Anniversary, visit from our Japanese friends, Waterbabies, and AVA's First Birthday (you are invited)!

We've had some fun in the past month as the summer is winding down.

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Linda and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary at the end of July in Neskowin (a cute little beach town). We had to bring the baby with us, of course.... Little Cricket loves the sand and the beach. Our wedding anniversary last year was just over a week after Linda's cancer diagnosis, so was very tough. This one was much more relaxed and enjoyable, as we celebrated putting the first year behind us post-cancer!

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Family photo in foggy Neskowin:

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Daddy and Ava at Road's End in Lincoln City:

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One of my best friends Akira, and his family from Japan came to visit us in Corvallis for a few days. We have visited Akira's family in Japan and now they were able to come back to Corvallis after about 30 years. He is now an oncologist in Japan and we visited our old school we went to together. It was a great visit and fun to share our newest addition with his wonderful family. Akira and Rob in front of their old elementary school:

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We took our Japanese friends to the beach and I was able to snap this fun shot of Ava playing on the beach. It's one of my favorite pictures of her!

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Linda, Ava, and I went to a cancer survivors retreat at Suttle Lake in central Oregon (Soaring Spirits). Our friends Sherry and Rick were there and treated us to a boat ride on Suttle Lake. Sherry is our friend who put together a beautiful video of our journey. I haven't found a way to share the video but if you stop by, request to see it since it is amazing. Sherry, Rick, and Ava on the boat:

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Ava and Linda did a waterbabies class. Ava LOVES the water and did quite well for her age. She even mastered some underwater dips, as shown in the photo below while she's underwater!

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We had a night at our friends' the DeKam's where Ava got to play with her friend Powell. Powell is about the same age as Ava which is fun. Papa Rob and Papa Kevin with the kids:

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PARTY TIME! It is almost time for Ava's first birthday party!!! She will be one year old on 9/9/09. We're hosting a Birthday BBQ Bash for her on Saturday, September 12th from 1pm to 4pm. If you can make it, please RSVP via email (robblair3@comcast.net) or phone or flare and let us know. We'd love to have everyone who has supported us through the blog join in the celebration. In lieu of gifts, we'll have a donation box for a few bucks toward Children's Miracle Network.

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Sharing the story: Linda will be speaking at two breast cancer-related events, and our family will be featured at the annual Children's Miracle Network dinner/auction in Eugene this year! It is nice to share our story to help others.

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Rob.

Boise, Montana, a Baptism, and more

Well, we made it! We traveled to Boise, then Legendary Lodge Montana (near Missoula), and back. We did a couple stretches of over 8 hours a day in the car with Ava and survived. Actually, she was quite a good traveler, and slept most of the way, only getting fussy after about the 8 hour mark (we were all a bit fussy at that point!).


First we had a great time in Boise seeing Linda's family. Her cousin Becky has a newborn as well, so it was fun to connect with them and Linda's other cousin Susie and her Aunt Marje.

Linda and Baby Ava and Becky and Baby Metolius

Ava at Linda's cousin's Cabin on McCall Lake:























Next we took the long way up to Missoula near Salmon Lake to meet up with my Mom's side of the family. We had a great turn-out, with even Ava's cousin Mason in attendance! Austin was a nice help on the trip with his sister and also had a good time with the cousins.

Here is Austin having too much fun with a Spud Gun:



















Ava in her Montana cowgirl outfit with a scruffy dad:



We were very blessed to be able to get Ava baptized while in Montana. Her cousin (2nd cousin, twice removed for those into genealogy) Archbishop Curtiss baptized her in a beautiful ceremony in a little chapel at Legendary Lodge with only family in attendance. We're so lucky to have her baptized at one of my favorite and most beautiful places in the world.
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Baptized as Godmother Aunt Tina assists:





















Austin and Ava after the Baptism:


























We did see a bear in the campsites, but luckily he avoided us and tried to track down the Californians instead. :)

Ava is 11 months old in one week, which is hard to believe! She was over 17.5 pounds at her last checkup, and still doing wonderfully.

Linda had another checkup with her oncologist and continues to be cancer free. We are so thankful she is doing well. She still has some fatigue, but has been exercising daily.

Cute Baby! Our friend Gail Eby took this lovely photo of Ava that I needed to share:






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. Movie stars: Linda's good friend Sherry Binger made an amazing video of our journey. I'm working on a method to share such a large file size via the Internet with everyone - hopefully I can figure it out in the future.
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Rob.