First week of break

Summer break is here! After a grueling finals week, during which Rob was miserably sick and spent all his time studying/test-taking, coughing, medicating, and trying to sleep, we were so ready for a break! He is a quarter of the way finished with school already. 

The Sunday after finals was Rob's first Father's Day! He really is the best dad and takes good care of Collin. Whenever Rob is about to walk in the room, I say "daddy?" and Collin's face lights up and he starts looking around the room, and when he finds him, he gives the biggest smile. He loves his daddy.

Look at these handsome guys!

 Dan and Kim came to visit for a few days from Alaska. It was so much fun to hang out with them! Wish we took more pictures.

Kim was bouncing Collin and he was totally loving it, but for some reason he just had this look on his face the whole time.

Later in the week, we took a trip to an indoor water park. We brought my niece Annika and her friend. We had fun on the water slides, wave pool, and rock climbing wall. Collin sat with us in the water and even went in the wave pool with us where he floated in the waves expressionlessly until we brought him out and he fell asleep in his life jacket. He woke up after a while, though, and then started to really love splashing and being in the water.

Nap time.

Ready for the rock wall

Rob at the top

Best buds

Check out that hair! That's how it dried during his nap.

We spent Saturday picnicking downtown and then wandering around the city and the flea market.

 Collin had his first haircut today! I was really attached to his long, soft baby hair even though it was getting a little crazy. Wasn't ready for a big boy haircut, but knew it was getting too long. After I cut it, I was sad until I saw THIS before picture. . . Yikes! It was definitely time, Collin.

BEFORE: Crazy morning hair.

AFTER

Thankfully he is still the cutest baby ever. Whew.

Side view

Our Cute Boy

Collin is 9 months old now! He weighs 20 pounds. He is crawling everywhere, pulling himself up to cruise along furniture, and as happy and energetic as ever. We love seeing him learn new things. He mimics sounds we make and loves to hit his toy drums and jump up and down.  He has been trying lots of new foods and eats everything we give him; he hasn't really disliked any food so far, and gets especially excited when he sees the animal cracker box. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the last month.

Hanging out in the toy bucket

He loves swinging!

Collin and Daddy at the park

Look what Collin can do all by himself. Baby gate time!

Big smiles!

Three teeth.

Meatless May

A month ago, Rachel and I were talking about me going to Chiropractic school and how it's a semi-homeopathic profession.  UWS has been working on bringing in other degree programs besides the DC program.  One of them that I'm interested in is a Masters in Nutrition and Functional Medicine.  Being in a healthcare profession, I felt like I should know something about different types of diets.  We decided that we should try a vegetarian diet, to see how it would affect our health.

So! Rachel became a vegetarian mastermind overnight and planned a month of meals. Some were super awesome, others flopped, but for the most part it was a success!  We didn't miss meat at all, and ate tons of veggies that we don't normally eat. We plan to try eating meat more sparingly in the future. Some of our favorite meals included: Quinoa Corn Chowder, Black Bean Tortilla Casserole, and Vegetarian Chili. We loved trying so many new recipes and got in better habits for planning meals in advance. 

We felt healthy throughout the month.  We also focused on some other health goals such as drinking more water.  Rachel and I have been running a lot lately too, so that may have contributed towards the feeling.  Rachel has been doing great.  She runs 5k's frequently and I have upped my running to 7 miles.  I recently ran a 5k barefoot.  We're in good health now.  It's pretty awesome.

Ask if you'd like any of the recipes, or any ideas about vegetarian meals!  We really enjoyed it!