Fall Colors and Wedding Festivities

This weekend we traveled back to the East coast again to go to our last wedding of the fall, Seema and Tim's wedding. While it was a whirlwind of a weekend and we are all very tired, we had a wonderful time! There are far too many pictures to share all in one blog so everyone is going to have to wait as I space out all of the pictures in several different entries.

We flew into New York City on the red eye flight which arrived Saturday morning. My mom and my sister, Audra picked us up and the airport, and we all went back to see Audra and Tommy's new house in Stamford, Connecticut. The drive home looked very much like what I thought Connecticut would look like, fall colored trees lining the road and stone bridges over the highway.

(typical Connecticut view on our drive)

After we rested up a little bit, mom and dad, Audra, and our family headed out to explore as much of Connecticut as we could in the short amount of time that we had. The weather the whole weekend was just about as beautiful as weather can get: blue skies without a single cloud, a slight breeze, and fall colors coming out everywhere. We went to Greenwich, which is a really cute little town. We ate lunch at a crepe restaurant where we had french ham and cheese sandwiches (I'm not even going to try to spell them) and an apple crepe for dessert, yum! Then we walked around and took in the town.

(Greenwich, Connecticut)

(Bruce on Bruce Street)

(strolling down the street)

That night we stayed in. After our previous night of no sleep (I can't sleep on airplanes), our little family needed the rest. Tommy was able to join our fun after he finished his day of work and was able to meet his nephew for the first time. Everyone had a great night and it was a start to a fantastic weekend.

(Audra, Max, and Al in their new backyard)

(Tommy and Evan sizing each other up)

(the dogs meet their cousin)

Lazy Days

Since we got home from North Carolina, Evan, Rip and I have been enjoying some much needed time at home. We've been enjoying some semblance of a normal schedule, even though we know it's short lived with our trip to the East Coast again this weekend!

Evan is either needing some time to recover from his trip or is going through a growth spurt because he has been suddenly sleeping all the time. He sleeps from about 8:30 pm until 6 am most nights and has a nice long nap in the middle of the day too. He seems to be falling asleep every time I turn around. He must need it!

We've also been enjoying some new toys! We assembled both the exersaucer and the doorway jumper when we got home. Evan absolutely loves both. Now, he's not quite up for jumping in the jumper yet, but he is definitely testing out what he can do with his feet, and he definitely likes chewing on the cables and sides of the jumper. He can just sit and stare at the bells and whistles on the exersaucer for hours. It's a great toy for watching the light bulb in his little brain suddenly come on. He'll watch you press a button, then you can help him to press it, and low and behold, after a few minutes something clicks and he'll start banging on the button himself. It's so much fun to watch.

(don't you just love the Vandy shirt?)

Even though the weather has turned a bit colder, Evan, Rip, and I are still enjoying our daily walks with our mom's group. I'm afraid sometimes I have the tendency to overdress him until he can barely move, but hey, he stays warm. On our walk today Evan was wearing a onesie with pants and socks, a long-sleeved shirt over that, a fleece over that, and a hat under the hood on his fleece. Then I put him in the jogging stroller with two fleece blankets on each side of his head for extra cushion and a blanket over his lap. If it gets any colder you're not going to be able to find the baby under all of the layers!

Evan and I have also started volunteering at the library of my old school, Sherwood Elementary. We come in on Wednesdays for a half an hour and check out books to a third grade class. Fortunately this is during Evan's nap time so he has been sitting peacefully in his stroller and sleeping while I work. Today, I was trying to master the bar code scanner which is tricky, but I think I'll eventually get the hang of it. It's great to have the chance to see all my friends at Sherwood and also all of my old students. Fortunately, my friend Meredith lent me a sign for the stroller that says "please wash your hands before touching the baby". This has been great for keeping little germy kid hands away from Evan.

We haven't been as good as we should be on our photography efforts this week, but here's a great shot that I took of Evan and Ripple spending some quality time looking out the window from my bed. This is a frequent occurence while I'm putting away laundry. They just love it!

Big Four Ice Caves

Today we decided to take advantage of the lack of rain, and enjoy what might be our last hike of the season. The way the wind has started to howl around our apartment makes us feel like fall is definitely here and winter isn't far behind it.

So, we headed off to visit a place that we had read about and had wanted to visit for a while, the Big Four Ice Caves. These are caves left in glacial-like snow drifts created when snow falls off of some really big cliffs and down into this valley. The trek was a short 2 mile round trip, so it wasn't difficult to get to at all. The only sticky point was a missing bridge at one point. Fortunately, Ian and I had brought our sandals so we just rolled up our pants and dipped our footsies in the stream of glacial run-off, brrrrr!

Once we arrived at the caves it was definitely worth our chilled toes. The black craggy cliffs towered above us with waterfalls trickling down. The caves were at the bottom of the cliffs and were at their smallest because there hasn't been any snowfall since April. We didn't get too close because we really didn't feel like having a cave fall on us, but we still saw some beautiful sights. With the carved mountain faces, toppled trees, and sheer amount of snow left at this point in the year we could see how dangerous the snow could be during the middle of winter up there!

Rip definitely enjoyed the hike, except for when mom wouldn't let him get in the stream. However, Evan was dressed in his woolies and burrowed into daddy's jacket, so I'm afraid he slept through the whole excursion. Oh well, hopefully, he'll be more alert and ready to enjoy hikes when the weather turns nice again in the spring.

