Hmmm...where to begin.

I heard somewhere that life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get....smart man. I woke up last Monday morning in my own crib (Mom & Dad have been sleeping me in my own room for a over a week now) and before the day was over I was laughing and playing with my six summer roommates at Walt Disney World! Not that it came that easy. After rushing up I-10 to Phoenix, picking up chauffer Uncle Rhett, moving through security as smoothly as bathtime with Dad (out of order, awkward, discombobulated, and slow) we finally made it to our crowded gate in time to board the plane semi-early. The next four hours were full of orange spit up, cries for freedom and space and a whole lot of laughter mixed with tears from Mom and Dad. I was rewarded for my good behavior later that night when I got to hang out with Lucy, Mia, Charlie and Sam just before bedtime.

After we finally surfaced Tuesday morning we went over to a place called the Magic Kingdom. Even though we didn't show up until afternoon, we still got to go on tons of rides. The park felt crowded right up until it was time to get in line, and then we pretty much walked on-except the Whinnie the Pooh ride (not surprisingly...he is everyone's friend). Exhausted from rolling around the Kingdom all day we went back to our hotel and laid low the rest of the night. I had a magical time the next three days hanging out with my cousins. We spent a lot of time at the pool and Downtown Disney. I saw a rainforest, meteor shower, dinosaurs, and Dad dancing-only one of them was scary. Our vacation was so crazy that almost all my naps were in my Bob stroller, but that is the sacrifice you make when you hang out with the big kids.

On top of the Disney vacation I have some other big news. I cut my first two teeth last week. Mom noticed and said she could feel it when she fed me...my rice cereal. Then on our last night with the summer roommates I was in a hurry for Dubs (my new stuffed Husky) because the cousins are always snagging up my toys. Apparently I made a transition from scooting to crawling. I was just trying to get my toy. Dad said Grandma Hannah will be happy because crawling is good for my coordination. It is still a work in progress but my progression towards full mobility has taken another big move.

We had a magical time with our summer roommates at Disney World.

Cousin Mia and I loved playing with the fountains at the pool.

After the flight to Orlando, I was exhausted and fell asleep before we were off the jetway.

This was Mom & Dad's answer to giving me more space on the plane. Check out the orange stuff on my onesie (this was my second of the flight).

Sammy needed a ride and I had some extra space in my stroller for him.

We didn't get a great family picture at Disney World. We kept waiting to see some Disney characters, but apparently they have Tuesdays off.

Isn't Summer over?

I've been told that summer is over but the weather here in Tucson makes it feel like it may be eternal. After three weeks of high 90's, I'm starting to think that I'll turn into an ice cube if Mom & Dad ever take me somewhere the temperature peaks at 65. But don't worry, we don't have any plans of seeing anything below 75 anytime soon.

Last Tuesday was my six month birthday. We haven't gone to see Dr. Brice yet because Dad was out of town and Mom doesn't think Dad should be able to keep dodging all the appointments when I get my shots. Mom told me she had my six month birdthday present planned before I was born so I'm super excited to get it. I have to wait until after my check up though.

I want to publically thank my four little roommates from this summer, especially Sammy. Cousin Camden and I hang out all the time and he likes to play rough; strong pats on the back, flying balls, dropped golf clubs (plastic not steel), not to mention the number of times he falls on me. Fortunately, Lucy, Mia, Charlie and Sam had prepared me for such physical play. I hope Ashton is ready for it in a couple months. Luckily, someone is always near by to protect me if Camden starts to get too rough.

Last week I was battling feelings of jealousy and a stuffy nose. Along with the rough play it seems Cousin Camden had passed on a little cold. It forced Dad to go out and buy what he has deemed his least favorite thing about parenting, a humidifier. And it introduced me to my least favorite thing about being an infant, the dreaded nose sucker. Mom or Dad will break this torture device out whenever they think I can't breathe well enough. I must say not once in the past week have I have been blue in the face, so in my opinion that thing is overkill. Nevertheless, they suck away through my cries for help, tears of pain and gasps of pleas to stop. It's been a week now and I'm trying my best to solve this problem, and I'm making a little progress-I only saw the narrow end of that blue weapon of mass destruction coming at me once today. My jealousy stemmed from Dad's trip to Washington to work three days with Cousin Burke. I knew he would get to see all my favorite Washingtonians and I miss them already. It won't solve the problem of everyone I miss in Washington, but tomorrow we are flying to Orlando and rumor has it all our roommates are going to be there.

Just another day with Camden and Ashton. Look out here comes trouble.

Cousin Ashton is nice enough to share his swing with me when I'm over at his house. I'm glad to do the same for him (mine is pink, I hope he doesn't mind).

Dad says my golf swing isn't bad, but needs some work. Who is he to talk?

