Visit to Idaho - Part 1

We recently returned from a long trip to Idaho to visit my family. It was good to see everyone, but it's nice to be back home in our own beds and on our normal routine. Karina was pretty overwhelmed with so many people, so that caused some stranger anxiety and separation anxiety (which caused us and everyone else some stress). I was happy to see her relax toward the end of the visit. I want her to have close relationships with all her extended family.

Anyway, there are a lot of pictures to get through, so this will be a picture heavy post.

Her favorite toy at Grandma's house by far was a lion walker. She spent a lot of time walking with it back and forth across the living room floor (depending on others to turn her around when she ran it into furniture or other obstacles). Here she is with Grandma helping her out.



My parents' neighbors have a llama named Poky. Snoopy was quite intrigued by Poky (they really are interesting animals) and howled at him on several occasions.


Grandpa had fun playing on the floor with Karina, attacking her toes, etc. Karina liked it too.


Karina got to meet her cousins Grant (my sister Allison's son) and Russell (my brother Aaron's son). She thought it was a lot of fun playing with smaller people. At church there are certainly plenty of little children and other babies running around, but we are usually trying to keep her from crawling off and making too much mischief with their things. Actually getting to sit down and play with little kids was a new experience for her and I think she really enjoyed it.

I'm not sure about my nephews though. Grant is really sensitive (he was born with serious heart problems and has been through a lot of medical issues for a three-year-old) so he commented multiple times that she was noisy. Here's Karina playing with Grant.



And here's Karina with Russell. In addition to walking with the lion, she also spent a fair amount of time pushing the tricycle (with or without a rider). Honestly, the tricycle worked out great for us. We could just turn the handlebars and let her walk around in circles without needing us to steer and reposition whenever she bumped into something (like we did with the lion)! Yes, we are very clever.



All that walking around paid dividends. She managed to take a couple little baby shuffle steps unassisted while we were there. Mark it up as a milestone - Karina took her first steps in Idaho shortly before turning one! Good job!



My grandparents (her great-grandparents) also made the trip up from Colorado to see us. Here they are as Karina shows off for them.


Playing with Grandma.


Playing with Snoopy's ear while Grandma is trying to play with her.


Playing patty-cake with Grandpa while Snoopy licks his chops.


Grandpa, Karina, and Russell having fun while Snoopy and Oliver (my brother's cocker spaniel) look on. We took Oliver on our walks and he was so happy to go. He kept pulling forward while Snoopy pulled back to get to a sniff or to go back home. It was kind of funny.


Karina riding the tricycle. Well, not really, but she managed to hold her balance long enough for us to get a cute picture!


Her hair is growing pretty long. We bought some rubber band style hair ties that honestly aren't much bigger than the ones kids used to use for braces, and put her bangs up Pebbles-style. It's going to be the new fashion trend this year from what I understand. We didn't manage to keep it this way for very long (I can't remember if it fell out or she pulled it out), but I imagine it was nice for her to not have hair in her eyes for a little while.


With the great-grandparents.


It probably didn't help Karina's mood that she was busy teething and gained a new tooth with one more on the way while we were there. The teething also meant that she spent a lot of time putting things in her mouth to chew. She loves graham crackers, and also enjoyed nibbling on carrots and jerky. We thought it was hilarious when she put this plush football in her mouth like a little puppy and started crawling around.


Less funny is that she tried to nibble on other items, specifically, people. She chased Grant around wanting to sink her fangs into him, poor little guy. She managed to bite me on my knee and the bruise is just now fading away. Ouch! Here she is eyeing Grant like he's her next meal.


More playtime with Grandma.



Russell and Snoopy lounging in the sun.


The weather was all over the place while we were there (typical Idaho). One morning we actually woke up to two inches of snow on the ground (more than we saw all winter at home). Snoopy loved it, and ran around with Oliver in the backyard and bounced like the happiest beagle in the world on his walk. Here I am with Karina bundled up.


Another day looked significantly warmer so we went for a walk around the river (the prettiest spot in Idaho Falls). We failed to account for the wind, so we had to bundle up with blankets.


Karina, the adrenaline junkie on a snowmobile, and riding with Kermit in a fun little car at a bowling alley/fun park we visited.