July 2016 (Lydia is 1 month old, 4th of July, ER, Business Trip)

After all of our June visitors headed home, the four of us drove down to Valdez for the 4th of July!

We'd been talking about doing a southern Alaska trip for as long as we've been here, and this was our first chance (other than Anchorage trips) - Valdez was sooo beautiful and lush and Pacific Northwest-ey! We'll have to plan a trip to see Homer and Kenai and Seward before we leave because there is so much to see down there!

The 7 hour drive down was fun because there were things to see all along the way. One of our stops was the Worthington Glacier... -->

There were also gorgeous waterfalls on the side of the road. :) It reminded us of Oregon so we stopped for pics!

Even Baby Lydia seemed to enjoy the ride. She was only 3 weeks old but already such a good travel buddy!

When we finally got to Valdez we settled into our cozy, tiny, adorable cabin!

Matt found this great place and I have to give him major props because the trip was all organized pretty last minute. We knew Little L would cry at night so we didn't want a regular hotel room with shared walls. A cabin was the perfect choice. And we loved the view!

It was situated right between a lake and some misty green mountains. :) LOVE!

While we were there a bear ran in front of our car, we saw a lake with actual icebergs floating in it, lots of bald eagles, went to a 4th of July street festival, ate local Alaskan salmon (SO GOOD, definitely a must-try), and went to a community canoe jousting competition which, we learned, is a local 4th of July tradition. Ha!

Canoe jousting on the left

Lydia slept through the excitement. ;)

Of course Lambie was close by 

We only stayed one night because we didn't want to push our luck traveling with a baby, but it was a solid first family vacation. 

When we got back Matt had just a few days of paternity leave left (he took 3 weeks total), so to enjoy his last few days off we had friends over for a fire pit and I went out with some professors from my department to catch up before the rush of the school year starts next month. 

Chena Pump House for apps!

As soon as Matt's leave was over it was seriously over, because he immediately left for a month in the field. 

Goodbye for now!

But before he left for his business trip, I had a little trip of my own: to the ER!

It turns out I had a couple of complications from birth and had to be put on an IV for 4 hours and given a regimen of meds. The timing was amazing because if I'd started having symptoms even 12 hours later I would've had to figure it out alone with a newborn. FORTUNATELY Matt was there to drive me to the hospital and take care of L while I was out of commission. 

We dodged a bullet. 

On a happier note, I managed the first week alone, recuperated, and did something fun (and super low key) with friends every day. I would've gone crazy otherwise. 

At church I taught the 13-year-olds as usual - they're some of Lydia's biggest fans. :) And we hung out with baby friends. :) 

Even with some fun things going on I couldn't have lasted much longer without help so I was SO GLAD Mom came to the rescue! 1,000% necessary.

We love gramma! Lydia was 5 weeks old here

Her visit was as low key as possible. We took walks, trips into Fairbanks, had home cooked meals, I recuperated, and we took care of Baby L! 

Mr. Barkley leading the way

Santa Clause House visit in North Pole :) Ha!

Mom showed me how to give Lydia a bath that she actually enjoyed and didn't scream through. :) We also worked on overcoming Baby L's habit of being wide awake and feisty from 9pm-1am every night... Fingers crossed she grows out of being a late night party girl real soon. It's a good thing she's cute. ;)

Meanwhile Barkley makes sure he's never forgotten! He's loving the Alaskan summer and doesn't let us go too long without getting out to appreciate it. :)

ALSO I can start working out again! FINALLY!! Barkley's happy about that too, since it means we can go RUNNING again soon! We're both really excited about that little fact.

My whole entourage was nearby while I planked:

This pic was surprisingly hard to take

While we had lots of down time we got to FaceTime with all the sisters and sisters-in-law, and Lydia even met her Aunt Whitney for the first time! Not pictured: video chatting Sarah, Fairbanks to Amsterdam. 

It's been quite a month! I'm definitely ready for August and I can't wait to write about our next adventures!