Weekend Adventure

We just got home from a long and exciting weekend. It started out on Saturday with going to Mt. Hood for a wedding. It was a gorgeous setting - but very cold! We took our jackets off so we'd look nice for the picture, but it was chilly!


After the wedding we drove over Mt. Hood and down to Bend (central Oregon) to stay the night, our half way point to Crater Lake. Sunday morning took us down the rest of the way to Crater Lake! I'd been there once, but I was really young and don't remember at all. Dan thought it would be a great idea to go and to do the boat tour of the lake (the last boat tour of the season). We hiked down to the water and loaded up on the boat for the first half of the tour before Wizard Island. Elliott was okay on the boat while it was going fast...but every time it slowed down for the ranger to tell us about the lake he would start to get super mad and scream! Thanks kid, now I still don't know how Crate Lake was formed!!



Part of the tour we did was to stop on Wizard Island for 3 hours. The island is really amazing and completely untouched feeling. We didn't hike around too much, mostly let Elliott sit on the ground and play. Poor guy had been cooped up for too long.



We got back from the tour and made our way to the campsite where we planned to camp for 2 nights. It was 7pm, we were all hungry and it was super cold out. Plus, we didn't have any firewood and couldn't buy any at the camp store because they had already run out. Dan and I frantically set up the tent, the crib and our sleeping bags and then got back into the car to see if we could eat at the lodge. We could - at 9:15pm!! Elliott was fussy, we were cold and hungry and finally just decided it was too much to go back to our cold campsite and try to cook with no fire. We gave in and made reservations at a hotel in Kalamath Falls. Only problem, it's 50 miles away! At that point though, it sounded so much better than trying to wait around until 9:15 to eat and then go back to a cold site. We did the drive and stayed at a great Best Western (I would totally recommend it if you're planning to go through that area). We had to go back to Crater Lake today and get our stuff so we decided to do the Rim Drive and look at all the sites we'd seen from the water but this time from the Rim. The weather was perfect, albeit windy. We left a day early and are now home, in the warmth of our own home. Even though the trip didn't go as planned, it was still really fun and overall Elliott did amazingly well being stuck in the car for so long.





This last picture was just too funny not to share.

Just Like Riding a Bike

About a month ago we bought a bike trailer for Elliott to use when he's older. Dan has been excited to try it out with him in it, but he is worried about safety. Tonight we rode down to a local park for a test - about a 3 minute ride - with E in tow. He seemed to be okay, not laughing with glee, but not screaming either. So, I guess it was a success.

Here is Dan getting ready to take off. E is already inside.


Trying to pacify Elliott with some keys:


Here's a quick video of Elliott sliding, and a couple other random things including Elliott returning raspberries.

10 Months Already!

Well, it's been a while since I actually sat down to write a blog. Dan has been responsible for the last few posts. There have been some changes around here in the past month. I'm now officially done working. I was doing 10 hours a week from home until OHSU hired someone to take my job. We weren't planning on that second paycheck all summer so the extra cash was nice. But, getting those 2 hours in a day was sort of tough. Sounds easy, but usually it had to be done at night which meant I was up working from 10-12am. So, now I am a full time mom.

Elliott has been doing great. He's huge! Dan weighed him on the Wii the other day and it said 23 lbs! We are already starting to upgrade into 12-18 month clothes. Elliott will pull himself up and walk all over the place - as long as one hand in connected to something stable. He's getting more brave and will stand for bits of time on his own. He says "momma" and "dada" and I actually think he's starting to make the association on what those words mean. He has also learned how to spit. Where did my sweet baby go? He's been replaced with a gross boy already! E will happily sit in his car seat, play with his feet and spit the whole time we are in the car. He is also starting to dance - or his version of dancing - to music. It's really funny.

Here are some pictures and video of the last few weeks:

During a bath - so happy in the tub now!


Yum...strawberries!


No longer needing help with the bottle - he's content to do it all on his own.


Elliott during one of his "moments". He will be happily playing until he sees a blanket (or my bathrobe) and he'll race over to grab the blanket and suck his tumb. It's really funny:


Elliott was standing at the gate blocking our stairway the other day totally wailing. Dan was working on the stairs and E couldn't stand it. He just wanted his Dad so badly! I was a very pale second place at that moment. In the second pic you can see how red his eyes are.



Finally two videos of E. First of him playing peek-a-boo with his blanket (after having a moment) and the second is of him dancing to the Beatles.

10 months - video

Elliott is 10 months old today. Here is some video from the last month or so.