Scooting into 9 months

Cade turns 9 months old tomorrow! So hard to believe we are so close to his 1st birthday. We wanted to share a few fun photos from the last month. Speaking as a mommy I have seen so much growth and change in him this month from others. He is scooting all over the place incredibly fast! He keeps me on my toes. Speaking of toes, Cade loves to push himself onto all fours and then into what we call in Pilates a downward facing dog where his butt is in the air and he is standing on his tippy toes. Then he flops back down on his belly and scoots off to the next thing. We are always telling him how much easier it would be to crawl on his knees to wherever he is going, but our little scooter will do it his way!

Cade has mastered sitting up on his own, pushing himself up from his belly to a sitting position. And just the other day he pulled himself up! First in his crib and then on a storage cube we have in the family room. He is always crawling over to us and pulling himself up to give us one of his big goofy smiles (He now has two teeth on the top and two on the bottom!). We keep getting told that he is going to be an early walker, and I wouldn't put it past him! I, on the other hand, would appreciate keeping him grounded a little while longer :)

We also celebrated a number of birthdays for some very special people. Auntie Jenny turned 30 (!!), Gigi (Grandma Crellin) turned 80!!! and Gramps celebrated another year too.

Ok, so I know I sound like a very proud mama already, but we are having so much fun. These two videos captured some cool things. Cade saying da da for the first time - I can't believe I caught it on video (sorry it isn't the best video) and playing "catch" with daddy. Too cute!

Summer Vacation on the Water

Literally on the WATER... we spent a week at Lake Don Pedro (east of Modesto) on a houseboat with the Matthews' family. It was HOT, full of adventure and lots of fun. The Matthews' family has not had all family members in the same spot for this length of time so it was fun to spend undivided time together. We got along really well, made great meals and mostly relaxed in each others' company.
This is a fishing family for sure. Every morning someone was out on the fishing boat or casting a line from the top deck. There was some success and even more frustration, but Jenna was the winner and caught one (legal) fish for us to enjoy on the BBQ. It was quite tasty.
As I mentioned there was lots of adventure and we didn't even have to leave the boat! Our boat had some trouble with the showers and sinks backing up. The company we rented from tried to fix it multiple times, but not before we overflowed the shower, had sewage dumped in the hull of the boat, were brought another (smaller) boat for us to sleep on and were given a nicer fishing boat for the week for free. It was a stinky mess, but we laughed about it and had a little "boat depression" as Eric's brother, Greg, called it (he also had "fishing depression" from not catching a fish. His phrases cracked me up :) ), but in the end had an amazing time and made LOTS of memories.

Munchie preparing for the trip and helping to pack his suitcase!

Vacation looks good on him :)

Our view was just beautiful as the sun was setting... and very peaceful since the lake wasn't crowded.

Here is a brief tour of our home for the week. It was tiny! Cade slept at the foot of our bed in a travel bed, which I fondly referred to as "Baby in a Box".

Our bedroom...

The living area...

The view from one boat to the next and the kitchen on the second boat :)

Grandma bought the kiddies some fun treats for the trip. Each grandbaby received a 4th of July outfit ~ both Cade and Benjamin had onesies that said "My First 4th of July". She also brought along a little kiddie pool for the babies to splash around in. Cade loved it!

Relaxing on the boat with a little fishing and a some sunbathing. Eric caught the first fish, but he was just shy of "legal" so we had to throw him back. The babies even had their turn with the reel. Jenna and Nathan had caught a couple little ones so the babies had a little pond to fish from. I actually read an entire magazine and started a book. It's now the end of August and I still haven't finished the book, but at least I got a little pleasurable reading in!

Jenna's fish! She had to gut and clean it herself - YUCK!

Munchie in his life vest. He wasn't too thrilled about it!

Family photo session on the top deck!

Mom and Dad with the grandkiddos

One of my favorites pics from the trip :)

Last day of vacation ~ getting ready to set sail back to the marina, but first pictures on our own private island ;). I think Cade was trying to tell us he was done with the family photos!

My handsome captain driving the boat back to the marina

Loading dock!

Time to say goodbye :(

So exhausted! Time to go home!