SEPTEMBER! Oh, what a fabulous month! Labor Day was spent in Colorado at Rocky Mountain National Park and visiting family and Rusty and I became Scuba Certified and did our first dives in the Puget Sound!
Colorado was an absolute BLAST! Henry had his first flight, and he did really well. He only got fussy for a little while but the majority of it was totally fine! We got there and were picked up by Desi and taken back to her house where we had dinner with her, Rick, Karla and Jeff. That night I got really sick and was up throwing up all night which was definitely not a great way to start the trip. By the next morning I was feeling a lot better so we headed out to Estes Park to find our hotel. We stopped at Safeway to get some food before checking in. After unloading we drove into Rocky Mountain National Park for a quick hike to some lakes. My main goal for while we were there was to see a bull elk, and a secret hope was to hear them bugle. But I would have been happy just to see one, and on our way to our hike we saw two! We hiked to Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and finally Emerald Lake. Rusty's favorite was Emerald and I think mine was Dream. They were all really pretty though! It started to get dark on our way back (we had to wait to leave for the hike for a little while because of some rain) so we went to Subway and then to the hotel for the night.
The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel and then went out to hike again. It was supposed to rain, but we were hopeful that we would miss it. We headed out to see a waterfall and on the bus to the task it started raining. Unsure what to do, we decided to just go ahead and go and hope that it blew over. And we were really lucky! It did rain, but it stopped after a little while and we hadas beautiful hike. The waterfalls were beautiful and we walked through lots of beautiful aspen groves. After our hike we went to downtown Estes Park to walk around and see the riverwalk. It was really cute! We got some T shirts, a caramel apple, and English toffee before getting take out from a delicious curry place. Eating it at the hotel was seriously the best curry I've ever had. Holy. That night we stayed home and watched some TV. A nice, chill night.
Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and then went back into the park to drive the up an old, one way dirt road that went up the Continental Divide, meaning water going down one side of these mountains went to the Pacific Ocean and water going down the other side went to the Atlantic Ocean. How cool is that!?! I was pretty excited. The drive was beautiful. Then we started our way to the cabin, and went a beautiful back way through lots of little towns and national parks. We made it to the cabin and got to see all of Rusty's family! We spent the next two days there playing games, talking, and hanging out with family. Henry loved his cousins and we had lots of fun with everyone. We saw a bull moose in the meadow, went four wheeling, and hiking looking for raspberries. The time at the cabin was wonderful!
Colorado was an absolute BLAST! Henry had his first flight, and he did really well. He only got fussy for a little while but the majority of it was totally fine! We got there and were picked up by Desi and taken back to her house where we had dinner with her, Rick, Karla and Jeff. That night I got really sick and was up throwing up all night which was definitely not a great way to start the trip. By the next morning I was feeling a lot better so we headed out to Estes Park to find our hotel. We stopped at Safeway to get some food before checking in. After unloading we drove into Rocky Mountain National Park for a quick hike to some lakes. My main goal for while we were there was to see a bull elk, and a secret hope was to hear them bugle. But I would have been happy just to see one, and on our way to our hike we saw two! We hiked to Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and finally Emerald Lake. Rusty's favorite was Emerald and I think mine was Dream. They were all really pretty though! It started to get dark on our way back (we had to wait to leave for the hike for a little while because of some rain) so we went to Subway and then to the hotel for the night.
Saturday morning we checked out of the hotel and then went back into the park to drive the up an old, one way dirt road that went up the Continental Divide, meaning water going down one side of these mountains went to the Pacific Ocean and water going down the other side went to the Atlantic Ocean. How cool is that!?! I was pretty excited. The drive was beautiful. Then we started our way to the cabin, and went a beautiful back way through lots of little towns and national parks. We made it to the cabin and got to see all of Rusty's family! We spent the next two days there playing games, talking, and hanging out with family. Henry loved his cousins and we had lots of fun with everyone. We saw a bull moose in the meadow, went four wheeling, and hiking looking for raspberries. The time at the cabin was wonderful!
