Emerson's 11th Month Photos!

So, life has been hectic, crazy, and so much fun as Emerson learns more and more each day.

Right now, he is eating like he is a 2-year-old. He likes everything you put on his tray. He loves to feed himself. He eats meat, veggies, cheese, and fruit. He likes to drink his water but usually chokes.

Emerson loves being in the water still. He is never upset, no matter what happens. If he swallows a bunch of water, then he just coughs and smiles. He is getting better at holding onto the side of the pool and letting himself fall in face-first from a seated position on the edge.

He stands and holds onto the couch, fence, or anything that is easy for him and at his height. He isn't quite brave enough to walk along the edge of the furniture, but he will walk if we hold his hands.

He has started climbing as well. He can climb stairs and has climbed into and out of the bathtub.

Last, he is as talkative as ever. He sings to himself, has entire conversations with me while we drive to work in the morning, and always makes his frustration verbally known if we aren't restocking his food fast enough during meal times. I swear that in Target, when he dropped a box on the floor, that he repeated "Uh oh" after me, and that when he is really wanting something, he whines for "mamamama".

His last photo shoot was a total riot. Here are the pictures we were able to narrow it down to!

Posing Pretty

I love my new freedom of movement

I am kind of a trouble maker sometimes, but I'm cute!

Mom! I am too big for this chair!

I escaped!!!

St. Maarten Monday!

I confess that this is not THIS month's milestone, but 2 months ago Emerson was the lucky traveler once more and got to visit the beautiful Caribbean island of St. Maarten. Half Dutch and half French, we happened to be there during the "down season", which gave us a lot of freedom on the island, and also during the World Cup, which gave us a reason to care about soccer.

There were SO many things we did while on the island, and again many of which others looked at us as if crazy while doing with a baby. Emerson also got to experience a number of firsts while on this voyage.

We started off with a long airplane trip once more, this time through Miami and then into international waters.
Emerson was a little more energetic at this age, so we were glad to have 4 hours in Miami to let him crawl around. However, the meanie American Airlines employee in Phoenix made us check our stroller through to the island, so we had no stroller and had to carry him around (until we just gave in a bought a smart cart). Luckily on the way home the St. Maarten travel agent was nicer and we got to keep it for the return trip.

So happy to play- thank you Aunt Shannon for the blanket!

Daddy is happy at the Irish Pub!

Our makeshift stroller

Sunset over the wing as we fly over the Atlantic

Upon arriving on the island, where we were to stay at Grandmom Davis' timeshare The Flamingo Beach Resort, we found out that the rest of the family got caught in Phoenix due to hurricane shut downs of other airports, so we were lucky to have family friends there for us on the 4th of July!

Emerson spent his first 4th in a foreign country, where there were no fireworks, which greatly saddened his patriotic and pyromaniac mother, but we still grilled and you really couldn't complain as we were staying right on a private beach in a bay.

Emerson's 1st 4th of July outfit!

The "horrible" view that wasn't fireworks

Emerson's first time in the Atlantic!

Yep, that is a shark hat. Too cute.

A patriotic family.

Swimming with daddy!

Other adventures included traveling to yet another country, Anguilla, and seeing the most perfect and secluded white sand beaches ever. (And perhaps drinking the strongest Rum Punches ever). We got a private pirate ship tour in St. Maarten. Mom and dad got to Scuba dive while grandmom and friends watched Emerson. The cousins and aunt and uncle Keiren, Aidan, Brett, and Anji got a lot of baby time! We ate great food, especially on the French side, and mostly sea food, and we relaxed a lot in the water. Emerson seemed to really enjoy the ocean and slept really well the entire trip.

A true "beach bum" playing in sand

Do you want to snorkel?

No, just nap on the beach in my cabana

Getting on the pirate ship in my pirate onesie!

Cups keep me happy while we sail.

As does chewing on rib bones- so yummy!

Up on the prow with the family! So windy and so fun!

May have had a few too many rum punches.

