Oregon 2011

In mid April we took a trip to Oregon for several days just to explore the state.  We completely lucked out and got beautiful sunny weather for all days except for the first in Portland.  Sun in April in Oregon is a lot to ask for but we got it!

We had so much fun traveling with Ethan on this trip.  He was so stinkin' happy the whole time and had a great time walking around exploring.  I am pretty sure that Ethan thinks the world is one big parade and his job is to smile and wave at the people.  He did not stop smiling for 5 straight days and ate up all the attention he got from all the Oregonians.  

The trip started in Portland.  We had some incredible meals (pok pok restaurant is a must when in Portland!) and explored downtown.  Portland is a beautiful city with a great laid back vibe (reminded us a lot of Austin).  

We visited Powells Books - largest bookstore in the world!,  the Portland Saturday market, played in the city parks and enjoyed some great people watching.

From Portland we drove down the Willamette Valley and stopped to visit several vineyards.  We tasted some great Pinots and enjoyed an afternoon wandering in the green grass.  Ethan had just started pointing and that little finger was out all day long showing very exciting things he found.

After the vineyards we enjoyed a gorgeous drive through the Cascade Range to check out Bend.  Along the way was Aaron's favorite place in Oregon - Detroit Lake.  I didn't get pictures, but absolutely beautiful.  Once in Bend, we explored the parks and checked out the Deschutes Brewery.  

We had heard about and seen wonderful pictures of Crater Lake in southern Oregon and were very excited to see it.  We had no idea that this lake gets the most snow in the country (including Alaska!) and  is still completely covered in mid April.  We thought we'd see this...

...but we saw this.   Whah whah whah.  

They still had 131 inches of snow on the ground and had a total of 547 inches this winter.  547 inches!!  WOW.  As neat as that is, we were on vacation to escape snow...so we moved on.

We made a pit stop in Eugene on our way to explore the coast.  The next morning we took some time to see the University of Oregon campus.  Everywhere else we went on the trip Ethan attracted attention from everyone.  We thought it was hilarious that at 10am on a Monday morning not a single college student smiled or made eye contact with Ethan.  Babies and college girls don't mix!  Aaron commented that we were a walking advertisement for Planned Parenthood.  Ethan did not care, he loved all the grassy areas to play!

The best part of the trip was the time we spent on the coast - so many miles of wonderful scenery.  We had a great few days playing on the beaches, looking for tide pools and watching the waves.  

Ethan loves the beach!!  And lucky for us, he seems to have outgrown the sand eating stage.  He has moved on to carrying rocks around.  :)  This is where Ethan learned that he loves to get dirty and LOVES being outside.  He is a beach boy!

Before we left the coastline we had to make a stop in Tillamook, Or to visit the cheese creamery.  We love Tillamook cheese and ice cream while in Anchorage so it was fun to check out where it's all made.  (The theme of this trip was 'This is Where They Make It'...vineyards, breweries and creameries...)

As we drove inland back to Portland we made a few stops by some vineyards to enjoy different wines and some time on the grass in the sun.  It was a wonderful relaxing day!

Vineyards are one of Aaron's and my favorite places to spend a sunny afternoon.  Ethan seemed to pick up on the happy, laidback vibe as well!

The first half of our trip was a lot of fun, partly due to the wonderful state of Oregon but mostly due to this little man's happy smile and laughs.  Pictures from the Houston leg of the trip coming soon...

Spring Fun

It finally feels like spring here in Alaska, which means summer is just weeks away!  We recently took a 10 day vacation in April to escape the slushy, melting snow.  Luckily temps where higher and most of the snow was melted by the time we got home.  (Pictures of the vacation coming soon...)

While vacationing in the warm Lower 48, Ethan discovered that being outdoors without snow and having to bundle up is pretty awesome and being outdoors has quickly become his favorite thing to do!  He wakes up in the morning and wants to be outside - and doesn't care if it's cold and he's still in his pajamas...

Ethan also had his first experience of playing in the dirt and being dirty when we got out of Alaska (hard to get dirty when all the soil is frozen and covered in snow!).  I called it his initiation into boyhood.  Now that it's warmer at home, dirt and rocks have quickly become very fun playtoys...

My favorite part about E's discovery of the great outdoors is that now I don't always have to carry, push or pull the little man during our outside time - he's running free.  We spend more time at parks and move a lot slower, wandering aimlessly through the woods.  :)

Easter Eggs

Sweet Dreaming in the spring sun...

A few nights ago we made Ethan's first Easter season official by dying eggs.  He played with us for about two minutes...

...and then it was Mom and Dad dying eggs...

...while Ethan and Malley played in the kitchen.  :)

E discovered today that the lids of pots and pans can make some great noise.  He spent a looong time this afternoon banging them around.  I put him in his rock 'n roll guitar shirt this morning but had no idea this would inspire him to make some music today. (I like how in the second clip Malley is happy sitting next to him until he starts banging again, then she's out of there.)

The end of ski season...

Look at the sun on his face - that is spring sun!   I am now ready to officially announce that we made it through our first full winter in Alaska and have entered break up!  

Going into winter I was a little nervous about it lasting too long.  Shockingly, I was a little sad this weekend when we went on our last cross country ski for the season.  But, the snow is melting and it is time to put away the skis and start thinking about SUMMER!  