For our last little part of the trip we stopped by Grandpa Frederick's house to see him and have Henry meet him. Then we drove the rest of way to Colorado Springs to our hotel. That night we had dinner with Justin and April. It was so good to see them! The next morning we stopped in Monument to see Granddad and Grandma Joan. It was really great to get to catch up with them. They are such great people! We caught our fight and then went home.
We got home on Tuesday, and my mom flew in from Idaho on Friday morning to watch H Man for us so we could do our scuba classes. *Let me just take a second to say a few things. 1. How nice is my mom for coming and doing that? Love her. 2. Scuba diving has been on my bucket list for as long as I have had one, but it was one of those things that I didn't really know if I would ever get around to doing. Heaven be thanked for the fact that I have a wonderful husband who really pushes and encourages me to go after my dreams. 3. I GOT TO GO SCUBA DIVING! Ok, I'm done.* So Mom came out and Rusty and I had our first class Friday night that was part in the classroom and part going to the pool for the first time. We got home at around midnight, and then had to be up and at it again the next morning at 8 and Sunday was the same way. Saturday we were so exhausted that both of us ended up feeling like, "Why did we do this? This isn't that great." but by the time we got back to it on Sunday it was a blast!! Seriously, it was so much fun. I remember swimming around and things didn't feel so awkward, it wasn't scary or weird anymore, and my ears equalized fine and everything was just great. For our lunch break on Sunday before we went to do the class time we went to Ivar's and got clam chowder and prawns n chips. Sitting there looking at Rusty feeling so accomplished and happy that we were going after my dreams I knew that today was going to be one of those magical days that you always remember. Mom flew home Monday, and then we had the next Saturday and Sunday actually diving in the Puget Sound! And we didn't have any class time either, which was great. We just had to take our final assessments. Scuba diving in the Sound was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done in my whole life. It was absolutely unreal to be down there seeing that stuff! First of all, I was swimming for thirty minutes and I was under the water the entire time! That's nuts! Second of all, it was so beautiful. So much more beautiful than I even expected. I didn't know that the Puget Sound is actually a great diving spot, and fall is the best time to dive because the visibility is really high and there are lots of fish. We saw tons of crab (spider, kelp, Dungeness, Red Rock), lots of fish, sea anemones that were huge, purple, red and green kept, and hermit crabs. It was so exciting! There is a huge underwater park in Edmonds that I didn't even know existed, but apparently it is one of the largest in the United States. It's about 40 acres of underwater scuba diving (kind of like hiking) trails, and that's where we went both days. Such a cool place! Rusty and I are so excited to go back there and explore more. We were both surprised and ecstatic about how great it was!
Henry helping me study before class
Henry's Highlights:
- In September Henry started cuddling more, hugging and giving kisses. His kisses involve his little hands on both of your cheeks and his wide open, slobbery mouth on yours, and I couldn't love it any more! So far kisses are reserved for Mommy, which I also adore.
- He LOVES listening to Mommy sing Photograph by Ed Sheeran, and will often stop crying or just start grinning any time it happens.
- He also started blowing bubbles (which is absolutely adorable) and reaching out for people when he wants to be held by them.
- He still loves the tub and has started to play with a little rubber ducky. He drinks the water by sucking on his washcloth and if I wring out all of the water out of it he just dunks it in the water and sucks it out again.
- He opens and closes his hands repeatedly when he is really excited or hungry. Henry loves, loves, loves to eat (just like his mommy). Now he really eyes what Mommy and Daddy are eating and will whine until we share what we are eating with him.
He has started to get the food all over himself as he tries to feed himself. This is berry oatmeal all over his cute little face!
- We took him to the doctor for the final ultrasound to check out his kidneys, and they gave us the great news that he is just fine! It is still slightly swollen, but unless other issues come up it is not something that we need to worry about.
- He sits up by himself all of the time and still prefers to be doing that or being helped to stand. Aside from that, his favorite place to be is on Daddy's shoulders.
- Peek-a-boo, his blocks, and his bouncer are some of his favorite toys. He still loves going down to the lake and has started to love swings! Rusty and I absolutely adore this little miracle in our lives!
At the lake :)
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