DPG aka The Dharma Initiative

We've settled into our new home at Dugway Proving Ground, which, will lovingly be referred to as the DPG, Dharma Initiative (for you LOST fans), or summer camp. Surprisingly, for being such a small place, there's a lot to tell you about the DPG.
Our house turned out to be a lot better and bigger than we expected. We have 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, a dining room, living room, and family room. There's also a little backyard, but behind our yard is a huge playground and field for Lola to play fetch. We can throw the ball for her pretty much from our backyard.
Ben's "work" is going well so far. He's leaving to go to Colorado Springs tomorrow to in-process and since he's not in-processed yet, he can't really do anything at work. He thinks he's going to be seeing about 15 patients a week. One nice thing is that we're so close to the clinic he can come home for lunch and he only works Mon - Thurs. The clinic is really nice though and all of the people who work there are also very friendly.
Now, like I've mentioned before, there's not much variety here. We've got a Subway, Community Club (mom and I prefer the name Country Club though, sounds a little more classy, but they do have good food), a nice pool, a movie theatre that plays one movie a week but it's only 99 cents, a bowling alley, a hair salon (appointment only), post office, hotel (yes, there's a hotel for all of you who want to experience this for yourselves), gas station, chapel, schools, and a gym. I'm sure there's a few things I'm missing, but you get the point.
My favorite part of summer camp though is the music. Yes, people, I said the music. There are loud speakers all around the post, most likely for some sort of chemical/biological emergency, but at 6am they play Revelry, then at 5:05 they play something to lower the flag, and then at around 10:10pm we get Taps to tell us it's time for bed. It cracks me up every time I even think about our music, esp. Revelry. It's totally ridiculous.
After a description like this, I know y'all are just dying to visit!

Day 203
(I'll always look up to you, daddy!)

Day 202

Lola cooling off in her new pool

Day 201
(The great banana experiment. He's not ready for whole bananas)

Day 200

I love Grandma Kisses!

Day 199

Day 198
(Wal Mart should really use this pic in their next ad)

Day 197

Day 196

Day 195

(I love my new room!)

On the Road Again

The morning after we got back from Maui, Cole had his 6 month well child visit and his shots. His appointment went well. Cole weights 17.9lbs and is in the 50th percentile for weight and height and 73rd for head circ. The doctor didn't seem too concerned that he's only eating breastmilk and bananas and she said it was fine that he ate them everyday (dr. dad was worried about too much potassium).
After the appointment, Cole and I drove to Spokane and Ben had to stay and finish outprocessing at Madigan. He joined us a couple of days later. While in Spokane, we got to Cole's Aunt Holly, Uncle Tom and cousins. I think the cousins had a lot more fun with him now that he can sit up on his own and actually play a little more.
On Sunday we started our journed down to our new home in Dugway, UT. We drove from Spokane to Idaho Falls the first day and then to Dugway the second day. Thank GOD my mom was with us! Mom, Cole and I drove in one car and Ben with Lola in the other. It took us a bit longer than it would have without Cole, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Considering we were in the car for almost 2 days straight, he did pretty well. More on Dugway later! :)

Day 193
(Lola kisses in Idaho Falls)

Day 192

Day 191
(Cole's Cousins: Isaiah, Madison, Andrew & Abigail)

Day 190

Day 189
(Finally, we're at Grandma & Grandpa's)

Maui Part Deux

For the second part of our Maui vacation, one of Ben's best friends, Alex, and his girlfriend (now fiancee) Liz, joined us. We had a blast hanging out at the beach with them, going for a sunset walk, and visiting the Baldwin's farm. We look forward to seeing them hopefully in January or February for some skiing in Utah!
Thanks so much Tutu and G-Paw for our wonderful visit! Cole had a great first trip to Maui!

Day 188

Aloha, Maui, we'll be back in December!

Day 187

Cole's tree Uncle Edward and Aunt Sally planted on their farm

Cole loved sweet little Liberty

That's a lot of plums!

And that's also a lot of chickens!

Double date night

Day 186

Tio Alex and Liz

A little man love

Cole Kisses!

Big Kahuna

Day 185

Chillin' on Tutu's new island

Day 184

On Tutu and G-Paw's Lanai

Half Birthday

I’ve learned this year that you don’t really realize how quickly time passes until you have a child. Maybe time has passed more quickly because of our crazy busy lives, but when you have a child and you actually pay attention to the months passing, and it’s amazing how fast it really goes. Cole turned 6 months on Wednesday and when he was born, I promised him that I would always celebrate his half birthday because his real birthday is only 2 weeks after Christmas. I made cupcakes (for adults only of course) and he doesn’t have many toys, so he’ll be getting a few new toys when we move.

Here’s what Cole’s accomplished in 6 short months:

Weight and height: we have to wait until Cole’s 6 month appointment on July 15^th

Clothes: we’ve moved up to 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers

Teeth: I can see the lower left tooth coming in and I hope it’ll break through soon because it’s driving him crazy.

Strength milestones: Cole’s sitting up on his own! Right now he can only sit for about 5 minutes without falling over, but he’s doing it longer and longer each day.

He also rolls over from his back to his tummy all the time, but he forgets that he also knows how to get from his tummy to his back and he gets angry. He tries to scoot himself forward, but doesn’t make it very far. I’m not super eager for him to crawl anyway!

Eating: Cole’s still mostly breastfeeding but he does get one meal a day of baby food. Or, I should say, one meal of bananas because that’s all he’ll eat. We’ve tried oatmeal cereal, rice cereal, sweet potatoes, peas, and plumbs. He gags and throws up everything we feed him except the bananas. Today we’re going to try pears and see how he does. Ben was a super picky eater as a child and I intentionally tried to eat a variety of foods when I was pregnant because apparently that helps expand the babies taste buds, but obviously it did no good.

Maui Part 1

Cole's down for a nap, so I thought I'd start posting the first half of our visit to see Tutu and G-paw in Maui. Our first full day on the island was the 4th of July. We went to a fun little "parade" in Makawao, a little town not too far from their house. We must put parade in quotes because no parades will ever really be parades to us outside of NOLA. Ben said it just wasn't the same without drinking and people throwing crap at us. After the "parade" we went up to Ben's Aunt Sally and Uncle Edward's farm for dinner. They just got 25 new baby chicks and Cole loved watching them. They also have goats, mini donkeys, mini cows and 4 dogs, 2 of which are great danes (Cole also loved Roxy the Great Dane).
The following day we took Cole to the beach for the first time. He LOVED sitting and just watching the waves and he stuck his toes in the sand and water. He refused to nap while we were there because there was just too much to see and as soon as I put him in his carseat he passed out.
Other than that, we've just kind of hung out at the new house. It's absolutely beautiful and perfect for Jim, Linda and all their guests when they come. They also have 2 new goats, which is fun.
Our friends, Alex and Liz arrive tomorrow, so we'll try to post the second part of our trip before we leave. Oh, and how can I forget, today's Cole's 6 month birthday! I'll try to do a 6 month update in the next couple of days.

Day 181

(I think Tutu said something mean to daddy here)

Day 180

Day 179
Cole's first beach trip

Day 178
First 4th of July!

Cutest baby in Makawao Town!

Watching the "parade" with G-Paw

Mommy's little firecracker!

Meeting Great Aunt Sally

Petting the chick