Rub-a-dub-dub

Addie, Cooper & Brady in the tub! We can't wait to see you in a few days!

Whistler or bust!

So on a trip up to Seattle in November, we planned a last minute trip to Whistler with Amber & Ryan French and their latest addition Lily for the weekend after Thanksgiving. The forecast for snow didn't look great and it turned out to be pretty terrible. Regardless, we had a great trip. We took turns looking after the rugrats so we could each have a chance to ski the [man-made] freshies. Actually, we did get a few inches of REAL fresh snow on Saturday night into Sunday. More than anything, it was fun to spend some time with the French's, get to know little Lily, and see what the mountains have to offer up in BC. Pretty impressive. We WILL be back - and hopefully next time there will be more than 5 runs open!

So much to be thankful for...

I have a hard time spending holidays away from family, but this year we decided to stay home for Thanksgiving and head to Colorado for Christmas. While I was sad not to be "home-home", we had a fabulous weekend here in Portland full of good food, great friends, and more good food! Our good friends Ben & Jen Gardiner hosted their annual orphan's Thanksgiving - it was quite the feast.

The feast was followed on Friday by an ambitious hike up King Mountain in the Coast Range. None of us (except Sean) knew what we were getting into. It was a challenge but I think we were all glad that we did it. We were so proud of ourselves, in fact, that we felt we deserved a second Thanksgiving dinner and went back to the Gardiner's for round two. Saturday was spent recovering - from both the hike and the ridiculous amount of food that had been consumed. We finished out the weekend with a good long hike up Eagle Creek on Sunday. Twelve miles round trip. The weather was beautiful.

I have so much to be thankful for this year - our beautiful boy, a great husband who is such a good dad, our wonderful and supportive families, the opportunity to stay home with Nick for this long, good weather in November. This list could go on and on. But more than anything this year, I am so thankful for the wonderful friends we have in Portland. They have made us feel at home here and they have adopted our son into the group. We are so fortunate to be surrounded by such great people. Thank you.

A November to remember...

Short, rainy, dreary days. The harsh realization that I might not see the sun for months. The onset of seasonal depression. That's what November usually brings to Portland. We seemed to be lucky this month though - we saw the sun a lot and so far, have had a great month! With only a few days left and a fun Thanksgiving planned with our friends, it's looking like it's going to end on a high note!
Early this month, we got out for a great hike in the Gorge with Sean. We did the Multnomah-Wahkeena Falls loop. The following weekend, my parents came out for a visit. As usual, the weather did not entirely cooperate while they were here, but we still got out for a short, wet hike up Eagle Creek with the Jacobsons. They enjoyed some quality time with Nick and got a lesson in Prius driving (Who knew those bumpers were so durable?!). We can't wait to see them again at Christmas!
The middle of November was absolutely gorgeous. We did one of my favorite hikes, Mirror Lake and Tom, Dick & Harry on Mt. Hood. We were stripping down layers on our way up and enjoyed what felt like summertime at the summit.
This past weekend we headed up to Seattle to visit Amber & Ryan and their new addition, Lily Grace and to see the twins, Mollie & Jenny, who just stated school at UW this fall. We had a great time seeing everyone and meeting Lily. Nick thought she was pretty cute and Amber & Ryan are doing great. Mollie & Jenny have settled in well to college life - we are glad to have them closer!
We got our first glimpse of winter on a hike up to Snow Lake on Snoqualmie Pass. We weren't quite prepared for how cold it was at the top and learned a valuable lesson about the importance of keeping our baby warm. He's a pretty good communicator though and luckily for us, very resilient!

Nick's growing up!

You know, I go back and forth between wanting Nick to get older and more independent and wanting him to stay a sweet little baby forever. On one hand, it will be nice to not have to do everything for him but it makes me sad to think he won't always be 100% dependent on me. It is fun though, watching him reach new milestones. Like last week, just as I finally perfected holding his bottle with my chin so I could drink my wine while feeding him, he learned to hold it on his own. We are so proud!

At the Blazers game with Ben & Jen

Halloween 2008

The Hockey Mom, Joe Six-Pack and our little Pig in Lipstick

Fidel Castro the Dick-Tater (Daren) and Sarah Palin (Becky)

A Bird's Nest (Merrill) and an ER Doc, straight from surgery (Stacy)

Dr. Nardecchia (Sean), although by this point he preferred the pig head to the bald head

A Witch (Sarah) and her Bitch (Thor)

A journey back east

Another wedding took us out to the East Coast last weekend. My good friend and roommate from college, Eileen Budd, married Matt Clark at a beautiful wedding in NJ/PA. It was great to see the Villanova crew and I tried to party like I was back in college. I had a rude awakening on Sunday morning that I'm too old for that! Congrats Matt & Eileen - it was great to celebrate with you guys.
We took advantage of being close to NYC and spent two days sightseeing in the city. Andy had never been to Manhatten before so we tried to see all the sights. We did lots of walking and luckily the weather cooperated, as did Nick (most of the time). We got really good at changing diapers on park benches!
On Sunday, we walked through downtown past Ground Zero and watched the sunset at Battery Park. Sara and Steve met us to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and have dinner on the other side. We saw the lights of Times Square late on Sunday night. Monday morning, we got up early and headed up to Rockefeller Plaza to see the Today Show. Nick had his first TV appearance on the show with several camera close-ups and an interview with Al Roker! He's on his way to stardom! With the paparazzi not far behind (yeah right), we headed north to Central Park which was picture-perfect this time of year.

