So far no relatives have coughed up more Christmas photos, so we will continue with Jack's social life this past week. We met our friend Jeff out for breakfast on Wednesday morning and Jack proceeded to color, with the crayons facing the right direction, and he didn't put them in his mouth. See for yourself:

































Then later he had lunch with me and my parents, where I gave him Jello for the first time. It was quite funny and he liked it a lot. First he smashed the squares up, then he put all the Jello on the table, then back in the bowl, then he ate it. Here he is trying to figure out where the rest of the Jello might be.















Thursday we skipped town and headed to the mountains. We've been planning this trip for months and were very excited to show Jack snow for the first time. Unfortunately it seems there has not been a flake of snow in the area so far this winter.

Our first order of business was to take a small walk through a resort called "The Lake of the Woods". Joe used to come here every summer when he was a young lad, and he wanted to show us around. Here we are on the pier – you can see one brave soul trying to fish in this cold weather:















Here we are posing near cabin 23 where Joe remembers staying:















And these are the waterfalls Joe explored with his brother:















(my arms are crossed because I was starting to get a little chilly. Jack refused to wear a hat or mittens, and when we got done he was freezing.)

We took a little hike back by the stream:


























It was a great little walk and Jack liked all the new things he got to see. Back at the cabin, he relaxed by selecting a book to read:















Or, really, just pulling the books out of the shelf:















Then he had a bath:















He went to bed and slept for 12 and a half hours. It was heaven.

Today we celebrated Joe's birthday at a local diner. Jack was pleased to sit in the booth like a normal boy:















For those of you who know him well, you probably recognize the look on his face. He's saying "ohhhh. Ohhh. Oh. Ohhhhh." He is very expressive with his Ohs.

Unfortunately today was a one-nap day and Jack is not ready to be a one-nap baby. He was unbelievably tired and went to bed at six p.m. Tomorrow is another exciting day of driving around and searching for snow, and ringing in the new year here in our cozy little cabin.