Summertime in New Hampshire

Our late summer vacation plans included a week-long trip to New Hampshire to spend time with family and friends.  It was Ruby's first time in New England and our first time traveling to the east coast with her.  We took a gamble on our flight out there: booking a red-eye flight after Noa had worked an overnight shift at the hospital and I was recovering from a 24-hour bug.  Thankfully, she did beautifully, sleeping most of the flight, which meant we were able to rest a bit as well.  After a day of rest, we started the many rounds of visiting some of the important people in our lives.

Papa met Ruby for the first time.  She was smitten with him.  When he talked she would turn to look at him and smile.

In truth, they made each other smile.

Kristin, who I've known since high school, brought her little one, Adam, to her mom's house for a little playdate with Ruby.  It was great to catch up with them and watch the antics of the kiddos.  At one point, Ruby climbed into Cindy's (Kristin's mom) lap.  Adam, knowing that was his spot, climbed on too for story time.

Adam is super cute.  His name for Ruby is "baby Uby."

It's hard to believe we both used to be crazy high school kids and now we are responsible moms.  Well, we at least pretend to be responsible...

 Our friends from college: Marc, Vanessa, and their sweet kids...we had a great time visiting with them at the pool.  I wish we could see them more than once a year.

We spent most of the time hanging out in the pool with every floaty imaginable.

Family...we saw lots of family.  The pool gathering was actually at my Uncle Dan and Aunt Toni's house.  We got to catch up with my dad's side of the family - who we see very infrequently - so it was good to reconnect.  As you can see, we're pretty much your typical, normal, extended family...

...well, normal may be a bit of an exaggeration.

Ruby liked the pool.  She didn't seem afraid of the water.

She was, however, skeptical about all the attention directed at her - notice the constant thumb-sucking....

...with daddy...

...my Aunt Toni...

....with Vanessa...

...and by herself.

It was a lot for her to take in.  Still, I think she had a fun day exploring the water and meeting new people.  It was good practice since we had a SECOND pool party the following day.  The second pool party was also with "family."  Okay, technically we aren't blood relatives with them, but just about all the people there have been a part of my life since I was a little one.

Some of the "kids": Pete, Cristyn, me, and Anoli - we'll always be the kids no matter how old we get.

Chuck and Nancy with the newest member of the family.  Baby Caleb is super cute!

The ladies (all the moms), and my dad, enjoying the hot tub. 

The family, post swim.  Ruby is still trying to get that thumb in her mouth.

In addition to visiting with family and friends, we tried to give Ruby lots of playtime and especially playtime with the grandparents.  She loves her Oma and Opa, especially when they give her fun things to look at and play with, like leaves....

...new toys to explore...

...measuring spoons....

...or sometimes, the thumb just happens to find it's way back.

And let's not forget Auntie Anoli.  She was definitely a fave and could make Ruby burst out into giggles. 

Other activities included bike rides (on dad's motorcycle), a trip to King Kone, shopping at the new Merrimack Premium Outlets, eating gourmet cupcakes, and catching a movie.  The week flew by and before we knew it, we were headed back to Washington, planning the next family visit.

Belated: 9 Months!

Ruby turned 9 months old back in mid-August, but I am so behind on blogging that I'm just getting to it now!  Thankfully, I did take the photos back on her 9-month birthday, it was just the post that didn't get done on time.  So, again...let's rewind, shall we?  Oh, and you may remember that each month I take her picture in a 12-month onesie.  It doesn't fit yet, but it's getting closer!  I actually put her in it tonight for bed and had to roll the sleeves since they were so long, so the picture is a little misleading.

Age: 9 months

Weight: still not yet 15 pounds (weighed at home)

Length: 27 inches

Sleep: sleeps in her crib, wakes 1 - 2 times a night; typically takes 2 naps each day

Eating: formula, some breastfeeding, 6 - 8 oz of solids a day, still eating infant cereal mixed with solids, likes Mum-Mum rice crackers, Gerber puffs, Arrowroot cookies, cut up pasta, and quinoa 

Appearance: blue eyes, light blond hair, wearing 6 - 9 month clothes, 6 teeth (2 bottom, 4 top)

Skills: can sit, roll, pull to a stand, crawl (very, very good at this!), babble, repeat dada and some other sounds, has basic pincer grasp, grabs toys and passes from hand to hand, "dances" to music, gives good eye contact and smiles!