We visited the Museum of Natural History and finished up our visit with a trip to the top of the Empire State Building. With tired feet, sore backs, and a sleep-deprived baby we headed back to the West Coast.

Another family vacation

With no big plans last weekend, combined with our inability to sit still, we packed up the car on Saturday morning and headed south. Having never seen the southern part of the Oregon Coast, we decided it would be fun to explore. We drove south to Corvallis and headed west, connecting with Hwy 101 at Newport. We stopped in Florence to have lunch with Andy's cousin, Pat Dunphy, and then explored the sand dunes just south of town. There are not many times in my life when I wish I had an ATV, but this was one of them! We camped for the night at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park and enjoyed some great seafood in Winchester Bay. Andy ordered perhaps the biggest oyster shooter we've ever seen. Secretly, I think he prefers the little ones at the Corbett Fish House! We woke up to a sunny day on Sunday and soaked up some rays at a beautiful beach at Sunset Bay. Andy was brave (or stupid) enough to jump in. Nick and I opted out of that adventure and decided to stay warm instead. Just south of Port Orford, the fog and drizzle set in. We hiked down to a deserted black sand beach at Sisters Rock - it was amazing. It's crazy how you can be a mile off of 101 and feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.

We pitched a tent just north of Brookings at Harris Beach State Park and prepared to get soaked. Lucky for us, the rain held off and we woke to find ourselves nice and dry. Monday we enjoyed a great hike through a redwood forest along the Chetco River. We drove south to the border before turning back north through Redwood National Forest on our way home. It was a beautiful trip!

What's cooking...

There has been a lot of cooking going on in the Nardecchia kitchen over the last four months. I love that I finally have time to enjoy cooking. I guess I'm a full-fledged stay-at-home-mom, at least for the next few months! Andy, don't get too used to it. I like to make things that are easy AND good. I'm all about simple ingredients, not too many steps and lots of flavor. Here are some of my favorite recipes at the moment:

Grilled Halibut with Lemon-Basil Vinigrette: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/649

Chicken Tortilla Soup (with a few modifications, like throwing in frozen chicken breasts and adding black beans - this has to be the easiest recipe ever): http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Chicken-Tortilla-Soup/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

Winter Squash Soup (with a few modifications, like roasting the squash first, adding a little cinnamon and nutmeg and omitting the sugar): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/2997

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (back by popular demand from last fall): http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/dessert-recipes/pumpkin-whoopie-pies/article.html

Where did the time go?

October 12, 2008. That makes our little man four months old today! That's one-third of a year. Where in the heck did the time go? I say that, yet it's hard to imagine life without him. Life without diapers, without bottles, without colorful toys littering our floors. A time when we could go to bars, when we stayed up past 11pm on a Friday and when we got to sleep all night long. Well, maybe I CAN imagine those days (and occassionally long for them during those 4am feedings). But I wouldn't trade it for the world. Nick is so much fun, especially now that he smiles and giggles and interacts. We started swimming lessons last week and when he got dunked, he didn't cry or nothin'! We've had a blast showing him the world, from the car, from the Baby Bjorn, cruising in the Bob and riding in the Burley. We know it's only going to get better. He's got a personality and he's learning how to communicate. It's so cool to watch him learn. Other parents always tell me how fast they grow up, and I'm starting to understand what they mean.

Huyen & Steve's Wedding

Ah...weddings. So fun yet so many. They are always a blast, always unique and we are lucky to have such fun and loving friends. The 2008 wedding circuit included a trip to Denver for the wedding of Huyen Hoang and Steve Pham. Andy and Huyen were classmates in dental school. We had a great time and not only got to see all of Andy's dental school croanies but also got to spend some quality time with the fam and other friends. Nick had seven, count them, seven, babysitters for the night (Mimi, Papa, Amy, Richie, Addie, Coop AND Brady). What a lucky boy!

Camping on the Metolius River

This was our second and probably last camping trip of the season. Our Portland gang headed southwest to the beautiful Metolius River for a weekend of fishing, hiking, biking, good food and great company.

Our First Family Vacation

On a sunny weekend in mid-September, we headed south to Crater Lake National Park for our first official family vacation. We brought along our new-to-us Burley in hopes that we could ride the 33-mile Rim Road around the lake. It was Nick's first long ride in the Burley and we weren't sure how he (or we) would do. It turned out to be a beautiful (and doable) ride. Nick slept most of the way and only cried when we were about 100 feet from the cabin at the end of the ride. We wrapped up the weekend with some hikes and a bike ride around Diamond Lake.