So long, January. January was so long.

Well, January came and went with barely a peep out of us. Maybe we had our heads in the snow for most of the month. January is notorious around here for bringing the worst of winter in the form of post-holiday blues and frigid temps, and everyone does a little dance when February 1st rolls around.

Probably the real reason for our radio silence is that T started back to work. That's right, after two years in school and seven months as daddy supreme, Mr. R is once again picking up a paycheck. Three weeks in we're still getting used to our new lifestyle. Although it's not without some significant concessions (and daily "daddeeeee" searches conducted by Luca), so far we're all feeling better than expected about this stage, and T is certainly glad to put his business school knowledge to work. Of course, we could all revolt at any moment and beg for a return to our carefree road-trip days...

Where's Dad going?

Better try on Dad's shoes.

A Very Allen New Year

This New Year's Eve, we traveled to Portland, Oregon where we gathered with the Allen family to celebrate Auntie Kasi & Uncle Dan's wedding. Once Luca and T forgave the travel agent (me) for our terrible two-pronged flight, we happily settled into the 8th floor of the downtown Embassy Suites, with family and friends around every corner.

Come wedding day, everyone donned their finery and met to witness the lovely Celtic ceremony uniting Kasi, Dan and their children. And once the first dj-amplified note rang out at the reception, Luca hit the dance floor and didn't leave it until the place was shut down three hours later. Must have been the dancing shoes...

or all the pretty ladies...



Either way, Luca very nearly stole the show and had the time of his life dancing with his cousins and friends, giving & getting a hundred hugs and kisses along the way.

We heard a message loud and clear from many parents this weekend that we should savor this time in Luca's life, that the time passes all too quickly. Between seeing Luca's cousins whose births I remember as if they were just a year or two ago, and watching Luca who is growing and changing in fast forward, it's clear that the advice would be well taken. We're all the more thankful for having had the luxury of time together over the last six months.

Squeezes for L & T

So grown up...H & N

Ho! Ho! WAHHHHHHH!!!!

Today we hustled down to the mall after naptime to test Luca's Santa-friendliness. Though he's become acquainted with storybook Santas and even busts out a "ho-ho-ho" when he sees a guy in a red suit, the real thing elicited an unsurprisingly sad reaction. He even cried as he munched the candy cane Santa offered to placate him.

On the other hand, Luca thinks his Johnson cousins are top notch. He and Ben Casey have a particularly poignant connection that seems to have a lot to do with a shared admiration for things with wheels. Here they are at a stoplight.

Sledding

These were taken yesterday before the real snow arrived. The next Tomba la Bomba? My gut tells me yes.

Luca at 17 months

Yesterday the chief hit 17 months. We just had a catch-up appointment with the doctor and have fresh measurements, so we thought we'd share them.

Weight: 26 lbs, 1 oz
Height: 33 inches
Head: 19 inches

Our pediatrician was pleased to note the strong upward trend in Luca's growth, particularly when it come to height. He had a dip a couple of visits back, which could fairly have been attributed to either/both his actual growth or to the fairly unscientific kleenex box measuring convention that the office employs. Either way, he's heading in the right direction -- up.

Besides working on growing, Luca's been developing his ball-handling skills. Until he can transition to snowballs, he's enjoying chasing the tennis ball around the yard, and up & down our street.

Spaghetti Western: Epilogue

Our wheels have been at rest for about 10 days now, long enough for us to feel both like it's time to move on again and like it's great to be back at home.

After more than two months on the road, we became accustomed to the nomadic lifestyle in many ways. Thanks to generous friends and family, we enjoyed well-outfitted, comfortable, and often luxurious accommodations. In San Francisco, we had the added benefit of getting into a cohabitation routine with our good friends Matt & Sarah, and Luca had a built-in playmate (co-toy thief) in the delightful Alexandra. In Newport Beach, we got to spend time with family and really enjoyed the beach.

In many small ways, life was more manageable while we were on the move. We ate out a lot (burritos, burritos, burritos) and only bought the groceries we truly needed because we couldn't leave anything behind. Without the responsibilities of home, we found ourselves with extra time to read and exercise, and to enjoy California in the best of seasons.

At the same time, we got the itch to get back home. I started to run out of steam when it came to unpacking and repacking the suitcase, and relished the thought of selecting an outfit from my closet rather than from a pile of clothes on the floor. Luca was a champion traveler, but towards the end we grew eager to give him the stability of waking up and playing in his own house. And of course we couldn't wait to lay eyes on our Minneapolis friends and family.

Our collective wanderlust is far from finished, though. In six more weeks T will resume the traveler's lifestyle when he starts work with Deloitte, with two training trips already planned for his first two weeks. Before that, we're going to celebrate Kasi & Dan's wedding in Portland.

For now though, we're thinking less about packing/unpacking and more about Thanksgiving turkey & wishing for a white Christmas. Have a happy holiday!

Home.