I remember last year during early spring Aaron and I got very restless and bored because I was 7-8 months pregnant and all we could do was sit around and wait for the snow melt and for a baby to come.  I was bummed because spring was supposed to be green and warm, but it was still snowy here!  This year we discovered that spring is actually such a fun time - the temps warm up and the town gets more energy.  If you can get out and play in the snow, you can have a lot of fun.  

Midway through the ski season I decided I wanted to start training to get in shape to participate in the Tour of Anchorage race.  On a sunny day in early March 1500 took over the trails throughout town doing either a 25k, 40, or 50k.  I did the 25k (15.5miles) in 2 hours and 20 min, which placed me in the middle of the pack.  The race designers were cruel to us and made the last several kilometers all uphill so I was very proud just to finish and ended up being happy with my time.  

During the week leading up to the Iditarod, Anchorage has a huge festival with all kinds of bizarre events.  Last year I watched the Running of the Reindeer from the sidelines and decided I would participate in it this year...so I did!  It was so much fun - a few hundred people running down the street and with 10 reindeer in chase.  My friends and I were in the back so were in full view of those antlers!  

The best part of living in Alaska is getting to be outside and enjoy all the sports.  To do Alaska right, it helps to have all the toys - skis and snowmobiles, biking and hiking and running gear, and of course the fishing gear!   

In prep for fishing season this summer, we bought a boat!  Last summer we fished as much as we could from the banks, but to do it right you have to get out on the water.  So much of this state is inaccessible by roads, so we are excited to have a boat to explore more of it.  We are going to catch some serious fish!  I can't wait until we can unwrap it and get it on the water.

The best part of spring in Alaska is the light - back in mid March we passed 12 hours of sunlight and are now up to 15 hours.  The sky was still light at 10pm last night!  Bring on the summer!

He's BACK!

Ethan is back to his happy, laughing, independant self!  After a week or so of not seeming like himself, my sweet baby boy is back.  The amazing part is that he really did seem to take a big jump in development.  Ethan just proved the theory to me that sometimes babies regress in order to grow up...one baby step back, two big leaps forward.  

Walking is now a way of getting around for E and he seems to have left crawling behind.  He is constantly talking while he walks as well.  The best part of E being back is that the severe separation anxiety he was going through seems to be gone!!  He is no longer clingy, whiney and best of all is ok with me leaving and being with people he knows.  YEA.   I can't tell you how happy I am to have my sweet baby boy back!    

11 Months

Happy 11 months to Ethan!  It has been filled with learning to walk, babbling in conversational tones, and lots and lots of play time.

Last post I mentioned Ethan was in a funky mode for week or so and I am happy to say he's getting back to his normal laughing, walking, talking self.  

A fun development this month is that Ethan understands language enough now that he can follow simple directions we ask of him - open and closing things, getting the ball, rolling it to me, etc.  

His babble is sounding more and more like a real conversation (often Ethan having both sides of the conversation).   He is definitely trying to communicate to me through sound.  I think he is so close to his first words.  He can say Ma for Malley and Da for Dad.   Poor Mom gets nothing but grunts and whines...

I am starting to notice that Ethan is starting to slow down on putting every little thing he touches in his mouth, yea!  He still puts a lot of things in there, but now he'll usually look or play with it for a few minutes first.  

Play is starting to look like games and make believe than just random grabbing objects and chewing on them.  He likes to walk around and put things places, talking the whole time, or  rolls around on the ground with his blanket laughing like they have a secret game going on.  

As Ethan gets older I am finding more things to take him to expand his world.  Our favorites are the Imaginarium at the museum, the swimming pool, storytime at the library.  As the snow melts we can add running around the parks and going to the zoo!

Here's a video of Ethan talking to himself in the mirror...one of his new favorite things to do.  

Springs storms are moving through Alaska right now - lots of cloudy days and snow.  The winds were so bad this morning that it blew a tree over in our yard (onto our garden, but luckily not our house!).  This guy stood over 45 ft tall and came down with a huge bang.  

He Whips his Hair

I love this little smile!

Over the last few days, E began to make the face in this picture and shake his head back and forth ( like saying no) over and over again.  I think he learned it from one of his buddies.  He does it all day long and it cracks us up.

We have had a week of regression at our house, in our kiddo and in the weather.  Over the last few days, Ethan has stopped walking as much and reverted back to crawling, he isn't trying to figure out problems himself anymore (like when his walker gets stuck against the wall, instead of pulling it back and changing directions he cries in frustration) and he has started round two of separation anxiety.  Worst of all, his constant laugh has stopped.  We still get the smile all day though, whew.  

I've read that babies sometimes regress right before they go through a large development phase, so we'll see what happens.  The worst part about the timing of this phase is that we spent the weekend downhill skiing with some friends.  When Aaron and I skied together we left Ethan with our friends and he went into crisis mode - apparently he thought we were never coming back for him.  Thank goodness for our good mama friends who took care of him!

The weather has also regressed back into wintery clouds and snow, after a few wonderful weeks of sun. Luckily the temps are still spring warm - 30's and 40's - so the snow is still melting!  Even with the stormy clouds, spring is still here!  And all the new snow made for a great weekend to ski!  

E has started crossing his fingers when they get slimey from feeding himself...I haven't figured out what he's wishing for yet, but I hope it comes true!

Check out this hair!