Winter Highlights

Because I just can’t bring myself to post current happenings without sharing some of our favorite 2017 moments…

We rounded out 2017 and welcomed 2018 at our favorite place. Keeping with the trends from the past few years, the weather was really mild and the sunsets were incredible!

The last evening of 2017…

The heavens put on a brilliant show on the last night of the year. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more colorful sunset! We enjoyed the most wonderful stroll down the beach to visit Isla’s barnacle friends one last time in 2017.

The sun was shining on New Year’s Day, and Robin, Neal and Madelyn arrived to join us for sand sledding and beach fun!

Love these girls together so much!

First sand dollar of 2018!

Catching up on the latest tide pool gossip.

That proud parenting moment where we encouraged a love for vegetables and provided some teething relief!

The mild weather didn’t last too long and the winds moved in. They were blowing so strong they were completely lifting the crests of the waves!

We made a visit to one of our very favorite places: the Oregon Coast Aquarium! Watching Isla explore here is pure magic to this mama. There is nothing greater than seeing a sense of wonder glittering your child’s eyes!

Isla was completely captivated by the touch tank, and was determined to make friends with this little spotted prawn.

High winter tides encouraged us to do some exploring further up the shore, where we played around a waterfall and practiced jumping off of rocks. Oh, the life of a little adventurer!

Isla received a geode in her Christmas stocking this year, and was excited to crack it open to see what all the crystals looked like inside.

Isla also received this gem mining kit from her Auntie. It required a fair amount of digging, and a bit of help from Mom, but she eventually found the crystal inside. She wore the goggles to protect her eyes from all the dust… they weren’t just a cool fashion statement.

We took Isla bowling for the first time and she absolutely loved it! She cheered excitedly for every single pin she knocked down.

Love, love, love our sweet little baby bear!

This little guy had his first taste of solid food and LOVED it! We weren’t surprised, given what an enthusiastic little eater he is. We had noticed Cole’s interest in our food growing significantly. He had started to whine and lunge towards our food whenever we ate. The first few bites confused him a little, but it wasn’t long before he was sitting like a baby bird with his mouth wide open, eager for more.
This kid is growing and changing before our eyes. The week before he started grabbing his feet and doing the happy baby pose (so cute!), and discovered how to blow raspberries. He grows sweeter and more smiley every day. Cole loves his new activity chair… especially the pieces he can get into his mouth!

We took an amazing family trip to Disneyland! I’ll share all about it in a separate post, but in short, it was magical!!!

We stayed in LA for a few days after Disneyland. We enjoyed brunch with some sweet friends and Isla loved playing with their bunnies!

Taking a peek into the nest of some baby bunnies that were born that morning!

Our friends are hosting an emu for a wildlife center that suffered damage during the wildfires. Isla wasn’t too sure about the emu.

One major highlight of our stay in LA was meeting up with my cousin, Tristan, at the Natural History Museum. What a place!!! We had so much fun watching Isla explore the dinosaur and gems and mineral halls!

Shortly after our return to Portland we enjoyed the most gorgeous snow day! We happily played outside in our neighborhood all morning.

Isla couldn’t wait to make snow angels.

Little Hugger returns! Isla was so excited to rebuild her little Christmas friend =)

Thanks to her love of Elsa and the figure skating during the Olympics, Isla informed us she REALLY wanted to take ice skating lessons. We signed her up and she has fallen in love with the sport! It has been so amazing to watch her grow and progress each week.

Seeing how Isla has responded to falling when she skates has been really incredible. Normally she is quite teary and sensitive, but she has been putting her brave face on and getting straight back up. Go, baby girl, go!

The face of determination!

Cole is loving his food more and more each day!

Our sweet baby bear, 6 months old!