Ah, Alaska!

Off to the frozen north for Brian's fall business trip to Anchorage-- we like to tag along on this trip to visit some friends and family. I love this picture of Ivy! We got her a seat on the plane for the first time= and basically, she sat in her seat and looked at books or watched some Yo Gabba Gabba or took a nap! Money well spent!!! A highlight of the trip was visitng Grat and Mikala at their home and meeting the 6 month old twins Thomas and Ian. This is Ian, and he seems quite taken with Ivy, no? It's like baby flirting! And right in front of Daddy!

Ah, but our girl is fickle... here is Ian's brother Thomas and Ivy's making the moves on him!

Apparently Ivy's got lots of love to go around! We had a delicious dinner of smoked roasts and enjoyed catching up with each other. Unfortunately, Johanna was already in bed after a rough day and we didn't get a chance to see her that day.

Ivy all dressed up in her outift for meeting up with Clara and her mother Katie, friends that live in Anchorage. We took a delightfully wintery walk around the University Lake.

Clara's not looking too sure about being wedged in the stroller with a stranger... but they did pretty well! It was definitely nippy, and fun to get Ivy all dressed up in her fleece for the first time!

This is what the sunrise looks like ( in mid morning) on the semi frozen lake.

Later that day, Ivy and I went to downtown Anchorage for some lunch and shopping. We got Ivy a couple of pairs of handmade Alaska footwear! Like she needed any more shoes, honestly!

We met Brian in the late afternoon for a coffee at my favorite downtown coffee place and got ready to head to Aleyeska for dinner at the Double Musky.

Ivy got a new dolly, and fell asleep in the car on the way to dinner. I love how she is holding the dolly's hands!

This is Ivy feeding something to Brian. She loves to do that, and he lets her!

Our hotel had a cool fire pit and light decorations outside-- it was fun to play with some setting on my calendar and get some effects!

On the way to the Airport for our trip to Kodiak, we enjoyed lunch at the same Japanese restaurant that we visited last year with Ivy. Ivy ate a ton of food... and successfully negotiated a soup spoon with Miso soup in it. It was adorable and unbelievable!

At the airport, we got lucky and ran into another family with a toddler so Burke helped keep Ivy entertained while we waited! He was a sweetie!

Ah, we are in Kodiak at last! Ivy and I wore our matching kilts, but it was a bad idea since the metal buckles caused us to be frisked!

Our first night in Kodiak with my cousin, Nahshon and his wife Kim and their son, Finnegan. The tots had matching pajamas last year so I thought it would be fun to repeat that tradition!

We visited a fun coffee shop for some brunch and stocked up on some good cookies!

Ivy and Finn and drinking straw hijinks!

Ivy and Finn got to go to the playground with their respective dads and Kim and I went shopping!

In the late afternoon, we went out for a lovely hike that was mellow enough for the tots to enjoy walking it too. Check out her silver boots!

She really had a great time running down the trail!

Walking with Daddy...

Possibly the most unflattering angle of me I've seen... but a stranger was taking the picture and we had to hurry!

I loved watching Ivy and Finn play together- he's a sweet boy and they were pretty compatible.

We got a chance to visi the annual Kodiak pumpkn sale... 45 minutes after it opened- the pumkin you see next to Ivy is one of two pumpkins left that hadn't been purchased yet. This event is a fund raiser for the 4h-- the pumkins are way cheaper than at Safeway-- everything comes to the island on a barge, a freighter or an airplane... $$$$

Notice the chickens... calmest chickens on the planet! It's too bad Finn got sick and couldn't come with us to the pumkin o rama! Boo!

We took a drive around town for a few more local vittles... shrimp tacos and the most delicious espresso shake I've tasted in my life! Also, I got to take some more pictures!

A little quiet time with Daddy!

Finnegan being silly!

Testing out this outfit for Halloween! Thanks Kim for the assortment of Halloween shirts!

And just like that, another trip to Kodiak comes to an end. We had a long day home on 3 airplanes and a 4.5 hour layover in Seattle. I have to say that we all appreciated our own beds that night! Ivy was a great traveller again on this trip-- she continues to amaze us with her poise and flexibility! Also, it's fair to note that she continues to cut teeth-- she started 2 molars in Alaska, an this morning there is another tooth coming on the bottom. I'm impressed with her ability to go on about her business with all of that going on!

