Sebastian’s Quiver

Having sold our house in Decatur, we decided that it was finally time to take a weekend off and head to the coast.  We chose Manzanita, which was both pretty close (only a two hour drive) and also highly recommended by everyone.  We found a nice house across the street from the beach at the last minute and headed out there on Friday afternoon.  We had a great time just hanging out, reading, and taking walks on the beach.

While we were hanging out inside, Sebastian finally did what he’s been trying to do for two months now:  crawl.  He took his very first official crawling steps.  He FINALLY figured out how to, when on all fours, to pick up his hands and move them forward.  Up until now his hands would remain stationary and he would move his butt up and down and back and forth trying to locomote.  First, one hand move forward, then a leg.  Then he did it again.  He was crawling!

That was a week ago, and now he’s crawling all over the place.  He chases Misha; he crawls to the speaker wires (he LOVES wires and cable); he crawls here; he crawls there; he crawls everywhere.

The other thing that he’s figured out is how to stand himself up!  He can go from sitting or crawling, to pulling himself up on things into a standing position.  He’s done it on both of us and he’s done it on the open dishwasher (which he loves).

Every day it’s something brand new.  It’s very exciting.

Here are some photos from our trip to Manzanita.  As usual, all the photos are on the photoblog (and there are a LOT of them).

[War and Peace update: page 96 out of 1455]

Little dude LOVES playing in the sand:

Enveloping mist:

All dressed up for the cold, windy evening:

Solitude:

Enjoying the sun and the surf:

This photo was an accident.  I didn’t expect the different colors:

Colorful sunset with a crescent moon:

Sunday was Juliann’s first Mother’s Day!  Such a rare event deserved very special consideration, so I mulled over many different ideas of what I could do to make the day even more special.  I decided on taking Juliann (and, of course, Sebastian) to her very favorite place in the whole world:  the Oregon Coast.  Of course, I also treated her to breakfast in bed, a box of special gourmet chocolates from Cork, and a gift certificate for a 90 minute massage at one of the nicer spas in Portland.

(An aside:  This past Friday (May 9) was the five year anniversary of the day we first met.  We had a special dinner with a great local bottle of wine and an excellent bottle of dessert wine from Badia a Coltibuno in honor of where we got engaged exactly four years previous.)

Back to Mother’s Day.  Juliann picked up some yummy foods from New Seasons, we packed up the car with changes of clothes and food and extra shoes and socks and rain gear and camera equipment.  Sebastian slept for the entire 90 minute drive to the coast and we ended up at Ecola State Park.  To give you an idea of where we were, here are two photos taken seconds apart (I know the sky is very different in the two photos, but that’s Oregon weather for you).  For a sense of scale, in the first photo, you can see some people down in the lower left corner of the photo.

Sebastian was great, as usual, on our trek outdoors.  He was awake for the beach hike and he was mostly asleep for the forest hike.  Here he is all bundled up on the beach (click to enlarge, like all the other photos):

Juliann is pretty much Sebastian’s full time chauffer.  I find it pretty amazing that she does all the hiking that I do, but with a 16+ pound wait hanging off her frontside.  She is often way out ahead of me, and not just because I stop to take photos.

Here are a couple more photos from the beach.  As always, please go to the photoblog for more photos and captions.

After we finished on the beach, we went back to the car and had lunch.  From there, we went on the forest hike.  The hike was a loop and the first half of the hike was 100% uphill - no small, level stretches, no slight downhills - it was very steep and all uphill, about 1.25 miles and a gain of 800+ ft in elevation.  The forest was beautiful, though.  Huge trees and lush greenery surrounded us.  The second half of the loop took us closer to the coast and we had some wonderful views of the water and beach and lighthouse.  Here are several photos from the hike:

The lighthouse.  For a closeup, go to the photoblog:

So many trees:

One final look back at the beach:

And there you have it!  Our very first Mother’s Day.