Carpe Diem

At some point during the trip Lucy realized she has a tongue.
We got to see her tongue almost every waking hour for the rest
of our trip :-).

From Flagstaff, AZ we hightailed it through the desert to make it to our final destination, Berkeley, CA, a day EARLY. Although we held our breaths for the last two legs of our journey, everything went smooth as a baby's bottom. Driving through the desert at 106 degrees with the Mojave Preserve on our right and the same dry, brutal conditions as far as we could see in every direction with a six month old was the most nerve-wracking part of the trip for both of us. The drive to Bakersfield was 7 hours, the longest part of our trip. I could hardly believe we had arrived when we pulled into a Mexican restaurant and at that point all three of us were ready to be "home," wherever that was going to be.

Despite my fears of her screaming every time
we put her in the seat by the time we made it
Virginia, she seemed to take comfort in the
familiarity of the environment after about a week.

To my great surprise, we never tired of each other. We had moments of turmoil mostly surrounding finding a new definition of adventure and fun. For example, we went to a park called Slide Rock in Flagstaff where the rocks in the river make a natural water slide. This is something that Jim and I could have spent all day playing in together in a life I now can't imagine without Lucy, a life that seems so meaningless, but one that is also so clear in my memories. Jim and I have built our relationship on enjoying each other's company, mostly by playing outside and while it is rewarding and my favorite adventure up to this point, it is sometimes tricky to navigate what it looks like to play with a baby strapped on my front. Other than that, and the two hour detour Jim took when he drove to Fredericksburg, MD instead of Roanoke, VA, our marriage is strongly in tact. I am really going to miss him when he goes back to work. Jim getting laid off was such a gift and we have worked to carpe diem every day since.