In which Lucy and her Mom go on an Adventure

Remember that hill behind our house that I posted about? Yesterday it was gloriously sunny and got up to 62 degrees, so Lucy and I decided to climb the hill. Here we are! Off to go on our adventure!



At the top of the hill we found this little copse of trees



I don't know my trees very well, but these were really neat looking even in the middle of winter! I can't wait to see what they look like in the spring and fall.



And the view out over Eugene was magnificent:





We wandered down the path through the trees, and on the other side of the butte as it started to slope down we came across a cemetery:





The grave markers were so interesting to look at. Here's one from 1853

And another one with a family name on it. Any connection? Who knows!



All in all it was a fabulous little walk and we both enjoyed ourselves immensely. I know Eugene is not normally this glorious in the winter-time, but we're loving this abnormally warm weather!

Lucy tells a great story

If you aren't immediate family then you'll probably find this video rather boring. I've been directed by certain family members that I need to post lots of videos/photos of Lucy so that is what this blog has basically turned into! Poor Whiskey, she never had a chance.

Lucy has become very vocal these past few weeks. For some reason whenever I pull the camera out she becomes pretty shy, but I still got a fairly good conversation recorded. So enjoy!

View from our back porch

I really will post pictures of the inside apartment, but I prefer to do so once I've removed some of the more unseemly items, like our giant old tv (that we sold on Craigslist for 25 dollars but have yet to get removed) and the stack of boxes next to our computer desk, and once I've finished hanging the pictures (should be any day now!). But in the meantime I thought I'd post two pictures of the view outside our back porch. We were blessed with the apartments that sit right up next to a hill. I actually have no idea what's on the other side of the hill (Lucy and I plan on climbing it some day). But today the sun was shining and the weather was glorious, and it made me so happy to have a view of this beautiful green hillside. I can't wait to see what it looks like in the Spring!

Lucy in the Johnny Jump-Up

Lucy got a Johnny Jump-Up for Christmas from Nana and Papa. It's meant for 4 months and up but since all she ever wants to do is be held in a standing position (or bounced in a standing position) we decided to try it out early. And she loves it! She's a little small for it, so I frequently have to rescue her arms which slide down into the leg area, but it's been great for me to be able to get more done since she spends a good bit of time in it.

This post is particularly for Nana and Papa, since when they were helping us get moved in Lucy hadn't yet figured out how to bounce in it. But after a few days of me showing her how to bounce she has finally got the hang of it.

Eugene Sunset

We love how pretty Eugene is, and the front porch of our apartment gives us a great view of the beautiful sunsets!

Phoenix

Like I mentioned in the last post (two posts in one day! I'm just flying) we went to Phoenix after Christmas and stayed through the New Year. We had a great time seeing family and introducing many of them to Lucy. It was unseasonably cold in Phoenix, but still much warmer than Moscow which made me very happy. And the last few days we were there did get pretty warm. I was able to soak up some much-needed sun (and visit Ikea!).

Unfortunately, traveling with a baby makes things a lot more hectic. And so the extent of my picture-taking during our entire trip is this:






Cute pictures though, eh? This was on one of the glorious afternoons when the sun came out and we were able to sit outside. We miss our Phoenix family!

We're Alive!

So we finally got internet up at our new place in Eugene. That's right, we moved to Eugene. Our last post was about Christmas Day, and then the next thing you know we're no longer Cohens in Moscow, we're Cohens in Eugene. In fact we're going to have to change our blog name but we have yet to come up with a catchy title (Joel suggested "Eu-Jew-Gene" or simply "Jew-Gene" but I nixed those).

So what happened? Well, the day before Christmas Eve a firm called Moss Adams called Joel to deliver the fabulous news that a job he interviewed for earlier that week would like to hire him for a position in Eugene, OR. We were thrilled. Moss Adams is a prestigious accounting firm and this is the job offer Joel had been waiting for for a while. And then they dropped the big bomb: start date was January 17th. That was very soon. Plus we had a week long trip to Phoenix to see family before that date, which gave us very little time to pack, let alone find a trip. And so the blog, obviously, completely dropped off the radar.

But we're back now! And it's time to play catch-up. So we'll start with our favorite subject. Here's one of the creative ways we kept Lucy entertained while we packed.



And while in Phoenix Grandma Sunny came up with this great idea to give Lucy the much-detested Tummy time. Now she loves it! Notice packing boxes in the background.