A decent storm blew threw Arizona last weekend. Flagstaff got up to 2 feet of snow. That doesn’t happen very often here, so we took advantage of the opportunity and took Maggie to see her first snow.
She was a bit apprehensive at first. The combination of 28 degree temperature and white-blanketed landscape must be disorienting at first. Debra and I kept stumbling and sinking into the snow. Every time this happened Maggie got upset. Eventually she warmed up to the situation and did seem to enjoy watching Daddy make a snow angel.
Check out the complete Flickr photoset.
The first ever Baca family vacation is in the books.
We arrived back in Arizona from our California road trip last Saturday. We were on the road 16 days, lodged at 10 different locations and drove over 2,400 miles. The trip started as a four day stay in Graeagle at a cabin with the Baca cousins. We decided to extend the trip and visit our family and friends all over California.
Our travels took us to Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Visalia, Merced, Los Banos, San Leandro, San Francisco, San Rafael, and Graeagle.
I admit I was apprehensive about such a long road trip with a nine month old. Maggie had never been in the car for more than an hour before this trip. She was a wonderful traveler! Debra spent most of the 2,400 miles in the back seat with Maggie, reading books, singing songs, supplying puffs and an endless stream of toys.
It was a special experience seeing so many family and friends, many of which hadn’t yet met Maggie. The Pacific, San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco Bay Area and Sierra Nevada mountains were just some of the many places we visited. We took over 800 pictures. Here are a few of our favorites.
View the entire collection of photos at Flickr.
Thanks to the Goodmans, Arnolds, Carlsons, Brights, Natalie & Arbie, the Bacas, and Mustads for your generous hospitality. Special thanks to Millicent for organizing the Graeagle gathering.
I spent the first part of the week (Mon-Wed) in Chicago on business. The weather was perfect. I think the daytime temps were in the mid-60s. Nice change from the 100+ temps we’re still having in Phoenix. Fortunately the worksite was right downtown, just a block away from the Art Institute of Chicago. I only had an hour to spend in the museum. Fortunately the Impressionist collection was out on loan. Otherwise it would have been a real drag to only have one hour to view them. I saw some of Millennium Park, including the Cloud Gate (very cool!).
Check out the rest of the Flickr photoset.
Debra had a busy week at school, which isn’t easy with only five weeks to go until the baby’s due! She never complains though. If it wasn’t for the perfectly round belly, you’d never know she was pregnant. Monday night she had a breastfeeding class at Banner. We had another class at Banner Thursday night on infant care, featuring a very spirited nurse/doula that Debra knew in a past life from Shadow Rock.
We had our second in-home appointment with Robin and Mani, our midwife and doula. They are wonderful. They spent over an hour with Debra, Diane and me, answering our questions and checking Debra’s vitals. Everything looks great. The baby is active and right on schedule growth-wise.
Debra spent Tuesday-Thursday up at Camp Colley outside Payson. Kids from her school visit the camp each summer and she helps out as a volunteer. She goes again week after next. Apparently it’s not fun sleeping in a tent six months pregnant. She does report the kids had a blast.
She had another OB visit today (I couldn’t attend). Good news across the board. The baby is a good size and Debra’s blood test came back clean. No gestational diabetes!
We have both been digging into Facebook. It’s quite addictive. All the annoying little widgets aside, it’s a great way to stay in touch with friends. If you don’t have a Facebook account, you should get one.
Finally, I got the iPod 2.0 update for my iPod Touch this week. Yes I’m a geek and the update is extremely fracking cool. Debra’s brother John has been working on a cool application for the iPhone called iToony. It let’s you jazz up photos and email them or post them to Flickr. If you have an iPhone you need this app. Here’s my first iToony creation.
I joined Debra in San Diego this past weekend for Carole and Brandon’s wedding. It was a wonderful ceremony. It was held right on the harbor around sunset. The reception was at the same location and everyone seemed to have a great time. All the guys having to serenade the bride for her garter was particularly entertaining. Debra and I were a bit jealous that it wasn’t us getting married again. Congratulations Carole and Brandon. Have a great time in Vegas!
The rest of the wedding pictures are posted at Flickr.
