Ada is WALKING!

Okay, so lots of posts in one day but I thought this addition was necessary. I thought this short clip of Ada walking with her toddle cart was worth sharing. This little cart was worth every penny I sunk into it!

"Ocian in View"....we have arrived!

The travel portion of our journey is now over and we are settling into our new quarters, which isn't hard to do since our rental house is situated on 4 acres of ocean front property in Warrenton, Oregon. Warrenton is located just a few miles south of Astoria. The house itself is HUGE! We still can't figure out what one does with three bathrooms, but we are loving the space.

This is the house looking from the Pacific Ocean. It's about a 1/4 mile walk through the grassy dunes to get to the beach. At low tide the beach is supposedly good for finding razor clams (very tasty!). We tried to go today but the hurricane strength winds and rain chased us home after only 5 minutes. 

Here's George enjoying our beach on a sunny day. Miles of shoreline to get us to throw the ball for him. 

And this is the what I saw out our kitchen window yesterday as I was making pumpkin waffles for Ada...a herd of 17 elk! They come right up to the house and look in the windows.

Ada seems to be enjoying her new surroundings. She's discovered that carpeted floors are catalysts for mobility...hence her crawling and "walking" have really taken off. 

Of course, there have been some downfalls to the move (besides missing everyone back in Gettysburg). Things get broken :-(  This was what happened to Ada's rubber duck. We still can't figure how it's head exploded like that. Her crib was also broken which was a bummer. But the movers are insured so we'll get reimbursed...which is good because that rubber duck was an expensive latex (i.e., no BPA or other plastic crap) duck!

Along the way....our cross country journey!

Traveling nearly 3,000 miles with a baby, a dog, and two cats was a monumental effort! Fortunately for me, Zach volunteered to drive with all the animals while Ada and I traveled by plane (with a scenic side trip to the Grand Canyon). Here are some pics of the journey westward...

Our third trip to the Grand Canyon, but it was Ada's first and Simon's (cat) second. Yes, he spent 5 weeks with us there once before. 

George's bad habit of leash pulling finally came in handy in getting that tricycle up the snowy paths of the Grand Canyon.

Zach and Ada showing off for the camera again :-)

This was how the Subaru was packed for Zach's journey with the animals. (thanks for the chew toy, Paul and Heather).

And no album is complete without a photo of George in Texas.