Say Cheese! I'm 6th Months Old!!!

Our family friends', Lil and Ken, daughter used Calynn Berry to document their grandson's first year with photographs.  I went to her site and immediately wanted to book her for Connor's 6 month pictures.  As the photo shoot got closer, I kept getting more and more excited...

Well, all the excitement was worth it!  On August 28th, we had a wonderful time in Downtown Plymouth on a beautiful afternoon.  Calynn was wonderful to work with and made great efforts to get Connor comfortable with her right from the start, which wasn't hard.  :)

Here are some of the AWESOME shots taken that day...

We'll certainly be using Calynn's photography in the future!!!  :)

Lake Charlevoix 2011

Jason's family went camping yearly while he was growing up.  Once we began dating, I was invited on the annual trip as well.  While the Kepsel family visited various state parks over the years, we now keep returning to Young State Park in Boyne City, MI.  I remember being in awe the first visit with the beauty of this part of the northern lower peninsula.  While my family traveled in and out of state growing up (sleeping in our van at KOA's :) ), we never visited this part of our state.  

For our one year anniversary, Jason and I traveled to Boyne alone and rented a condo in town.  We rode our bikes to Young almost every day to enjoy the beach and lake, but it certainly wasn't the same experience as camping.

For the past three years, my family has joined the trip as well, making for a rather large, but fun, experience all around!  :)

This year's trip was Connor's first of many...  We made MANY memories with his first touch of sand, eating ice cream for the first time, eating his first vegetable (squash), feeding the ducks (kind of), swinging for the first time, and just having him breathe "Pure Michigan" air.  :)  

Oh, and my older brother, Jeff, proposed to his girlfriend, Linda!

Here are some photos from our wonderful trip!  (There were TOO many pics to post them all...)

Eating ice cream for the first time!

Look at him holding with two hands, NOT wanting to let it go!  

A true son of mine...  ;)

     My future Aunt Linda!  :)

I turned 6 months old on the trip!

 

Eating squash for the very first time!  My tummy is getting all sorts of treats up here...  :)

 

The happy, newly engaged couple!

I think I'm going to like this vacationing each year... :)

A new adventure...solid food!!!

We decided it couldn't be put off any longer.  Connor's constant looks of curiosity at the dinner table and his reaching for our food showed his interest and we got the, "OK," from our pediatrician as well.  We're embarking on the new chapter of solid foods...

This exciting adventure began yesterday, July 22nd.  We have decided to go with single-grain oatmeal.  We'll keep this up for a few days and then add a vegetable of some kind to the daily routine.  Connor is receiving a tablespoon of cereal mixed with formula or breast milk twice a day.

Let's just say that we didn't appear to be feeding him fast enough!  He's so used to getting a consistent flow of food from the bottle, that this was just not happening from the spoon.  Needless to say, we thickened the cereal a little today to give him something to actually EAT than just inhale and swallow.  It went much smoother!  :)

Stay tuned for the VERY first attempt caught on video.  We're having some technical difficulty converting our video files over to be compatible with our computer.  For now, here are some shots of the second feeding of the day...

Hmmmm... What could this be???

This isn't bad, Dad!

Keep it coming!

Here, let me help you!

Make sure you get it all in!

All done!