The big ONE!

It is simply unreal to me that Addison is 1 already. Yet, looking back, it's also unreal to think about the leaps and bounds she has made in one short year. We love our little "peanut" or, (as Dan sometimes calls her) "peanut cake" - because she outgrew peanut status so fast and was more like a pound cake ;)

Addison was quite the trooper on her birthday. She napped before the party and woke up just as guests were beginning to arrive - she was her giddy, rambunctious self for most of the afternoon.

She got to play with her little boyfriend, Finnegan, and although she wasn't quite into the opening of gifts, she sure loves them all now! And, of course, there was cake...and ice cream.

We have some more pictures of her 1st birthday in the flickr account, please check them out.

Look out World, here comes Addison

11-1/2 months and walking. She started last Wednesday, July 2nd. She probably be running two weeks from now on her birthday.

Up into Thin Air

We're back from the family reunion in Colorado. Michelle’s mother’s side of family gathered in Estes Park Colorado last week. The attendance was perfect. Michelle’s grandma, all of her children and there spouses, all of the grand children and their spouses, and all of the great grand children made it to the family gathering for photo’s and a few BBQ’s the week of June 15th through the 21st. (Not everyone was there every day but they were all there at some time or another and everyone was there for photos on Tuesday the 17th).

We drove from Michigan; we left home around 9a.m. on Saturday the 14th. Since there was a 10+ month child in the car we attempted to not set any big goals for making good time on the road. Which worked out well since interstate 80 was closed due to flooding near Cedar Rapids Iowa. We decided to take the Iowa Department of Transportation recommended 120 mile detour rather than risk the outcome of trying to find our own way through the country-side. Needless to say this was a set back, but we still made it to Des Moines Iowa around 8 p.m. Saturday. We felt that was pretty good considering we had to stop for gas, diaper changes, a couple meals, and time let the tot get out and about.

Sunday Morning Addison woke up bright and early (as always) and we packed the car back up, had breakfast and were on the rode again at 7 a.m. local time. We stopped a few times in Nebraska that after noon, had a 2+ hour stop at a Ruby Tuesday’s (service was horrible – maybe because it was fathers day, I don’t know) but from there we put on the push and made it to Boulder around 8 p.m.

I got up early Monday morning and found a car wash to wash the bugs off the car. When I got back we had breakfast then loaded Addison into the chariot and towed her behind our bikes around Boulder. We Went to Performance Bike , REI , Boulder Running Company , Playfair Toys , and then we went to Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli for some lunch. After lunch went next door to Farfel's Farm and then we wandered over to University Bikes to see what they had. Once we were all packed up and ready to head out of town we found a few more minutes to go to Folsom Street Coffee and acquire a couple beverages for the road. It was right about then that Michelle’s parents and sister Emily came into Boulder from California and we followed them into Estes Park to the Condo.

We unpacked Monday night Tuesday was family photos and a cook out.

Not much happened on Wednesday, then on Thursday I hit the road early on my bike and rode into Rocky Mountain National Park. I rode up Trail Ridge road for a little over an hour then turned and headed back to the condo, the ride back only took about 25 minutes since it was all down hill, and I had time to stop and take a couple photos like this, this,and this. I was back in time for Breakfast (French toast). Then we all packed in the cars and headed back into the park for some hiking (click here for another photo of the girls hiking) and a little picnic. Then Michelle’s dad, brother-in-law and nephew did some fishing. After that Michelle, her sister Emily, and their dad hopped onto their bikes and rode back to the condo while the rest of us drove back in the cars.

Friday morning Michelle’s parents wanted some time with their grand daughter, so we took advantage of the opportunity to take on a little adventure ourselves. We had Michelle's sister Emily drop us off at the bottom of Old Fall River Road Old Fall River Road. We rode our bikes to the Alpine Visitior’s center and then rode Trail ridge Road back to the Condo in Estes Park . I’ve completed several 35-40 mile bike rides before but this one was definitely the toughest to date. We got a few good photos though. Bighorn Sheep view from about 1/3 the way up At the visitors center Michelle in the snow.

Saturday and Sunday we traveled home. Addison was a good little traveler, she had some fussy phases. I think she was running low on patience the last few hours. She was essentially hysterical the last 20 minutes of the trip, but a big smile appeared on her face when we pulled into the driveway. I was surprised she could recognize that we were home.

Oh, and for the record, Addison is not walking yet. I think she can walk, but she doesn’t know that she can. She always wants the stability of holding onto something. It will just happen when she’s not expecting it.

Doing the stair climbing routine

Mother's Day Surprise

Sunday morning we were lounging on the sofa and the peanut had pulled herself up and was leaning on the sofa while standing. She does this all the time these days, then suddenly she let go of the sofa and balanced there for eternity (well, probably about 5 seconds). It was so exciting. She must have thought so as well because she must have done it about 20 times over the remainder of the day.

Siesta Key - Sun, Sand and Sweat

Well, we embarked on another flight - this time to the sunny state of Florida!

