Alaska! Part One... Anchorage and vicinity

So we headed North on Ivy's first recreational plane ride... and she couldn't have been a better baby on the journey! We continue to count our lucky stars that she is such a good baby! She slept or was quietly content for all of both legs of the journey to Anchorage! Yay! We left 100 degree temperatures in Sacramento to enjoy 40 degree fall weather in Anchorage! The first night, we headed out for dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse, one of our favorite places. We both had some delicious cedar plank salmon and Ivy sat in her highchair and flirted with everyone within her sightline.

Monday morning it was off to work for Brian... Ivy and I went for a long walk around the hotel before Brian picked us up for lunch. He dropped us off downtown in the afternoon for some shopping and sightseeing. We enjoyed a cup of tea in my favorite cafe and wrote some postcards- Ivy took a nap.

When Brian picked us up at the end of the day, we went for a walk around the lake on the hotel property- about 2.5 miles. It was a gorgeous, crisp late afternoon and the fall colors in the foliage were amazing! We kept a wary eye out for moose, and enjoyed the hike. I did see a moose on the roadside earlier in the day, but no where to pull over and take a picture!

That night we went to Grant and Mikala's house for dinner to let Ivy and Johanna meet for the first time. I guess it was Ivy's first official playdate! The girls seemed to enjoy their time together, and the visit was very pleasant. Dinner was delicious- and it was just great to spend time with another family with a kid Ivy's age!

Tuesday morning Ivy and I met up with another friend, Katie and her two daughters Clara and Isobel. Clara is only 2 months older than Ivy. Katie miraculously squeezed 3 carseats into the back of her Subaru and drove us to a beautiful coastal trail near downtown Anchorage. We bundled the little ones up tight and enjoyed a long hike in the crisp fall weather.

At the end of the day, Brian drove us out to Girdwood where we walked around at the Alleyska resort for a bit. We have a cute picture of the 2 of us from there a few years ago- and we recreated it with all three of us today!

Tomorow afternoon we will take a short flight to Kodiak Island to visit my cousin Nahshon and his wife Kim and their baby Finnegan- 11 days younger than Ivy. I'll write about the second part of the adventure after Kodiak!

Miscellaneous catch up...

Ok so we had a wonderful time at the ATWA picnic in Pleasant Hill on Saturday! We were very excited to see Lesley, Stacy and other Japan program friends! Ivy was a trooper on the way down to the Bay Area in her car seat. The weather was perfect for the picnic! On the way back from Pleasant Hill, we stopped in Sacramento at Oto's Japanese Market- and got a little homesick for the foods we enjoyed in Japan! We got a big sack of fancy small grained rice to cook in our rice cooker. We are big fans of rice now!

Some of the other pictures... Ivy sitting on a BMW motorcycle at our friend Randy's shop last week when we met him for lunch. Ivy cradled in "auntie" Dianne's arms at Madeline's going away party. Ivy with Grandpa at lunch. He always finishes eating first and takes her for a while until I finish my lunch-- it works great! Ivy swaddled and sleeping through "Mommy Group" today at Sutter Roseville. Ivy sleeping in her high chair after our dinner but before her bedtime.

And the other big news.... we tried cereal tonight for the first time! Ivy's been eating like crazy all of a sudden- and I asked the Dr. if we could try a little bit of cereal. We were really proud of the way she ate her first food! She ate maybe a tablespoon of the rice cereal- and a lot of it actually ended up in her tummy! We'll keep giving it to her for the next few days and see how it goes. So exciting!

What's she doing with her days these days? Well, we wake her up around 7:30 and get ready to go to work. She hangs out with Grandpa, me or Daddy for an hour or so and then takes a 2 hour nap until lunch time. In the afternoon we run errands and play for a while around her 2 hour nap after lunch. We make dinner together, try to go for a walk, take a bath and go to bed! Things are pretty simple in Ivy's world. She can turn over very easily from her tummy to her back, and shows signs of being able to turn over onto her tummy soon. She loves to play with her toys- with her hands and her feet! She still loves to dress up in cute outfits! She giggles almost on command with a number of people. She's pretty easily amused, like me I guess!

