Eastern Excursion & Western Winter

We had a great time visiting our East Coast family for Christmas! It was quite a whirlwind vacation - we had less than a week to make stops in Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., and Charlottesville. We did a lot of driving, but it was absolutely worth all of the time on the road. We were happy to be able to spend time with so many people we love, and introduce Ethan to more family members he hadn't yet met.

Here are some photo highlights from our trip:

Ethan had a lot of fun playing with his Grandma!

Not fun, however, was Ethan's first experience with Baby Orajel. Teething is yucky on so many levels.

An Emerson family tradition, Pa-Pa showed Ethan all of the bells and whistles on this year's Hess truck.

Our goofball with his Great Great Aunts Anne, Wanda, and Nancy.

We arrived home on the evening of the 29th, and turned right around the next morning and drove to a small town in the Sierras for New Year's. We've rented a cabin and spent some time in the wilderness for the past several years as a post-holiday travel decompression. It's so beautiful and secluded, nestled high in the mountains in a forest of Redwoods and Pine. Ethan got to see snow for the first time, and even tried sledding on Mommy's lap (down a very small hill).

When we arrived we discovered that our cabin was buried in a good amount of snow!

We bundled Ethan up and took him outside to explore the Winter Wonderland.







Ethan absolutely adores being up on Ryan's shoulders.




















Daddy is so much fun!
























It was so cozy on the couch in front of the fire, and we spent a lot of time cuddled up with Max. Ethan is learning how to pet the dog, though he still tugs on Max's ears and legs a lot. Max is so patient with him, and the two of them are fast becoming buddies.

We hope everyone had a holiday as nice and relaxing as ours was. Happy New Year!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

By the time you read this, we'll be on our way back East for Christmas (or already there!). As we write this, however, we're still in the Bay Area, frantically completing our last minute preparations. We learned a lot about traveling with a baby when we flew to Minnesota for Thanksgiving, and are hoping that this knowledge will serve us well on this trip. We'll be flying into Washington, D.C. to see Ethan's Pa-Pa, Oma, and lots of aunts and uncles. We'll also make our way to Pittsburgh to visit the Ventura family, and Charlottesville to see Ethan's Grandma. We're so excited about this trip, and are almost all ready to go. Thank goodness Ethan is around to help us pack!