After a couple days at Disneyland/California Adventure and a few really long days on the road, we arrived back in beautiful (but freezing) Minneapolis late on Friday night. More to come later, but here are a few pics/Iphone pics:

SF visit with Aunt Renee, Cousin Brett, and Aunt Marijo (pictured: Renee's glasses and right hand...oops):

Disneyland/California Adventure (who LOVES the teacups?)

Lil' Ryan Seacrest

Note the stranger sitting next to A because her husband felt that riding California Screamin' once was enough. Lily, on the other hand, would have stayed on in a continuous loop if there weren't rules preventing such things.

Rest Stops

Spaghetti Western: Part VI

Today is our final day in San Francisco. Tomorrow we return to Newport Beach where we'll meet up with Omi and the Mazzoccos for Luca's first trip to Disneyland...then we head back to Minneapolis. In honor of our sojourn in Northern California, T put together a slide show of some of the highlights. Enjoy!

Spaghetti Western: Part V Addendum (Maps)

View Spaghetti Western in a larger map

Spaghetti Western: Part V

Since our last post, we have covered another 800+ miles in our western adventure. A week ago we said goodbye to Papa and Gigi in Newport Beach and headed north to San Jose to visit the Mazzoccos. On Sunday we all piled into the MazzMobile for T's first ever trip to the famous Halfmoon Bay Pumpkin Festival, a long-standing Allen family tradition. Being able to go this year with my sis Wendi was a special highlight of the trip, and Luca felt the same way about enjoying his first pumpkin fest with his cousins.


In fact, Luca loved every minute of our time with his aunt, uncle and cousins, so much so that we were a little worried that he'd be bored with just the two of us when we left on Wednesday for Yosemite. Fortunately for us, he adjusted gracefully and we enjoyed our visit to Yosemite - another first for T and Luca. Though we didn't get in as much hiking as we had hoped, we did get to see many sites, including the Mariposa Giant Sequoia Grove, on foot and through the car windows.

L, T & Half Dome at dusk

An interpretation of a classic Allen photo of mom & me when I was a baby

Yesterday we left Yosemite and after an unremarkable night in Madera we arrived today in beautiful Carmel where we'll stay the weekend before moving on to our next destination - San Francisco! Until then, goodnight from Carmel...

Il bambino cammina.

The wiggle walk set to Luca's favorite song:

Rumor has it that a few inches of snow fell overnight back in Minneapolis. Even though Fall is overtaking us here in Newport Beach and the skies are overcast for the first time since we arrived, the cold, white stuff seems like a figment of someone's imagination at the moment.

The warm temps here have afforded us a number of beach days and Luca has surprised both himself and his parents by enjoying letting the waves wash over him, sometimes even crying as they retreat. He's grown so comfortable with sand that the other day he took off from our oasis of towels and crawled about 100 yards without looking back. We're fairly sure he would have joined a party that he saw going on at one of the nearby houses if we hadn't intervened.

He's gaining confidence on his feet as well. Since we've been in California, he's figured out how to stand without the help of a furniture prop, and he's discovered that this latest trick gets a big reaction. And though we haven't yet caught any independent steps on video, he's tallied up a dozen or so shuffle steps walking from one of us to the other. The most curious thing about Luca and walking is that if we ask him to walk, he crumples to the floor and cries, so we have to be creative in how we encourage him. Looks like that open-mouthed smile might not be the only trait that he inherited from his parents!

Luca the Lion takes down the Tigers.

Here's an iPhone pic that A took last night as Luca and I supported each other through the massive ups and downs of Twins fever:



And here we are chest-bumping/hugging when it finally came down in our favor (at least I think this is us):

Spaghetti Western: Part IV

It's been an eventful couple of days for our troop of fearless road warriors. We covered 800 miles over Tuesday and Wednesday, not counting the extra hundred or so that we incurred when we had to go from UT to AZ to NV back to AZ back to UT because we (I am choosing not to name names) left our 'important bag' (which according to -hint- Alexis -hint- contains checkbooks, keys to the house in Newport Beach, bills, Luca's birth certificate, etc.) in our hotel room. Completing this leg of our trip put the grand total of traveled miles at a whopping 2,705, which means we've traveled more than 1/100 of the distance from the center of earth to the center of the moon. So there.

We had planned on including the Grand Canyon in our trek, but it got pushed to the return trip to Minneapolis after we saw Bryce Canyon National Park and concluded we'd be disappointed by any and everything else we saw. Our revised drive took us from Park City to Bryce to St. George to Las Vegas to Newport Beach, with Luca cooperating more often than not.

Our southwesterly progress offered particularly beautiful, albeit it foreign and unforgiving scenery, and of course we took a few pictures...

Bryce Canyon National Park

From Sunset Point:

Rocks lit-from-within


Included for scale. See the tiny hikers entering the canyons.

From Bryce Point:








Red Rock Canyon (on the way in and out of BCNF):

Las Vegas

Ceiling at the Bellagio: Chihuly's flowers

Newport Beach

So SoCal

Visit w/ Great Grandma

Video Interlude

We will fill in some details shortly, but for now here is a one minute video recap of how and where we spent Tuesday morning through Wednesday evening (thanks to the new version of Google Earth).