Smiles for Mom & Dad

We've crossed a new bridge...this week Blake started to smile at us. It's pretty fun...the first couple times we didn't think he knew what he was doing, but it has been getting more and more consistent now where he seems to realize that he can smile. We've been trying to get pictures of him smiling and it has been a challenge, but we're starting to get a few. See if he isn't one of the cutest kids around :-)

We spent the weekend up in Vail with a client at the Lodge at Vail. It's not snow season there yet (in fact they don't have hardly any), but it was beautiful nonetheless. The Lodge was AWESOME! Our stay was paid for and we got a sweet suite :-) It had a nice view of the slopes and was huge...It was great.



Check out these pics of the lodge...
http://lodgeatvail.rockresorts.com/gallery.asp

We are getting ready for Halloween this week and had a few friends over to carve some pumpkins with us while we watched some football and ate some Little Caesers (it's been years since we had crazy bread and decided it was time...it was just as good as i remember it). The pumpkins turned out great. Some of us are more artistically inclined than others, as you can see from the picture, but we had a great time.



Happy Halloween!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jasen.bankson/Blake8Weeks

Fall Arrives

The last couple weeks we've been getting things ready for the cooler weather. It's actually been really beautiful (70s and 80s) and we've been enjoying the fall weather. I raked leaves in the backyard the other day for the first time i think since i was like 6 years old :-) In the desert we never had to rake leaves and i don't know why, but we haven't raked them here for the last 4 years. I think we just let them fall and desingrate :-) Well, this year i felt inspired to rake some leaves. It was alright...i decided i like the smell of fall...not sure exactly what it is...maybe just reminds me of fall as a kid.

We got the boat shut down and put away for the season. it was a great season this year. We had a lot of fun (well Abby doesn't feel quite the same b/c she didn't do any of the sports this year...but really enjoyed the sun). We sure had a fun with everyone that made it out with us this year. It's nice to be able to hang out with friends and enjoy time out on the lake. Here's a nice shot that some friends got of me taking a jump...sweet!



Blake is doing good and went on another hike with us yesterday. This was our first attempt at a longer hike with him and together in a while. It went really good. Everybody though Blake was really cute and Kona was jealous...well, not really, but if she could speak she would have been complaining about the lack of attention :-) We tried turning him around so that he was facing out for a change and he really liked it. He looked around a lot and really checked things out.


New pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/jasen.bankson/Blake7Weeks

Bankson Clan visits

Well, we had the whole crew out this time. We have really been looking forward to having everyone out to visit. We haven't had everyone out all together for quite a while and were excited to see and spend time with everybody. It was a really great time. We spent some time relaxing, watching football and playing with Kona. We spent some time out hiking, enjoying nice fall weather, and went walking around downtown Denver for a little while.

Grammy and Grampy were pretty excited to get to see Blake again and kept saying how he had grown and already was getting bigger. Crazy. Blake got to meet his auntie M, auntie Ray and uncle kasey for the first time. Everyone got a chance to hang out with Blake and he misses everyone already and it's only been a day :-) Guess they'll just have to come back again soon.

Blake got his halloween suit this weekend (thanks auntie M!)...look at this cute little monster. I think he is going to get a lot of candy...at least i hope he does ;-)

All-in-all it was a really great time and we enjoyed the time spent with family and relaxing. We're looking forward to the next visit.

New Pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/jasen.bankson/BanksonsVisit

Boating Season is ending...

Well, it has been a great season at the lake and Blake has been able to make it out with us for 3 or 4 times this month. Pretty good for less than a month old ;-) Got to make sure he is comfortable on a boat at a young age. During the last week of the lake season we were able to make it out 3 late afternoon trips and enjoy some beautiful late summer weather and outstanding sunsets. Blake seemed to enjoy it...by sleeping.

So far things have been going good with us and Blake and adjusting to life with a little less sleep. He has been sleeping pretty well, but still gets up about every 4 hours to feed. He is putting on some weight and getting bigger fast. Friends who hadn't seen him in about 2 weeks said they could see the difference as he is growing. We don't really notice too much being around him all the time.

We had a two week break between family being here where we were on our own for the first time. It really went pretty good. With Abby being off work for a while and able to sleep in some, after some sleepless nights, and to be able to take care of Blake and some things around the house. It's been going really good.

The rest of the Bankson family is coming to town the first weekend in Oct. Should be fun, we're really looking forward to them being in town.

More pictures coming next post...