Addison has decided that plane rides are way too much fun to sleep through, which makes the ride extremely challenging for mom and dad! While we are trying to keep her from being noticed, she is doing her darndest to make new friends. Luckily, most people find her cute and will happily wave back at her and make funny faces for her...

We had a fantastic stay in Florida - the weather was wonderful. Hot and sunny :) It may have sprinkled one day when we were there, but for the most part it was just clear blue, sunny skies. We made the trip with another couple and their son - who is 15 months old.

Although the beach was quite close, we opted to take the kids to the pool most days. The idea of a rambunctious 9 month old coated in sunscreen and trying to crawl all over a sandy beach, stuffing her fingers in her mouth and picking up anything that may cross her path just doesn't seem right.

During the day we would take the bikes out for a spin, lounge around, go for a little jog, take the kids to the pool.... all good stuff. At the end of the week, the adults headed over to St.Petersburg (Tampa Bay) and stayed a couple nights there to do a triathlon on Sunday. Everyone found the finish line alright - despite the heat! This was the first time I'd spent a night apart from Addison and I must say that I think I did just fine. She, on the other hand, reportedly did not sleep well - she's cutting new teeth.

We returned home on Wed. April 30th...back to the grind. The wonderful things about being back are:
(1)Ruby
(2) sleeping in my own bed
(3)there's actually some green in the landscape now
(4)there's no place like home....

How do you know when a child has learned to wave?

About a month ago we received an invitation in the mail to Michelle’s nephew Garrett’s 1st birthday party in California. What’s the likelihood that a family of three in Michigan, one of which is 8 months old, is going to make the trek to California for a 1st birthday party? Normally, I’d say not too likely, that kid is never going to remember it; But not this time. As it turns out, about a week after we received the invite, my boss asked me if I could go to California to install some new parts on a test unit at a customer’s facility which just happens to be 9.8 miles from Michelle’s parent’s home. Michelle checked the availability of frequent flyer tickets and landed herself a ticket that would get her and Addison there with no charge (only 37,500 miles – still leaving a balance of over 200,000 in Michelle’s account). So it’s in the books, Michelle and Addison left on Wednesday of last week, and I headed out on Friday morning. Addison got as much quality time the with Michelle’s family as possible in 5 days. Addison and Garret had their own little crawling race. Addison faired pretty well considering she is 2/3 his age, but Garrett won the event. The Jury is still out as to which if them will be walking first. Either way, it’s a consensus amongst the family, that when the two of them see each other again at the Colorado family gathering in late June, they will both be walking/running and we’ll hold a rematch. That’s right, I’m speculating that Addison will be walking by the time she’s 11 months old.

So yesterday was the return flight. Our flight was scheduled to leave Sacramento at 9:00 a.m. Monday morning which meant we needed to leave the house at 6:30 to get to the airport between 7:30 and 8. So we got up around 5am to get ready for our trek. We arrived in Sacramento around 7:30 with plenty of time, and the first flight took off on time, but arrived in Minneapolis about 20 minutes late because of weather. Addison was so excited that she was only able to get in a 45 minute nap during the first 8 hours of her day. And we had just arrived in Minneapolis where one delay led to another. She was not about to sleep now because of all this activity. Our tight 50 minute lay-over turned into a comfortable 2+ hour lay-over, but Addison still had not slept. Now we boarded the plane and the plane headed over to the line of aircraft waiting to be deiced. Michelle was holding off on giving Addy her bottle until we started the accent so the sucking would help make her ears pop. This deicing process was just dragging on and on. We had now been on the plane for over an hour and anticipated a complete melt down at any moment. Wouldn’t you know this is right when the highlight of our day came. Addison was crawling/climbing all over us getting fussy, and the deicing had just begun. She noticed the snow on the window melting as this pink fluid ran down and she began crawling/climbing toward the window. The deicing fluid is applied by a large truck with a man-guided capsule on the end of an extendable boom. When the snow melted off our window Addison had both hands and face pressed up to the glass and right outside our window was this capsule.

We could see the man in the capsule smiling and waving to her. She however was mesmerized by the machine and oblivious to the fact there was a person inside the machine. I could see the guy in the capsule talking on his two-way radio to the driver of the truck and motioning him to look at Addison. At which point he moved the truck closer to get a better look and then he too took time to wave at her but she was still only seeing the outside of the truck and not able to comprehend that there was a human inside. Then came this guy in a bright yellow rain suit and florescent orange gloves, he must have been inspecting each and every aircraft for thorough coverage of the deicing fluid. He walked from under the plane beneath our window and as he turned his head up to look in the vicinity of our window he too saw Addison and waved. This is when she started to laugh hysterically, she cackled then pounded on the window. She was waving at him!!! We’ve been trying to teach her to wave at people and have seen signs that perhaps she understood the concept, but at this moment we knew she understood. He would wave back and she would cackle, wave and pound on the window and laugh. As our camera’s were all packed away and phones shut off we could not put the memory into a photo so this is my attempt to keep this memory as vivid as possible and put it into words.

P.S. We should have some new photos on the flickr acount later tonight!