Breckenridge Weekend

We spent a few days in Breckenridge with my college roomies Kristina & Ali and their families. Kristina & Ethan have a beautiful timeshare there, right at the base of the mountain. It was probably the nicest place we've ever stayed in. Which was good because coordinating 6 adults and 4 kids to get out and do anything turned out to be very challenging. Someone was always napping. We managed to do a quick hike, a gondola ride, and a walk around town, but we spent most of our time at the hotel. They had great pools and hot tubs, a game room, and a movie theater you could rent out. We watched Madagascar 2 which turned out to be pretty funny.

Here's Mark, Logan, Ethan, and Addy on the gondola from the hotel to town.

And me and Logan. Baby's first gondola ride!
Raph & Sophie, Kristina & Aidan, Ethan & Addy, Mark & Logan setting off on our hike:

Logan's first swim. I can't say he loved it, but he didn't cry. We almost took him down the water slide, but decided to save that for next time.
Logan eating Mark's cookie, which Logan found quite tasty. He hasn't been very interested in pureed peas and carrots since then. Mark has also given Logan frosting and Coke, and who knows what else when I'm not looking.
Addy & Sophie playing with baby Logan. Addy was very interested in Logan. She's only 3 but she's actually really helpful-- she played with Logan and was pretty good at feeding him. Her own baby doll was renamed baby Logan for the weekend... that's how much she liked him. I love it when people love Logan so Addy's pretty great in my book.

Logan and Aidan. They're one year apart. They'll be buddies some day but for now, Logan's only interesting to Aidan for his toys, which Aidan kept taking. Logan didn't mind too much-- he loved watching Aidan, and it didn't really matter to him if it was just his toys he wanted.

The weekend's most popular toy. Eventually babies can walk around pushing it (and Aidan zipped around with it), but for now Logan can just barely stand up while holding on to it.
Despite not doing much, we were exhausted after this 3 day vacation. Note to self, next time I think I want three. Or two. It's a lot different than one.

Hiking to Pawnee Pass

Early in the week, we had very ambitious plans to take Logan on his first camping trip. We were going to backpack 14 miles into Holy Cross Wilderness and climb a 14-er. We rarely backpacked before Logan, and camped only if climbing necessitated it (not for the sake of camping). But for some reason it seemed like a good idea.

By the end of the week it didn't. Having surveyed several other families who'd taken their baby camping, and finding zero that actually slept the first night or made it to the second night, we decided we were already sleep deprived enough and adjusted our plans. I told myself I'd set up the tent in the backyard instead, so Logan could still have the camping experience, but that didn't happen either.

We did end up doing a 9 mile hike to Pawnee Pass, which was Logan's first real hike in the backpack (besides around the neighborhood). He seemed to like the first half, and was as happy as I've ever seen him at the pass (maybe feeling Rocky Mountain high in that thin air?). He was not so pleased when we put him back in the backpack for the return trip.

Kendall, Logan, & I on the right on our way up to Isabelle Glacier

These pictures make it look like I did all the work. Mark took over at some point on the way up and carried Logan all the way down.

Logan and Mark at Pawnee Pass. Logan's always taking his socks off. We found the sock but lost his hat this trip.

Looking down the other side of the pass toward Grand Lake

7 Months

At 7 months, Logan talks a lot. He says dada and yaya and hi. Sometimes he’ll string them together in a way that makes sense- like” yeah, dada” or “hi dada”. Sometimes he even says those things at a time that makes sense—though I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose. No matter how many times I say ma-ma-ma-ma-ma to him, he just says da-da-da-da-da.

Logan loves to eat. I was putting off food for a while because it just seemed like a lot of work, but now we’re making up for lost time. He devours every bite and kicks his legs with glee. He hasn’t met a food he doesn’t like yet. We’ve mostly just tried pureed vegetables, but he loves sucking on watermelon too. While he loves it going in, his stomach is still getting used to food. I’m hoping that goes quickly.

Logan’s started growing a lot more hair. I swear he wakes up with more each day. He’s generally a pretty happy guy. He thinks funny faces, burps, and puking sounds are hysterical. Welcome to the world of boys, I guess.

Logan thinks puking sounds are really funny

Port Townsend

We spent the end of the week with Uncle Kent, Paula, Mom, Kendall, & Alec in Port Townsend. Port Townsend is on the water in northwest Washington, and Kent & Paula have a beautiful house overlooking the ocean. We spent the weekend hiking, gallery walking, jazz festival-ing, and going to the beach.

In theory Port Townsend is close to Oregon (closer than Colorado at least), but it was a bit of a journey to get there. Logan & I set off from the Oregon beach house Thursday morning. We drove about 3 hours to the Portland airport, then flew up to Seattle. It was my first flight alone with Logan, but it was only 30 minutes and he slept the whole way. The hardest part was carrying all the bags by myself. In Seattle we met Mom & Kendall, rented a car, and took the ferry across from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. Here we are on the ferry-- it was a really pretty ride:


The view of Mt Rainier from the ferry


Once in Bainbridge, we drove about an hour more to get to Port Townsend. We made it just in time to get dinner at the salmon cart-- the best salmon sandwich you've ever had!

On Friday, we got to take another ferry over to Whidbey Island, where we went for a hike along the bluffs and the beach. My dad took this hike with my Uncle Kent last year.

Alec & Kendall

Kent & Paula

Kendall, Alec, Kent, & Paula on the beach



Logan & Paula
Uncle Kent & Logan
Alec & Logan

Kate & Logan

(Perhaps you're noticing the "X and Logan" trend. Maybe this is why he has such a big head.

Kate, Logan, Paula, Alec, Kendall, & Kent

On Sunday, we went to the farmer's market:

And then to the beach. Kent, Carol, Kendall, & Paula at the beach: Logan & Uncle Kent playing airplane:

Hanging out in the sand.

Logan & Auntie Kenny

I tried to dip Logan's feet in the (very cold) water.

This was the result.

But he got over it a minute later.

It was a fun visit-- thanks Uncle Kent and Paula!

Mom came back to Colorado with us for a few days. She made dinner for us all week-- it was great!

Oregon Coast

After our stop at Brett’s, we headed down to Corvallis and then over to the coast to spend some time with Mark's family. The women and children stayed at a beach house while the boys rode their bikes down the Oregon coast, all the way from Washington to California. It was great to have everybody together, and Logan got to meet all his cousins.

Dominic (5 months) and Logan (6 months)


Lucas and Henry (almost 6 and 6 years old)
Axel & Duncan (2.5 and almost 3 years old)

Logan & Marcus (almost 2)

Logan & Grandpa A
Mike & Karen
Walking down to the beach

Frisbee game
Eric, Christina, Marcus, and Dominic
We had a birthday party—originally for Lucas, who turns 6 in a couple weeks-- but it turned into a celebration of everyone's birthday complete with party hats, pin the tail on the donkey, and a piñata. When the pinata did not succumb to 10 minutes of beating with firewood and brooms, or spear-like goring with sharp sticks, the gang of children descended upon it and ripped it apart with their hands to the cheers of the parents. It was pretty entertaining.





We visited some tidepools, which were really cool—lots of mussels, anemones, and big purple and orange starfish.



We spent an afternoon in Newport, which included clam chowder at Mo’s and a trip to the candy shop. These are important spots from Mark’s childhood, so we had to show Logan. He didn’t try the clam chowder but he did think the table was quite tasty.


Here are a few pictures from the boy's side of the trip. The peleton- Bill, Marshall, Eric, Mike, Mark, and Dan-- leaving the beach house:
A view of the coast
Arriving at the Oregon-California border