(Me getting ready to stick my feet in the chilly water)


(a view of some of the cliffs and waterfalls through some avalanche-felled trees)


(a view of the cliffs and snow drifts with a tiny me in the foreground)


(close up of a waterfall)


(view of the caves at the bottom of one of the drifts)


(Evan snug in his sweater, hat, and booties after he slept through the hike)

The King's Daughters Inn

While we were in Durham we had the chance to visit with our friends Colin and Deanna. They are working hard to open a new inn in Durham, The King's Daughters Inn. It will be right next to Duke's campus in a perfect location. Ian, Evan, and I and a few of our other friends got a tour of the inn to see how they were progressing. They are busy restoring it to its former 1920's glory, and when it is finished it's going to be absolutely beautiful. It will have 17 rooms, a dining room for about 50 people, conference facilities, and a home for them on the top floor. It's quite an undertaking. It is scheduled to open April 1st and Ian and I are hoping that there's a room available the next time we want to visit Durham! (Although we're pretty sure it will be booked solid from the day it opens.) Check out the construction progress on their website which I listed on the blog. Here's some pictures of our tour...

(Evan and I in front of the inn)

(Deanna and Evan inside next to one of the old building signs)

(Deanna, our friend Charles, and Charles's mother looking at the blueprints)

(more tour of the construction)

(Colin and Deanna's future home in the attic)

Days in Durham

We are all finally back home in Seattle after a long, but wonderful trip back to the East Coast. Everyone has heard about the first several weeks of our adventure, so I will finish up by telling everyone about our adventures in Durham.

Evan and I went up to Durham on Friday. We were lucky that we made it at all with the gas shortages in Charlotte! We spent Friday afternoon at my old school, The Hill Center, hanging out with my old friends and seeing some of my old students. It was great to be back and it will always feel like home.

(Evan with some of the Hill Center crew: Antoinette, Shauna, and Anita)

Friday evening was the start of Vince and Stefanie's wedding festivities. We had the rehearsal dinner at a great Italian restaurant in Brightleaf Square called Piazza Italia. We were in a great private room with wine bottles floors to ceiling on the walls, definitely Ian and I's kind of place! Evan was a bit fussy that night because of his long day, but everyone still had a great time!

(Vince, Stefanie, and guests at their rehearsal dinner)

Saturday the wedding festivities continued. In the morning we took a little time-out from the wedding celebrations to visit Kings Daughter's Inn, which I will fill you in on in a later entry. After that we went to a wonderful brunch with the groomsmen at a place called Watt's Grocery. It was so nice that the boys let Carrie, Evan, and I tag along.

(The groomsmen and Carrie and I at Watt's Grocery)

(Evan enjoying the brunch)

Finally, on Saturday afternoon was the big event. Everyone looked beautiful, or handsome as the case may be, and a good time was had by all. Ian dutifully fulfilled his job as groomsman at the ceremony, and Evan fulfilled his duty by not making a peep during the entire ceremony. Stefanie and Vince looked very happy and in love. Evan especially loved looking at the bride dancing their first dance in her beautiful white dress, he couldn't look away.

(the bride and groom's first dance)

(Evan with one of the butterfly table decorations at the wedding)

(My boys looking handsome)

(Pat and Carrie enjoying the festivities)

(Stefanie, in her beautiful red dress, tossing the bouquet)

On Sunday, I had lunch with my good friend Stephanie and her twin daughters and mother. It was great to catch up. She looks great and it training for a half marathon, gives me something to be inspired by. I should have taken a picture. The twins are getting so old. They'll be starting school next year, and I remember holding them when they were first born!

Monday we hung out at Duke with daddy as he worked in the morning and gave a talk in the afternoon. Evan was an equal opportunity pooper this weekend and decided to have blow outs at both mommy and daddy's former workplaces. At least he's fair, HA! Other than that episode, the rest of the day was fun. Evan and I toured around Duke meeting people and shopped for some great Duke apparel at the book store. Daddy's talk was a raging success with people sitting on the floor and crammed in every corner to hear him speak. After the talk and a dinner with the bosses, Dave and Jane, we headed back to Charlotte for the flight home the next day.

(a lab baby, Evan getting his diaper changed in the Richardson lab)

It was a great trip! We love all of our friends in Durham, and it was great to feel so welcome when we came back. We think most people in Durham had their turn at holding Evan, and here are a few pictures of Evan and the many friends he made in Durham...

(Anita)

(Deanna)

(Carrie)

(Amy)

(and Jeremy with Evan)

Laughing Baby

One of Evan's newest and most wonderful new skills is laughing. He really doesn't do it that often yet, a lot of smiles, but not many laughs. It seems that his grandpa and his gramps are the two people that are really goofy enough to get him laughing out loud. Here's a little video of some of his smiley and laugh-filled moments. I just love to hear him laugh!

3 months!

This is a few days late, but we have all been busy enjoying our time in North Carolina. On September 17, Evan was three months old! He's already getting so big. Right now he's working on grabbing anything he can get within reach, and sticking it in his mouth! He's also practicing sitting up and standing, with a little bit of help, of course. So, because it's a monthly tradition, here's car seat pictures from each month of his life so you can see how much he's grown...

1 day old...June 18, 2008

One month old...July 17, 2008

2 months old...August 17, 2008

3 months old...September 17, 2008