2 years today, the PAXbaby family packed our belongings into 11 suitcases, duffelbags, and backpacks, and set off on a 5 month adventure!!!  We took 5 children under 7 millions of miles away to explore New Zealand and Australia, and returned back home to Southern California filled with memories & promises!  We promise we will go back again, we promise we will never forget the gorgeous scenery, the lovely people, the warm welcome we received everywhere we went!  Traveling was fun, exciting, and downright crazy with this many little ones, however we both owe babywearing a HUGE thank you for making traveling as easy as possible with a baby and a busy toddler!  Both the PAXdaddy and I wore our baby carriers pretty much all day every day when we were exploring, whether hiking through rain forests avoiding huge man sized spiderwebs, visiting museums and monuments in major cities, or walking on white sand beaches watching dolphins in the surf!  2 years later, the memories are still vivid: the way the air smelled clean and fresh even in metropolises, the surprise we got when we realized the constellations in the night sky were all different, the unusual habit of everyone – even grown people – to walk barefoot everywhere!  I’ll be posting regularly babywearing pictures from our Down Under experience so we can relive the fun together!

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*happy babywearing*

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Can you figure it out before I post the answer and more information tomorrow??????

*happy babywearing*

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Living in Southern California, we don’t usually see much wildlife!  The only interesting animals we see outside of the zoo are squirrels, the occasional skunk or possum, and bats if you are in the right place at the right time.  Here in Australia and in New Zealand, we have seen so many fascinating animals, including a 3 foot monitor lizard in the rainforest, and a mob of kangaroos who come every afternoon to the local golf course to graze!  (If you are ever in Yamba, make sure to walk by the Golf Club on River Road!  You’re sure to see them there!)

But even though we have seen kangaroos in the wild probably a dozen times now, we still can’t believe how adorable they are!  HUGE feet, deer-like faces, tiny arms like a T Rex, long tails, and big intelligent eyes!  We saw wild blue penguins in New Zealand, and kiwi birds!  My daughters’ favorite birds, the pukeko birds! And “heaps of sheep” as my kids say now!

A turkey that we visited with really got a bit personal while I was wearing a sleeping baby! Unbelievably large spiders, and fast moving skink with places to go!  Grasshoppers flying noisily through the air as we walked, gigantic ants, and miniature horses!

“I’m going to marry that boy someday”. The words from a very young and much in (puppy) love 12 year old girl.

When I saw Steve for the first time, I couldn’t stop staring. He was very tall, thin and had this shaggy blonde hair that made my heart skip a beat. He liked good music and was a total skateboarder. I melted in his presence.

Our friends liked each other and would talk but since he was very shy, we didn’t talk (except on msn chat) for a couple years. Even when I started going to the school he went to, we pretended we didn’t know each other. It became a game to me and I was determined to win him over. He had never had a girlfriend and had other things on his mind. I was a bit boy crazy which is kind of what made our relationship fun. So I began the journey. My mission: marry that boy.

We were total opposites. But whoever said “opposites attract” was dead on. He was shy, quiet, had a few close friends he opened up to and was very tall. I was loud, outgoing, friendly and very short. It didn’t take long to win him over. I was a very persistent, determined girl who wouldn’t give up and Ill never forget the day he asked me to be his girlfriend.
We had gone to a movie and he put his arm around me and I felt like I was in a dream. After the movie his sister drove us home (I know, so romantic! But remember we were only 14) and when we got to my house, he walked me to my door. He looked really nervous and started to stutter a little.
“Um, Alisa…. I was just wondering, if you would be my “girlfriend”?”
The best part is that when he said “girlfriend”, he actually did the quotation sign with his fingers. How could I say no to that?
The rest is history. We spent every moment possible together and we never got bored or sick of each other.



He purposed out senior year on our 3 year anniversary on the side of a cliff at our favorite spot in Alaska.


We got married in July, two months after we graduated and it was one of the best days of my life. It was absolutely beautiful and we were surrounded with all our friends and family.



As if we didn’t have a busy enough year, we were blessed with the perfect surprise, a baby! We hadn’t planned on getting pregnant so quickly, but we were more than excited when we found out! God had a plan and it was better than anything we had hoped for. The next year, I gave birth to Levi Abner James and he is our everything.





The reason I wanted to write about Steve is because he was my first love. He turned my world upside down and still makes me melt. He changed my life and made me become a better person. He treats me like a queen and provides our family with everything we need. He is the hardest worker I know and I am blessed to be a stay at home mom to our wonderful son. He encourages me in all of my passions and hobbies and he puts Levi and I above himself.
Our love has come along way and is definitely not that puppy love it started with. We have had trials and some days are better than others. But there is no one I’d rather be with.
He is a man of God, a wonderful husband and an amazing Father. And we are a very blessed family.

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Can you believe that another holiday season is here already?? For the last 5 years, we have had the same traditions, same people (no offense, dear relatives & friends!), same food, but this year we have suddenly become adventurous!!!! This year we decided to do something so unlike us, so CRAZY, so unthinkable! We took our 5 children zoo on an airplane, flew for hours and have been traveling New Zealand for almost 3 months. We celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, and 4 of the kids’ birthdays while adventuring there, and now we are counting the days til Christmas while relaxing at the beach in Australia! We are in a tiny town on the coast in a tiny house walking distance (even for my newly walking 14 month old) to not only a lovely pool, but the clearest, bluest, loveliest sea you have ever seen!!! And all this splashing and swimming in a tropical heatwave while our friends write us with daily weather updates that include rain, 10 inches of snow, and hail!

Merry Christmas, mate, and to all, a good night!

Beco bodysurfing!!!

As usual, my youngest is kept close thanks to my all time favorite baby carrier, the Beco Butterfly 2! THe ocean waves were warm and no babies were harmed during our photo shoot! Although my Beco did need to be hung to dry after all that surf!

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My husband prepared by getting all 12 hours of the Lord of the Rings movies loaded onto his computer and ordering additional cables & wires from Amazon.com for our various cameras & computers. I prepared by making 4 mad dash outlet mall shopping trips to find suitable snow gear for the kids AND new swimming suits for everyone and by agonizing over which baby carriers to bring! 1 for each parent? Too few! 1 for each child? Too many! 1 of each style? Maybe….

As my dad dropped us off at LAX International Airport, we counted our bags. 9 carry-ons, 14 checked bags, 2 strollers, and a partridge in a pear tree! Just kidding about the partridge part, but it seemed to fit right in!!! We had the 5 kids, 2 laptop computers, 2 cameras, a video camera, toys, children’s school books, 1 new GypsyMama wrap (my going away present to myself!), 2 Kelty backpacks (1 with kickstamd and 1 rucksack style with storage), 1 pouch to have in the rental van in case of emergency, 1 Solarveil Ring Sling for beach & swimming, and my favorite baby carrier of all, my Echino Scooters!!!

6 weeks into our adventure, we have worn the Beco daily, the Keltys countless times on our hikes, the Ring Sling three times to the pool, the pouch zero times (no emergencies yet!) and the wrap 3 times by me and once by my husband who found himself without the Beco and used the PURPLE Bali Baby wrap in the sling style to put Baby #5 to bed for his nap while out with #3! I also wore a piece of cotton sheet as a SPOC for part of my Halloween costume, but that is a blog post for another time!!!

I was thrilled when they let me go through the metal detector at the airport and at the American Embassy with Baby in the Beco, and now, with just a few more weeks until our next plane trip over to Australia from Auckland, I’m hoping that he will be as happy in the Beco as he was on our first flight where I wore him for about 20 hours straight!

Wish me luck, and I’ll have an update for you on the other end of baggage claim!

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