The DeCook Family Adventures: Road Trip! (And 6 month portraits!!)

Back in December when Emmett was 5 months old, Todd and I planned to take our first road trip with Emmett up to the San Juan Islands. Unfortunately, Emmett and I caught a nasty flu the week before and Todd insisted that we cancel the trip. A few weeks ago, we finally rescheduled the trip and made the trek back up to San Juan Island. Getting to the San Juans from Portland requires a 4 hour drive, assuming you miss Seattle traffic, and then an hour and a half ferry ride, assuming you catch the express ferry to Friday Harbor.

The voyage is totally worth it. That said, planning our prior trips with the drive and the ferry was complex enough on it's own, throw in an infant who really likes his to stick to his schedule and this coordination becomes as complex as a chess match! We based our travel schedule on two things- when Todd could leave the office and when we had to catch the ferry. Then from there, I backed into Emmett's nap times and feeding schedule to figure out when I would have to wake him up in the morning to ensure that he would be ready for his second nap right when we were ready to leave the house. This part of the trip worked beautifully. By the time Todd came home from work, I had packed up the car (or overpacked it per Todd) and was ready to nurse Emmett and put him in his car seat. Emmett slept the ENTIRE trip up north until we got off I5. At this point, I realized we had made a grave error and had misread the ferry schedule. The ferry we needed to catch actually left at 5:30, not 4 pm. Can you say, meltdown? Our poor little guy was just DONE with his car seat by the time we got to our hotel at 8:30 pm that night.

All of the planning and schedule manipulating resulted in us having a wonderful, relaxed weekend! Something about being up there just relaxes Todd and I. Emmett definitely picked up on that. It's so peaceful and removed from the rest of the world. Much to Emmett's amazement, the weekend was filled with whale, bald eagle and seal sightings. What is THAT, mommy?! It was also the first time he saw the ocean. On the way home, we stopped and had our 6 month photo session with Kristen Honeycutt. We were all pretty worn out at that point from traveling and Emmett was teething but, as usual, Kristen did a great job. The link to her photos and ours from the trip are below.

Emmett is 8 months today. It has been a big week for us! He has cut his first tooth, really crawled for the first time and has perfected his pincer grasp so he can feed himself. All three of these developments are amazing but also mixed blessings. He only has cut one tooth and it's just the top of it that has come through. So as cute as that tooth is, the crying, drooling and other joys of teeth cutting are still continuing. Learning to crawl has occupied Emmett for innumerable hours and has been a great distraction for us. Now that he's actually doing it? I am in trouble...nothing is more attractive to him than hazardous objects. What is so darn interesting about the fireplace?! I was really excited about him learning to feed himself. It was so cute to watch him try to get his Oat O's into his little mouth. The only problem with this development is that our little guy has experienced some independence and he really, really likes it. He is no longer interested in the pureed fruits and veggies Mom and Dad serve him with his cute little baby spoons. He can do it himself. Consequently, our meals are taking A LOT longer and have gotten a lot messier- have you watched an 8 month try to eat a meal of Oat O's and bananas one piece at a time?

Click here to Access Kristen Honeycutt photos

Password: Emmett