"If I'd have known food could taste like this..."

"....I never would've forced down those cooked carrots."

Charlie's first camping trip was to Allegany State Park last weekend. Weather was a bit chilly, but we were able to enjoy great outdoor meals, take the boys on a brisk afternoon hike and have a great campfire. Grandma brought Blo-pops along for a snack and Bob decided to let Charlie try his. As illustrated in photos #1 and #2, Charlie was initially trying his darndest to get the sucker inside of his mouth. As you can see by the third photo, he eventually caught on. He jammed the sucker inside his cheek and proceeded to make loud sucking noises while his eyes lit up with a newfound glee. Notice his unhappy expression in photo #4 when Dad took the sucker back.

Take me out to the ballgame...

Charlie's first baseball game was a Red Wings playoff game a few weeks back. The boys (Charlie and his cousin Aaron) looked so cute in their sporty outfits, but the rain forced us to call the game early, for the boys that is. We'll definitely be going back though; Charlie was fascinated by the game...well, I guess he was more fascinated by the people in front of us, watching his cousin clap and yell and, most especially, by the crinkly bag of peanuts.

Six months and still swingin'

Our little (well not so little) boy is six months old. It seems like he is doing something new every day. New syllables--"da da" and "ba ba," new foods-- avocado and bananas, new discoveries--how to bang on his high chair tray, throw things off his high chair tray again and again, and how to poke himself in the eye (hopefully this was a learning experience and will not be repeated by Charlie). Charlie was 21.1 lbs at his 6 month appointment and 27 3/4 inches long. The pediatrician said that he has moved from linebacker to lineman and advised us to check the weight limitations on our car seat (Charlie was a little offended). He had more shots, but handled it pretty well and got three very exciting bandaids to show for his pain: Elmo, Blues Clues, and Hello Kitty (again, a little offended).

It's sad to see the summer end as it marks the close of the first and a very special stage of our son's life. But, it's exciting too, to realize that nearly every day brings something new for us to love about him.