Eight Months

David is eight months! He has six teeth now and a huge grin.

David loves to play. He enjoys exploring toys, but likes playing with people more. Pick-a-boo is a favorite game, so is repeating sounds together.

He loves to laugh, especially if you tickle him.

David pulls up on anything he can get a grasp on.

And he puts in his mouth anything that he can get his hands on.

He is a sweet little guy and full of snuggles.

Salt Creek Falls

Classes started at UO this week, so Joshua decided we needed one last summer adventure before he started teaching there. We headed for Salt Creek Falls on Tuesday; it was a great choice. The drive was pretty short, the hike was easy, and the waterfall was impressive. The first view of the waterfall was right there by the parking lot. Salt Creek Falls is the second highest waterfall in Oregon.

There is a short trail that takes you down closer to the base of the falls, so we went on that. Mary loved hiking and walked the whole way down and back.

It was a beautiful hike through the trees with great views of the falls.

It was so lovely to be out walking through the forest.

There was a little picnic area too, so we had lunch among the trees.

After lunch we walked around a little more and went down to the river so Mary could touch the water; of course she thought that was great.

It was a short adventure because we made it home by mid-afternoon, but it was a lot of fun to get out and enjoy some natural beauty and fresh air.

Cake Week

A new season of the Great British Baking Show started last week, and my sisters and I thought it would be fun to watch the shows and bake things inspired by the weekly theme. The first week was cake week. Mary and I had just harvested a bunch of rhubarb, so I decided to make a lemon rhubarb pound cake. It wasn't as lemony or as rhubarby as I hoped, but it was still pretty tasty.

 

Got Mail

 

Mary got some special mail from Aunt Heather and Natalie that she loved. Two paper frogs and a sheet of stickers. She exclaimed over each piece as she pulled them out.

Two Hair Ties Please

Mary wanted two ponytails at breakfast this morning.

 

Indoor Fun

This little guy loves to play.

Just a Quick Hello

Mary called Grandma to tell her about making breakfast this morning.

Smoked In

There were high winds on Labor Day, and in the space of about an hour the valley filled with smoke from the nearby fires in the mountains. We woke up Tuesday morning to orange light, ash everywhere, and hazardous air quality. It was eerie.

We had weird lighting because of the smoke. Sometimes it was orange, sometimes it was yellow, sometimes just grey.

The air filter on our air purifier quickly got dirty, but when Joshua went to buy a replacement they were sold out of almost all the air filters. He found this AC filter and rigged it up with our box fan, then he ordered a replacement filter online.

Sometimes the smoke was low enough that it looked like fog. The sudden lack of sun and being unable to go outside has been hard on all of us.

 After a week without sunshine, we were pretty excited to get a little afternoon sun today, even though the air quality is still hazardous.

Seven Months

How does this little guy keep getting cuter?

David is seven months now and full of energy.

He loves exploring and climbing; his favorite thing to climb on is his mama.

He still mostly army crawls on his belly, but can crawl on his hands and knees too.

He just recently learned how to pull himself up to standing and loves to practice his new skill.

He's starting to babble recognizable sounds, mostly "mamamama."

 David has the sweetest laugh and loves spending time with people. He is a wonderful little boy.

Super Mary

 Mary has mostly mastered the skill of dressing herself. This means multiple outfit changes during the day and some unusual results. Today's outfit reminded me of a superhero.