Thanksgiving Week

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to head back East to spend it with Melissa's family so that they would get to take part in one of Claire's first holidays and get to celebrate her birthday with her. As usual we crammed it full of visits with friends & family and added two more states to Claire's list.

We began the trip on Saturday with a long day of flying and driving before we reached Stamford, CT. Home to Chip & Kristen! We were able to spend a great (but too quick) few days with them. During our time there we hit up the Stamford Parade which has some of the big balloons like you would see in the Macy's Parade. Claire was mildly interested, but actually paid more attention to the little balloons the cart was selling next to us. We also had the opportunity to go visit with Maureen & Tim to meet their son Benjamin.

On Monday we headed back to Boston with a small detour to Rhode Island along the way for lunch by the capital. With this little detour, Claire visited her 8th state this year.

After that it was off to see Jen & Bill and there new addition Autumn. Claire is already looking forward to Autumn visiting Colorado next year.

We spent the night with Kerry, James & Grace and it was great to see the girls play together. It has been so much fun seeing how the girls interact with one another. We took Grace & Claire to the Sing a long at the local library and they both seemed to have a great time dancing along to the music.

On Tuesday it was off to New Hampshire/Maine for the rest of the week. We stayed with The Borish Family and on Wednesday we took the kids to the Twice the Fun Indoor Play Area where they all had a great time playing. After that we headed over to the farm to make pies with Great Grandma Marion. I think that Claire may be a natural.

Thanksgiving Day was spent at the farm enjoying the parade and Patriots win. Claire was able to meet her great aunt Sue and great uncle Tony for the first time. She seemed to enjoy the meal, gobbling up everything that we gave her including a whole piece of pumpkin pie (I

thought we would split it, I was wrong).

On Saturday we had an East Coast First Birthday Celebration for Claire. We were luckily that we had some special guest as her Great Aunt Kathi & her first cousin once removed Ken were in town from New York so they were able to come along with Great Uncle Ed, first cousin Charlene, and her second cousin Cheyenne. Claire seemed to enjoy the focus being on her and loved the cupcake once she figured out what it was!

Thanks to all of our family and friends for making this week so a great time for our family. We are very thankful for the many amazing people in our lives and are grateful that Claire is so loved by so many.

We have steps!

Today was a big day for Claire! It all started this morning with Claire taking one step without hanging onto anything or lunging for the next piece of furniture. At first I thought that I imagined it, but she repeated this small feat for Dave.

Later on in the day while we were hanging out with Mark watching the Broncos game she decided to go a little further and take multiple steps in the middle of the room. She was focused on playing with a water bottle so I am not sure that she even realized what she was doing. When we celebrated her accomplishment she promptly sat down and wonder what all the fuss was about.

Of course when we tried to capture this moment on video, she refused. We are excited that our East Coast Family and Friends will get to see this milestone in the making when we visit with them next week. We are all looking forward to our third trip to New England that is packed full of visits with friends and family and of course Claire's first Thanksgiving and her Birthday Party with Melissa's family.

11 Months Old

We welcomed in November with a weekend pack with special occasions. On Friday we headed down to Colorado Springs to spend the weekend with the Yoo Family. We spent Saturday celebrating Jessica and Baby Yoo with a Victorian tea at the Miramont Castle. It is crazy to think that this same weekend last year we were at our shower for Claire and now she is 11 months old!

On Sunday we headed over to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, where we spent a few hours checking out the animals, petting a few and even feeding the giraffes!

Feeding crackers to the giraffe, Claire was very brave and loved to give the cracker to the giraffe (we have a video, but are having problems uploading today)

James, Jessica, Baby Yoo, Dave and Claire

James, Jessica, and Baby Yoo in the Large Chair (Don't they just look like GREAT PARENTS!!)

Claire in that same chair