Simone and Emily went to Alaska...AGAIN!

3 times in one year! This is a record number of trips to Alaska since initially moving out of state in 2005. I guess that's what happens when you have a baby in Oregon and grandparents in Alaska with lots of frequent flier miles. While there we were able to have lots of relaxing good times with Mimi and Papa. Simone was teething a lot as her 5th (yes 5th!) tooth was working on coming in while we were there. Hence her fancy vibrating teether star that you can see her demonstrating in these photos.
Simone also loooved getting to take naps on Mimi and Papa's fancy Heavenly Bed...



























We went on a beautiful hike up in Bear Valley and got to catch up with old friends. We took a gorgeous drive down to Seward and had a fun time looking at all the boats. Simone also officially learned to crawl while we were there, Mimi even caught her first crawl on video. After weeks of "rolling crawling" and weird "crab leg crawling" she finally got excited about chasing a kitty toy and crawled after it. I'll try to get a video posted soon of her new abilities. Thanks Mom and Dad for another wonderful trip. We love you and can't wait to see you again.

What we have been up to for the past month

Simone and Ceder have been having a good time together lately. Here they are shown so sweetly sharing a little snack. We also had a fun time going out to Sauvie Island to find pumpkins and squash, cute pictures ensued...

some new videos of our happy baby

My sweaty baby

Simone loves the box her new booster seat came in almost as much as she loves the actual chair. Check out how sweaty her hair is from playing! Too funny

Her favorite new food is...

Look at the grip on that spaghetti! You're not getting that back. She looovves her some spaghetti. She is demonstrating her slurping technique on the right.

Hot hot heat

Summer is finally here in Oregon! We have been gardening with Mimi, enjoying the parks and Simone has loved getting to wear not much more than a diaper. She has also started to enjoy food! She is (gasp!) 7 months old now and keeping us busy and laughing. She's so squirmy she's hard to even hold in your lap without doing constant acrobatics with her.

New pics

Wow, we have been TOTAL slackers on updating the blog. That's summer for you. It's also been a result of perfect storm of internet and computer issues. Anyways, Simone is getting sooo big. She is fully sitting up on her own, eating all kinds of fun new solid foods. Went on her first complete family (Edgar and I) vacation to LA only to come home to more grandparents! Yay! The family fun continues. Here are some recent pictures to get you up to date.