bump on the bubble

We've returned from a final epic Northeast adventure! Acadia National Park was one of the last places on our checklist that we wanted to go before leaving the East Coast. Tim's birthday and our 5 year anniversary (theme = wood, perfect for camping in the woods!) were the perfect opportunities.

We departed in our powerful Ford Focus rental car (which the employee insisted was extra powerful to get us up those windy Acadia hills) and arrived Thursday afternoon to Bar Harbor, Maine. First stop, blueberry soft serve and a burger and blueberry beer for the birthday boy.




Another fun coincidence of the trip is Dinah and her friend Allison from VT were planning a trip at the same time, so we met up each day, starting with a walk at low tide across the harbor to a small island. Don't get stuck there after 7pm though, or you're swimming back! Be sure to check out the slideshow for more way wacky pictures.








We then checked into our campground in time to discover a cool lookout over the Atlantic, including an impending full moon rise over the eastern horizon!





Friday we headed to the "bubbles" and Jordan Pondhouse. We hiked from Jordan Pond straight UP the South Bubble, which was awesome, and took this "bump on the bubble" picture to commemorate Karate Kid's 19th week:


(the bubbles are in the distance)


I've been feeling baby movements for the past couple of weeks which is really weird and fun!

Then we descended to Eagle Lake, back around and up the Nubble, and the North Bubble. We were hoping there were stubbles to hike somewhere but only bubbles and nubbles. Finally we ended back at the Jordan Pondhouse for their famous popovers (hollow muffins). The raspberry lemonade was super yummy, and it was fun to meet up again with Dinah and Allison who had been biking all over the island. We ended the day at their campground instead of ours for dinner.



Saturday we intersected again at the top of the tallest peak on the Mount Desert Island, Cadillac Mountain. We think it's called that since a Cadillac could make it to the top. Dinah and Allison ascended via the most vertical route - bouldering straightup - while we took a more leisurely ridge route. So when we happened upon each other again at the top (islands are small!), we rescued them from their treacherous descent by inviting them along our route and then driving them back to their car. They added to the fun with interesting yoga poses. More pics to come...





Saturday ended with more blueberry soft serve and pizza for dinner in town. That night the clouds rolled in and a huge thunderstorm woke us in the middle of the night, but it was kind of cool. It was gone by the time we had planned to get up and watch the sunrise, but lingering clouds definitely hid and muted the effect we were imagining. It wasn't too difficult to go back to bed though:)

Sunday we checked out of our campsite and finished adventuring with a final hike up the Beehive (iron rungs bolted into the boulders!) to the Bowl trail by a lake. This place needs more creative names we decided.





After lunch (Tim had to try lobster tail!) in Bar Harbor (and double ice cream!!), we drove the 5+ hours home, both refreshed and exhausted. It was totally worth it, although we think it doesn't beat the Northwest's beauty. We are blessed to have enjoyed all of these adventures!

eyes photo shoot

A couple of weeks ago we had the privilege of joining up with Anya Hartshorn, a talented friend from UPS who is also a great mom and photographer. She was visiting for a few days and offered to take some pics of us, so we decided on a 'band' theme and headed to some classic Boston sites.

Despite fighting the wind (what's new in Boston), she did a fabulous job! Here are a few favorites:










Check out all of her other great shots (accompanied by an Eyes original song) at anyakathrynphotography.com.



Thanks, Anya!

5 great years

Tim and I get to enjoy the day together celebrating 5 years of marriage, plus a Master's degree, a baby on the way, moving to CO, and a trip to Paris all coming up in the next 6 months! Life is rich and good, and we are super blessed and thankful. Seriously.

I think Tim and my cards to each other are a funny marker of what 5 years of marriage has done to us already. We both independently made tree-themed (wood is 5 year symbol) construction paper cards for each other.

Mine:

Tim's:

And they both have poems on the back. Of course Tim wrote his for me, and I just borrowed someone else's. Even our creativity is becoming one!

Another special anniversary treat was getting to see the babe again at the 18 week ultrasound! It wasn't as active or cooperative as last time and spent a lot of the time standing on its head it seemed, or at least very comfortable right where it was. For awhile its hands and arms were behind its head, sort of reclining in utero. Too early to get up perhaps. Or maybe an acrobat or gymnast? I can't say the pictures are that clear, but feel free to take a closer look!





We are more and more excited every day.

abmaster

No more school! Graduation achieved! I have my MPH and now am commissioned to work toward alleviating disease and poverty.






