Posted by Becca:
Last Sunday we had a picnic down by the river and then went for a walk to check out the new whitewater park. It was pretty cool.


We love having a front porch. Kyle and Emmett having drinks before dinner.


Everyone thinks their kid is exceptional. We know for a fact, evidence below, that ours is above average in POOPING. This is 1.5 days worth of diapers drying.

Six weeks seems like a good time to begin suggesting colleges.

Emmett got a new bib from Robin at OSU. Go Beavs!

Nan has arrived! Emmett has a new walking partner.

Check out this cool hoody Nana sent.

Whoa! Look at that!


We went for another picnic this Sunday as well. This time we went to Dillon Falls near the Deschutes River Trail.

We did a terrible job of taking pictures this week. We will do better next week.
M turned one month on Monday. Time is flying by.

Cousin Ryan sent some clothes, toys, and a FROG TOWEL. It is awesome to have an older cousin, especially one with a Puma track suit (can’t wait until that fits). Thanks Ry Guy.


Unlike Dad, M loves bathing.

Larry sent a Vermont Teddy Bear with articulating arms and legs. It currently provides more entertainment for us as you can see.

A few firsts followed by some of our favorite pictures from the week.
First bath.

First trip in the stroller. There is the obvious precious cargo and the not so obvious.

A trip to Love Handles resulted in a napping baby and a growler full of sour. Not too shabby.

First day without Dad.

First (but not the last) time flipping his parents off.

Now some of our favorite shots from the week.
Check out this sleep sequence.

Not sure who fell asleep first...

And he may burp and toot like a big boy, but he’s still pretty little.

Our moving van which was supposed to arrive at 8 am finally showed up around 2:30 pm on Saturday. The reason why was unclear and seemed not OK. They took about five hours to load up and then got stuck in our condo complex trying to leave. There was much swearing (by the driver) and angry neighbors. We just went inside, ate take out Chinese, and tried to pretend it wasn’t happening. The next morning the truck was gone.

After our closing on Monday morning we hit the road. Each car started with a bag of trail mix like this:

Our first stop was Highline Sate Park on the Colorado/Utah border (~300 mi from Manitou).


This is the view looking back on Colorado from a rest stop just over the Utah border. Bye, Colorado.

Our second night was spent at a campground in the Curlew National Grassland. It was located on the Utah/Idaho border (~700 mi from Manitou).


We stopped to feed Emmett at a ‘gas station’. It appeared to have been converted to a zoo. There were miniature donkeys, a sheep, some alpaca, and a couple of dogs.


Our third and final night of camping was at the Cylde Holliday State Park in John Day, Oregon (~ 1000 mi from Manitou).


Some details about traveling with M. First, the Element is the most amazing vehicle ever and why Honda discontinued it continues to confuse and amaze us. Check out this small person changing station in the back. We would stop every 2 hours and 40 minutes to feed the little man and change his diaper. Although we feel like we are putting him in the rack when we load him into the car seat, he really seems to enjoy it and for the most part was an amazing passenger.

The folks at T@G will probably want Kyle to come to work designing more baby friendly campers when they see this awesome baby loft - complete with bassinet and changing station.

Little M approved.

Remember the trail mix bag from the start of the trip? Bags from both vehicles were seriously depleted, but one more than the other...

So, now we are in Bend and getting our bearings. Our new house was just like the pictures, phew.

Just a five minute walk from the house is the Deschutes River and a very nice trail. We haven’t explored much - a frantic trip to Target was about all we could handle the other day with the little man, but there will be plenty of time to see things - especially when the help starts arriving!

The huge moving truck, along with our furniture, is MIA. Last we heard, our driver was gone and a new individual would deliver our furniture. The details of why there was a driver change were sketchy - perhaps our driver was fired?! Anyway, they claim our stuff will be delivered Monday if the driver can find help on the holiday, otherwise he will deliver Tuesday. No rush guys, no rush. In the meantime, M has more stuff than Mom and Dad.