S'mores, Family, and Campfires.

You guessed it! The Oberst Family had their 2nd annual camping trip. It was a bit of a challenge this year with 2 babies, 2 dogs, and leftover wind damage. We went to Hueston Woods in Cincinnati, OH- and to accommodate the babies we borrowed Mandy's parent's camper- (we just weren't sure how the babies would fare in a tent....). We weren't sure how all would go, since Cincinnati had just been through a big wind storm from the hurricanes passing through- and had lost all power. I know what you must be thinking- "we're camping- why are we concerned with electricity??"- Well, I'm not going to waste time defending ourselves, because the power was actually back on. (Okay- so we weren't actually camping...we had power and a camper- if it helps any- the boys slept in the tent).

It was an overall good time, we didn't get to hike as much as I had hoped- the trails were all closed due to wind damage. We did attempt and succeed in one hike- there were only 4-5 trees blocking the trail that we had to climb over. Grayden did great, strapped onto daddy and enjoyed watching Fred and Riley take off through the woods. Blair didn't make it this time; maybe next year.

We went to the beach after our strenuous (ha) hike. Rob, Brian, and the dogs had a good time swimming in knee deep water. And we all waded out to the picnic table in the water for picture time. It may not have been the most adventurous camping trip (and we weren't exactly roughing it)- but we had a good visit. The cousins (Fred and Riley) had an awesome time together. Oh- and Blair and Grayden seemed to enjoy each other too!!

Happy Cousins!

So, we survived year 2 of the Oberst Camping Trip and I'm already on the planning committee for the 3rd annual trip: I'm thinking we go back to Hocking Hills...

Solid Food Update: Grayden has moved to green beans!

Other News: Grayden has a Halloween costume!!! He wore it this weekend to stay warm, but no pictures yet... I think I'll keep you all in suspense. :)

Kiddopotamus in Action and Updates:

So an update to "My 5 things I couldn't live without" post. I had many responses who wanted to see the Kiddopotamus in action: So here it is! As you can see, it works beautifully, wraps him up nice and tight and he rarely breaks free!

On other news: We had Grayden's 6 month pictures made, for those who may not have seen them, here's the link: http://www.imagequix.com/photog.php?id=W94S39A&ec=jen3
the password: grayden

These are just the outside shots. You can search events for Grayden 2 which would be the indoor ones we took, password is grayden: I prefer the outside shots- they turned out so good!

Solid Food update: Grayden has moved to oatmeal and carrots. He seems to enjoy them both. I think we will try another green veggie this week, I'm thinking green beans. He hasn't had any fruit yet- We'll keep you posted for that adventure!

Fall is here! Weather's been great - alittle chilly even! Oberst Family Camping Trip is scheduled for this weekend, so pictures to be posted soon!

And finally: A little brother and sisterly love:

Sweet Potato Pie and Curveballs.

Well, not really sweet potato pie- but Grayden did have his first taste of vegetables!! And if you haven't guessed it, he had himself some yummy sweet potatoes! We started him on some sweet potatoes last week and he absolutly LOVED them!

However, we introduced peas this weekend. And the reaction wasn't what we had hoped for. See below:

So, we've been creative and have had to alternate bites between the sweet potatoes and peas to get him to eat them. I didn't like peas when I was little either- so it's not that we are forcing him to like peas, but we had bought those big starter packs of vegetables (8 jars of peas) and we hate to think we've wasted money on peas! So peas and sweet potato medley it is.

Grayden did hit the 6 month mark this past weekend! And in our house, when you hit six months, you are expected to know how to fast pitch. So Rob has been working on teaching Grayden the art of baseball.

His first lesson went well. We practiced picking our pitch and how to throw a curveball.

All is well at the Hartman House- stay tuned, more to come next time.