit from here. It sounds really cold, rocky and windy to me. There are solar toilets here also. At the top of the boulderfield there is a little house that you can go into that is really cute. It was build in honor of the people who have died on Longs (58). This is also a really killer place to take a quick morning nap in 34* weather!

At the top of the BF is the Keyhole. At this point you are 1.5 miles from the summit but you are only 1/2 way there- kinda like mile 20 of a marathon. You climb through this point and then you are hiking on the backside of the mountain.

Looking back to the Keyhole

When you first go through the Keyhole it is really windy, but then it dies down and it is a long scramble following the blazes that are painted on the rocks. The saddest part is when you look and realize that you have to go DOWN about 500 feet in order to follow the marked path. This is not a tricky part, but it is just long. I think that going back through this is one of the hardest parts of the whole climb just because of the amount of time that it takes and you are hungry, tired and well you are hungry and tired.
Climbing through the Keyhole

Then you reach the Trough. This is about an 800 foot ascent that is 1/2 mile long. There is lots of big steps up and while it is not really dangerous, it is a long ways down!

Looking Up




Looking Down

Once you get to the top of the trough, you climb back through another crevice- this one doesn't have a name, out around a little corner and the next step is the Narrows. This is maybe 400 feet of 3 feet wide rock that you are walking on. There are a couple of sketchy places like this: and THIS:

You can see where all of the people are scooting along the ridge...

Once you make it past all of this- there is once final part that you have to accomplish. THE HOMESTRETCH. This is a slab of rock that is maybe at a 45* angle that you just crawlk up on your hands and knees and then you slide down on the butt later on.

NO FUNNY CAMERA ANGLES OR ZOOM!!


The sign at the top!

Finally you make it to the summit. You don' tthink about the fact that you have to do it all in reverse, you just jump for joy, collapse, or have a snack.

This was a huge accomplishment for our crew. We had made it a goal of the trip to complete this and had a few bumps along the way- one of them being that we were told that the climb was still being considered "technical" meaning you need ice axes and crampons to get through the snow fields and ice dams- luckilly for us, it opened up the day before we did it. Also, it was very very cold the morning we started- this was hard becuase as you were walking, you got sweaty, you stopped to take a break and got freezing cold, start walking again and get sweaty... you get the point. The best part was that we all made it- it was hard for all of us at some point, but they were all different ones! My hardest part: the walk back down on the trail... I was so tired!

A baby in a box

We've been gone for a long time!

We went on our second plane trip of the summer to Colorado to camp. Yes, we fly to camp- we just bring the bare minimum, buy a styrofoam cooler, food and stuff when we get there and save TONS of time driving across Nebraska or even worse: SOUTH DAKOTA. (Last year Garrick and I drove out and I made him drive us home through South Dakota becuase I wanted to see the sights... Wall Drug was the highlight of the trip)

Once we got to Denver, a very special surprise was waiting there: KIM PIEHL. Well it wasn't a surprise, but it was still so great that she came camping with us! I wish I had a picture of her iwth her backpack- it was bigger than she was. She actually carried ON the plane all of her stuff that she needed- we were all impressed.

The car ride was a little crowded, we had a Nissan SUV, we really needed a UHAUL. He we are all jammed in like sardines. Pete had the most space of everyone- Mom was a trooper in the back...

The first order of business was to make Pete's bed. We got a cherry box at the grocery store for him to sleep in since he is rolling like a little Turkey Sausage end over end.

He loved it!!

Then we spend a lot of time hiking on the beautiful trails in Rocky MOuntain National Park.

Here is Garrick after he won the "How long can you keep your feet in the glacier run off?" competition.

Lunch at Black Lake. The last time I was up there it was 50* and raining and mosquitoy. I didn't really want to go back, but it was a good length hike for Pete and us (9 miles) with lots of good places to stop so Pete could eat and Garrick and Dad would fish. (They caught 5 fish total on the trip!) It was the nicest hike of the trip- besides Long's Peak- We sat at a place that we could see 10+ waterfalls, glaciers, trees and peaks to eat lunch with no one around and the warm sun shining on us. What a great day.

While we all liked the hikes the best, Peter's best thing was scooting around on the sleeping bags. He loved how slippery and soft they were and would lay down and pull it over his face. He was such a stud, our neighbors all looked nervous about a little baby sleeping with two pieces of nylon between him and them, but I think he was as tired as we all were!

Stay tuned to hear about our trip up Long's Peak!!!