First Bites

I don't believe that everyone thinks about what they put into their bodies on a daily basis but David and I make a point of it. We work hard daily to introduce ourselves to new dishes, try and eat healthy and support companies that promote similar morals and values as ours. This past week we've started to think about food in a new way, because baby Emmett has started eating. Nothing

complex yet, rice cereal and mashed banana but I think that's the point, keep it simple and he is

loving it.

It is such an amazing experience to see him everyday learn about new things. And it has rekindled our love for trying out new things, just the other day I sat down with a couple of our cookbooks and went through the entire thing flagging new recipes to try and each of us making a pack over the next months to cook at least one new dish each every week. This week we tried lavender rice pudding with fresh strawberries, Thai coconut soup and Rice Cakes with Ginger-Peanut Sauce.

We have arrived!!!

Ok so obviously many of you know we arrived in Arizona a couple weeks ago but we have finally got around to finishing our blog on our road trip, we can'tleave people out because the last couple days were just as amazing as the rest of the trip.

We had a wonderful evening in New Orleans and getting to catch up with David's cousin Ian and his wife Brooke have just closed on their first home, congratulations guys!! We were then off to

Austin, TX to have a quiet evening to ourselves. Despite being out of town good friends of my family offered their home to us for the night which was so gracious of them. We enjoyed some quiet family time and collected ourselves before the last leg of our trip while playing some really intense arcade basketball.

Which brought us to El Paso, TX. Right around the corner from all the craziness happening in Juarez, Mexico we visited good friends of ours Vivian and Bodie. Vivian is a good friend of mine from my days in Alaska and is one of those people you have a relationship w

ith that is always fun and amazing even if you don't talk for a number of months at a time. She as always was an amazing host, showing us around the area, feeding us good food and drink, and just having a wonderful time. We were lucky to spend two nights with these guys before we moved on to Arizona and they moved on to Kentucky which they are on their way right now.

And then our last leg from El Paso to Phoenix, AZ was so crazy. The whole day was surreal, knowing our home for the next three years was just around the corner and all the planning and organizing for the last few months has almost come to an end.

We spent our first week in Phoenix with a good friend of my parents, Greg, who was a gracious hosting taking us in with a new baby and a dog, along with my parents who came to help usget settled. We enjoyed his company, his home and his pool while we tried to find our own home, which happened very quickly thankfully.

Road Trip!!!

Hey everyone

We are traveling cross country with Olive and Emmett. Right now we are in Louisiana in the Sheraton overlooking downtown New Orleans. Tonight we will visit a cousins who lives in the city. The last week has been amazing but very busy. Let me give a quick update on our trip so far.

Day 1 we drove 483mi the first

day to Washington DC to visit my brother Pat and have dinner with my cousins and aunt and uncle. The

drive was uneventful thankfully, no traffic, no construction and we arrived mid afternoon which was great, plenty of time to hang out and check out Pat's neighborhood.

Day 2 we were planning on staying at a hotel in Columbus, OH and found out just before leaving DC

that an old friend of our's, Jacey, lives just outside of Columbus. We called her up to see if we could meet for dinner and ended up staying over her place for the evening, meeting her husband Ben, dog Tuck and 6mo old daughter Blakely. Olive and Tuck got along well and wrestled most of the time we were there.

Day 3 and 4 we had a very short drive to Crawfordsville, IN were we stayed with my grandparents and their dog, Birdie, for a couple nights. Olive got along well with Birdie and spent most of her time there wrestling with her. Day 4 we visited my Aunt's house here we met up with my cousins We also got to meet my cousin Dusty's new baby Hadley who is 6mo old. She is so cute and really

loved Emmett.

Day 5 was a beautiful drive from Indiana through Kentucky to Tennessee. We stopped at a

bourbon distillery and saw some amazing old thoroughbred farms. It was beautiful country. We stayed with a friend of mine from way back, Brooklyn. We were able to meet her husband Chris and see their 35acres of land they are building on along with their horses and donkey. Olive loved the space and felt conflicted about the horses, at times trying to herd them.

Day 6 and 7 were a blast, we stayed in Atlanta, Georgia with David's cousins, Michael and Kelli and also seeing cousins Mark, Monica and their kids, Oliver and Lillie. They showed us a great time, bringing us to Piedmont Park for a walk and dip in the fountains, to R Thomas for some amazing food and parrot viewing. It was also so wonderful to actually sit down and hang out because the last couple of times seeing them have been so busy.

Day 8, Pensacola, FL to visit David's aunt Brooke and Uncle Mark. I had never been to the Gulf

Coast of FL or at least I don't remember. The water was beautiful, the beaches with white sand amazing. David and I got to go for a dip while Emmett took a nap and the water temp must

have been atleast 75 degrees. The only down side to the visit was when David got stung by a jellifish, but he has recovered just fine.

And here we are Day 9 in New Orleans. The trip has been amazing so far, Emmett and Olive have done fabulous in the car. I'm getting very good at breastfeeding while David continues driving, I have perfected what friends of ours calll "The Hangover." I will let your imaginations do the work of figuring that move out.

More to come later! We're having a blast. Thanks to all our hosts and all those back home thinking about us!

-Alison and David (and Emmett and Olive)