So, we are in fact leaving for Chicago next Saturday, and from there actually fly to Kentucky for a week to visit family. We won't be back home until the middle of November! Are we crazy or what?

Gone to the Mountains

Ivy's new favorite place to eat is.... wait for it.... the Spagetti Factory! Capital "C" for child friendly. She loves the food and loves to sit in the velvet chairs after dinner!

Sometimes in the morning at work, Ivy will sit in her chair in Grandpa's office and watch a little bit of Yo Gabba Gabba before naptime.

With her belly poking out in this picture, I'm happy to report that Ivy has officially passed the 20 pound mark!

Spagetti Factory again!

We had some lovely fall like weather for a couple of weeks, so we got a chance to try out her cool weather outfits! Last week we went to the park a few times in the late afternoon to play. Now that she is walking, the park is way more fun!

The neighbors across the street were selling this cool thing in their garage sale- I took Ivy over there to test it out and it won her approval. We have purchased a play house kit that we will assemble for her birthday next spring in the backyard... but this will do nicely for $15.00 until then!

Here's Ivy trying out her new Ikea chair that I just assembled.

So our friend Geoff is visiting from Kansas- so we headed up the hill to spend the night at our cabin- first stop Madrona for some wine!

Running up and down the grape vines!

It's not a trip to the cabin without dinner at the JT Bar for some yummy Basque food! Ivy ate and ate and ate so much I really don't know where she put it all! After dinner, she posed in front of a slot machine... we are calling this look, "tot on slots".

Reading Martha Stewart Living with Uncle Geoff!

Ivy is sporting a serious case of bedhead here!

Ivy really enjoyed watching the fish off the bridge. We had a firm grip on her, of course! She was waving to them and saying "fishies!"The weather was just gorgeous! About 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! Ivy started collecting things on the walk- I'd point out a neat stick and she'd pick it up, then she'd see a rock she liked, a pine cone.... she'd hand something to one of us so she could carry the new thing! Loves riding on Daddy's shoulders-- she runs up behind him and grabs his legs when she wants a ride. I'm not sure if this is moss or what, but I liked it! After our morning walk, we hit the road and headed for Tahoe to see the lake and take some pictures for Geoff, who had never been there before! Ivy had a snack.

You just can't beat the views at Emeral Bay!

A rare picture of all 3 of us!

So it seems as if we might be on the cusp of a language explosion. So many words that we say right now, Ivy tries to repeat as best she can. It's easy for me to understand what she is saying and what she wants-- you might have more trouble though! We have had some success getting her to talk on the phone now- she will say hi and bye bye to most people on the phone if we ask her to! When she sees the phone, a lot of times she will point to it and say "dadadadadada!" which is kind of a testament to how often we talk to him on the phone - since he travels a lot! Her play time is quite independant- she has lots of things to keep her busy and all of that play wears her out for still 2 naps a day and a good solid 12 hours of sleep each night! I'm so grateful that she gets a lot of rest!

She's eating what we eat, except for when it might be too spicy. Lately, she likes to dip her food in something. It started with salsa when we were on our East Coast trip, but my mom introduced her to soy sauce for her chicken when we eat at Teriyaki Domo! Speaking of eating at Domo-- its a small teriyaki restaurant that we've been eating at for years and years. Ivy has been going there since the week we returned from Japan- so she 's been there frequently! She gets excited when we pull into the parking lot-- practically running in to see the people who work there! Lately, when we go inside, she runs right to the highchair that she ususally sits in and pushes it (on wheels) to the table where we like to sit and then tries to climb up in it! The girl likes her domo!

Well, next week we are heading to Alaska for Brian's fall work trip. Last year when we went there, Ivy couldn't quite sit up on her own- and was still 100% on baby formula! Now she's walking, (running), talking and eating real food! Brian will do some work and we all visit Grant's family in Anchorage. Ivy and I will have a play date with another friend and visit the Children's museum I think. Midweek, we will hop on a plane and travel to Kodiak to visit my cousin Nahshon, his wife Kim and their son, Finn- who is Ivy's age. So that's probably where the next blog will come from! Wish us luck for our flight!