Guess who's crawling?

Motivated by her desire for the Blackberry (the electronic device, not the fruit), Caroline crawled her first three consecutive steps - and repeated it several times. Imagine what she would do for an iPhone!

Eight months old!

Today was the perfect fall day - crisp but not cold, and sunny. And last week's cold snap brought the leaves to their peak colors. Caroline planned to celebrate her 8 month old birthday jamming to some accordian music, noshing on a bratwurst, and leaf peeping at Bear Mountain for Oktoberfest. But apparently all the other infants and toddlers in NY and NJ had the same idea, and we couldn't get close to it or the any of the other Bear Mountain attractions. The drive was beautiful though, and we stopped to enjoy a local nursery's petting zoo instead.

Hi Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Brooks came for a visit this week. We played a lot and had lots of fun. We sure will miss them, but we'll see them in just 2 months for Christmas!

I love ice cream, and even more when I share it with Grandpa!

Leaf peeping

Last weekend we trekked to Vermont to look at the leaves and enjoy the fall weather. It was brrr cold, but we had a great time. Caroline went to her first Oktoberfest, and Annabel ran through her first corn maze.

On the way up, we stopped at Marcella's and Roger's to meet baby Max. He's 10 months old!

In other news, Caroline got her first tooth about two weeks ago. She's scooching backwards, and has the crawling position down. Now if she could just get those knees to move. Annabel is talking up a storm and finds new things to climb every day. She scaled a toy storage unit at Ikea this weekend.

Grandma and Grandpa have been visiting since Wednesday. Pray for good weather so they can enjoy their last few days with the girls.

Happy 7 month birthday!

Starting 'em young

Sunday was the Giants' second game, and the girls got in the spirit by donning their jerseys.

After a week of everyone in the family being sick, it was nice to get out to go "hiking" at the Ramapo Reservation. It was Caroline's first hike up the beginning of the mountain and around the lake. In the category of not so fun, Caroline's other firsts for the week were first ear infection and first nebulizer treatment.

Saturday in the park

Saturday was a beautiful day, and we packed up our stuff and headed to Central Park. We started out listening to the guitarman by the lake for a few hours. We sat under a big tree right behind a newly married couple and their wedding guests.

Annabel enjoyed dancing to the tunes and trying to feed doggies her Goldfish and apples. She didn't participate in the skipping song, but we had to leave something for next time. Caroline enjoyed chilling and had her typical big smile on her face, and Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a bootleg beer wrapped in newspaper purchased from a guy with a big backpack.

Mommy's friend Katie came to listen to music too, and later we all relocated and met Uncle Stu and his friends near a woman with an impressive hula hoop act.

Annabel loved blowing bubbles with Uncle Stu and playing with Champ, another doggie. She also met a 2yo girl named Annabel and pushed her doll's stroller around for awhile. I guess they didn't bond that well over their shared name because our Annabel rejected new Annabel's attempt at a good-bye hug with a shove.

I think Caroline enjoyed her first time in the city!