downtown

we took a day going to all our favorite places in downtown seattle to give beau a taste of why the pacific northwest is the place. of course we started with...

feeding the seagulls french fries at ivar's.




some were more daring than others.
uncle matt was the photographer and egged everyone on to the point of stuffing french fries
in their beanies/hair for the seagulls to swoop down and grab.

and onto...

the infamous gum wall at pike place market

and we drove to queen anne for a view...

we had some good outtakes. at least the boys got higher than the girls.

my absolute favorite.
sage is so lucky.

we also browsed ye olde curiosity shop and paid a visit to the fremont troll.
and then the rain came down. the usual.
despite the wet, all of this reaffirmed my love for seattle.
and my family. and my little girl.

christmas in seattle

nate's brother flew out to spend christmas in seattle with us. it was so fun to have him there and show him around. we kept up on lots of traditions like riding the carousel at pioneer square + hot chocolate at dilettante, matching christmas eve pjs for just the girls this year, mexican food on christmas eve with all the balkmans, driving around to look at lights, and a beautiful new christmas dress for sage. nate and i were in heaven as we filled our plates with turkey and mashed potatoes since we missed them at thanksgiving.

beau works for nike and capitalized on his employee discount :) nike for all this year!

dad and his girls

skyping with my little brother, chandler, who is serving a mission right now

she was all about those tree lights

then santa came knocking and everyone wanted to sit on his lap...

grandma was an especially good girl this year

sage hogged santa's lap, probably because she knew that lap
also belonged to her favorite great uncle matt

christmas morning goodness

my mom even made sage matching pajama pants

i'm ready for round two already.

six months

it's like sage transformed overnight. she's grown so much since we've been in america!
she sits like a champ
she rocks back and forth
she is bright-eyed and happy



and wrapping paper was the best christmas present ever.

whistler, canada

after chicago, we finally arrived in seattle...and promptly loaded up the car for a ski trip.
it's always a treat to drive up to my family's condo in whistler, british columbia. we spent christmas at the condo last year, and just did a four day trip this year. turns out sagie is more well behaved on a 14 hour flight than a 5 hour car ride. she is not friends with her car seat. that girl likes to move!

everyone took a turn watching sage so nate and i could ski and snowboard. it felt so good to be back in the snow--it had been over a year since i'd been skiing.
we went with my uncle matt's family and had a blast.

this hat kills me.
my mom is the sweetest grandma and made sure sage had warm clothes to wear in the states
since we literally all came with one jacket and that was it.

beautiful little sister

it's always a party with uncle matty

my cousin blake and i used to take ski lessons together

riding the peak to peak

chitown

we spent five wonderful days in chicago, and mostly it all just made us miss this beautiful city where we have such fun friends, where our baby was born, and where we really established our family. it still feels like home. but i am so not missing chicago's january weather...

we got all the dirty work (doctor appointments for all!) out of the way so we could just play. chance and angela so kindly let us take over tate's room for the week, and it was an excuse to stay up all night chatting and laughing so hard.

we saw the nutcracker performed by the joffrey ballet, ate delicious steak (almost nonexistent in singapore), experienced shelling out $$ for a babysitter for the first time, got to see my dear friend kristen and her hubs in our old apartment building, sat on santa's lap, bought sage warmer clothes, and visited with lots of friends. oh, and nate worked a little between all that. party pooper.

poor sage was crying and crying until tate (one of many acceptable choices for a future husband)
introduced her to baby einsteins


happy tate and unsure sage
i think she was just jealous that he could crawl and she was stuck watching


i love that ange is holding the creeper santa's hand

and then it was on to seattle...

washington d.c.

from rome, we finally flew to america! it was like a breath of fresh air as we stepped off the plane at dulles airport. we had a short 24 hour layover and got to spend a night at rob and hannah's cute apartment on capitol hill. after a dinner of mediterranean goodness, shakes at good stuff eatery, and walking around their charming neighborhood, i almost want to move to d.c.

we spent a cold cold cold morning walking around the monuments, wandering through the smithsonian air and space museum, and eating lunch at boston market of all places. roast chicken and over-buttered corn never tasted so good. i wish we could have visited with more d.c. friends, but we were short on time and sleep!

had to get our traditional shot...
we take a picture of sage on nate's shoulders in every place we visit

roman holiday

up next was rome.
i traveled to rome with a bunch of girls when i studied abroad in paris, so it was fun to return to this beautiful city...and with a slightly bigger budget (last time i was counting my pennies to make sure i could buy gelato that day). we were feeling the jet lag at this point, and took part of a day to just rest. sage slept while we watched angels and demons to really get in the mood, then we took a walk in the vatican at night.

we spent four days in rome walking everywhere, eating pizza like it was our job, finding christmas presents, and soaking up the history. it was a little wet and cloudy, and didn't come close to germany in awesome christmas decorations, but we loved it all. nate's favorite was the colosseum, jess liked the pantheon, and sage was just happy to be carried.


when in rome...eat zucchini sausage pizza at dar poeta

looking up the walls of the colosseum




the gladiator shot


sun break

love this little round face.
and can all my children please have dimples?






i had to get comfortable feeding sage anywhere real fast on this transworld adventure.
this bernini fountain is where my nursing cover blew off and i probably flashed twenty people. oops.














throw a coin in the trevi fountain to ensure your return to the eternal city




the view from our room...
st. peter's basilica at sun rise