Wow was August a busy month for our family! We attended the wedding of a good friend, took a Disney cruise to Alaska, and took a week long trip to San Francisco so my husband could attend a work conference. It was a lot of traveling and a lot of fun, but I'm glad to be home and on to September!
The wedding was a new experience for all of us, as the ceremony was primarily done in a language that was not English. I think it was Greek, but I'm not certain. The reception was very, very loud and the song just kept going... I have never been to a wedding reception like that before. Poor baby kept waking up from the loud noises so we called it a night a little early (still pretty late in the day, but early in the reception) so that he could get some rest. We were all pretty exhausted anyway by that point so we crashed pretty hard!
Our voyage to Alaska was a bit rough, but thankfully we all made it on board the ship. I am so thankful that we ended up on the Disney cruise line because it was very well done and Peanut was in heaven meeting all of her favorite characters. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Max, Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, Tiana, Belle, the list goes on and on...We have pictures for just about everyone we met so hopefully if she doesn't remember for herself she can look at the photos later on :). So far she definitely remembers and talks about the characters often. We are on a huge princess kick at our house!
Little man was great on the airplane and on the cruise, except for one fussy hour on the flight to Vancouver. In general he was a very happy baby and we had several people comment on how brave we were to travel with a little one so young! He is such a happy guy most of the time that it's been pretty easy on us, though my arms get tired from carrying him because he is definitely a Mama's boy!
Poor Peanut got sick one day on the cruise and on the flight home. I think she had some motion sickness, combined with being overtired, off schedule, and full of foods that we don't eat as often as we were eating them (mac and cheese, chicken fingers, hot dogs, and french fries). She recovered quickly, thank goodness, because we only had a few days in between flights!
Alaska was beautiful. We had fantastic weather most of the time we were there, and we got to go shopping and on a whale watch where we saw a ton of whales. It was a lot of fun. The scenery is amazing. On our whale watch we went to the Mendenhall glacier and took a trail to this beautiful waterfall right next to the glacier. It was a great family experience for us.
When we got home from Alaska late on Monday night we did a lot of laundry and repacked our bags to head to San Francisco early that Friday morning. Boy is it hard on your system to switch time zones so many times and so close together. I was really feeling it. Thankfully our kiddos are pretty easy going because traveling with them was fairly easy. Peanut did have some more motion sickness, but didn't end up throwing up again - thank goodness.
San Francisco was fun to experience - I love getting to travel to new places and think that Ben and I are getting better at it as we get farther into marriage. The first couple of times we ventured out of our hotel we wound up going into a not so great part of the city, but we got some fantastic food. Then we realized that if we turned the other way out of the hotel we would get to Market Street, where there is some good shopping and transportation to get to Fisherman's Wharf. We ended up at the wharf twice while we were there and it was a ton of fun. There were some really cute shops at Ghiradelli Square where we picked up a few souvenirs. We also went to Rainforest Cafe which Peanut liked because of the fish tanks but was a bit freaked out by the thunderstorm and interactive animals. We enjoyed some Ghiradelli milkshakes twice while we were in San Francisco, too....yum!
While we were in San Francisco little man turned four months old...wow! He is getting so big and is such a happy loving guy. Peanut has really blossomed as a big sister. She takes care of him now and talks and plays with him. She's so sweet. He gives her these huge toothless grins. It's awesome to watch them interact, it melts my heart. He's been rolling from back to belly by himself occassionally now too. His first time was the day of the wedding. Today he even sat in the bumbo for the first time! Such big milestones for our little Pumpkin!
This weekend was Memorial Weekend. It has been great to recollect after traveling and get the house in order. I even decorated for fall and we moved Peanut's name to her big girl room, it's been hanging out in the nursery since January - oops! Good thing little man hasn't been in his crib yet since his room isn't ready. We really need to get on that. This month is my month for "projects" around the house. I have a lot in mind that have been put on the back burner for far too long.
Tomorrow we get back into a normal schedule and routine...I'm looking forward to our regular lives for a bit. Yay! Tomorrow also marks the start of Peanut's first gymnastics class where she is solo with her teacher for real - the other times were trial runs in the mommy and me class. Then on Saturday she starts swim lessons solo. I'm crossing my fingers that they are both successful, but I'm nervous. We will see! :)
