Estella is 7 Months Old!

Okay, she is actually getting closer to 8 months old now, but I can't skip a month!
I've been gone too much this summer and have a backlog of pictures and blogging to do of our on the go summer. She sure is a well traveled baby already!

Those eyes!

There is just not much to say other than:

"She is adorable."

She also never stops smiling, except when she's hungry or tired.

Typical baby......and adult for that matter.

Estella has started sitting up this past month. She loves her new view, and I love that her hair has grown back so she doesn't have a little bald spot. You wouldn't believe how many people asked me if I shaved her head in the back!
Sometimes her head gets a little top heavy and then she just bends in half and does a little face plant on the floor. Babies never cease to amaze me with their limberness.

For every adorable smile she gives away, is an hilarious one.

Lipsucker

She was intently watching a calf nurse on a goat.

Wonder what was going through her little brain?

Estella is such a sweet and easy baby. She lights up when a person looks at her, especially mama:)

and she is content to just play by herself. I suppose the third baby gets used to waiting, but I'm also thinking her personality does play into it some as well.

She has started saying, "Mama" though I'm still not sure if she means me or if it is just an easy word to say. Hmmmm, I'll go with ME:)

She was sleeping through the night, but then two weeks on the road ruined that. Nuts, back to the drawing board. I'm confident she will pick it up again soon as she is already going down while still awake. She really is the perfect baby.

Road Trip Part 1: Colorado

For the second year in a row the boys and I, along with niece, Alex, and baby Estie, loaded ourselves into my trusty minivan and headed on a 4ooo mile journey. Our final destination would be Oklahoma for a family reunion on my moms side with a couple stops in Colorado to visit more family.Road trips, to me, always sound like an adventure waiting to happen. Then we get about 500 miles into it and I start banging my head on the steering wheel telling myself, "Next time; we're flying.".

We do end up having some pretty fun adventures, however, which makes me thankful that I have road trip driving amnesia the next time I think about another one. This trip was tops on my boys list of pretty cool adventures. After camping near Boise, Idaho, we then drove all day and made it to my moms cousins home in Colorado around midnight. The next day the boys lived every boys dream. Their first adventure was riding on the 4 wheeler with cousin Ronda. Nikolas knew we were on a farm so he had his lasso at the ready. You never know when you might find something to lasso.

Like a rooster!

We then headed over to my Great Aunt Betty's 100 year old home, which is just a stone's throw (albeit a rather long throw) from Ronda's. There, the boys climbed all over the three different tractors she still has and I'm sure they were wishing with all their might that they could drive one.

Boys don't get to have all the fun!

Estella met her Great Great Aunt Betty.

Ronda's farm is right next to her mom's and her brother. So she drives the 4 wheeler all over the place. The boys LOVED it. Nikolas kept telling people: "I rode on the 4 wheeler without a seatbelt or a helmet!". Most of the states we drove through don't have helmet laws so they weren't too sure what all the fuss was.

Okay, this was for cute baby pictures only.

I didn't actually put her in this while they were driving around!

But really, how cute is she?!

The rest of our time there the boys enjoyed farm life.

They chased chickens.

Helped feed all the animals.

Gathered the eggs.

And had an absolutely wonderful and memorable time.

Cove Palisades

During the hot days (day?) of August we joined good friends at Cove Palisades. The weather was hot, the water was cool and the mamas had shade in the grass. Perfect combination.



The boys had a ton of fun on the SeaDoo. Everytime Nikolas rides on anything in which he doesn't have either a car seat and/or a helmet he thinks he is Mr. Daredevil. SeaDoo, train, city bus, four wheeler,........hay ride.






We just barely coaxed Lukas onto the SeaDoo. He gets really excited about doing daring activities, until it comes down to the wire. Then he's OUT! But he overcame his fears and joined his buddy's daddy and Logan.

This was the main attraction for most of the boys.

Logan and Lukas are two peas in a pod. They absolutely love each other and play really well together. Though sometimes I think it's because neither of them really know what is going on outside of their own little brains. They will be playing together but playing two totally seperate games. They make me laugh every time I watch them together. I hope they're friends forever:)

Another couple of best buddies.

And of course, what would camping be without a bunch of boys getting filthy dirty?

Cabin on a Mudflat

The first week of August the kids and I joined my dad and Sue for the last night on the lake before they drained it. We arrived a little late in the evening so I didn't have a chance to get out in the kayak one last time. I thought we might have time in the morning before it started going down, but when we awoke the next morning; the lake was no more!

It was very surreal. No more lake? Ever? How sad.

Now what?

Remember my fear of things that lurk in the deep?

Justified.

These little eels were found everywhere on the lake floor. They apparently had been there living in the mud and we didn't even know it! Shudder.

The boys took no time in heading out into the mud. They were, after all, following their grandfathers footsteps. In which he almost lost his boot. They took their shoes off, but, um, remember the eels? No thanks. Have fun boys, I'll be here on rocky shore.

He's tromping.

And then they discovered the more you jump in one spot the more squishy it becomes.

So of course belly flops were in order.
Until an eel rose to the surface of the mud,

EEEeeeewwwwww!!!!

But that didn't stop them.

I kept thinking of "The Neverending Story".
Remember?!
"ATRAYOOOOOO!!!"


At least there is a creek still which is actually better for young boys anyway.

We had to hose them off before they were allowed back in the cabin. It reminded my dad of when John, Kellie and I used to come back from playing in the mud near our little dam at the farm when we were young. Mom used to hose us off too. All kids have ever really needed for entertainment: mud and someone to play in it with. In spite of all our 21st century technology, kids really just need to get outside and be allowed to get dirty. In fact, it apparently never gets old as the Warrior Dashes Kellie has been doing lately are extremely popular all over the country! Kellie, you could save money and just join my boys in the mudflats!

Except there is still the issue of the eels......