At 9 months old, Ruby is on the go!  She is ALWAYS moving.  She rolls, crawl, scoots, and can even pull herself up on furniture.  In fact, it was really hard to take her photos by myself since she kept moving!  Plus, she started to get really interested in the camera (or anything else she's NOT supposed to have, like shoes, the dog dishes, the fireplace, paper....).

See what I mean?  It's blurry because she was GOING.

I ended up with a lot of backside shots since she wouldn't stay still.  Ruby loves crawling over to the sliding glass doors and planting her mouth right on the glass.  Needless to say, the windows are getting cleaned a lot more often than pre-Ruby.

She is now sporting a total of SIX teeth, since the top four are poking their way through.  Teething still isn't fun, but her teeth are awfully cute.

She still sucks her thumb....

And gives a very pensive look when she's trying to figure out something.

When Ruby is concentrating, she'll babble and/or make these monotone sounds.  She can be very focused on a task, although if something doesn't go her way, she can get easily frustrated (sounds like her mama!) and will let me know right away.

Her eyes are still very, very blue.  They slay me every time.

Wherever Ruby is in the house, you'll find me.  

Wherever you find me, you'll find Gunnar.  

He continues to be my shadow, but is wonderful with Ruby (she's finally outgrowing him as you can see from the picture below).  I think the two of them will become good buddies as she gets older.  She is actually quite gentle with the dogs and has only reached for their tails and ears a few times.  When she does, she is so careful and slow.  It's like watching her in slow motion.  I'm always right there when she tries to touch the dogs.  Both Noa and I are working on teaching her to pet their backs instead.  We're still working on that one.  She just can't resist those floppy ears!

Ruby Joy has grown so much just in one month, it's alarming how quickly she is changing and learning new things.  Ten months is right around the corner!

Kyle

This post has been a long time coming.  Mostly because there was a lot to say and because we've been busy, busy, busy!  I can't believe the last post I wrote was back at the beginning of August.  And, it's now September.  Yikes.  Let's just back up a little, shall we....back to, say mid-August.  That's when our friend Kyle came to visit us here in the great northwest.

But first, some background...sorry, it's kinda long...

When I was a sophomore in college, I came across an opportunity to work as a summer camp counselor  in Connecticut.  The camp, called Camp Harkness, was for adults and children with cerebral palsy.  During a camp session, campers would spend their days doing typical camp activities like boating, horseback riding, crafts, etc. and then also some non-traditional camp activities like shopping, dining out, visiting amusement parks, etc.  For the campers, it was simply a vacation.  For the counselors, it was a pretty rigorus job.  My duties would consist of caring for the campers' daily needs (which included personal care, transfers in and out of wheelchairs, feeding, etc), assist with camp activities, drive the large camp vans (I actually loved this part of the job for some reason), and just hanging out with some really fun, unique people.  My sister and I both signed up for the job.  Soon after, I was able to talk to my friend (yup, this was a long time ago and we were just friends back then), Noa, about it and he joined the team as well.

After our initial training as camp counselors, it wasn't long before Noa and I began officially dating.  But, since we were working almost 24/7, and since we weren't technically supposed to in a relationship while working as counselors, we had to keep things on the down low.  So, our relationship developed as we worked alongside each other and spent time with other people, especially our campers.

One of those campers was Kyle.  Kyle was in Noa's cabin and the two of them hit it off right away.  He was a fun kid, who laughed and joked easily, and had a charming southern accent.  

 Kyle's story is pretty remarkable.  He has two brothers, one of which is his twin, but he is the only one with cerebral palsy.  He is in a wheelchair and has limited physical ability, although it didn't slow him down at camp.  He participated in pretty much every activity and was always having a good time wherever he went.  Since we was so easy to get to know, we bonded with Kyle and promised to stay in touch after camp.

Kyle visited Boston and got to see Noa in med school.  Later, Kyle attended our wedding and luau-themed rehearsal dinner (oh and that's his dad in the photo with us).

Later, we visited Kyle in his hometown where he took us to some of his favorite places and we got to meet the rest of his family.  

