Baseball matinee

This morning, we had to pack up and leave our little apartment. It was a great place to stay for a few days. Our host even brought us doughnuts this morning.

Front road seats

We went right down to the baseball park, but instead of going right in, we went for a walk around the Seattle waterfront for a while. We got some Starbucks coffee, but opted not to go to the first location with the giant lineup. It's not hard to find another!

Walking the stairs with Dad

The game today started at 12:40, so we brought in sandwiches for lunch and loaded up on the sunscreen. The game went to extra innings, so it was a long afternoon for the little ones. The Blue Jays ended up losing this one, but they won 2/3, which isn't bad.

Tuckered out

After the game, we parted ways with Aaryn, Stu and Evelyn. It was great to see them again and to meet baby Evelyn. Next time we see her, I'm sure she'll be running around and babbling. We ended up with one photo of the 6 of us at the baseball park. Unfortunately, Evelyn was fast asleep in the carrier.

Group shot at Safeco Field

Since the game went late, we were trying to leave the city right at rush hour. After waiting for 20 minutes just to get onto the on ramp, we decided to abandon ship to have Thai food and wait out the traffic.  Since all of Vancouver seemed to be at the game, traffic and the border crossing were still pretty bad when we did finally leave. Eventually, at about midnight, we made it to Aunt Pat's place in Vancouver.

Discovery Park

It was another beautiful day in Seattle, so we decided to go for a little hike in Discovery Park to check out the views of Puget Sound.

Eating Cheerios (and the occasional rock) at the beach 

It took us a while to find a route down to the beach that was stroller-friendly, but eventually we made it and were rewarded with sparkling waters and mountains in the distance.

Jasper the explorer.

Jasper enjoyed sorting rocks from place to place, just like at the beach at home. Luckily he didn't decide to go for a swim, since we don't have a spare pair of shoes with us.

Hike out to the point

After the hike, we took Jasper to the kids interpretive centre and to play in the park.

Playing at the park

In the evening, it we tried out a local vegetarian diner and then it was off to another baseball game. The Blue Jays won again in front of the "home" crowd.

Green Lake

Jasper had another early morning, but at least he seems to be trending towards sleeping in more. Pat took him for a walk around the neighbourhood and to a local coffee shop before sunrise.

Walking around the block

The AirBnb apartment we rented with Aaryn and Stu is in the Green Lake neighbourhood. It's a nice residential area with lots of kids running around. We encountered two five year old Darth Vaders on our walk around the block.

Neighbourhood explorer

We took the kiddos for a walk around Green Lake, got some groceries and explored the neighbourhood for most of the day before driving down to the baseball park.

Dinner at the ball game.

We arrived very early for the 7pm start, so we sat down in the good seats to eat our dinner. The have lots of food selection at SafeCo field, including veggie dogs and sushi.

Running around in Jersey and PJs.

Jasper was still pretty wired once the sun went down, and he enjoyed running around the upper deck in his PJs. Eventually he fell asleep, and didn't even wake up when the Jays won.

Nap time.

Olympic National Park

Despite his late bedtime, Jasper is was still on Eastern time this morning, so he woke up at 2:45 am local time ready for the day. After trying to get him to go back to sleep with no success, Jasper and I went for a walk around Poulsbo instead. We came across a 24-hour Safeway with a cafe, so we stopped and had breakfast and played for a bit. 

We continued to tour around the town as the sun came up, stopping at a coffee shop and bakery. Poulsbo downtown is Scandinavian themed and set up for lots of tourists. We had the place to ourselves at 6:00am on Sunday morning. Breakfast opened at 7, so we went back to hotel to wake up Pat and start the day.  I had 10,000 steps before 8:00am!

Family photo on Hurricane Hill

Jasper and I napped while Pat drove us to Olympic National Park. We hiked up Hurricane Hill, a very popular and paved 3 mile path. It was steep enough for us pregnant and carrying Jasper.  The views were pretty impressive from the top.

Picnic at the top.

Jasper was in the carrier, and liked to say "hi" and "bye" to other hikers as we passed them on the trail.

Walking close to the edge

After the hike, we stopped at a park in Port Angeles for Jasper to run around and burn some energy. We took the ferry back to Seattle and checked into our Air BnB with Aaryn, Stu and Evelyn. Evelyn is almost as big as Jasper, but she's only 7 months old!

Staying cozy in the wind.

Back to Seattle

Jasper is back on the road, except this time we got a head start and flew to Seattle.

Today was a travel day, starting in rainy Detroit and ending in rainy Washington state. Our flight wasn't until late afternoon, so we spent the morning exploring a mall in Dearborn, MI and getting snack supplies for the trip.  Jasper enjoyed walking up and down the ramps and stairs in the mall.

Play area at Detroit airport

We were really early for our flight, so Jasper had lots of time to play on the moving sidewalks and at the airport play area.

Sorting Cheerios

He did really well on the flight, especially considering it was 3 hours past his normal bedtime by the time we landed. Upon arrival in Seattle, we picked up our rental car and drove about an hour to Poulsbo, on the west side of the Puget sound. Our plan for tomorrow depends on the weather, either exploring Olympic National Park, or taking the ferry back to Seattle.

Jasper's birthday fiesta

Last weekend, we had a birthday party for Jasper at our house. Both of his sets of grandparents were there, his Great Grandpa and Great Grannie Parr, Uncle Colin, Aunt Heather, Uncle Matt and Uncle Scott. 

I made tacos and banana cupcakes for lunch. Jasper enjoyed the spicy tacos and the sugary cupcake. He even got to try ice cream for the first time.

Ready for the cupcake

Yummy!

Great Grandpa measured and marked Jasper on our new measuring stick. It was hard to get him to stand straight against the wall, so it might not be the most accurate measurement this year.

Great Grandpa doing the birthday measurement

Lucky Jasper got lots of new toys for his birthday. He started to get the hang of tearing the wrapping paper off the presents. I think he enjoyed the paper and boxes as much as the toys.

Opening presents

Jasper (and many of his guests) took an afternoon nap, and then he got to enjoy trying out some of his new gifts.

Tunnel!

Looking cool with Uncle Colin

Hanging with Grandpa

Playing on the front lawn

Trying out the new bike seat

It was a fun day but tiring day to celebrate Jasper's first birthday. I'm glad Pat let me talk him out of a keg party birthday.

Happy Birthday Jasper!

Happy birthday to our little Jasper George! How tiny he was, just one year ago today.

Here are his monthly photos with Fred, to see how much he has grown over the year. The photos got more and more difficult to take as he started moving.

 

Our attempts at one year photos with Fred are even worse. I can see why people get professionals for this!

Jasper had a fun day today going for stroller walks around town in the sunshine, playing with his toys and eating lots of food. He got to have a pizza party with his Dad while I went to a retirement party in Bayfield.

He got phone calls, Facebook messages, e-mails, texts and mail from friends and family all over. What a lucky kid to have so many people who love him!

It's strange to reflect back on the past year. People say that the time flies by, but it doesn't really feel that way for me. We have packed a lot into this past year, and I am really grateful for the time I've had to spend with Jasper. It feels like the right time to go back to work and for Jasper to start daycare. I think he is going to love playing with other kids all day and learning lots from the staff there.

Thanks for reading this blog, it has been fun to document the last year this way. I'm not sure how often I'll write new blog posts, since we won't really be "on the road" much for the next little while. I will try to give updates every so often to share photos and new milestones.