house pics old and new

This weekend we took some last time family pics at our old 515 home. We'll miss our 17 years there. My family's to love!

the newlyweds:)

And here are some shots from "our" area of the upstairs inside the new house...


living area and bedroom


below our lookout


desk area/laundry and guest/nursery (eventually)



On Sunday we spent some time splatter painting, per Becka's inspiration, to raise money for a nonprofit. I did a couple extra for the baby nursery:) Slowly but surely it will come along!

Home Sweet Home

Visiting Tacoma was super fun, and we finally made it back to CO. We actually live somewhere now! Our travel whirlwind has (basically) come to an end. We have a great setup in the upstairs of my parents' new house in Highlands Ranch, about 15 minutes from our friends the Broweleits and also my midwife and hospital. When I've mustered enough energy, I hope to explore the long, winding walking trails through the neighborhoods/suburbs and swim and bike at the rec center. And crash as many garage sales as possible for baby stuff. We still have a gigantic pile of boxes to sort through, but things are coming together. We're not committed to a certain amount of time to live here, but we sure won't complain if it's longer than shorter! We'll post more indoor pics soon.

My brother got married a few weeks ago to the loveliest Jaya, and we couldn't be happier for them. We can't wait to hang out with them more!

On the baby front, only 10 more weeks until the due date. Karate Kid/Watchamacallit/Big Bird (names it has adapted) is jabbing and growing a lot, and I've recently been getting to know Braxton Hicks contractions. Sleeping is less solid, and there still remain a few pregnancy issues to be resolved, but overall very good. Altitude adjustment so far seems slightly improved, and we're hoping it keeps getting better!
Tim starts at a new Starbucks on Monday, and new milestones will just keep coming. Having a home again is feeling good.

O'Isaacsons in Dublin

The last Europe post! On our way out of Paris we had an overnight layover in Dublin, so we were able to enjoy a few central sights around Merrion Square where we stayed. We perused St. Stephen's Green, a famous shopping street, an old castle, Trinity College, and some great side streets lined with tons o'pubs.



We finally settled on the Vat House for dinner, which was a good, quiet choice. We watched the world dart matchplay championships while eating our Bangers and Mash and Irish stew (can't way Irish food is our favorite, especially coming from Paris!), waiting for the live music to start. Traditional Irish music rocks! The musicians even played a timely bye-bye Boston ballad. It was perfect! See a few more Dublin pics here.

In the meantime, we've landed in Tacoma and are about halfway through our 10-day stay, vising Tim's family, being showered with baby gifts, and seeing as many friends as we can fit in! It's a lot easier for me to breathe here than it was in CO. Baby has entered week 29 and is still jabbing up a storm. Hiccups are a new addition the past couple of weeks as well. Third trimester, here we come!

Mont Saint Michel, Normandy

We took one overnight trip outside of Paris to an old Abbey on an island on the northern coast: Mont Saint Michel. We stayed on the island, which used to be isolated by daily tides but now has a permanent road connecting it to land 24/7. It was still cool to watch the tides run way out into the distance and race in (some French say it's like a herd of horses), with sirens sounding on the island to move your cars from the lower parking lots. In the late evening and early morning after all the tourists left, it felt pretty cool.

We had one of our best meals (crepe menu and famous fluff omelet with Normandy cheeses for Tim) overlooking the coast and enjoyed friendly conversation with a French family at the table next to us. We also took a night tour of the abbey, where live music of various sorts awaited us around every corner and echoed off the walls (could have done without some of the weird neon light effects, though).

For more pics, click here.