Since then, we've kept in touch with Kyle, but not as well as we should have.  Naturally we're all friends on Facebook and we write occasional e-mails or call, but it had been sporadic at best.  We've all had busy lives, but I think Kyle has us beat on that. In addition to working as a motivational speaker, Kyle works two other jobs and is one of the founders of The Kyle Pease Foundation.  He also races with his brothers in triathalons and half marathons.  Basically, he's a busy guy.  So, we were pretty excited to hear that Kyle would be headed to the Seattle area for a weekend in August and we would get to see him.

Having Kyle come out was pretty funny because he stayed at our house and Noa took on the role primary caretaker, like at camp.  However, it's been many years since camp and Kyle's grown bigger and Noa's gotten older (ha, ha...I just called Noa old), so there was a bit of a learning curve of how to best transfer Kyle in and out of the house and car, but eventually Noa mastered the skills once again. As expected, there was lots of joking and reminiscing and of course, Kyle got to meet Ruby and the dogs.  

We didn't spend a lot of time at the house, though.  Most of the weekend was spent in Seattle, where we got to hang out with one of Kyle's former caretakers, Carla.  We also met (again, since apparently we had met him a long time ago), Kyle's friend and travel buddy, Ben, and another friend Hannah.  We all met up at Gasworks Park in Seattle, where we'd never been before.  It was awesome and a perfect day to be outside!  Check out the view:

 The reason for the name "gasworks" park are the old machines that used to convert gas from coal back in the early 1900s are still on the property.  The property is now a large park that includes a large hill that overlooks Lake Union and downtown Seattle.

Here are Noa, Kyle, Ruby, Ben and Hannah in front of Lake Union.  Did you notice how Kyle is sporting the Team Juloa shirt?  Long story short, Kyle made it to our home late on Friday night, but his bag didn't make it with him, so he got to wear some of Noa's clothes.  Way to represent, Kyle!

Ruby was a pretty happy camper getting passed around and enjoying all the new sights and people.

Carla, Kyle's former caretaker, met us at Gasworks Park but we soon parted ways with Ben and Hannah, who were going to visit some other Seattle sights while we headed to the ballpark.

After a speedy lunch (read: cramming food down our throats on the sidewalk), we headed inside Safeco Field for a tour.  Since there weren't any games scheduled, there are tours of the facility open to the public.  It was pretty interesting and we got to see quite a bit (read: it was a LONG tour), including the roof, the visiting team's locker room, the press box, owners box, and of course, the field!  Going on the field was definitely the highlight of the tour.

After our tour, we visited the Space Needle, but I don't have too many photos from that part of our day, since Ruby had about had it with sightseeing at that point.

On Sunday, the last day that Kyle was here, we rode the ferry into the city, which is always a fun way to travel.  And again, the day was gorgeous!

Our mission was to ride the new ferris wheel, located right in downtown Seattle.  Although the line was long, it was worth the wait.  The views were pretty good, although Mt. Rainier wasn't "out" which was a little disappointing, but didn't take away from the experience.

I think Ruby had the most fun trying to grab Carl's colorful necklace!

Afterwards, we headed to Pike Place Market.  You can't visit Seattle without seeing the flying fish and the original Starbucks, of course!

Sadly, we had to say good-bye shortly after this photo was taken.  We are so glad that Kyle was able to come out and we had the opportunity to meet his friends.  Kyle is an inspiration to both of us through his drive to be independent, friendly, and help others in spite of his physical obstacles.  I'm already excited for the next time we all get together and hang out again.  As all our times together have been, this too was lots of fun.

*Thanks to Carla for sharing her photo!
**For more information on Kyle's foundation, his public speaking, or other adventures, simply visit the following pages:
http://www.kylepease.org
http://kpeasey.blogspot.com
http://race.kylepease.org (check out the news stories on this one!)
http://www.facebook.com/WalkingWithKPeasey

Exterior Improvements

Today we're going to play a game on the blog.  Look at the two pictures below and see if you can spot the differences (ignore the differences in lighting as the photos were taken at different times of the day/year).

