Friday, August 14, 2009

Paul Bunyan

Paul decided to keep his 3-week beard for me to "experience it in all its glory." I wasn't a huge fan...So he started shaving it off. I (maybe) could have handled this...but definitely NOT this...He's back to his "old" Paul again. I forgot to get a "finished product" picture. He says he misses his beard, but I must admit, I'm glad it's gone. :)
-H

Thursday, August 13, 2009

SHE'S WALKING

Apparently Ilana was waiting to walk for Paul because tonight...

and a few minutes later she added the laugh...

and just after that...

It happened just like THAT! It was crazy. I can't believe it. I have a feeling I know what the next few days will be full of - SLEEP! She's going to wear herself out in no time at all. Let the good times roll, I mean WALK. :)
-H

Monday, August 10, 2009

Annapolis, MD

Wow! This past week has flown by. We have had so much fun playing with Gigi...
re-organizing Nonni's tea collection...
seeing old friends...
swinging...
(she seriously did NOT want to get out)
playing with bubbles...
swimming in the pool...
pestering Simon the cat...
eating more corn on the cob...
playing with cousins Sami and Caroline...
and learning about all sorts of animals...
but we are SO ready to be home in Texas (crazy, I never thought I'd be saying that!). Paul, we'll be home soon, I promise. We can't wait to see your 3-week beard!
-H

Thursday, July 30, 2009

100th POST!

Well, this is officially our 100th post. It is nothing special, just another update, but a fun milestone none the less. We are in Hanover, Pennsylvania. We arrived Tuesday night with our carry-on and carseat. Our luggage arrived Wednesday night. :)
So far, Ilana has discovered her nostrils... discovered that she enjoys pickles with her burgers... and gotten a hair cut (don't worry we just trimmed her bangs)... We went to JCPenney to visit friends today and are off to Gettysburg tomorrow. This is definitely the way to go when Paul's away for 3 weeks! I heard from Paul today. He's doing well - traveling 17 hours tomorrow down to New Mexico to pick up in-coming first year students to take them into the backcountry for 9 more days. He's having a great time, but ready to be home and see us. We're getting there, too.
-H

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

3 things

I recently read that you can tell a lot about a person by how they handle these 3 things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights. Well, I've officially dealt with all 3. Rainy days come once in a blue moon in Waco. I think I handled them pretty well. Paul and I happily de-tangled our friend's Christmas tree lights for them last Thanksgiving.
Today I'm dealing with lost luggage for the first time. It's no fun. When I travel with Ilana I only carry what is absolutely necessary to keep her happy, which means no deodrant, no clothing for me, not even my camera. According to Delta's on-line service (and the woman who called us) our luggage is on route to us, but it could be another 2-4 hours. Apparently there are a lot of other people dealing with lost luggage today, too.
Thankfully my mother-in-law is gracious enough to lend me anything I need. We're making the most of it! I'll never be more thankful to see my luggage again. But, I must say, I think I took it pretty well last night. It wasn't worth getting stressed over. Ilana and I had safey made it to Harrisburg and we were relatively happy, and a bit tired. I'm currently enjoying the hummingbird outside the window. I'm about to take a shower. What could be better? :)
-H

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Astoria, Part 3

Tomorrow we say "goodbye" to Astoria and the Oregon coast and I am really going to miss it! To any of our mutual friends: Zach and Carolyn are AMAZING hosts and I'd highly recommend coming to visit. :)
Today we went to Cannon Beach again to try to see Haystack Rock up close, during low tide (the world revolves around the tides here). It was really foggy. As we were walking there this was what the beach looked like behind us: zombies, it was actually a bit creepy...
but once you got a little bit closer the rock was beautiful...
And we did get to walk right up to it and see all sorts of starfish and other sea creatures around it...
but the tide was coming in so we couldn't stay for too long. We were hoping to stay at this beach all day, but it was too cold. So we went 20 minutes up the road to Indian Beach and it was beautiful! We stayed there the rest of the day...
I'll really miss Oregon. It's beautiful here, but the weather is really wild. It can be super foggy in one place and beautiful, clear and sunny just 20 minutes up the road. Enjoy your time here, Zach, Carolyn and Ada! And thanks again for being amazing hosts.
-H

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Astoria, Part 2

As promised, here is the carousel picture. Ilana didn't seem too enthused, but when it stopped and we got off she SCREAMED...I guess that means she had fun.
We drove down to Cannon Beach, where Haystack Rock is out in the ocean. It's one of the most photographed places in Oregon. You can see why! It was BEAUTIFUL and we couldn't even get close.
The next day (Saturday) we drove over the big bridge to Washington State. The tide was so low in this picture that you can see the sand on either side if you enlarge it.
In addition to going to a local fair and a local market we drove all the way down to Cape Disappointment. Unfortunately it lived up to its name.
We came home and that evening we drove to the local beach, about a mile down the road to pick fresh, wild strawberries. The one in the picture is the average size. These things are as tasty and sugary as the big, normal strawberries, but in this pint-sized (about the size of your pinkie finger nail - seriously!) berry. They are SWEET and SO GOOD!!
Today we had a BEACH DAY!!! We drove down to Oswald West and sat on the beach like bums for 3 or 4 hours. This is Ilana at the PACIFIC Ocean (she was at the Atlantic Ocean in May - I'm so proud of her, the true American Traveler).
Ilana actually wore her hat all day. She amused herself by throwing sand over her shoulders and playing with the rocks she found. She was obviously sucking on a few too many sandy rocks... she got a sand-stache!
Then we drove down to see Manzanita. This is an overlook along the way. The fog is amazing down here.
The girls are really getting along wonderfully. They're pros at sleeping in their car seats, and we're really learning a lot about sharing this week. :) They're still swapping habits and "tricks." I think Ada is teaching Ilana how to talk. Ilana's babbling tons more than she did a week ago.
Tomorrow's our last full day here. I'm not sure what we're doing. We're really excited to see family out east (not excited about changing time zones again, but Ilana seems to do alright with it). Alicia we miss you like crazy too! Wish you could've been here. We'll have to plan a time to all get together again...soon.
-H