Vacation details and Mason updates

Well, last Saturday we made it back from our vacation New York. Before I fill you in on the vacation details, I have to brag a bit about our little boy! It is official... Mason can walk! He has been taking a couple steps every now and then but Monday he really took off! I picked him up from the sitter's house and she said "Mason just walked across the living room!" Sure enough, when we got home he walked across our living room. He is still a bit wobbly but he is improving fast. He also started saying "bye" when he waves! Mason is a bit of a dare devil. His Aunt Cris bought him the bike in the above picture. He can get on and off by himself. He also has discovered that he can stand on the seat, hold on to the handle bars and rock... uh, oh!

Our vacation went well. We stayed with Rob's parents and Mason was able to get some quality grandpa and grandma time. Rob and I were able to go to the races and golf twice without Mason. It was weird being without him but, it was also nice being able to get out and play! I actually tied Rob in golf on the day we played the executive course with Rick, Cathy, Brad, Ben, Ryan and Blake. We also played a difficult 18 hole course with Rick and Cathy and I fared pretty well. Of course Rob always seems to do well too!

We had a huge picnic with family and friends at Rob's parent's house. It was planned on a perfect day before the heat wave came! On one adventure day we took a boat tour in Alexandria Bay around the 1000 islands. The 1000 islands are in US and Canadian waters. There are many mansions built on these islands. It was interesting to see as these houses were huge! We took a tour of Boldt Castle which is on one of the islands. We then headed to Maze Land. The boys had a good time trying to find the clues hidden in a seven foot tall hedge maze. We never found all of the clues after a couple of hours of looking. I think we were being tricked!

Our second adventure day was to the Corning Glass Museum. We saw exhibits with amazing glass detail. We also were able to make our own glass items. The things that we made were ornaments, glass flowers and wind chimes. It was scorching hot in front of the furnace but, we had fun!

The time went by fast and it seems that we couldn't fit everything in that we wanted to do. Mason was a trooper the whole trip. He slept well and was in a great mood the whole week. Aunt Cathy calls him the "angel baby"! Even though we had fun, it is always nice to return home!

Summer Adventures

Last weekend we were off to Williamsburg, VA. We decided that we needed to start seeing some of the sites here in Virginia and learn some history! The weather was beautiful allowing us to stroll around Colonial Williamsburg. We toured the Governor's Palace and the Capital Building and watched some reenactments.

Mason decided that he is a big boy now! He is refusing to eat baby food and wants to eat what I eat! We ordered his very own meal at a restaurant for the first time last weekend. He had chicken strips. I, of course, cut off the breading and cut the chicken into bite size pieces. Mason wanted nothing to do with that! He grabbed a chicken strip, breading and all, and munched on it cave man style! Mason has also learned to clap. It is funny that he claps for himself when he is proud of himself.

We are headed to visit Rob's parents in upstate New York on Friday. It will be nice to see them since they have not seen Mason since he was two months old! He has changed dramatically since then! The hard part will be the nine hour drive. Luckily, we will have Aunt Cathy with us to entertain Mason on the way up, yeah!

Poor Baby!

This is what happens when you tell Mason no or take away something he shouldn't have! It's pretty hard to say no when he looks at you like that!

Learning and Understanding

Mason about to teach Daddy a golf lesson before the big tournament (look, Mason is standing)!
Mason in his swimming boat

Today Rob played in a golf tournament with Rick. It was the same tournament that he played in last year that resulted in winning our new car! This year, there was no car won. However, Rob played well and they had a fun guys day out.

Mason and I joined my friend Julie and her two boys at the pool today. The baby pool is only one foot deep. Mason loved the fact that he could touch and walk all over while in his swimming boat. After a good nap, Mason and I had so much fun playing together. I realized today how smart he is and how much he understands. We were playing with blocks and I would ask him to place one block on top of the other. He would do what I asked, I would clap and cheer and then he would do his little dance in excitement. I asked him to do several tasks today and he would try each one. He could put blocks in a bucket and open and close his play kitchen doors when asked. He is also working on walking! He took two steps yesterday and today without holding on! Mason turned ten months old earlier this week. It is amazing how much he has learned in his first ten months.

Just Peachy!

Sunday, Cathy and I decided to try canning peaches for the first time. We are so excited that all of our jars turned out! We have decided to try and can other things later this summer as long as we get all of the correct supplies. We did learn some lessons from not having the correct tools. For example, we definitely need canning jar tongs to remove hot jars from boiling water! Getting splashed with boiling water just isn't that much fun!

Beautiful Garden

Mason and Aunt Cathy waiting for the fireworks to start.

I harvested crops from my garden last week! I picked all of the lettuce and a zucchini. The tomato bushes are loaded and hopefully they will ripen soon. Yesterday I noticed that the cantaloupe plants finally had little cantaloupes growing! I will harvest two more zucchini tomorrow. It is exciting to see how well everything is growing!

On the Fourth of July I ran a 5K race with Cathy and Julie. I was proud of myself for running the whole thing. However, I ended up hurting my knee. Thus, I was unable to attend the training session today. My knee is feeling a bit better so hopefully I will be back in action soon! We spent the rest of the Fourth with Rick, Cathy and the Boys. We watched fireworks and Mason enjoyed them. He didn't even flinch with the big booms!

Thursday night Mason attended his first baseball game. We went to a AAA game; Richmond Braves vs. Syracuse Chiefs. Unfortunately there was a rain delay so the game started late. We ended up leaving in the seventh inning as it was already 11:15 pm. Mason did well but he was extremely tired from being up late two nights in a row... and so was I! Mason ate his first hot dog at a ball game!

Mason is on his way to standing on his own. He has been standing up from sitting without pulling up on anything. He has also started shaking his head no when I tell him "no, no". Too cute! He has also been using the sign for milk when he sees a bottle or when he wants some milk. He is pretty smart!

Look at that hair!

This is what Mason looked like when he woke up this morning! His hair is getting really long on top and sometimes looks like a comb over! Mason had his nine month checkup today. He is very long, in the 75th percentile, and measured 28.75 inches long. He weighed in at 19 pounds which to my surprise, is in the 30th percentile. The Dr. said Mason will probably be a tall and thin child. We are going to try and plump him up a bit with adding dairy products. Mason likes to feed himself and is almost done with the jars of baby food. He prefers "real" food! He added a new word to his vocabulary this week... dog! He even said "dog" when we saw dogs other than ours at the park! He actually says it more like "gog" but we know what he means. A new talent that emerged tonight is throwing objects. It is cute now but I am sure I won't be laughing when he gets some power behind that throw!

I started my training for the Women's 4 Miler race that takes place in September. Until the race, I will meet hundreds of other women on Saturday morning to train. It is a really neat program and it is exciting to see so many women running or walking at one time! I haven't run in over ten years. It is amazing that all of my old feelings for running came back as soon as I completed that first lap. I am excited about the challenge of getting back into shape and I have to remember to pace myself. Cathy, Marilyn and I went to a fabulous running store to purchase good running shoes. They actually watch you walk and jog to determine what shoes will work best for your foot. I am hoping my new shoes will prevent my previous foot injury from coming back!