eastward bound

I know many of you have been patiently waiting to hear our latest and greatest news....

View Larger Map

if you click on the view larger map you can see exactly where we are headed!

That's right folks, we're hitting the road again!  Yikes!  There are so many emotions running through our brains - excitement, fear of packing & finding a new place to live, sad to leave our amazing Moscow friends family, but mostly a lot of excitement that we will be closer to our families.  Approximately 4 hours to my parents and 3 hours to Aaron's makes for a perfect place to call home (for 20 months anyways...).

So, some details.... Aaron has accepted a joint USDA postdoc at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.  He will be 'investigating climatic effects on regional forest insect outbreak dynamics' with a gentlemen by the name of Matt Ayres- he is pretty excited as it seems the competition for the job was pretty stiff!  Aaron will plan to start at the end of September, which means we have approximately 2 months to get there.  It is all a bit overwhelming at the moment but we are so excited to be making this move.  Oh right and remember I'm pregnant...oh these travels will be interesting...

And I suppose I can't stress enough the bittersweet emotions we are all experiencing - tearing up while we tell our Moscow friends and smiling so hard it hurts my face to tell my parents we will be moving "home" - the next few months will be interesting to say the least...

Isabelle & Maggie

We have already talked about maggie quite a bit, she is a lovely little lady that Isabelle and I met (along with her momma) at co-op kids a few months ago.  The two of them are two peas in a pod and are wonderful friends.  Yesterday, Maggie came over for a little play date (sans momma - Melissa has a new baby at home Mr. River).  For the most part I let the two girls play at whim until I heard a little uproar over a special toy or marker - nothing a timer couldn't help!  The two girls made beaded necklaces, played dolls & kitchen, snacked on my new favorite muffin (wholewheat banana pecan chocolate chip - recipe to come soon) and played outside.

making fancy jewelry

Isabelle's adorable dress was a gift (hand-me down) from maggie - she decided she didn't like halter top dresses and will not wear them anymore.  In turn we gave one of Isabelle's brand new dresses she refuses to wear.  

Two peas in a pod.

And in recent developments we have some very exciting news to share...but I am going to make you wait - we still have a few people we need to make sure hear the news from us first...I just want to tease you all with the prospect of exciting news to come.

market and more...

This weekend was pretty quiet - which was great!  We woke up early Saturday morning and went for a 8-9 mile bike ride along the Palouse and got back in time to head straight to the farmer's market.  There we stocked up on fruit & veggies we are not producing in are garden: asparagus, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, apricots, blueberries....and of course cherries.

walking with some serious determination...

cherries

We also get to take some time to enjoy local baked goods while listening to some live music and watching the chaos of Friendship Square - lots of kids in a small place... Isabelle is content just sitting back and observing while she eats a cinnamon bun.

yum

lentil kofte w/ yogurt sacue

                           

music & playground madness

And me, well I just love me some cherries...I think more than once this weekend I have given myself a stomach ache by binging on the juicy little fruits....I see some bing cherry ice cream in my near future...

Sunday we made some blueberry pancakes (not as good as my dad's...almost there...) and went to Spring Valley Reservoir for a little walk around the water.  We saw osprey, turtles, fish, geese, and a momma duck and ducklings - Isabelle had a little run in with a rock...but other than that it was quite nice.

Spring Valley

for dinner we had some delicious fish tacos with all the fixings...yum yum yum

And that was our weekend in a nutshell, 5 more days until the next one... can't wait.

want...

I don't normally fish on line for things I can't afford...but I happen to stumble on this one and can't help but share its awesomeness.  Aaron would be so jealous.

anthropologie

poolside

It has been hot hot hot in Moscow these past few days and we have been either retreating to the cool basement, hanging in the shade, eating tons of watermelon, guzzling water....or at the pool.  Moscow has a "nice" pool - in parentheses because I don't know what a nice pool is since I never did that as a kid (the joys of living minutes from the beach...).  Isabelle is still getting re-aquainted with the sunny, loud, and overstimulating poolside - but all in all we both enjoyed dipping our feet and cooling off.

snacking on a pesto roll

Last night even though it was really hot I was craving chili and cornbread.  I made a vegetable & bean chili with wheat bulgar (sans meat - even Aaron approved), buttermilk cornbread, and some fresh squeezed lemonade...and man did it make me sweat even more...but it was sooooo worth it.  It is 9 a.m. here and I am already eye balling my leftovers...  I am personally super excited it is Friday and looking very much forward to weekend fun.  We haven't been to the farmer's market in two weeks and I hear the cherries are in - and man I never understood how good a cherry could be until living out here.  I'm sorry east coast but the cherries they ship to you just do it justice.  

