finger food

We've ventured into the realm of solid foods that are actually solid. Cora has eaten cheerios, banana, apple, cantaloupe, bread and gerber strawberry puffs. I think she really enjoys the challenge of picking up the food and getting it into her mouth. It is fun to watch her concentrate and work at getting her hands to do what she wants them to. She seems to like the new textures, too. Here's a little video clip of her eating the puffs.

Finger Food

We've ventured into the realm of solid foods that are actually solid. Cora has eaten cheerios, banana, apple, cantaloupe, bread and gerber strawberry puffs. I think she really enjoys the challenge of picking up the food and getting it into her mouth. It is fun to watch her concentrate and work at getting her hands to do what she wants them to. She seems to like the new textures, too. Here's a little video clip of her eating the puffs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrqUOpbktNA

Summer Trip Pics

Click HERE to see a set of pictures from the Bierma reunion in Iowa. (These pictures were all taken by Kristen and Doug Bierma -thanks, guys!)

Click HERE to see pictures from the rest of the trip to Michigan and the cabin.

Sigh...

My sister-in-law, Lara, has posted two amazing blogs about the Bierma family reunion in Iowa. The earlier one is a video of pictures of the great-grandkids and some others with a beautiful song, and the newest describes the reunion weekend and our time at the cabin with more photos. PLEASE check out her blog and leave her a comment if you do. She did such a wonderful job describing the reunion and I share many of her sentiments! Go to: www.baasandco.blogspot.com.

Last weekend we camped two nights at Ridgway State Park. On Friday and Saturday, Brad and 6 other church members took four 4WD trails/roads over mountain passes in the area. Unfortunately he didn't take any pictures - he said he wants me to see it in person! So you will have to wait, too.

We borrowed a pop-up camper trailer from the Chandler family at church. I think this has become the next item on our "big-ticket wish list". It sure was nice after tent camping all the time, although we do have a nice set up with our little tent. Cora and I hung out at the campground all day - nursing and napping aren't real conducive to 4 wheel driving.

Ridgway is about 20 miles south of Montrose, near Ouray. The state park was very nice and would make a great place for the next family reunion! Hint, hint, anyone???There is a huge reservoir (the West's version of a lake) with a swimming area, beach, fishing, and boating. Unfortunately we didn't take advantage of the water while we were there. Next time. We had a nice time camping with friends from church and getting to know each other better.
Here's the view from our campsite:

And another view - one that got a lot more attention:

Cora's favorite syllable is a very long, drawn out, spitty "thb":

Home again, or maybe not.

We're back! We had an amazing trip to MI, IA and the cabin. It was more than wonderful to be able to see so many family members and renew our relationships. Cora traveled so well - it was honestly an answer to prayer. We traveled 3500 miles together and were amazed at how flexible Cora was through it all. She was joyful and had her eyes glued on her little cousins every minute they were around.

Michigan was pure hangout time. We hung out at the beach, at the pool, at the park, in the backyard, on Uncle Bud's boat, and other various places. Anneke and Gideon played so nicely with Cora and Anneke loved feeding Cora her fruits and veggies. She did a great job! Gideon learned how to tackle Uncle Brad...and get tackled back.




Iowa was more hangout time but a little more structured. We had almost all of Brad's large extended family together for the weekend. Some of the girls made duct tape purses, the kids rode horses at the farm, we swam at the pool, heard stories of the uncles' and aunts' younger days, and so on. It was wonderful to meet and get to know some more of Brad's family and for meeting the new additions and seeing Grandma who will be 90 this fall!

Our time at the cabin was more relaxed again and we enjoyed the antics of the children and watched some half a million bats fly out to of the big hole to the valley to catch bugs. I know my dad told me a hundred times growing up that bats are good because they eat bugs (like spiders) but I've only recently begun to appreciate that.

After another day home we returned to Montrose for another day to spend more time with the fam. When you only see each other every couple years every minute together is precious. Josh, Anna and Aleya are so full of life and all interacted sweetly with Cora. I think Anna was the most stricken with her of the three. She constantly asked to hold her, help feed her and play peek-a-boo. Cora seemed to thrive on such attention. Even Alec, as a teenaged boy, was so intuned with her that she watched him intently and smiled at his antics.

So now we're home but leaving again tomorrow for a couple days on a church 4-wheel-drive trip. More to come about that later. We'll catch our breath some day...