The Beginning of a New Adventure

Hello Friends, 

We have some news! 

 

At the end of the June we’ll be packing our truck camper and hitting the road for an extended year-long adventure.

 

 

The Plan

We’ll begin by driving into Oregon and California and if all goes well (a big IF, given that we’ll have four people living in a house smaller than a parking space!) then we’ll keep driving south into Mexico and Central America.

 

And if things go fantastically well then we’ll hit the tip of South America(!!) sometime in January 2018.

 

 

Escape Options

Of course there are many variables when travelling with kids, so we’re trying to keep the agenda and schedule flexible. It’s possible that we’ll decide international travel isn’t in the cards and do a loop of the US instead. Or we’ll last two months and then zip back to Seattle in time for Ben to start first grade. 🙂

 

Chris’ last day at work is June 1. Emma (age 3) will have just finished preschool and we’ll wait for Ben (age 6) to wrap up kindergarten before heading south. We’ve just completed our last round of vaccinations and we’re looking into homeschooling for the coming year. Not surprisingly, we are both excited and nervous.

 

Connect

If you’re interested, we’re hoping to regularly update our travel website Terra Trekkers. We are also on Instagram. The Sweet Seattle Life will be on hiatus until we return. 

 

Advice

If you’ve got kid-friendly travel recommendations for Baja, Mainland Mexico, Central America (Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, CR, Panama), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina), we’d love to hear ’em!

 

xo,

 

Sonja and Chris

Bailey

Last week was an emotional rollercoaster for our family.  Chris and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. More importantly, and heartbreakingly, we also said goodbye to our beloved pup Bailey.

Back in 2005 we were on the hunt for a new family member. We had moved into a house with a fenced backyard and were itching to have a canine companion to take hiking in the hills east of Santa Ana. We visited several local animal shelters and were approved for an adoption by the Southern California Lab Rescue organization.

October 16  found us down in San Diego at a regional adoption event. It was chaotic; the facility was located on a busy street and dogs and people were running everywhere. I sat down next to a young female black lab that was missing an eye; her name was Patches. She was eager for belly rubs and had a sweet disposition. I looked up to tell Chris that this might be our winner only to see him being dragged across the parking lot by a massive monster of a dog. It was easily the biggest lab I'd ever seen and he was doing his best to flee the scene with Chris as an unwilling accomplice.

After a bit of flailing, Chris and the beast came to a halt in my vicinity.

She is Here!!

We would like to joyfully introduce Baby Emma. 

She arrived yesterday and we are completely smitten with our sweet little girl. Ben is being a wonderful brother; handing out lots of hugs and kisses to his little sister. 

It is so nice to be home and we look forward to settling into new routines as a family of four five (can’t forget Bailey!).

Birth poll winners and her birth story coming.... but probably not for a while. We’re going to get to know our little one for a bit before jumping back into the swing of daily life. 

Much love, 

Sonja, Chris, Ben & Emma

We’re Having A Girl!!

We are thrilled. 

New adventures beginning January 2014 as a family of four.

xo, 

Sonja and Chris

photo credit: Scary Mommy

Baby News

Today is our 7 year wedding anniversary and thus it seemed like a good day to post the following (and also to provide an explanation for why things have been so quiet on the blog lately):

We are thrilled to share that we’re expecting a second kiddo, due in January of 2014 (and a week shy of Ben’s third birthday!).

We are so very, very excited.

xo,

Sonja, Chris, Ben, & Bailey

Decade

Today marks our ten year dating anniversary. 

What a grand adventure it has been thus far. 

I have a wonderful husband and a sweet baby. I am a lucky girl. 

Benjamin's Birth Story

This post is long. And fairly graphic. Consider yourself warned, my dears!


I originally wrote down this account of Benjamin’s birth because I didn’t want to forget the details, or more accurately, the snippets of details that I remember from that day. 


Here is my account of Ben’s birth:


Our official due date was Feb. 5th, a Saturday.

It was the week before, on a Thursday (Jan 27th), that things began: I puttered around the house, went for a swim at the pool, and, in the early evening, started to make dinner. That’s when my water broke.

Benjamin

Our little guy made his appearance at 7:50 this morning, weighing 7 lbs 1 ounce, and measuring 19.5 inches long. He is healthy and doing well. He was welcomed by two tired but ecstatically happy parents, three grandparents, an aunt, and a wonderful group of midwives and nurses at Group Health - Central. It was truly a team effort.



Love, Sonja and Chris

And Baby Makes Four

So the big news 'round here is that we're going to have a baby!

We are so very, very excited. And a bit nervous! 

Now there are three...soon to be four

Our little tyke is due on February 5th, putting us just past the 12 week (1st trimester) milestone. 

According to our midwife, Baby J is about the size of a plum. Just a wee little peanut. 

We'll keep you posted as events unfold.

Love,
Chris, Sonja and Bailey

And the Big News is that....

WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!!

We officially closed on our little abode today. We're going to be sipping champagne out of paper cups and sleeping on a mattress placed on the floor since our furniture hasn't yet arrived.

Recap: Moving Day

Here are a few photos from last Friday, our official moving day.

Gosh, we have a lot of stuff. Despite vigorous efforts to down-size via craigslist, ebay, and multiple trips to goodwill, we still managed to fill a moving van-sized box.

Puddy the PODS was packed, secured, and ready for pickup.

PODS has a pretty nifty device, called the Podzilla, that unfolds from a flatbed truck, and picks up the packed container. Here is the driver tipping Puddy slightly to purge the collected rainwater from the roof.

The driver uses a joystick to maneuver Podzilla into place. The hydraulic system then lifts the PODS onto a flatbed truck and away it goes..off to Washington!

