I had honestly never heard of Karuizawa before. One of my cousins informed me that a season of Terrace House was filmed there though. It's "in the mountains" and is pretty was all I had heard from family members. They were not wrong! We flew into Japan on a Wednesday afternoon and already the next… Continue reading Karuizawa: a trip within a trip
For fellow parents who care, here are the "boring" tidbits of our flight experience with baby in September. This is what worked for us and what I decided to do after some research (i.e. scrolling IG travel/parent accounts) and of course, talking to my trusted sources (aka friends who travel with babies/toddlers.) Car seat -… Continue reading First flight essentials and notes
"Wow, look at that!" Now thinking back to this moment, I'm not sure if it was Bryce or me who said this. We just came out from under the old railroad section of the Iron Goat Trail when you start at the "haunted" old Wellington Ghost Town. The trail was all dirt and covered with… Continue reading The wild, wild Cascades
Even as a 35-year-old (mother of a 1-year-old), I still get mild anxiety when I see all the "Back to School!" ads. The "Back to School! Back to Cool!" ones just make me eyeroll. (Note: neither my 1-year-old nor myself are going back to school.) How is it already August? How is it already back-to-school… Continue reading Can’t keep up with summer
I had grand plans to have blog posts written and published on our April Bend trip by May ... Well, I have one published so far. It's the thought that counts, right? I also had lots more to say about our Oregon Coast trip in December! And, who remembers New Zealand from 2019? I have… Continue reading I don’t know why this keeps happening
"I'm not doing a hike with the word 'misery' in the trail name!" I said to Bryce as I carried our 20-pound baby on my back. We had just crossed the footbridge over the river at Smith Rock State Park and the trail sign in front of us was for Misery Ridge Trail. There were… Continue reading Baby’s first canyon hike
"What was that?" he shouted. "Something just brushed up against my elbow!" "Ohhh, I think that was my hair!" I shouted back to our friend amongst the loud crowd. "Just like we haven't been to a game in more than two years, I also haven't gotten a hair cut in more than two years!" Despite… Continue reading Our first 90 minutes out
Salty air. Sunday sun. Waves crashing. Dogs barking. Kids laughing. Small dead crabs strewn about. Deep green seaweed scattered about. Barnacle-covered rocks. White sea foam. Her first beach walk at low tide. Well, "walk." She's not walking on her own quite yet.
Up until last week, 75 percent of our family had never been to the Skagit Valley tulip fields. Bryce had seen the tulips from afar while driving by but had never actually been to the fields in his +15 years of living in Seattle. Seeing that baby is well, a baby, and our dog had… Continue reading Yellow, red, pink and purple
When we received the save-the-date in 2021, we were hopeful we'd be able to attend our friends' March wedding reception. All events would be outdoors. Our baby would (fingers crossed) be vaccinated by then! (I know, I know ... you're eyerolling at how naïve I was!) Before the news broke that more research would be… Continue reading Fun while it lasted
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