The weather hasn't been cooperating much for boating this year, and we've been out of town on the good weekends, so this past weekend was the first time we managed to get out on the lake as a family.

That's right - Jack's first boat cruise!

He was a champ - he was so interested in everything going on, but when I put him down for his nap, he slept like...well, he slept like a baby :) Which gave mama and daddy some time to enjoy the sunshine and the view.

There's nothing like summer on Lake Michigan!

Bryan and Jack with Joe & JJ

P.S. - Yes, Dad, Jack has a coast guard approved life vest with all the bells and whistles. We didn't make him wear it while the boat was stationary, but we will once he starts walking and tries to climb all over the boat on his own (we've seen this firsthand with JJ). Your grandson is in good hands.

We have traveled out of town 4 of the last 5 weekends, and I’m wiped out. The bad news about traveling with Jack is that babies need a lot of stuff. His clothes take up approximately 1 square foot of real estate in our luggage – his toys, diapers, travel bed, car seat, stroller, nebulizer, my diaper bag and my pump take up basically the rest of our luggage allowance / trunk space. So Bryan gets to pack one backpack of clothing, while I look like I’m moving my entire household overseas for the foreseeable future. Additionally, the stuff Jack needs to travel on the weekend is basically the same stuff he needs during the week, so unlike Bryan and I, who used to leave suitcases unpacked for weeks at a time, Jack requires laundry and unpacking and sorting right away. His pincer grip is coming along quite nicely, but his motor skills in general haven’t quite advanced to a place where he can do any of these things on his own, so mommy has been unpacking and repacking every week for 4 of the last 5 weeks, and frankly she’s had enough for the summer.

The good news is that Jack is a dream to travel with. He will sleep anywhere. He will eat anything. We can leave him with babysitters he doesn’t know. He also does extremely well on airplanes. Our experiences flying so far have gone something like this:
Enter airplane. See new people. Smile. Make cute cooing noises.
Look out airplane window. See new places! Smile! Make cute cooing noises!
Plane begins to taxi. Start eating. Sigh. Pass out for remainder of flight.

This is basically how I used to fly (minus the cute cooing noises). This is still how Bryan flies (minus liking other people at the airport). I sincerely hope Jack takes after his daddy in this regard, since I’ve developed a somewhat overwhelming fear of flying (which to be fair, is less a fear of flying and more a fear of the plane no longer flying while at 30,000 feet, but whatever).

So all in all, this bodes well for our future, because Bryan and I like to travel. And while I’ve had enough of the packing and unpacking, we’ve loved getting to see friends and family, and I doubt we will ever have enough of that, so hopefully Jack will continue to be a happy traveler far into the future.

And at 9 months old he has now been to 5 of the 50 states, which ain’t bad. I’m rooting for Hawaii for his next stop.

So anyway - here are the pics from our mini vacation in Denver two weekends ago. Enjoy!

Jack is testing a new possible profession - soccer star.

Check out that hair. Check out that throw in! He's destined to be a goalie.

Click to see the video!

Jack had a surprise for me when I picked him up from school yesterday:

 

See anything different? No? Look closer......

That's right! Jack's first tooth peeked through his gumline yesterday! (Yes, it is really hard to see  basically invisible in that picture, but I promise you it is there.) We didn't even know he was teething, which just reinforces my belief that he is the easiest baby ever.

Also - how much does our baby look like his daddy?

Bryan and his Mini Me

It's like Bryan's DNA cloned itself in the womb, instead of merging with mine. My baby inherited none of my genetic material. I have approximately 1 million photos of Bryan looking EXACTLY like Jack in that picture. I just haven't posted any of them in a public place, so this is the best I could find on Facebook on short notice.

This weekend we drove up to Lake Geneva for a work retreat that Bryan's company hosts every year. It was Jack's first stay in a hotel! Fortunately the weather was nice and we got out onto the grounds for a few walks.

Jack has also been working hard on pulling up on to furniture, and a hotel room is nothing if not a great place to explore (empty) drawers and cabinets. We particularly had fun doing Jane Fonda style squats at the edge of the ottoman. Exploring hotel rooms is fun!

But the best part? The hotel had a pool! Jack was a little hesitant about his first pool outing - he clung to us like a monkey baby for the most part - but he enjoyed splashing the water and floating around a little after he got used to it. It wasn't warm enough to stay in for long, but we had a great time for our first pool visit.