Abel's favorite place to nap

The adventures of Abel Rae

The weekend of New Years was an exciting one for Abel. He went to Baker for the first time and to Oyster Dome! He was a great sport for both.
It might be a stretch to say he "enjoyed" Baker, but he may have. Well, he liked the contrast between the windows and the window panes! The best part of hanging out in the lodge were all of the visitors. Grandma and Grandpa Rae, Dennis, Tob, and Aneka all stopped by to say hi. And, Grandma watched Abel for a bit so Ian and I could ski together. The one big surprise of Abel's first trip to Baker was the number of people there. We failed to consider the impact of a blue bird day and winter vacation, the place was packed. All in all it was a great day and Ian and I are really excited Abel did so well hanging out in the lodge all day and we can't wait to head up again.


His next adventure, a hike to Oyster Dome, was equally great. We started out late in the day and came out in the dark! I have to admit I forgot how steep and long the trail are and the fact that in the winter parts of the trail are often icy. It lead to a longer day than we expected, but if we'd made it out earlier we could have missed the beautiful sunset. And, we walked out alone which was nice, the trail was pretty busy at the start of our hike.


On our drive home from Oyster Dome Ian and I started talking about our New Year's goals. Both of us realized that one of our goals is the same; we both want to get outside with Abel as much as possible. I think it's going to be a great year.

Abel's smile

Abel's first Christmas

Abel's first Christmas was filled with family, laughter, games, new toys and yummy food. Of course all he noticed were the hugs, smiles and love from everyone as he passed from one set of arms to the other. He loved it!

Ian and I on the other hand were kind of overwhelmed by all of the gifts; Carhartt overalls, books, rattles, felted wool blocks, fun outfits, toy monkeys, fleece suits and more! Frankly the kid made a killing. We did realize that before his first birthday rolls around we'll have to establish a no electronics rule for gifts (ie. no batteries or cords), all of the gifts this time around will be Abel powered and we're really hoping to keep it that way.

Ian and I realized shortly before we started making Christmas dinner that we wouldn't be ready to head home after dinner, which was about Abel's bedtime, so we decided to try our first sleep over. It was great! We stayed up late drinking eggnog and playing games with Kate and Mona and in the morning I got to sleep in while Abel hung out with everyone. I told Ian we could have sleepover's every weekend!

Thanks to everyone for making Abel's first Christmas so memorable, for Ian and I anyway, it was perfect.