Evan's First Trip to the Beach

Sorry it's taken me so long to post, but after our weekend away, I've just been trying to catch up on everything around the house/work. We had a great time. We drove down to Port Aransas, TX (near Corpus) where we had rented a condo on the beach with the Krolls and Blankenships. We all got there early afternoon on Friday and headed out to the beach. The weather was great... hot, but a nice breeze. The second we put Evan down, he just crawled right into the water. He was totally loving the beach. We'd try to keep him from getting splashed in the face, but he really didn't seem to mind when it did happen. We'd walk with him out into the waves, and he was just laughing as they'd pull and push him. It was a lot of fun although not like the old days when we could just relax and read a book on the beach!

The next day we went down on the beach again. It was somewhat hard to coordinate 3 kids (ages 2 1/2, 10 months, and 6 months) who all had different eating/napping schedules. So, we weren't all down on the beach a whole lot. But, we still had a lot of fun. They also had a pool at the condo so after the beach, we headed to the pool (which was more like a hot tub). Evan tried out his new float and seemed to enjoy that as well! On Sunday, the ladies cooked a nice breakfast for the Fathers before we all headed back up to Austin. Overall, a great weekend with friends. Hope we can do it again soon! We are off to Florida for the 4th of July so Evan will get to have some more fun on the beach.

Last Day in Montreal

Today is our last day in Montreal. It's been a great vacation (minus Grandpa's cold which has kept him feeling under the weather most days). After our trip to Montreal on Tuesday, we spent the rest of the time up on the mountain. On Wednesday, we all went into the village for a late breakfast. Then, we went back later in the day to do some shopping, play miniature golf, and have a drink/snack after mom just barely beat us at golf. It was a tough course! We stayed in and watched 27 Dresses that night (even Grandpa thought it was funny).
Thursday, the weather was getting nicer so we went for a morning walk. After lunch, we took the gondola up to the summit of the mountain and hiked around up there. There were gorgeous views of Lac Tremblant and the surrounding hills, mountains, and National Park. Evan again enjoyed hiking in the backpack.
On our last day in Tremblant, we had our best day of weather. We did a morning walk down to the Le Diable river. Then, we relaxed before heading to the Old Village of Tremblant for lunch at an Irish pub. After lunch, we checked out the pool before walking to the village to spend the rest of our Canadian money! We bought some souvenirs and of course, an apple cinnamon crepe... yum.
That's it for us! We are packing up and heading out bright and early tomorrow. Evan and I will be back in Austin about 4pm. We had a great time with Grandma and Great-Grandpa. Hopefully, we can do another trip with everyone soon.

First Days in Montreal

We made it safely to Montreal on Sunday after a long day of travelling. We had a fun layover in Chicago visiting Kel, Tim, and Connor! It was great to see them and meet Connor. Evan had fun exploring their apartment and showing them what babyproofing will be required in the next month or so.

We are staying north of Montreal on Mont Tremblant at a really nice resort. Our first day, we ate breakfast in the village at Catherine's Creperie and explored. We took a little nap then headed out to Parc Du Mont-Tremblant, a Canadian national park. We did two hikes in the park. The first was a 5 KM round trip hike that was up to a view called La Roche. Here are some pics from the hike:

The second hike was to Chute Du Diable, a beautiful, rushing waterfall. We took some pics there as well.

The hikes were both fun. Evan had a blast riding in the backpack carrier and was giggling the whole time. The only bad part is that it's bug season here so there were tons of bugs in the park. Fortunately, we all came through without any bites!

Today, we headed into Montreal. We saw the beautiful Basilica de Notre Dame. It's gorgeous and very ornate inside:

After taking a tour of the church, we headed to Old Montreal to have lunch, shop, and walk around. It was very rainy today but cleared up in the afternoon so we could walk around. Then, we made our way back to the resort for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow, we are hoping the weather will be nice so we can go up to the top of Mont-Tremblant. I hope to post again before we come back on Saturday. Overall, we are having a great time!

Evan Really Wants to Walk

Evan really wants to walk. He constantly wants to hold your hands and walk anywhere and everywhere. He's getting much better at standing on his own and walking while just holding one hand. I think he is getting pretty close to walking. Today, he was actually standing and taking a couple steps towards Bryce and I on his own! We tried to capture it on video so here's a little snippet. He lets go and then takes a step or two, stops and stands, and then takes some more until he gets to Bryce. Hard to believe he might be walking so soon!


Also, Evan and I leave for Montreal on Sunday morning. We have a layover in Chicago where we'll get to see Kel, Tim, and Connor. Then, we'll board our flight to Montreal where we are spending a week with Grandma Hammel and Great Grandpa Richard! We plan to do some hiking, sight seeing, and relaxing. Not sure if I'll take my computer or not. If I do, I'll try to write to the blog at least once. If not, I'll just send everyone an update when we get back. Au Revoir!

Evan's Photo Shoot

On Monday, I finally got the time to do Evan's 9 month photo shoot (even though he's almost 10 months). We had a ton of fun. Evan and I met Kathy at this cute park in Austin. Here's a picture from the park:

The weather was great since it was early morning... not too hot and not too sunny. At this park, they have lots of cute ponds and also peacocks all over! Evan had a blast, and we got some really cute pics. They are on the photographer's website: http://www.kwhittakerphotography.com/ -> Online Proofing -> Baby Evan Session #1 2 3 4. A password is required so if you are interested, email me or comment on the blog and I'll email you the password (just don't want the whole world looking at them). That same place has the other photos that we chose from previous sessions as well if you wanted to see those. Vote for your favorites so we can choose which 10 to get!

In other news, Evan still has this cold. We are going to the Doctor tomorrow since it's progressed to a cough. Just want to make sure he's okay before we leave for Montreal on Sunday.