Vacation

Phew, what a trip!

Highlights: seeing Alex and meeting Aline and some of her family, swimming in the ocean, watching Audrey overcome her terror of the ocean and waves, swimming with Audrey in the ocean, staying at a beautiful casa on the coast, eating great food and delicious tropical fruit, discovering napoles, going to a Mexican mercado, exploring Imperial Beach, CA, gathering with extended family

Lowlights: the family gathering was a memorial for Aunt Joan and cousin Colleen who passed away in late March and early April, we started our trip early because Gampy was in hospice and passed away, we missed our flight/were turned away at the gate by an ahole Frontier agent because we were 45 seconds too late and had to spend an extra 4 hours at the Denver airport, we got lost in Tijuana while Audrey was cantando Oaxaca (trans: puking) in the backseat, grandma vomited in grandpa's hat while in rush hour traffic in San Diego, Audrey had a dislocated "nursemaid's" elbow, there was more but I'll end it there lest I sound like a complainer

Overall, it was a good trip, just the kind of vacation you need a vacation to recover from. So, now I've recovered enough to write a post.














Above and below, hanging with fam in Denver







A playground in Playas de Tijuana, the suburb where Alex and Aline live.



After throwing up upon entry to Mexico, Audrey didn't want to eat for awhile, nopales (delicious cactus, typically served grilled) helped Audrey turn the corner to eating again.




Here we are doing a little exploring in Ensenada, posing in front of the very large flag at the port. Alex told us the flag in DF (AKA Mexico City) is even bigger.


The pictures below are at the lovely casa south of Rosarito that our generous friends, the Jespersons, let us stay in for the week























Here is brave little Audrey after being treated for nursemaid's elbow.


The tally after getting X-rays and seeing two doctors, one to reduce the dislocation and one to review the X-rays, was about $85! This is why there are so many medical facilities in Mexico.

Being one armed didn't stop her from bull-riding and eating ice cream







We did some exploring in Tecate with Aline's family, they took us to a winery,



pointed out a cool carved rock among the many large boulders that defined the landscape of the area,




took us out to lunch and to El Mejor Pan de Tecate for delicious baked goods, then pointed us to the border crossing (where we waited for two hours to get in to the USA!)

Back in America our adventures included: messing around at the Imperial Beach pier,



















exploring the Silver Strand between Imperial Beach and Coronado, separating the Pacific Ocean from the San Diego Bay on a windy day,






swimming at Uncle Neil's house,



and spending time with Grandpa's siblings.

Little surprises

You never know what might pop up where....

Bunny and Ducky napping in the washing machine

Blocks in my xc ski boots

Half a plastic egg balancing on half a wooden mushroom tucked into the stool

Over fifty slight variations of this exact photo in the iPad photo stream

Moose on the loose

Mama moose and moose youngster were hanging out in our neighborhood all afternoon on Sunday.













They liked chewing on the branches of our apple tree.


Audrey's been asking about them every morning since then but they haven't come back yet.

New footage

Crawling video from the day before yesterday. He is been getting a lot of practice since then and making a lot of forward progress, so I'd say he is now, officially, a crawler.

UPDATED footage here , as of 3/28 8:00am. Side note, this video is posted on YouTube, and alongside of it are "suggested videos" that the viewer might also be interested in. Most of the videos are of this or that baby REALLY crawling or really crawling, but there also a video of Wayne Rooney doing a "man of the match" interview after the West Ham v Man U game last week, hmm...what's the connection.

Guest blog from Grandma

Twenty one days in Steamboat!
How the days the flew by
like horses galloping down the street
taking my breath away.
Immersed in the lives of our children and theirs
sharing a special time.
A snow rabbit with big ears and carrots made his smile
Audrey is a big girl now with such a busy life.
Julian is my snugglie boy, the sweetest you could find.
Music class. my bonnie lies over the ocean
I couldn't sing the last lines on our last class.
tears got in my way.
Valentine craft at the library, how many eyes we had!
Audrey skis and swims and sings I like flowers
and has her brother in her room now to watch over.
Chris and Ellen are such wonderful parents
My heart is full of love.








And some video footage.

Trying to move

I want the tiger, if I avoid eye contact maybe I can sneak up on him


or I could launch an attack from plank position


hands and knees is how Audrey does it when she's coaching me


but I just can't seem to get anywhere this way



Oh I'm so close!


Hmm, there are interesting things behind me too...



Check out some Video of Julian trying to crawl.

Six Months

Julian had his six month check up a few weeks ago. He weighed in at 16 lbs, 2'2", which is around the 25th percentile for both height and weight, he's no pipsqueak though. He loves to eat and has been mowing down all sorts of new foods, he loves oatmeal and butternut squash, banana is the only thing he has been turning his nose up at.


At the check up the doctor and I were talking about how he is growing well and is healthy enough that he can now go through the night without a feed and how we can start to facilitate sleep independence, Julian had a lot to say during this discussion too. At first I thought maybe he was protesting, but a few days later after he slept throughout the night for the first time I realized he was just voicing concerns and asking questions, like any well informed patient must do.

After he demonstrated a solid habit of sleeping through the night we transitioned him to sharing a room with his big sister. They are so sweet together.






And now as Julian's sixth month is coming to a close he is scooting around a ton and occasionally getting himself into crawl position and launching forward to grab something in front of him. And another milestone is well in view just underneath his gums, cutting its way to the surface.