9 months!

Could it be that Bobo has now been on the outside of me almost as much time as he was inside?! It's so crazy how quickly time flies, but we do indeed have a beautiful and active 9 month old baby boy!

We went to Oregon for a week and while there, Bobo worked hard at perfecting his "inchworm" crawl. It's like a combo of an army crawl and toe scoot all together, it's quite cute! The other day, I left him in the living room and not more than a minute later, he appeared in the bathroom! He definitely keeps us on our toes and his toes are getting a workout propelling him all over the place! I haven't captured it well on video yet, but when I do, I'll post it.

For now, I'll leave you with a few more cute pics and a video of Daddy and Bobo playing the "near/far" game!

Sweet cousins together 

Sweet summer baby boy

Mmm, I like Gramma's toothbrush!

Looking up to Daddy

Playing in the tent

Family pool fun with Grandpa & Grandma

Trying a lemon for the first time = sour face!

Beach fun on the Oregon coast with Grampa!

Family fun day at the beach for Mama's birthday!

Grampa and his sweetie pies

Family fun time in Oregon & Washington!

Bobo and I flew down to the Pacific Northwest last weekend to spend time with my family. We sure are blessed with a laid-back little traveler! I'm so thankful! I love traveling (as you can gather from the name of this blog) and I'm so glad to have passed on my passion to our son. Bobo did GREAT on the flights. We flew from Fairbanks to Anchorage on Sat morning and got to meet up with Daddy for 2 hours at the Anchorage airport (he was down there for some business). I got myself and Bobo all packed up and ready for our trip on my own and made it to the airport by 6:45am! I managed to put all our stuff for 10 days into one suitcase! I packed an extra bag so I can stock up on food I can eat from Trader Joe's and Bob's Red Mill.

We are having a blast down here. My niece turned 6 the day after we arrived so we got to celebrate her all day on Sunday with my folks. We went to lunch at Burgerville, played at OMSI for four hours, ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and ended the evening with presents and ice cream at Ice Cream Renaissance (my favorite ice cream place in Vancouver, WA)!

My mom and I made a blitz trip down to Eugene on Wednesday so Bobo could meet his Grandpa (my love's dad) and both sets of great-grandparents. He also met a great aunt and 3 cousins. He did remarkable being stuck in the carseat for the better part of 6 hours! We took breaks and he loved the tummy time we let him have when we visited people.

Bobo is definitely a mover and a shaker! While he's not crawling yet, he's rolling all over the place! He's been rolling from his back to his tummy for 2 months, but now he's rolling both ways very easily and rapidly! Rolling may be his preferred method of transport for a while! He's so much fun and I'm having a great time showing him off!

Here are a few pics from our time with family this week:

 

Gramma seeing Bobo again for the 1st time since January

 

Sweet cousins!

 

Happy Grandparents!

 

My nuclear family with our offspring

 

Giving Mama some snuggles!

 

Happy cousin tummy time!

 

Happy boy - look at those bright eyes!

 Three generations - riding the tram at OHSU

 

Cousins that love each other! 

Bobo and I fly to Los Angeles tonight to visit a good friend of mine (one of the bridesmaids from our wedding). We'll be there over Memorial Day weekend and fly home Monday to be back with Daddy, who stayed in Alaska to work.We'll get to meet up with some cousins and a few more friends I know down there. Bobo is definitely getting a chance to work on his flying and socialization skills and he's doing a GREAT job!

August Portland Visit

I got to spend 9 lovely days in Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington last month. I think this was probably the best trip I've had there since we moved to Alaska 4 years ago. The weather was perfect and gorgeous the whole time and I loved having some great family and friend time. My love got to join me for 4 days there at the last minute and we enjoyed "camping" (in nice log cabins!) with his mom and her extended family at a beautiful state park near Salem. The rest of the time was spent enjoying friends, family and getting spoiled at a very fun baby shower for Bobo and I!

I posted a bunch of pictures from the trip on Facebook but if you're not on there or not friends with  me, click here to see them.

Here's a sneak peek:

I got to see my good friend, Kai, in Eugene

Crazy small world: My mother in law Bonnie was in nursing school with Kai's mom back in the 70's. Bonnie used to hold Kai and pray over her. Kai got saved in college and is so thankful Bonnie was a praying woman in her life. 

Kai's youngest, Samuel. He looks like a Precious Moments doll!

Taking time to smell the roses in the City of Roses!

Isn't she adorable? My precious 5 year old niece Ivy enjoying her ice cream "worm"!

My growing belly!

Ivy LOVES her Uncle P!

My yummy b-day lunch at Beaches Restaurant along the waterfront in Vancouver!

My love and I (and Bobo!) outside our nice cabin at a State Park in Oregon

My mom (and sis in law) threw me a wonderful baby shower!

Prepping S'mores with Gramma and Ivy at my folk's house in WA

Ivy wanted us to run through the soaker hose after our fun day out together!

When my love and I decided to make our permanent home in Alaska, we agreed that I'd get to take a few trips a year to visit friends and family. I'm so thankful for a great husband and wonderful friends and family! I am one very blessed girl! 

McCarthy 4th of July weekend

McCarthy, Alaska is a very interesting and beautiful place. I was first introduced to it by my love back in 2007 when we were engaged. He brought me up to Alaska for a month before our wedding so I could see where we would be spending our first year of marriage. That first year was intended to be a "trial year" (for Alaska, not our marriage!) Almost 4 years later, we are still in Alaska and I love it! Fairbanks truly has become home to me and I'm excited to start raising a family here with my love. 

McCarthy is about an 8 hour drive from Fairbanks (the last 60 miles of the drive is a gravel road that takes 2 hours!). We have some friends who have land and have built cabins down there and each year over the 4th of July, they invite us to camp on their property. Quite a few friends from our church came down this year and it was a lot of fun! 

Here are some pics of our fun adventures in McCarthy over the past few years:

2007

Cute engaged couple - look how young we look!

Early morning photo op!

Eirik and my love tried to catch 60 salmon for our wedding (they caught 2!)

2010

Fun on the glacier!

My love all official looking with his walkie talkie 

I love driving 4-wheelers!

Enjoying time by the fire 

Out watching the parade on the 4th

2011

Happy parents-to-be taking a pit stop (one of many!) 

Staying warm  

I finally finished a hat for our baby! I started working on it in New Zealand in April. 

Enjoying the parade on the 4th 

Lots of fireweed 

Our beautiful (camp) home!

Trying to get water and got a bit wet! 

Enjoying some alone time on a hike near the glacier

Bondi Beach, Australia

I finally have some time to upload some more pics and share some stories from my trip.

Bondi Beach is a world famous beach in Australia. Unfortunately, our experience there was a bit tainted by our sketchy hostel experience (click here for that post). It also rained quite a bit while we were there but it finally cleared up enough on our last day for us to explore a bit.

Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure....

Pretty view from trail overlooking the ocean

Swimming pool right next to the ocean

Friends enjoying the beach together

We were determined to feel the sand under our feet, even if it was a bit of a cold day!

Toe Art 

Gloria enjoying her coffee and taking in the view

Gloria sporting her new cute Australia jacket