Traveling, and Aeli's First Foods

Aeli likes carrots.

He also likes: not sitting in his carseat for hours at a time. Who'd blame him?

We got back late Monday night from travels that began the last week of May. In this time we visited:
Tel Aviv, Batyam, and Jerusalem, my good friend Catharine from France who just happened to be in Georgia, Rita in North Carolina, Hannah and Sha and Adam and crew in Charlottesville and along the Rappahanock River, VA, Stefin's family and some friends in Washington DC, the home and show of a professional dolphin trainer, and Bobby Flay's burger place, in Atlanta, The Bullock's Homestead on Orcas Island, Moran State Park, The EMP, Gasworks Park, and Lake Quinault in the Olympic National Forest.

Aeli entertaining the masses in Virginia.

Making dinner and pitting cherries (that we picked!) at Hannah's house.

One of Aeli's first five boat rides.
(The orange dye of the life vest made it look like he'd been eating Cheetos.)

The boys at Gasworks.

We were efficient.

These places were amazing. The people were even better. The unfun parts were listening to Aeli scREAm to get out of his carseat on the day we did the longest drive stretching it even further grace a one 30-minute wrong turn. Fun parts included: Aeli swimming in 5 out of 6 of our Eastern road-trip states, in rivers and lakes and streams, cooking and playing with friends, camping with family, a custard-off in which Stefin was the only participant but we were all willing recipients, hiking with Aeli in the backpack, Stefin and I getting to meet some of each other's best friends in the whole world, and, as Erin put it, "anytime we were singing."

Aeli swimming in South Carolina, just minutes before we got out and that huge thunderstorm you can see behind us rolled in.

It was really hard for me to drive away from Lake Quinault, where so many of my best friends were standing around, not really doing anything anymore but not ready to leave, hugging and joking and drawing in the dust on Tim's car. There are moments where it just seems stupid to live across the country from so many people I love.

The homies at Quinault.

Maybe if the weather had sucked it wouldn't have been so sad to leave. It.Was.GORGEOUS.

We're back in New Orleans now, and the weather's not as deadly as I anticipated. We're into the season of daily thunderstorms. So every afternoon between one and three there is a huge downpour, and then it's cool(er) as we move on into evening.

It's nice to be back in this place that we've had so many adventures in all together. Stefin and I are going to try to see The Blow tonight, and Aeli is going to continue to try to eat everything he possibly can. Except peas. He seems to share my sentiment about those (the cooked kind). Also: it looks like we get to move into the apartment we so want to be ours! We'll be neighbors with the old roomies, and hopefully be able to host our wedding/reception in our own courtyard! Plus, Aeli can go cut a rug on Frenchmen St. whenever he so pleases!

One last bit of random: Made this chocolate tart recipe the other night. The part I sequestered to keep for ourselves- I couldn't even wait for long enough to get the ganache topping onto it. Yum!