Camping..well sort of

Sophia's first camping trip was on July 11. And it was great. We opted to camp in the Gehrke's back yard (stop snickering - it was going to storm). It was a lovely time with the Reiks, the Gehrke's and the Refermats. We even got a fire in. However, at 3 a.m. the winds picked up and were blowing the tents inwards. We dodged the rain drops and spent the night in the living. The next day all three tents were still bravely standing, and we were dry. You can see that Carson, Natalie and Sophia entertained themselves very well while we were erecting the campsite... or maybe just having a good conversation.

Standing Tall

Sophia has started pulling herself up on everything. And from Sophia's point of view it must have looked like a great big jungle gym. She followed the cat into the center, then started pulling herself up. It's not an optical illusion; she actually is in the middle of the bars. I guess its days of a drying rack are numbered.

New Friends

Sophia attended her first product party at Emily's Friend "Aunt" Brenda's house where she met lots of new people, one of which was Lauren. Daughter of another good friend "Aunt" Lisa, Lauren is almost four years old and loves to play mom. She showed us all her baby, which was hungry and preferred pretzels to carrots. Lauren was taken with Sophia and wanted her to walk and talk and play. Brenda's trying to make both girls happy.

When Sophia became entranced by Aunt Lisa's shiny gold bracelet, it was Lauren who said, "Mom, she can have it." And what was Lisa to do. Lisa had to share. "She's going to be a jewelry girl," Lisa predicts. We'll see.

On Hands and Knees

Sophia is almost 8 months old (tomorrow) and she's been accomplishing quite a bit lately. While in Ohio she put the arm, opposite knee, other arm, other knee together and started crawling. It's shakey and she really has to be motivated, but she can do it. We'll let you know when she starts cruising. Here's a video of her chasing the cat (which, as it turns out, is very motivating).

Visiting Ohio

We just got back from visiting Ohio for Aunt Annie's Graduation from Wright State University. Sophia was soooo distracted by the people she hardly wanted to eat or sleep. Grandma doted on her and she got to meet the San Diego Refermats. Allison even tickled her feet. It was a great time, except when Grandpa left the air conditioning on low and Sophia rolled out of her blankets. Brrr, but some socks on the hands and warm milk made everything all better. Emily and Joe are a little exhausted (94 through Chicago was a mess...and Emily did more than a little swearing). But everyone got home safe and sound. And dry, which is a feat these days in Wisconsin.

Sophia at Work

These days Sophia is assisting with work. That's a grocery bill Joe's holding to be entered into Quicken. And Sophia's reading Mom's "to do" list to her. Sophia is ever so helpful. She's going to be running errands herself just as soon as her feet can reach the car pedals.

Shades

See, the sun does shine in Wisconsin. And thank goodness my great Aunt Lynn sent me a pair of sunglasses for those walks around sullivan.