Oh, our little casita. We will miss you! You are too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer but you had lots of character, a great yard for Bailey, and a bountiful orchard.

So very empty.

It wasn't until we arrived in the middle of a snowstorm in Oregon that the bikes on top of the car looked out of place. I'm sure drivers in the Pacific Northwest didn't much like being passed by a two wheel drive car with road bikes and California plates. Those damn crazy Californians, don't they know it's snowing here?!?!
Ready for the grand adventure! Goodbye California!

We're Here!

We've arrived in snowy Seattle. Details and pictures to follow later. Let me give you a quick summary:

-Saw 7 deer
-Briefly dropped in on 3 friends [Although it was not nearly enough time, it was great to see you Peter, Danny and Linds]
-Observed 14 cars overturned in the ditch!
-Arrived late last night, exhausted from driving in the snow. I was pooped and I wasn't even the one at the wheel. At least the constant adrenaline rush keeps you from getting drowsy.


Things I am grateful for:

-German engineered cars with fantastic Dynamic Skid Control
-Marrying the kid from Alaska who knows how to drive in icy conditions

Happy Holidays!

Dear Friends and Family,

We usually send out a holiday newsletter come December 15th but this year we are feverishly packing our earthly belongings into boxes and bags in preparation for our grand northward migration. After four delightful years of living in Southern California, we have decided to move back to Seattle, putting us closer to friends and family. We’ll arrive in the Pacific Northwest three days before Christmas, likely exhausted and ready for some strong eggnog.

Due to chaotic work schedules, mad packing of our household items, and some lovely vacation days spent in Alaska, we’ve had little time to put together our annual holiday card. Forgive us, please. At the moment, our library of digital photos from the year is buried, along with the computer, in a box stashed in the garage. This weekend that box (along with many others) will be loaded into a giant, room-sized storage box, and trucked north. We’ll follow in the car. Chris’ brother Greg and his girlfriend Katherine have generously offered to drive one of our automobiles up, graciously submitting themselves to the mind-numbing monotony of Interstate 5.

Upon arrival in the Emerald City, Chris will throw himself into his position at HighMark, while Sonja will do her best to find gainful employment. Given the current state of the economy, she might find herself taking off more time than originally planned. In that event, she’ll become an excellent house-hunter and walker of their dear pup, Bailey. Perhaps she’ll even have time to produce an awesome post-holiday newsletter. We promise that we’ll eventually send out a complete update, along with some sort of mailing address, when we finally find a place to call home. Best wishes for a joyful holiday and a prosperous new year.


Love,
Chris and Sonja

The Winds of Change are Moving Us Along

"Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard"
-Dave Mustaine

After four lovely years of living in Southern California, we have decided to head north and are officially moving to Seattle in mid December 2008.

Orange County has been filled with lots of pleasant times, new friends, fulfilling jobs, the beginning of our marriage, and the addition of our beloved pup to our little family.

But the traffic, smog and distances from family were taking their toll upon us and an opportunity came up for Chris that couldn't be passed up. So come December we'll be packing our bags and heading home to the Rainy City. We're looking forward to green trees, clean(er) air, and brimming lakes. And family, of course.

Thank you to the wonderful friends that we've made down here; hopefully we'll be able to visit every now and again.

So, for all you Seattle dwellers, please let us know if you spot any lovely homes for sale that are in close proximity to the Burke Gilman Trail. We're hoping for bike riding accessibility and dog walking opportunities. While we'll probably end up renting for a while, we're eventually hoping to find a place to call home permanently.

And if you're in the market for a fantastic environmental scientist, I know an excellent candidate. Her professional website can be found here.

Happy Birthday

Our little blog turns three years old this month!

Three years ago, Chris, in his first (and only!) blog post, put up the following picture (taken during a Christmas trip to Alaska) and this statement:

"Welcome to Chris & Sonja's Adventures!

Hi everyone! We are creating this blog in order to keep all of our families and friends (as well as the occasional fan) informed of all our happenings. Enjoy!"

We had just moved into this house:

Were enjoying the company of visiting family:

and were (unsuccessfully) trying on wedding dresses
(photo caption: Get me out of here!):

Since that time, we have :


Acquired this Dog:
Gotten Married:
Celebrated Chris' five year anniversary at HighMark and Sonja's three year anniversary at Waterstone:

Have seen Greg graduate from college, and begin life as a successful engineer. Have seen (from afar) Megan graduate from high school and start life at UW. Next on the list: Alex's upcoming high school graduation and adventures in college.
Meanwhile, the parents have steadily worked towards retirement and have greatly enjoyed visiting their children in various parts of the world (ok, I'm guessing a bit on that last statement but I think it's true)

Who knows what the next three years will bring but we look forward to the adventure.

Wedding Pictures

We're finally getting in some professional wedding pictures. Click here to see our wedding webpage.

And we're married...

More photos will be coming soon. In the meantime, here are a couple links to some friends that have kindly posted their photos online. Nate's blog and Steph's blog. Thank you to all of you that came to join in our event!
Love, Chris and Sonja
Quick Update: I realized that we don't have a single picture from our entire wedding day! Our professional pictures aren't due for another month (The one above I shamelessly borrowed from a friend). I would be very grateful if you would send me any pictures that you have from Saturday. My email address is sdorranc@gmail.com. It can accept very large email attachments. I can also send you my home address if that is more convenient. Thank you! -Sonja

Hi everyone, well we finally made the leap and got a dog. We haven't decided on a name yet so we can't formally introduce him. But he is a black labrador about 1.5-2 years old. We got him through a rescue group so his history isn't quite known.

Welcome to Chris & Sonja's Adventures!

Hi everyone! We are creating this blog in order to keep up with all of our families and friends (as well as the occasional fan) informed of all our happenings. Enjoy!