Mom found her an anchor! No surprise...

Oriental Beach Bar lounging

Waiting for my cousins to swim with the dolphins on Anguilla. Auntie tied me in the chair

A private beach on Anguilla where dad found his own "lounge chair"

And so did mom!

Swimming with the cousins and daddy!

And I had to try eating sand at least once while we waited for the planes to land at sunset beach.

Oh, and one time I took a little nap myself, and when I woke up I couldn't find Emerson or Kyle in the water where they had been. I frantically looked around until all of a sudden, there they were, on the floating raft WAY off shore. Awesome.

Emerson "swam" out there on daddy's chest. Good thing Kyle is such a good swimmer and trained lifeguard.

I will say it is certainly easier to have family on vacation to help out, as Kyle and I even got a date night, and to have a condo with a kitchen and American electric outlets.

Goodbye island life!

Overall, thank you to everyone who made it such a wonderful and relaxing vacation. I even got to finish Fault in Our Stars, only the 2nd book I got to read for pleasure since Emerson was born. And we returned to school tanner, more relaxed, and feeling like our summer was fulfilling.

Finally- Our Peruvian Adventure

So, it may have been 3 months ago, but I have been a bit busy with a little one and it was hard to choose just a few pictures of our great Peruvian adventure to share with you.

I will note that this post is only going to share our travels and not even my brother's wedding, so there is still more to share.

There is something magical about seeing the clouds from above.

Sitting on daddy's lap to eat on the plane!

First, our 3-hour plane ride to Houston, followed by a 3-hour layover that was extended by 2 hours due to a delay, and then another 6-hour flight, was actually much better than we imagined. Mostly because I thought we were flying through LA first, and didn't even realize that was not the case until the day before we left. Emerson was excellent. The people in the row behind us on the plane said it was like we did not have a baby. He slept the majority of the long flight, and allowed for me and Kyle to watch movies ("Gravity") and feel like the old days when we traveled without a sleeping baby spread across our laps. My advice: splurge for the extra 6-inches of leg room (thank you US Airways) and get the row of 2 seats along the edge of the plane so you don't have to share the space. Totally worth the extra cost per person.

The boys sleeping in the terminal in Houston, as always...

Waiting patiently for our flight...

At least Emerson go some play time in with the extra waiting time in Houston

Then, we arrived in Lima EXTRA late, and were picked up by my future sister-in-law's mom and family. We only got about 4 hours of sleep before returning to the airport to leave for Cusco the next morning.

Cusco was GREAT. It is definitely a tourist town, and despite its 11,000 foot altitude, it was warm in the sun and full of culture and activity. A great town square is surrounded by hotels and restaurants. We stayed a bit of a ways from the city center, but our hotel was modern and clean. We had a free breakfast buffet and plenty of space there, but it was a bit cold at night with only a tiny space heater to keep the room warm.

We immediately left for a city tour after getting picked up at the Cusco airport by our guide for the stay, Pablo. Pablo was 74, but looked about 55. He did EVERYTHING for us. Thanks to my sister-in-law, Irina, we were hooked up with an all-inclusive stay and didn't even had to order a taxi. Pablo escorted us anywhere we wanted to go. Unfortunately, our luggage did not arrive with us, so we left for the city tour in inappropriate attire for the chill that fell over the city after the sun set. And I was wearing flats, not exactly the best shoes for walking on ANCIENT cobble-stone paths and climbing stairs that have existed since the time of the Incas. I also did not realize that the CITY tour was really a tour of the countryside ruins, and therefore would not be suitable for stroller. Needless to say, we had our own adventure of figuring out how to tour with a baby. Luckily, for most of our tours, Emerson slept while we drove on the buses and fed when we had pit stops. He was the perfect age to be adaptable.

Another odd thing on the city tour was that my uncle, who had hiked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu that week, was coincidentally on the same tour as us, so we had back up.