Husband Super Support






I had to end with the cheesy border shot

But I couldn't do it without looking fairly ridiculous! The sash means Delta Omega - official Public Health Honors Society, I guess. I'll eventually post a public website portfolio of my work from this degree to help people get a better picture of what it means.

It has been a fun 2 years here in Boston and definitely worth the adventure; I can't believe it's already accomplished, and with such faithfulness from God in providing a job at just the right time to pay for it all. Wow.

Mom and dad O came for the extended weekend. We had fun at the Bleacher Bar
at Fenway Park, walking the Freedom trail (for the last time?!), the SOWA artists market, church, graduation, and a trip to the North Shore (see slideshow).
It was great having them on our home turf for a few days.

Mom, the model


Rockport

What have I been doing post graduation?
Eating, mostly.
I made raspberry blackberry pound cake.


Then homemade raspberry marshmallows


And Greek lamb burgers (get it?) with a yummy yogurt cucumber quinoa salad.


Next up: 5 year anniversary! The fun is just beginning!

little onion

17 week Karate Kid is either turnip-baby or onion sized. I pick onion. 5 inches and developing joints these days.

I've definitely entered the weird dreaming phase and while I can't remember all details from every night after about 5 minutes of waking up, I know they've involved missing graduation because the bus was late and I refused to pay for a cab, and eating chili powder while praying for people to make my prayers extra powerful.

Also Karate Kid enjoyed the Freedom Trail yesterday with the parents (or I guess I should say and grandparents) and will, tomorrow, be on stage to accept a Master's degree!

misc. momness

This Mother's Day has been fun and obviously different from any others so far! I started out the morning with a little note from an obviously super-intelligent TBA Isaacson:

It's nice knowing my kids will already understand the anthropologie sales rack from in utero!

We spent the day taking the little one on another trip traversing the hills of north-central Massachusetts. There were a whole bunch of cool cliffs with rock climbers as well, and nice lookouts.

We completed the trip with ice cream and now some relaxing hangout time at home. Next year is going to be REALLY fun!

Anyway, happy mother's day to our super moms, and all you other moms out there (including the newest mom (again) I know, Hillary. Here's another Hadley pic!!)

our little avocado

16 weeks = baby has reached avocado size. (??) Approximately 4.5 inches long AND it urinates every 45 minutes (and sometimes swallows it, don't tell Tim). To me it doesn't yet seem like like it could be avocado size, but the belly will pooch in its own time (and it has some constant frozen yogurt and brown sugar poptarts feeding it these days!). It is weird actually taking a picture to capture weight GAIN, but here's the best we got:

Little Avo will be properly and organically decked out early on with a quality tie-dye CO onesie from Becka and cute beanie Tim's mom just knit! sweet! Pretty much as big as my water bottle, whoa.


Let's see what fruit model surfaces for 17 weeks...

excitement!

We have two new exciting editions to our lives. The first is very exciting. We are so happy to welcome our new niece, Hadley Kate into the world. Check out this picture. She is the sweetness!

Second, and not quite as exciting, is the new song we've written and posted on our music site. Click here to take a listen. Maybe we should write an epic song about Hadley battling robots and saving the planet. Now, that would be exciting.

Springy classlessness and FREEdom

No more school! Spring is in full effect. I had my last class on Wednesday night and FREEdom feels more and more fabulous every day. I still am working full-time through the end of June, when we move out of our apartment. And fly to Paris (yippers!). So now I get to focus on: 1) reading baby books (and finding place of care in CO), into the 2nd trimester already; 2) planning the daily in-betweens of fun times between Paris and Vienna; 3) packing! And simplifying life even more, which is also FREEing.

Since our last smashing deput post, a lot has happened:

Marathon Monday (wasn't the same without the Mangrums)

Trip to see Trip
(and Kira, Anya and Asher Campbell in New Jersey), where we played with their cute kiddos and ate great food (again).

And of course we stopped for one last NYC cupcake, some of the few we really like in the world.

Then I finished school!

And yesterday I joined a couple of similarly FREE classmates for FREE afternoon sailing in the Boson Harbor, huzzah! It was a gorgeous day for it.

This morning I took a lovely bike ride to the Arnold Arboretum, where blooms galore enhanced my Springy freedom feelings.

As for a baby update, still good to go. Next week will probably suffice for a belly shot since there is minor protrusion occurring. Fun times!