Blake Family Reunion: Day one and a 100 year celebration of the Moulton Barn

We always look forward to our annual trip to Jackson Hole and the Blake family reunion.  My great little travelers on our way out...

This year was a bit different and extra exciting because day one was spent at the TA Moulton Barn centennial celebration.  Obviously, this means our Great Great Grandfathers barn was celebrating it's 100 year anniversary this year.  The barn was (and is) in need of some major restoration work, and because the National Park doesn't have the funds to put into it, my  parents worked with many other family members and a committee to create a very fun fundraiser to help save this amazing barn. It is obviously a structure that is dear to my heart and is a very valuable part of my heritage.  

My parents worked extremely hard on this. I was even able to help by designing a bunch of flyers and designs for the auction.  The event turned out wonderfully!  

Here are some pictures...

6 Months

Our little boy at a half year old.  He weighed 13 lbs 5 oz and 25 inches tall.  Teeny tiny at 1% in weight.  I knew he was little, but I didn't know he was that little!

He's getting stronger and pulling up higher and higher during tummy time!

And we just can't stop kissing and loving on our favorite baby boy!!

Playin' in the Pool

In July the boys took swimming lessons for the first time.  Jonah had to join Jackson's class since there weren't enough kids his age that signed up.  He couldn't touch the bottom, but he held his own in class and did great.  Both boys were a bit nervous in water, but after the two week course (4 days a week) they were both very confident and did great!  We were really pleased with the swim instructors as well.  

Greyson was an awesome spectator...

The last few days they took the boys off the diving board.  I noticed as the class was lined up at the low dive, Jonah started climbing the latter of the high dive.  One of the instructors climbed up behind him, and I figured he would coax him down.  The next thing I know, Jonah is going off the high dive!  So Jackson decided to do it as well.  The next day Jonah did NOT want to go off, but we told the guy to do it anyway... he cried.  (oops!)  Jackson was jumping off on his own though and was loving it!

Floating Down the Kish

Justin found a Groupon deal for a canoe trip for two down the Kishwakee River.  We were excited to have this date together and to get out and do something different than the usual.  

We got to the place where we were suppose to load up our canoes and wondered what was going on for a while.  It was down an old dirt road, and the scenery was a bit... interesting.   We were suppose to meet the guy giving away the Groupon and he was about 30 minutes late.  However, he eventually showed up, we loaded the canoes, and he took us to the take off place.  

Here we are getting ready to take off.  It really was a beautiful ride and we really enjoyed just going slow, floating and enjoying one anothers company.  We pulled off at one point and enjoyed a picnic lunch and then got back on the River to finish the trip.  We kept thinking we were getting close to the end so we were just taking our time, until we realized we were further than we thought.  By the end we were trying to finish it off pretty quickly as we had been out there for close to three hours!  It was an awesome date, the most beautiful day, and we hope to do it again sometime!

4th of July

We enjoyed our fourth of July with family in good old Winnebago.

Its become tradition to run in the fire cracker 5K.  I decided to join this year since I was kind of "into" racing at the time time.  I again did a little better than I did in the previous runs.  Justin and Bill also ran and did great.  

We watched the parade with Donna, Bill and Jeff, Emily and Norah.  Here are all the kiddos.

And this is how the boys enjoyed it... with their ears covered.  Jackson especially has always been sensitive to loud noises so he didn't really like all the firetrucks honking and the other loud noises from the trucks/cars/tractors/motorcycles.  

And then there was this little bug and how he enjoyed it... bored! ;)

The boys got their faces painted at the family fest carnival and then we enjoyed the rest of the day just hanging out and playing.  

What is this green pokey stuff?!?

Fireworks in Grandma and Grandpa's backyards and sparklers after the show.  

Loved my holiday with my cutie 4th of July firecrackers!!

5 Months

This guy at 5 months... he is just adorable!  He has mastered rolling over to his tummy and spends a lot of time doing tummy time as he isn't quite as efficient at getting back onto his back.

He is so happy all of the time and I love his smile.  

He is no longer being swaddled to sleep and so he moves around in his crib.  He is never in the same position when I get him out of bed than when I put him in there.  

He is also my tiny guy.  He does have a lot of spitting up issues although he doesn't experience any pain, so I'm not sure if it is reflux or not.  He did start solids this month as well and he has done pretty well with them.  

Jackson is such a good big brother.  I love how well they have taken to having a baby around, and they both are the sweetest with their baby brother.  

Biggest Loser 5K

After the Ogden Marathon, I wanted to keep running and run another race.  Donna and Bill are big Biggest Loser fans, and they told us that Biggest Loser was coming to Rockford for a 5k.  They decided to walk in it and I decided to run the 5K.  Justin had to work that day, so he didn't sign up.

We met Dan Evans at the Packet Pickup night.  He and his mom were on season 5, which was actually a season that Justin and I had watched so that was pretty cool.  

That morning it was a rainy day.  I think I am cursed to run in the rain.  It actually wasn't as bad as Ogden, and mostly misted the whole time.  The temperature wasn't bad and it was actually kinda nice weather to run in.  Here we are hiding out from the rain before the race started.  

Beginning line...  There were a TON of people, it was pretty nuts.

Dan Evans is also a country music singer so he preformed for a while after the race.  I also ran into his mom, Jenny and got a picture with her.  

I felt great after the race, and had a better finish time than I did in Ogden.  Donna and Bill also did great.  I was so happy for Donna for accomplishing this.  It was her first 5K and she was nervous that she wouldn't be able to do it with her knee and other issues.  She did it, and she did AWESOME!  It was fun to be able to experience it with my in-laws. :)