Okay, okay there are actually a lot of differences now that I look at them...here's what I have:

1. American flag in second photo, not in the first
2. The front tree has leaves in the second photo
3. There's a wreath on the door in first photo; ther's two plants at the door in second photo

But the thing I really wanted you to see were the LIGHTS!  Mike was visiting this weekend and, being the swell friend that he is, helped us change out the ugly, dated exterior brass lights for something a little more modern.  

We went from this:

To this:

I'm really happy with the result.  And since the lights were changed out, the house numbers were too.  This is what our old house numbers looked like:

Yuck.  Not a fan.  They were old and corroded.  Although they were large and easy to read from the street, the numbers and lights really dated the house.  We switched them out for more modern numbers that are still large and easy to spot.

I am so happy with the results!  This is something that has been really been bothering me about the house since we purchased it two years ago.  Now, I need to paint the door, get some new planters, and the exterior is good to go!

Thanks for your hard work, Mike and Noa!

Dirty Dash

A couple of months ago, I got an e-mail from my friend, Candace, inviting me and several other friends to participate in The Dirty Dash Tacoma - a race that involves running through mud and obstacles.  The goal of the race is to have fun and get DIRTY.  Although it was only about 3 miles, I quickly dismissed the idea since I haven't really worked out much since Ruby was born.  Then, a couple of weeks ago, Noa, Ruby, and I went out to dinner with our friends Daniel, Amy, and their little guy, Ben.  Daniel, with great enthusiasm mentioned the race and then Amy chimed in, encouraging me to participate with our girlfriends.  Daniel was also trying to get a team of guys together to do it.  Noa was a shoe-in. In fact, we knew that our buddy Mike would be visiting during the weekend of the race and he would definitely like to be included in it.  So, the guys were in.  Since Amy promised to stay with me throughout the course, I decided to sign up.

Fast forward to this morning: I met up with my team at the course entrance.  There were a total of six girls on the team (as pictured, left to right): Mel, Lindsay, Candace, Courtney, me, and Amy.  Our team's name was "Girlz Just Want to Have Fun" and we wore matching hot pink tank tops, black bottoms and goggles.  This was a tame team look compared to the many tutus and viking hats I saw elsewhere on the course.

I was pretty anxious about running since it had been so long since I had done any kind of running or jogging even, but thankfully, our team stuck together and truthfully, the course wasn't just a straight run - there were lots of obstacles to conquer.  These included climbing over giant tires, wading through large mud puddles, monkey bars, slides, and rope ladders.  This really broke up all the running and made it really fun.  Plus, the running and the obstacles were mixed with MUD.  Crazy amounts of mud.  Huge puddles that had to be waded through and trenches that you'd sink in when you stepped in it.  There was no running through that, although it didn't stop us from swimming in it, laying in it, and sliding down it.

Frankly, it was awesome.  By the third obstacle, we were coated in mud. Throughout the course we cheered, joked, and flung mud at each other.  We were disappointed when one of the obstacles included getting sprayed with a hose, since it would wash off some of our well-earned mud.  I think we all swam in the next mud puddle after that just to get covered again. 

The very last part of the course involved a quick, sharp hill, followed by a giant mud pit.  Candace's husband, Todd, caught this picture of us going through it.  I'm on the left with my mouth wide open.  Amy and Courtney are right behind me and Lindsay, Candace, and Mel are right at the bottom of the hill.

We crossed the finish line covered from head to toe in mud, holding hands, and laughing.  I was so lucky to be part of such a fun, energetic team. 

I'm also so thankful that Amy had convinced me to participate. I never would have tried it if she hadn't sold me on the idea.

I think I'll have mud on me for the next week.  It was everywhere...I'm still trying to get it out of my fingernails.  The cold showers provided at the race did not get me clean (and they were freezing!), but really just rinsed off the excess.

The boys also got to join in on the fun.  They raced after us and also got into the spirit of the event.  All of them were smattered with mud by the end.  Here is their team at the course finish: Greg, Daniel, Mike, and Noa.

Mike and I have debated whether Noa looks like a brown version of a "Blue Man" or Swamp Thing.  It's still a toss up.

One of the things that the race organizers kept saying over the speakers was, "it's not a race, it's an experience" and I have to agree.  It was one awesome experience and I'm so glad we did it.