Rocky Mountain High

Jack took his first plane trip and his first trip to the great state of Colorado. It was a great vacation and it was especially good to spend time with Stacey's brother and family. For those of you who don't know them, Jeff and Steph moved to Colorado two summers ago and have two kids - Avery (4) and Oliver (two weeks younger than Jack).

This is us arriving at the airport.


Jack did just fine waiting for the airplane.




Jack had the window seat - and seemed moderately interested in what was going on.


Thankfully, this was what the first hour-plus looked like in the Bouse row.


On our first day, we headed to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. Steph bought an awesome double stroller that increased the likelihood Jack and Oliver would be mistaken for twins.





Avery loved feeding the giraffes.




During the week, Jack and Oliver loved playing with the same toys, at the same time. One morning, they posed on the firetruck in their pajamas. Pretty adorable.

Jeff and Steph have a little pool that the kids loved to play in.

All three kids in the pool - Oliver having a ball.

Jack and Oliver love the pool because of the freedom they get - they can cruise around, fall, splash water. It's really the best of all possibilities for them.

Oliver stopped to pose for a moment.

This perfectly captures at least half of Jack's time in the pool - trying to drink the water.

Again, this kid loves to stick his tongue out - like a little puppy dog.

On Tuesday, Stacey and I headed out to Breckinridge for the night.
A great ski-town, we didn't do much other than enjoy the scenery.

This is the view from our table for dinner.

On the next day, on the way back, we stopped at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater. Beautiful.
And if anyone wants to buy us plane and concert tickets, we'd love to see a show there.

All-in-all, a great time. I'll post some videos of the trip soon.
And if you didnt' see it, look at the previous post for the video of Jack walking for the first time.

And We're Back...

Time to catch up. Jack is getting big, big, big. And he will be 6 months old on Saturday!!!
Some recent milestones include:

• His first veggies.
• His second trip out of the state.
• He attended his first birthday party.
• He had his second double ear infection.
• His first weekend alone with just dad.
  
• His first solo trip across the room by rolling over and over and over again.
• His first Super Bowl.
  

This pictures shows the Smith in him - sleeping with his hands up.
Occasionally, he'll sleep with his hand on his forehead - just like mom and Grandpa Smith.

Stacey went to Colorado for a weekend, to visit her brother and family.
So, we had a bachelor's weekend that started with arm wrestling.
Later that night, the furnace went out and it hit 50 degrees.
Not a great start, but we survived the weekend - capped with his first Super Bowl party.

Here, Jack is getting his first taste of vegetables!
We started out with green beans (of the baby variety of course).
He loved them and has moved on to include peas too!
Maybe we'll try squash this week.

Two videos here: The first is his inaugural attempt at veggies. When he's in the mood, he'll eat like there's no tomorrow. The unfortunate thing is, when he doesn't want any more, with no warnings, he'll just start doing raspberries (buzzing his lips). It's a very clear message and we learned what it meant rather quickly.

The second is his gallant efforts at crawling. It's so funny to walk with just start shaking and flapping every limb in an effort to move forward. One day, he just rolled all the way across the room. He'll get there soon enough.

Into the Holidays

Well, time for an update. It's been a busy two weeks, even though I (Adam) have been off work for the last week. Jack has been going through his first cold, which is no fun at all. Stacey has been sick - probably the one who gave it to him (kidding).

Anyway, he's getting bigger, stronger, and cuter than ever. Just the other day he was sitting on his bouncy seat and ripped on of the Velcro-ed animals off his play bar - twice!

I sort of think he looks like a super-hero in this one, as if he were flying.
Nevermind the drool.

Here's Jack on Thanksgiving morning.

He had a pleasant first Turkey day, getting all dressed up and
watching the parade with mom while dad played football.

Family photo time.

He had his Thanksgiving dinner. He was watching football.
And then he fell asleep on the couch. Yeah, I think he understands Thanksgiving.

On Saturday, we headed out to a Christmas tree farm to get Jack his first tree.


This was also his first excursion in one of his snowsuits.

He was being a typical infant and didn't want to help cut it down,
so I did it myself.

We decorated the tree and living room yesterday. We need to get him his first stocking and a Santa suit so he can drive his reindeer (our dog). We'll post that picture as soon as it happens.

A Weekend of Firsts

Over the weekend, Jack had his first road trip, his first night(s) somewhere other than home, and his first time to see his family in Kentucky.

Stacey, Jack, and I headed down to Kentucky to show of our boy and to put together the five living generations on my dad's side. My Great-Grandma Weston (the reason for Jack's middle name) just turned 95 last month. She has 42 living, direct descendants - that is pretty amazing. Jack is her ninth great-great grandson (that's right, all boys) and a tenth is on the way.

So, here are a few pictures of Jack and family. He's smiling a lot more these days and is beginning to actually prove that he does indeed have neck muscles.

This is Jack with his great grandma.

Jack and his great-great uncle.

Jack lounging.

Jack and his great-great grandma (seven weeks and ninety-five years).

Five Generations.