Annual Trip to Bozeman

This year marks my third annual, summer trip out to Bozeman, MT to visit the Johnsons and the Weedins.  The difference between this year and years past is that Steve joined me for the first time and rather than flying, we drove...11 hours straight through with a 3 month old.  I was a bit nervous subjecting Raleigh to this 650 mile ride, but Jenny assured me that everything would be fine and right she was...he did great.  She's made this same drive many times with her girls so I knew we could do it.  Besides for all of our wonderful friends that live in Bozeman, there's just something extra special about this beautiful place.  I love the small-town feel, the surrounding mountains, the rivers, the people, the 360 degree unbelievable view, the restaurants, the beers, the die-hard MSU Bobcat fans - you get the idea.  This trip was planned last summer when Dusty & Gina hired Steve and I to shoot their wedding...I shot their engagement in Bozeman last summer.  I used to say that Maui was the most beautiful place to tie the knot since that is where I was married, but after witnessing my first Bozeman wedding my mind may have been changed.  Here is a photo recap of our trip and a shot from the wedding.

Sunrise view of the Bridgers from the Johnsons guest bedroom at 5am when we got into town on Thursday morning

Palisades Falls hike at Hyalite

Music on Main

Jenny, me and Ali at The Cannery aka the first real bar that Raleigh ever hung out in...babies are allowed in the bars in MT.

Raleigh, Greta, Maddy, Brekken and Taylor

Jenny and Nick's guest bedrom had the perfect natural lighting for a little photoshoot of our little man.

Sunset from Cle Elum on our drive home

The lovely Mr. & Mrs. Daws

I'm already looking forward to Bozeman 2012 and hopefully a side-trip through Yellowstone.  A huge Thank You to Jenny, Nick, Maddy and Taylor for letting us stay with you - we had such a great time! 

California Dreamin'

Last Thursday morning, Kristi and I braved the friendly skies and took our boys (Easton 13 months & Raleigh 10 weeks) on their first plane rides...they did better than we could have imagined - thankfully! We flew down to LA for four nights to stay with our dear friend LSpry (Thank You for having us!!) and hang out with our girlfriends - Carrie, Avery, Lori, Lyndsy and Christy. We didn't want to leave the CA sun and the ocean air, but we knew it was the right thing to do with our husbands waiting at home for us and our boys. Our days were busy and filled with , lots and lots of laughs, trips to the beach, wine tasting in Malibu at Sip, early morning and evening walks to the ocean and along Montana Ave (always accompanied by a coffee from Caffe Luxxe and a sample from Nothing Bundt Cakes - AMAZINGLY Delicious!), BBQ's, treats from Menchie's, breakfast at Huckleberry, dinner at C&O (a Venice favorite of ours), lunch at my new favorite spot Lemonade on Abbott Kinney with Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, a long overdue/much-needed visit with the Petyo Family and lunch at Sweet Lady Jane.  So in other words, we basically ate our way through LA and dragged our boys along for the ride.   

I love these girls and I especially love how much they adore my boy - we feel so incredibly lucky to have these auntie's in Raleigh's life.  This getaway with Raleigh and Easton was perfect.  Both boys made new friends and were spoiled with love...pretty sure each of the girls were smitten with these two blue-eyed boys and will most likely miss them more than they'll miss Kristi and me. Here are just a few of the 300 photos that were taken during our SoCal adventure. Can't wait to go back!

Lake Chelan...Paradise

This past week, Megs and I took a mid-week trip out to my Grandpa's condo at Wapato Point - just us and our kids and it was pretty perfect. We met in Ellensburg, loaded up my car and got to Chelan around 2pm. My parents had been there for the weekend with some friends so they stuck around and hung out with us for a couple of hours. Since Raleigh's arrival, they'll do just about anything to spend some time with their grandbabe.

We had a couple of firsts on this trip...Raleigh, Ava and Miles first time to Chelan and a first of rain. In all of the years that I've been going to Chelan, I don't ever remember it raining. Even with the rain (rain is meant to stay on the west side of the state), we made the best of it...took the kids for a drive, they immediately passed out, found a liquor store, bought a fifth of tequila, got corndogs at the the drive-thru, played a couple of games of Rummikub and drank Megs favorite margarita (equal parts limeade, beer and tequila blended together and poured over ice - Deeeelish!)

As you can see from the photos we had a pretty amazing time. Besides for lounging in sun, I think Raleigh's favorite part was the special attention he received from his Bend besties...especially Ava. I look forward to the day that we can take Raleigh to Chelan when he can run around and play in the pool and at the beach.

* East Coast Adventure *

SEA  →  BOS

Kennebunkport, ME  →  Cape Elizabeth, ME   →  Portland, ME  

Portsmouth, NH  →  Newburyport, MA  →  Waltham, MA  →  Marshfield, MA  →   Downtown Boston

The points of this trip were to visit a new place {Maine}, play at the beach with our dear friends the Mullins and celebrate Stacie's birthday. We covered a lot of ground and accomplished more than we had planned, which to us meant a successful trip.

I have always wanted to visit Kennebunkport...not because it's home to the Bush family compound, but because it's such an adorable New England beach town. We stayed one night at the cutest bed and breakfast - the Captain Fairfield Inn - and, despite the lack of sleep from the red-eye, forced ourselves to keep truckin'. A brief snooze in the car definitely helped.

After exploring quite a bit of the Maine coastline and all of the New Hampshire coast, we anxiously headed south to Waltham, Mass (25 mins outside Boston) to see the Mullins. We enjoyed catching up, eating a delicious Italian meal and getting a great nights sleep in their beautifully remodeled basement. Saturday morning we drove 45 minutes to Kevin's family beach house in Marshfield. Ever since our first time to Marshfield 3 years ago, this place hold a special place in our heart - it's the picturesque New England beach town with a whole lotta love. We walked the beach, hung out with Stacie's grandpa and mom and Kevin's parents, played a few rounds of Rummikub (my new favorite game) while the boys went boating, ate, drank, watched flight patterns (maybe that was just me), shopped and breathed in every bit of ocean air that our lungs could handle. On Sunday, we celebrated Stacie's birthday at the beach with a BBQ, cake and ice cream and then headed back to Waltham to watch the Patriots game and be lazy.

On Monday, Kev dropped us off at Quincy Market and we ventured through the historical streets of Boston - we have our favorite spots from past trips, but on this trip decided to do something new and ride the Ducks. So happy we did this as we got a chance to see the city from the Charles River and learn more about the history of this amazing town. We also did part of the Freedom Trail, Fanuil Hall, saw Paul Revere's house, ate lunch in Little Italy, enjoyed a treat from the famous Mike's Pastry shop and relazed in the sun. We couldn't have asked for better weather on our last day touring around the city - blue sky and 75 degrees.

Until next time...thank you Kevin and Stacie for the wonderful weekend. And thank you New England for another successful adventure.