an afternoon in boston

a family self-portrait (sorry, aaron!) at government center


riding the t


noah buying a ticket for the commuter rail at north station


hold on! (north to beverly)

in connecticut

we spent a few days at my aunt tiff and uncle pat's house in groton, connecticut, chilling out with my siblings and lots of other family. we spent a relaxing afternoon at eastern point beach with molly, kevin and jeremy, involving hamburgers and fries from the big stone beachhouse and also noah's first time in the atlantic ocean (which we didn't document)! granny and grandpa cogdill came up to visit, and we also had a peabody family reunion, where noah got to meet his grandpa john, great grandma helen, great auntie pat, uncle john and more.

uncle kevin, aaron and noah

uncle pat and jackson (who was recovering from a choking incident...not feeling too well!)

aunt molly and a sleeping noah

grandma louise, great grandma katie, uncle jeremy and noah

great grandma katie, aunt tiff, noah and jackson

step-grandma terry and noah

uncle jer and noah

me, grandpa john, great grandma helen and noah

great granny and grandpa cogdill and noah

the chesapeake and ohio canal

steve joined us after the wedding for the drive to new england, and we made a pit stop (at aaron's request) to walk along the chesapeake and ohio canal in maryland. we imagined what it was like for the horses pulling the barges to walk on the tow path, we saw the old aquaduct where the canal went over a river, and we found a turtle, which we tried to get noah to befriend.

mike and jessie's wedding

mike and jessie's wedding was really lovely. it took place on jessie's family's property in rural west virginia, and the fields and gardens were a great backdrop. aaron enjoyed standing up for mike, and noah enjoyed rolling around in the grass with simone. it was great to meet jessie's family and see other friends.


aaron and ben standing up for mike


the giving of the rings


jessie's sisters and brother in the "limo"


heather, megan and simone

first airplane ride

in mid-august noah had his first airplane ride--to west virginia for mike and jessie's wedding. he did great on the plane, mostly sleeping, nursing and flirting with the flight attendants. we flew to pittsburgh and drove south from there to west virginia. our first night we camped at chestnut ridge with my dear friend rachel, who drove five hours from callaway, virginia just to see us. we had a great night and a really relaxing day hanging around the campground with rachel, eating great food, taking a hike and learning all about revolutionary community seed banks. aaron and rachel also brainstormed about custom bandstra-designed wedding rings sometime in the future for her and her husband andrew.




camping baby and his dad

from there we drove to terra alta, where jessie's family lives and where the wedding was. aaron delivered the wedding rings he'd made for mike and jessie, which they really loved (even though they'd been pretty skeptical of the prototype!). the rings are silver with colored glass enamel etchings of a vine. the design is a little hard to make out in the picture, but they're really beautiful.


the rings


mike and jessie with the rings at the rehearsal dinner

the wedding was also a chance to catch up with our friends heather and greg, and to meet their daughter simone (five months older than noah?). they camped with us on jessie's family's property, and they braved the huge rainstorm on the second night. we didn't. we escaped our leaky tent and slept in the house.


heather, greg and little simone

bandstra reunion 2006

we drove 8 hours from vancouver to quesnel, bc, the first weekend in august for the bandstra family reunion at robin's roost campground. noah (along with little kate and their older cousin kiarra) were the most popular bandstras there. and there were a LOT of bandstras there--just over a hundred!


on-the-go diaper change in hope, bc, on the way to the reunion


our family


pake, oma and all their offspring


the newly-engaged couple, colin and nicole


cousin kiarra (about 3 months older than noah)


cousin kate, already a hiker like her parents


coffee with cousin emily


cousin kevin, the photographer (thanks to him for most of these pictures!)


peeking over grandpa's shoulder


grandpa cooking sausages for group breakfast one morning


oma flipping pancakes


hanging out at the playground


pake, oma and friends


pake, oma and the three great-grandkids


cozy in the tent with dad

grandma louise's visit

my mom came from vermont right after steve's visit in july. she and noah had a grand time together. they went for tons of walks around the york neighborhood, and by the time she left, my mom had met more neighbors than i have after living here for almost two years!






peeking!


bathtime in the sink


a visit to noah's great-great-great grandmother edna belle barnes' gravestone in bayview cemetery

steve, jay and jen's visit

in mid-july steve flew from boston to portland and then drove up to bellingham with jay and jen, who stayed for a too-short weekend. steve got to stay for a few more days, which was awesome, and we were really excited to share with him our favorite parts of bellingham. that weekend was also noah's first bike ride, on the trail to fairhaven, which went great (i.e. noah slept the whole time).

steve left from here to vancouver, where he rode a bandstra truck to prince george, took a train to prince rupert and then the ferry to petersburg. in petersburg he hung out with andy, jenny and maia and some of our other friends up there. we were super jealous, and tried to experience the trip vicariously through steve by calling to check up on him every few days. he also ferry-hopped to a few other islands, but i guess if you want more details you should check HIS blog. :)


steve wearing noah in the frontpack


noah on jay's lap


funny face


the awesome frog quilt jen made


snoozing on steve