Ashton Walking

Ashton has learned to walk!  When he walks he has such a cute look on his face.  He is so proud of himself.  Here is a video of him walking:

Don't worry, he fell in to my lap :)

Apple Picking

Today Eric and I took the kids to a local farm to go apple and peach picking.  It was a cute little farm that had the perfect size trees for Cate to pick the fruit.  She had so much fun finding apples and peaches to pick.  It was a great farm and we all had a great time there.

Cate picking her first apple off of the tree

Bringing an apple that she picked off of the tree to the bag

Walking through the apple orchard

Daddy and Cate sharing a peach

Cate eating a peach right off the tree.  She said "this is the best peach I have ever had".  It was the best peach that I have ever eaten.  

Walking through the pumpkin patch

Hanging out on the deck 

Cate dancing on the deck

Gymnastics and 9 Month Checkup

On Monday I took the kids to an open gym at a gymnastics facility.  Cate loved playing on everything and of course Ashton was in heaven because he could crawl everywhere.  It was the perfect place to take the kids.

Cate jumped right into the foam pit.  I was amazed how excited she was to go in there.

Climbing around the blow up bouncy house

Skipping down the giant trampoline

Parachute time

Ashton riding the police cruiser

Cate doing the balance beam all by herself

A cute picture of Cate sitting in Daddy's lap.  

I took Ashton in for his 9 month check up today.  He is a healthy boy and is right on track.  He has 4 teeth (two top and two bottom), is able to take about 2-3 steps, is saying Mama and Dada, and loves to eat.  He is a very happy baby who is very curious and loves to find trouble.  Here are his 9 month stats:  23 lbs (84%) and 29.25 in (81%).  He continues to be a big boy!

Whale watching and kid watching

For Eric's birthday his parents gave him a day in Boston.  We went whale watching and then went out to a very nice Italian dinner in the North End of Boston.  It was a great day and we really enjoyed hanging out with each other without the kids.  The weather was great and we were able to see a bunch of whales.  This is a picture of Eric on the back of the boat leaving the dock.

The beautiful Boston skyline

One of the many whales that we saw.  This whale was "fin flapping" for quite a while.  She was putting on quite a show for us.

Ashton pushing his new walker around the family room

Walking with his new walker

Ashton trying to open the door.  He can reach the handle but luckily he can't turn it.....yet

Cate modeling her new horse outfit that she got from Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt

Ashton standing on his own

Cate and Ashton hanging out.  After 9 months they still like each other!

Racing in the driveway

Ashton and Cate racing down the driveway

Earlier in the day we made Daddy a birthday cake

Cate licking the beater after making Daddy a birthday cake

While we make the cake this is what Ashton was doing:

Ashton doing his usual activity:  Making a mess

Eating a banana in a special spoon that makes it so he doesn't choke on any big pieces.  Cate wasn't interested in this as a baby but Ashton seemed to love it

Ashton Crawling

Here is a video of Ashton "power crawling" in the kitchen.  When he wants something he can crawl extremely fast!

S'mores

Over the Labor Day weekend Eric decided to make a fire and roast s'mores.  Cate was very excited to do it.  So eric took our fire pit down into the yard to make the s'mores.  The weather was very nice and we all had a nice evening sitting outside roasting marshmellows.

Cate showing me what goes in to s'mores

Cate's first S'more

Ashton  trying to get Cate's S'more

Cate enjoying the night

Ashton hanging out

Sitting by the fire

Over the weekend we all went to lunch at a restaurant close to our house.  The food was great and we had a great view of the water.

Lunch at a great seafood restaurant in Bristol

Ashton loves to chase Cate all around the house.  She rides her trike and Ashton crawls behind her trying to catch her.

Aston chasing Cate on ger trike

Ashton is able to stand on his own now and is trying to take a few steps.  He can take one step if he is going from one thing to another.  You can tell that he really wants to walk.

Ashton standing on his own

Children's Museum

On Thursday I took the kids to the Providence Children's Museum.  I hadn't been there since Ashton was born so it was really fun to take him there.  He had a great time crawling around.  Cate really enjoyed herself too.  It was fun seeing how much Cate has grown up since the last time we went there.  She was able to do a lot more of the activities at the museum.  After we went to the museum it was really hot outside so I decided to take the kids out to lunch instead of going home to the hot house.  We had a great time at lunch.  Both the kids where very well behaved and we had a lot of fun.

I had to get my picture in front of the Rhode Island sign with both of my kids

Ashton and Cate playing with the giant Light Bright

Cate loved going down the slide

In the toddler room  they had a playpen for babies to play in.  I put Ashton in there and he started looking like he was in jail.  He wanted to get out and play with all of the other big kids.

Ashton loved playing with the bulldozer trucks

Cate cooking up some food