We spent last weekend visiting some close friends in Oregon. Bennett handled her first plane trip like a champ and Asher didn’t have a single accident on the entire cross country journey! We had a really nice low key visit that consisted of blueberry picking, playgrounds, hiking and lots of laughter. They have two kids pretty much the same age and we had so much fun all together. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.
We went blueberry picking and no joke, these blueberries were hands down the best blueberries I have ever had! I will be dreaming about those blueberries for the rest of my life. 
Same face!
These two were fast friends and were quite the match for each other!
Heaven! These blueberries have ruined all other blueberries for me.
Collector of sticks, rocks, pinecones and other such treasures.
“I’m the Chuck Norris of mommies!”
The Anvari Chronicles: Sarasota, Florida
We recently took a minication to Sarasota, Florida with our BFFs (we lovingly refer to each other as Beefers), Dana, Mike and Kelsey. In general, we just love being with our Beefers no matter where we are, but Sarasota was just wonderful! It was so beautiful and such a great vacation, perhaps the first truly relaxing trip we’ve taken as a family. We spent time at both Lido Beach and Siesta Key Beach and both were spectacular! The sand was super white and really fine and the water was a lovely sea foam green color. The surf was really gentle and perfect for toddlers at both beachs. We rented a condo at the Lido Islander that left a little to be desired, but provided everything we needed and was walking distance to the Lido Beach. We also visited the Big Cat Habitat in Sarasota and the Children’s Museum in Tampa, both of which were awesome and I highly recommend to anyone in the area. We ate a bunch of delicious food while we were there, but my favorite was the Taco Bus in Tampa, I got the butternut squash quesadilla and it was mouth watering good! For good eats (with plant based options) in Sarasota I recommend Pho Cali, Isan Thai and Sub Zero Ice Cream. Asher LOVED the beach, he kept dashing into the surf and then running back out. He spent his time collecting shells, destroying sand castles as fast as I could build them and putting his head and face directly into the sand. It was also really fun to see him interacting more with his third cousin and BFF Kelsey, their personality’s are so different, but they are adorable together. I mean how cute is that kissing video?!
For anyone looking for an awesome beach vacation in the continental US, Sarasota will not disappoint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PieZmSNY5k&feature=youtu.be
Anvari Chronicles // Beijing and Yunnan, China
It was so nice to spend two weeks with my family. We spent the first week in Beijing which was nice but the real highlight was the second week that we spent traveling around Yunnan. People were flocking to Asher everywhere we went, countless strangers held my child and even more photographed him. It was quite the adventure, from hiking tiger leaping gorge in Shangri-la to a 6 hour bike ride in Dali, to a horse back ride and boat ride in Lijiang. Here are a few of my favorite shots from our trip:
Anvari Chronicles // Maine, June 2013
Asher and I spent a lovely week in Maine with my parents, as well as my brother, sister in-law and niece. It was absolutely wonderful and I’ve been trying to convince Rafaan to move to a quaint ocean town ever since. Things have been a bit crazy around these parts, with the approaching nuptials of my younger brother, so I will be back in full force sometime next week, but until then enjoy these photos.
Texas Bound
We are heading off to Texas today to visit Raf’s family, many of whom will be meeting Asher for the first time. Asher already has them all wrapped around his tiny fingers, but how could he not? I’m so excited about this trip and I’m looking forward to watching Asher charm everyone with his sweet personality and easy smile. Posting may be light while we’re away, but I’ll definitely be documenting our time in the Lone Star state and posting about it here when I can.
This will be the maiden voyage of our new stroller so look out for a full review in the near future.
We’ll be gone for 11 days! That’s 11 days of Raf around during the day, lot’s of delicious food, family time and plenty of hands to help hold and entertain Asher. I am pretty jazzed about it. Who knows, maybe the Hubs and I will actually go on a date, which is something we haven’t done since the tiny one arrived. I even plan to take Asher to the pool for the first time and get lots of adorable shots of him in his brand new cloth swim diaper!