Home Sweet Home

I'm waiting patiently because I know a road trip has to be just around the corner. After all, we've been in the same place for over a week now. I am starting to wonder though, because Mom and Dad no longer pull our clothes out of suitcases, when we go for rides in the car they are less than an hour long and there is nothing else in the car but us. I'm fine staying here for a while. Cousin Camden and Ashton are five houses down, Nana & Pop are around all the time too and it seems I finally have my own room. We spent this first week back in Tucson settling into our home. Our summer renter has turned into our off-season roommate, so there was a lot of adjustments that had to be made around the house. It took the full week to finally get things in order and feel settled in. Mom & Dad have gone back to work. Mom started at her new Starbucks the day after we home and Dad has been substituting at his old school. When both of them are gone I get to hang out with Aunt Mel, Cousin Camden & Ashton. So it is a win-win situation for me. I've been eating my rice cereal from my high chair, and breaking in some of my new toys and clothes from our friends the Rossi's. We may be staying put for a while, but I've got the feeling that doesn't mean life is going to slow down that much at all.

I'm loving my new high chair. It fits our family mantra of being mobile and easily adjustable.
My new bounce chair was a gift from the Rossi's. It is a great leg workout.

When Mom goes to work early, Dad likes to bring me to their bed to keep him company. It is nice to be able to spread out.

Dad and I were having a great laugh on Saturday while Mom was at Starbucks.

And I thought I knew chaos

I didn't think my parents could keep up the chaotic pace we had been keeping all of September, boy was I wrong. Instead of slowing down, they took the chaos to a new level. After a 16 hour road trip from GP & Gigi's house to San Francisco (through the middle of the night) we spent Monday visiting friends all over the bay area. We started with one of Noni's dearest friends, Kathy Turnbeaugh, who was watching her grandson Brayden (14 months). For lunch we met up with Brayden's parents Amber and Brenden (Amber and Mom have been friends since they were my age). We headed south after lunch and had cocktail hour with a college friend of Mom & Dad's. She had two little ones for me to play with so that was a great stop. Then we headed to Santa Cruz to visit one of Daddy's best friends from college. Joey and Heidi had a little boy for me to talk to who was younger than me, but not much smaller. He was adorable--the biggest cheeks I've ever seen. His picture below doesn't do them justice. We were working on almost 30 hours of living out of the car, so we had to say goodbye to the Allen's and make our last stop of the day. We ended up with one of mom's best friends from college for the night. That was Monday!! Fortunately for everyone's sake, Monday was the craziest day of the week. We ended up spending two nights with Mike, Autumn, Luke, Kendall, & Gianna in Salinas and then driving to Corbett, Laura & Hayley's in Camarillo on Wednesday. We got to spend two nights there which seems taylormade for us. Mom played Nertz with Mrs. Lara, Dad golfed with Mr. Corbett and Hayley and I were able to play with each other. Friday night we switched back to visiting some of Dad's friends from college. We stayed with Jon & Amoreena, and they hosted the Erickson's who brought their 5 day old son Daniel. He was too little for me to play with, but I did get to play with their daughter Bella. Saturday afternoon we drove further south to see more friends. We stayed the night with Steve, Sara, Nick, Jake & Sasha in San Juan. Starr & her boyfriend Brian visited too Saturday night. That stop was fun because it felt a lot like our summer rental. Sunday we got up and had breakfast and hit the road again. Since we had started within hours of the Canadian border the previous Sunday and were now within hours of the Mexician border, we figured we would turn left and head for home (besides, mom had to work at Starbucks at 4am Monday morning!). The scenery got a little boring and I was starting to get car seat sores, but I pulled it together because I knew at the end of the this leg of our trip was Cousin Camden and Cousin Ashton. We did finally make it home. I got more hugs and kisses than I remember from not only Cousin Camden but all my family. What a trip. Approxiametly 1800 miles & 171 hours from departure from GP & Gigi's to arrival at home. We spent the night in five differnt places (including the car). We saw 32 beloved friends, two who were younger than me! And it all ended with a wonderful welcome home from our Tucson family. 30 days of chaos; We visited friends or family in 10 different cities all over the West Coast, spent the night in 11 different places, traveled over 2000 miles and watched the Huskies win their first football game in 16 tries. It can't get any crazier than that can it?

Part of my long Monday was spent meeting Josiah Allen.

I ended the longest Monday of my life by meeting three new friends in Salinas, near Monterey, near 17-mile drive, near a couple special golf courses.

This is my friend Mr. Corbett. He is dressed up because my friend Hayley was teaching me how to dress up a dad with cute accessories.

Friday night I met Bella and Daniel. Daniel was five days old. He was tiny!

We had one final stop before home. Mom use to babysit these kids when they were my age. Practice makes perfect, and my mom is just that!