I could go on for pages about what we saw just on that 4-hour tour the first day, but here are a couple highlights in picture form. Our guide that tour, Marco Antonio, was one of the highlights, as at every stop he'd tell a story, and then hold us in suspense as we walked to the next landmark by posing a question, such as "Who was the most important god to the Incas?" and then saying "Let me show you..." So, where did we go on that first day? Let me show you....

Emerson outside our hotel, The Eco Inn, and the great street decor

Our first stop- the monastery that contains Incan temples inside of it.

A replica of the ancient structure of the Incan religion in gold

Monastery tour

Hanging out with the uncle Tom

Emerson slept through the tour, of course

This was pronounced "Sexy Woman"

The ruins were incredible- these stones were all set in place WITHOUT machines!

Family pic!

That is Cusco in the background

A shot of the entirety of the ruins

This pictures gives you a better perspective of how large those stones were- impressive!

Another family picture of the ancient village

Kyle and Emerson taking a "breather" at 12,000 feet

An ancient aqueduct

We took Emerson through a cave tunnel in the pitch black despite our guide's insistence that we didn't.

We finished the night off with Pisco sours, traditional Peruvian cuisine, and the best Peruvian beer- Cusquena Negra.

The following day was MACHU PICCHU!!! So exciting to see one of the wonders of the ancient world. We saw it in what many consider to be the "cheating" way- via train and bus- but we still hiked around the ruins plenty, with a baby strapped to us. Most of the tourists were shocked that we had a baby with us. We were one of the few tour groups that had children at all, much less an infant. Emerson had to eat midway on our tour, so I had a walking feeding for the first time (and last), and it was a bit rainy and cloudy, so we had to keep him dry at first, but overall it was still an amazing experience. We were sad to only be in the area for 1 day. The town was SO touristy, with mostly pizza joints, hostels, and bars, but would have been cool to explore a little more. And next time, we HIKE in as a family.

Boarding our train

Emerson doesn't even realize how excited his momma is

Riding my first train with dad!

Checking out the astounding scenery

The astounding scenery

This is the chaos that you arrive to when you debark in Machu Picchu Pueblo

Our first view of the ruins and the first family photo opportunity

With dad

It was just cool. That is all.

Some people complain about the clouds, but they just added a special element for us...

From the "postcard" spot

And most people have already seen this one...

That is right. We took our 6-month old to freakin' Machu Picchu

Indulge me one last time- as Emerson woke up for our final shot

Climbing down some scary stairs with a baby strapped to me

Emerson with the llamas/alpacas (I can't remember the difference)

The ever-present sun god

Enjoying the raging river in town

Town square statue

Kyle's favorite- the older natives added authenticity

So, I know you are already exhausted from looking at photos, but we had one more day of touring left. The following day we headed on another long day of riding in vehicles and toured the Sacred Valley, as it is referred to. This is a series of small towns that contain various ancient ruins and require a lot of climbing as well. We definitely earned our buffet lunch that day. I hope that somewhere I have an itinerary that states exactly where we went and how to spell them, but for the purpose of this blog, I think it is best to once more inundate you with pictures.

Emerson with more alpacas at a roadside market stop

These fields are even older than Machu Picchu

Playing in the ruins

Overlooking the Sacred Valley

The original Ergo Baby- Peruvian Edition

Hiking the ruins in the rain- it was no joke! Luckily Emerson had shelter

We went up and back down that fortress

Emerson was fascinated watching the demonstration of making alpaca yarn

He really liked their hats!

As you can see we were really overprotective of him with strangers...

And he now owns this hat...

Our last evening in Cusco after attending a dinner show. Emerson's eyes are closed!

But we returned the next morning to say goodbye to the Plaza de las Armas

After the adventure portion of our trip ended, we returned to Peru to meet up with the family and enjoy the wedding festivities of Irina and Brian!

We will continue the Peruvian Adventure on another post so we can focus on Lima and the wedding! But if you hung in here this long- THANK YOU! Or should I say Gracias?!