Plane trip to CO

December started out pretty mundane with not a whole lot going on. The middle of December is when it took off! Blake and I flew out to Denver to watch my youngest brother graduate from college and to stay with my oldest brother and his wife, who is expecting. Yea!! Another cousin for Blake who will be his age :) Blake's cousin, Sam, who is currently closest in age to him, but about 7 months older, loves to tell Blake "NO!" He has 3 older siblings, so you can guess where he learned that word. It is quite funny b/c no matter what Blake is doing, Sam will find a reason as to why Blake should not be doing it. He also thinks that Blake always has a toy that he shouldn't have and takes it upon himself to correct that matter. It is kind of funny to see them fight, but sometimes I have to intervene b/c Blake is significantly smaller than Sam.

Our family had dinner at Casa Bonita, a restaurant that specializes in fun, not food :) The kids loved it, as did Blake! He couldn't face us while eating, he HAD to watch the waterfall and divers.

Blake while eating--notice the direction he was facing the whole time!

So, my Dad took him for a closer look :)

The plan ride went really well on the way to CO, but was quite stressful on the way back. I tried to put Blake down for a nap beforehand, but he wasn't interested, so I brought a tired baby to the airport. He loved loved loved practicing his newfound skill of walking the halls at the terminal, so that was ok. Actually, that was my only option b/c he put up a fuss otherwise, and I thought, why not tire him out for the plane ride. Well, to my dismay, it tired him out, but did not put him to sleep! The whole 2 hour flight I tried desperately to entertain him so he didn't cry the whole time. For the record, those organic baby puffs do wonders to keep a baby occupied. Blake opens the container, takes a couple, closes it, and repeats. It can preoccupy him for a good half hour I'd say. The great thing is, they are not filling in the least, so he can keep eating :)

The other thing that took up his time was eating an apple. I just give it to him whole and he gnaws at it for quite a while. The lady next to me asked if she could take his picture with his apple. I'm always caught off guard by these questions and never know quite how to respond. No, I'd prefer you not take a picture of my baby, but I always say yes at the spur of the moment, and then wonder if that was the right move...she was a photographer, so that was her normal inclination. That was fine, but the biggest pet peeve of mine is when people touch Blake at the store. These people do not ask you, they just reach out and touch your baby's hands or face. Both bother me b/c babies suck on their hands and their faces are off limits, in my opinion. People I know aren't always considerate when they are sick and they hold your baby anyways, so who knows about strangers! Ok, enough ranting :)

We had fun in Colorado--everyone but Scott was there. This is a feat in itself! David and Kristi were great hosts and kept us well fed while we were there. Several times I've craved David's homemade hummus. I've tried once to duplicate it with his recipe, but failed miserably the first time. I didn't use fresh garlic, I used the bottled stuff and put way too much in, plus, I don't have a food processor...I just bought more chickpeas to try it again and plan to try using Blake's baby food puree device, which looks like a food processor, so hopefully it will work :)