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Selway River

This past weekend we went on a 3 night camping trip along the Selway River (approximately 2.5 hours from Moscow) with our good friends the Ingwells & their "sometimes" friendly pooch, Hailey.  Aaron, Carter, and Hailey drove out early Friday to secure a campsite and Laura, Isabelle, and I headed out a little after.  The weather was beautiful and the drive was great - driving along highway 12 toward Montana is one of the most scenic drives you may ever take.  Upon arrival we were very impressed with our isolated little campsite right on the river (even equipped with an out house!).

Our campsite

Saturday we went on a really nice 4 hour hike (no one was on the trail - I think most people coming to the area were fishing, rafting or 4-wheeling) and returned to take a plunge into the icy river water - it felt so so good!

Isabelle giving momma some love & Hailey

our little family, baby bump and all..

Our camping trips have taken drastic changes in the past few years.  We have put away our light weight gear and moved on to a really big (heavy tent), a big camp stove, and yes...an air mattress.  And I have to say, for this time of our lives car camping is just perfect.  I hope someday to come full circle - break out our "out of date" gear and tent camp again some day with our family - but for now car camping is lovely.    One of the major perks being all the delicious food we ate!  Ribs, chicken kabobs, breakfast sandwiches,  hash browns and ohh the pudgy pies...delicious sandwiches grilled in cast iron mold.

We also discovered Isabelle is in more than one way like her mom.  When I was young anytime I did something a bit out of the norm (like camping) I puked.  And well between all the fun Isabelle was having and the heat (it was in the high 80's-90's) she threw up twice.  Once at night - that was not fun - and once in the morning during breakfast.  She was such a trooper though, as soon as it happened she felt so much better, brushed her teeth, and moved on.  We think she was also slightly dehydrated, the heat and sun really drained me, and I can only imagine what its effect was on her body.  In the future we now know to really push the fluids and try to keep her out of the sun and relaxed as much as possible.  

lounging by the beach at our campsite

enjoying the scenery

Sunday we did another small hike along another small river and then just took the rest of the afternoon to relax at the campsite.  Monday morning, after a delicious breakfast, we loaded up and drove home.  All in all a blissful weekend on the river.

Hope you all had a great long weekend!

lentil crazy

So I have to admit, when Aaron travels I tend to only eat vegetarian....I'm not sure why but it just ends up being that way.  I stock up and binge on beans, tofu and tempeh.  The likely story behind this is that those around me suffer my fumes... and as much as Aaron might disagree, I do try keep my gas to myself.  Plus eating veg is just easier, cheaper, and well...I just plain like it.  Don't get me wrong I do enjoy eating meat/poultry (a lot) and choose to eat meat/poultry that is humanely raised and local most of the time but when he is gone I just crave the beans (and yes I do "know" what humanely means...I have two degrees in animal science and did a huge portion of my master's within a slaughter house - but I diverge).

And as such I made lentil burgers and Indian Mango Dahl all in one day...and it was amazing and stinky.

I used this recipe with a few tweaks...added toasted sunflower seeds and an egg

so good (and they make me think of my dear friend lila)

In addition, it is finally summer here - which means lots of silliness and a garden that is just going nuts.  This week we harvested tons of lettuce, spinach, kale, radishes, broccoli, and cabbage!

                                     
                                     

a silly photo series by the pool

aaron's pride & joy

armful(s) of kale!

Today I am working a half a day and then we are hitting the road for a long 3-day weekend of camping, hiking, swimming, and fishing on the Selway River (which is a tributary of the Clearwater River).  Lots of pictures I promise!