The Weary Travelers

Bob, Olivia, and I in Soho last week.

Last week, Bob and I decided to try something bold and adventurous! We took Olivia on her first big trip, all the way across the country to New York City. Bob was going already for some work meetings, and the baby and I hung out in the city both with and without him.

Bob and I love to travel. We love experiencing new places, seeing new things, meeting new people, and eating weird food. When we thought about having children, we always thought it would be important to share those desires with them, and hopefully be able to share in some exciting experiences with them as well. So when the opportunity arose to take her as a two-month old, we jumped at the chance. How hard could it be?

Well, we now know a little better. Gone are the days where we can carry on all of our luggage. Babies require a ridiculous amount of accouterments, and Bob thought that I packed heavy for myself! We no longer can stay out late at night in the city (not that we were big clubbers to begin with), babies need to go to bed at night. But we were able to do a lot of things and Bob and I were able to share some of our favorite Big Apple things with Baby Liv.

When you're fantasizing about the children you will have 'one day,' it's easy to become idealistic and imagine the great life that you are going to provide for them. I worried that some of our dreams were a little far-fetched and that children would make certain actions improbable if not impossible. It was refreshing to take our sweet baby girl on a fairly large endeavor and have it turn out alright in the end. The plane ride wasn't as relaxing, trips out took a lot more accessories, and we had to constantly be aware of what amenities a locale had in case of a sudden diaper or feeding need. But the trip was incredibly fulfilling, because we were together as a family, the three of us, and nothing could have been better in my mind. (Though honestly, I think that she might have preferred staying home. Hopefully, she'll enjoy the next trip a little more.)

I hereby call this trip to New York, a success!

Cuzco-topia!

Last month, Bob and I took another jet-setting adventure. This time, we went to Peru. It's taken me forever to blog about this because a lot of crap happened, and then I just got lazy. I'm not going to lie to you folks, it just wouldn't be fair.

This is a picture of the main square in Cuzco with a view of the main Cathedral. The base of this and many other buildings in Cuzco are remains of the orignal Incan temples/houses. The Spanish came, conquered the Incans, gave many of the natives smallpox, and destroyed their buildings, putting their own directly on the previous foundations. Stupid Europeans.

These are the ruins of an elaborate fort right outside the city of Cuzco called Sacsayhuamán (pronounced sort of like sexy woman). The only stones left are those that the Spanish couldn't carry off.

Machu Picchu as you first come upon it. This is definitely the most incredible place I've ever been, there was a really cool vibe about it and the place was shrouded in mystery. I suppose the clouds that habitually roll in over the mountaintops do a lot to help said mystery. Also, we hiked to the top of that mountain in the background, the one half covered in clouds. It was awesome.

We have hundreds of pictures, but I don't really have the heart to search through them all for my very favorites. If you want to see more, I guess you'll have to invite us over for dinner, or do the pop-in!

Blogging is theraputic, I'm glad to be back.

San Juan Island Pictures

For this week's pictures I'm going to highlight a few of my more artistic shots from our Fawson Family Vacay to the San Juan Islands this past summer.  It was around this time that I really started to get into photography, and I spent a lot of time on this trip trying things out, seeing what worked and what didn't.  Here are a few of my favorites.

From the clothesline in the backyard of the house we rented.

The lavender farm.  This place smelled incredible.

The Lime Kiln State Park where we were whale-watching.  Obviously there were no whales to watch when this picture was taken.

Fence outside our house.

A barn next to our house.

Battery Bob

This is a picture of Bob sitting on a park bench in Battery Park, at the southern tip of Manhattan during our recent trip to New York at the beginning of September.  We were on our way to the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island when I insisted on taking a bunch of pictures and Bob sat down to Crackberry.

POW!

I have decided to instigate a 'picture of the week' for my blog.  This week's picture is from our trip last August to the San Juan Islands with the rest of the Fawson clan.  I took this on our sunset kayaking ride, which was amazing.  As is often the case, the picture does not do the scene justice.

9/11

I would have to echo the sentiments of several other blogs I recently read about 9/11 and the shock that seven years have slipped past. I remember sitting in early morning seminary and turning on the tv when only one plane had hit and then watching, mainly in confusion, as a second plane wrapped around to hit the second tower. I remember sitting in Soffe's class first hour and watching him sit on the table in the front of the room, Birkenstocked-feet dangling, crying. I remember not understanding how to feel or what impact this would really have on my 15-year-old high school world.

Bob and I were in New York last week and we went to the 9/11 memorial museum next to Ground Zero. If you're ever in the Big Apple, I would reccomend stopping by, it was an incredibly powerful place. They had giant beams from the towers, twisted like garbage bag ties from the heat and the pressure. There were cases full of things found at in the wreckage, like a menu from the bar on the top floor, two guns melted together, a laptop bag mostly intact from a floor above 100, and a battered fireman's helmet. What struck me the most, however, was a giant wall filled entirely with missing posters. All were handmade, with snapshots from some birthday party or recent vacation, and filled with details that betrayed the emotions of those searching. Answers to the nickname of Teddy; beautiful blue/green eyes; wearing a charcoal tailored pantsuit; if found please call one of these five numbers. It made me sick to my stomach and I stood there in an unfamiliar city standing next to the man I love, feeling the pain of the city, and wondering what it felt like to be there when it was in mourning.


As we left, Bob whispered to me, "After seeing all of this, I want to go bomb some terrorists." So did I, Bobby. So did I.

A Hero to One

On Monday, instead of laboring, Bob and I (+ The Sceech) travelled to the place where fun is.  (Hint: It's Lagoon.)  We drove in under a heavy cloud cover and as we jumped out of our cars, excitement prohibiting us (alright, mostly just me) from standing still; the rain started to fall.

Soon, rain was pouring down and we ran to Wicked to hit it before the lines got long.  We had no need to fear long lines, though, we waited moments before hopping on an available car and being jettisoned into oblivion, rain pelting us as we were flung about in the cold and wet.  We rode all the rides, and the best ones several times.

I knew that the weather was changing for the better as we rode one particular rollar coaster and as we reached the top, pointing towards the sky, the clouds parted and the sun shone down on all of us, creating a beautiful moment.  Never has the warm embrace of the sun felt so inviting, and I was regretful as we began our steep descent while Bob lifted up his hands and screamed.

Bobism: On a few rides, the rain was too strong to even keep our eyes open.  Bob described the situation aptly by screaming (while upside-down), "I now know how it feels for Hellen Keller to ride a roller coaster!"

A Whale of a Trip!

This past week we (Bob + I + all of Bob's immediate family + slimebaby) were up in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington vacationing our little hearts out. The final day approached and, though there were rumored to be 2-3 pods in residence there, we had yet to see any whales.

Heather Ann and I struck out early one morning, dedicated (read obsessed) to viewing whales before the day was out and we lost our opportunity forever! So we sat there together, our single-mindedness driving all others away as we lost perspective in our pursuit of the whales. It was then, mulling over our mammalian hopes and fears that a miracle happened. A whale-watching boat shouted to the shore that a pod of whales was on its way and would be where we were in a half-hour.

The whole family gathered together, huddled on a mass of rocks, eyes scanning the distance for tiny black specks that it seemed would never come. Finally, they came. Jumping in groups of two or three, the Orca whales seemed like something from Free Willy or Sea World. It was an incredible experience, once in a lifetime and indescribable.

Here's the best picture I was able to get, but keep in mind that I wasn't using any zoom here.