Our Huff family vacation Part 2

Our last day on Lake Michigan. Sigh.

Our Huff family vacation Part 1

Dorothy and Sadie and our stroller, which weeks later
and after many cleanings still has sand in every crevice.
I love the ridiculous hat and that my dad is in the background.
This will be a favorite picture forever.
The whole crew
Another Classic Cousin Picture

Some of my favorite moments...

I love how she discovers new things. Like peeking out of the door windows, waiting for daddy or visitors or seeing herself in a little mirror at a rest stop on vacation. Her face lights up. Three new things she has done in the last week: blowing kisses, "uh-oh", and pointing to her eyes when asked "where are your eyes?"

Please excuse the dirty windows, between a dog and a baby...what can I say?

We are home!

Hello! We are in Aspen, Colorado, well technically Snowmass, CO. This really has been a vacation of a lifetime and we are are only half way through! Here is a journal of our trip so far.

Luckily D helped with some of the driving.(edit: before you think I am like B. Spears please know that this was at a gas station while the car was off!)
Stretching our legs in North Texas.
Our condo in Santa Fe!

Reading some theology...

Our hike through the Bandelier National Monument,

Climbing up to the cliff dwellings...
...where the Ancestral Pueblo people lived.
On the hike.
So, I tried carrying her but look at the shoulders, it doesn't really fit me.

Re-hydrating Dorothy Jean after a long hike. Look at our hair!

More pictures to come!

Hey Friends!!!!
We are in amazing Santa Fe, New Mexico. I don't have the ability to post pictures right now but I will when I can! The food weather art and sights are such a wonderful experience!

Also I just received a bunch of comments through blogger that got lost in my email filter so I just "OK'd" them all. Sorry about that.

Also, Ashley asked... the red t-shirts I posted two posts ago say "I love Mrs. Huff". My mom's class made them for her and were wearing them one of the last days of school.

First Swim

Remember how Mike and I got those awful sunburned stripes? Well, that is what prompted Dorothy's first swim to be in a plastic box, in her Nana and Papa's backyard. It sounds a little funny but it was perfect. Here they are in order...

Yesterday, while restocking our groceries at Kroger, Dorothy sat upright in her shopping cart. She has done this many times, but this was the first time she did it sitting up well. Not once did I have to prop her back up. She had a hat on and she kept taking it off. It struck me how big she is! Two weeks ago she couldn't reach her hat, much less pull it off (over and over again:).

And here are some of my favorite vacation pictures...




There was a crowd around them looking at the chimps and they were just looking at each other.



Sitting in Papa's truck.



Chihuly glass at Fairchild Gardens
(we have seen his art in London, Indianapolis, and now Miami)

...with Nana on a tram ride.



...and my girl and I.

Good Morning Louisville.

Good morning Louisville. I have the song "Good Morning Baltimore" going through my head you know from Hairspray? Only I really missed my little big town (or would you call Louisville a big little town?) So I am humming "Good morning Louisville". One thing I learned on my trip is that my Father -in - law agree that the original Hairspray movie is the best of the two. I really like the new one one but I LOVED the the original. It might be because it is a childhood staple and therefore I owe it my loyalties. I'll have to watch both of them back to back and really decide.

We had a nice 15 day trip. I checked emails some and got a sitereader update while there and I just wanted to thank all of you who check this blog whether I write anything or not!

Anyway, we drove to Miami via Atlanta, where Mike's grandma and uncle's family met Miss D for the first time. A wonderful visit! Then we went to Miami. Total driving over two days was about 20 hours to and from. D did great on the way down, she slept about the same times that she would have during her naps and talked to us (babbled :) and sang along with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. She prefers music much more than books on tape (we listened to two David Sedaris, a Dave Barry, and the original unedited manuscript of Karouac's "On the Road")

We did a lot of seeing, sunning, and resting. Pictures are coming.
A few favorite things were:

• taking D to Papa's work were she charmed the ladies at Miami International Airport.
• Our days at the beach though, Mike and I were both so thrilled to be there the first day we applied sunscreen (spf 45) quickly and became striped for the remainder of the trip. Seriously it was stripes of pale right next to stripes of blistered sunburn. This prompted us not to take D to the beach on this vacation because the Miami sun is so brutal, luckily Nana and Dorothy had several days playing and bonding together while M and I were off getting sunburns!
• We met Bert and Jessica and their girls for lunch and walk in the waves. It was great! (we love meeting friends when they are vacationing close to us- We missed you Noltemeyers).

On the way home we came through Gainsville and visited with Aunt Jean, Uncle Hubert, and Wayne's family. It was more sweet time with family as D met them for the first time. D had a harder time coming home but still was pretty entertained in the car. I will still take vacationing advice from anyone who has travelled with kids as we have Mike's sabbatical coming up (!!!). One thing that was essential was having a big container on the floor under her seat where we had diapers, food, wipes, and toys so that the items were easy to grab when we stopped for breaks on the road.

Sigh, so hello Louisville, green rocking chair, mom and dad, friends, my own bed, and of course Ginger-dog. I missed you all. Very much. Drop me a line. I want to catch up.

Guitars and Traveling

She likes to dance (bounce up and down while shaking her head side to side) while he plays guitar.

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Question. What advice so you have for traveling with a baby? Packing, schedules, keeping them occupied while in the car...Please if you have advice share it!

Pictures of our trip...Ireland, England, Wales and a little Scottland

With my parents in Kinsale, Ireland...






The Roman Baths...





Stonehenge...





My favorite picture! This is an abby in ruins near Llangollen, Wales...





The Beatles Experience Museum in Liverpool...
That is a yellow submarine behind us.



Mike, Mom, and Dad in lake country (Near Scottland).




Having tea in the Lake Country...




Big Ben...




Mom and Dad looking Royal at the London Tower...




Traitors Gate, London Tower!



Mike at St. Paul's, He didn't know I was taking this one.





Our last day. The British Museum. The ceiling was amazing.
My favorite museum was The Victoria and Albert, I reccomend it to any one who goes to London.