Alright= that's a lot of blogging and my punishment for letting it go for 3 weeks!

We leave for Alaska for Brian to do some work and for us to visit friends and family in Kodiak. Ivy will meet her second cousin Finn- who is about 11 days younger than she is. I'll try to send an update from Alaska, but it will likely wait until our return.

Hope everyone is well and happy!

Tea Party!

While Brian's mom and sister were here, we planned a "meet and greet" tea party for our friends and neighbors to meet and fuss over Ivy. It was a gorgeous day, and everything was great! Ivy had a cute yellow tea party print dress and though she started off the day a cranky pants for some reason (teeth?), she mellowed out when her guests arrived and enjoyed being passed around from lap to lap to lap! We had tea, cucumber sandwiches, cupcakes and other tea time delicasies! Ivy was showered with many special and thoughtful gifts- what pleasant surprise! She has a really excellent start on her book collection now- which is wonderful! My dad is in the process of building her a book case for her room right now, and her book collection will fill about 1/4 of it already!

It was just a wonderful party- the first of many tea parties in Ivy's future! Thanks to everyone who attended and made it such a special day!!!!

Family visit

We've had a busy few weeks since the last post! We got ready for a short visit from Brian's mother and sister from Kentucky!

Ivy enjoyed spending time with her Grandma and Aunt Vonda. We lucked out with some nice weather for their visit and we all enjoyed sitting outside on the patio alot. It seemed like Ivy might be teething for a few days during the family visit, but no teeth yet, so who knows! Since Ivy naps a lot during the day, in addition to a long sleep at night, we stayed pretty close to home. We had lunch out each day and were invited over to my parents house for dinner one night. Brian took the opportunity to fire up the pizza oven for his mom and sister- and we all ate pizza outside by the firplace- a true California experience. We have plans to head to Kentucky to meet the rest of Ivy's new relatives early in November! While Vonda and Nadine were here, Ivy hosted her first Tea Party, which I'll talk about in a separate entry!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Well, it has been a good week for us-- Brian had a good trip to Arizona and we had a fun week here at home, including our first Mother-Daughter trip to San Francisco!

We went to the Ferry Building for lunch, visited Japan Town for some shopping and ended up at the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park for some relaxing sight seeing. She was an excellent baby for the whole day. I could not have asked for better! She slept in the car on the way down, and all the way home. I can't wait to go again!

Ivy has learned how to blow rasberries... and entertains herself and others with this trick for several minutes at a time.

Last night we enjoyed the company of our neighbors in the back yard and fired up the pizza oven. Jessica took some wonderful pictures of the event for us! The weather is cool and delightful this weekend- and we are thoroughly enjoying it. At bedtime, we all put Ivy to bed in her crib, and offered her the binky... which she spit out about 10 times in a row to amuse us. Every time she spit it out, we all laughed, and she laughed too! Got to get that on video!

This week we look forward to a visit from Brian's mom and sister, visiting from Louisville, KY for a few days. Ivy can't wait for more visitors!

We're using our Japanese rice cooker for the first time tonight- and attempting to re-create a dish we enjoyed eating in Japan... wish us luck!

I'm obsessed with getting pictures uploaded!

So I keep taking pictures, but really want to get in the habit of putting them away properly (electronically speaking) right away so I don't get overwhelmed!!!
I took Ivy in the backyard yesterday with her new bumbo seat and took some pictures. She discovered that she likes the feel of the fresh grass- and can wave a flower around in her hands!

We also went up to Madrona and took some pictures of her in the vineyard. We'll try again in a month or so- when its harvest time.
Brian is gone again this week, and I feel bad about the things that he doesn't see because he's not home. This week she has really started to play with toys in a meaningful way. She deliberately grabs at things overhead and holds on to them for a while. She's improving her tummy time by a couple of minutes every day, though it still makes her mad when I make her do it.
Ivy and I attended a mom's group today and met some other moms and kids in her age group... that will be fun, I'm sure!
Thursday Ivy and I are heading to San Francisco for the day for the first time. I've got it all planned out, and think it should work out just fine. I can't wait to show her the city!
She is still laughing and smiling at everyone that she meets- She is charming!