Back in Dayton, Ohio

We need to catch up on posts, especially with news on how Jack is developing. Jen is keeping a mental list of the "words" that Jack is babbling, so we'll get into that soon. He's also cruising around while holding onto things, although he's not quite ready to walk on his own.

After our vacation at the beginning of July, the rest of the month got pretty wild. Jen traveled to the west coast for a conference-- 4 nights! It was her longest trip away from Jack. So father-and-son decided to snap up an e-fare to Ohio and spend a few days with Nonnie and Grandpa.

We arrived on Saturday and were joined by Karin, Dave, Ethan and Michael. Young Michael is getting so big! And Ethan is a model big-brother. He was terrific playing with Jack, and I know he's going to do enjoy when Michael gets mobile.

Jen being away for four nights was tough, but it helped being with family. Jack enjoyed all the attention and Grandpa even bought the walking lion he has at home. Jack did more laps around that house than we could count, and he was so proud of his new skill.

After three nights in Dayton, we headed back home. It was Tuesday, and Jen wasn't returning until Wednesday evening. We walked into the house, and Jack's head spun around on a swivel. Now back on his home turf, I could tell he expected to see mommy. So sad! He survived another night with just-dad. On Wednesday, Jen's return from the west coast was nearly washed out by thunderstorms. After 16 hours of travel and delays, she made it back, but Jack was already asleep. He woke up Thursday morning and firmly latched onto his mother for the rest of the day.

We'll put more pictures up from the rest of July in the next post. In the meantime, enjoy these shots from Dayton.

July Retreat to Dayton