Merry Almost Christmas!!

It certainly feels Christmas-y up here in Maine - we're in the middle of a HUGE snowstorm! It started today around 10am, and has been steady and strong ever since - there's between a foot and 18 inches out there already, and it's nowhere near done falling. Supposed to continue through most of tomorrow - I don't remember the last time I saw so much snow!! Oliver is LOVING playing in the snow (he's calls it "snew!" with much enthusiasm). It takes about a half an hour to get him ready to go outside - pants tucked into socks, mittens on, snowsuit on, boots on (hardest part, as by now he's very wriggley!), hat on, and out he waddles... if we're lucky and he hasn't done a poo!! But he loooves being out there. He's borrowed a sled from Weston next door, he laughs and laughs when daddy pulls him around and then turns him fast at the end. The sleds are completely buried in snow outside now, there's no sign of them, but we'll dig them out soon!

We're enjoying lots of time up here with mom and dad, Ian and Suzanne, and Oliver's cousins Aidan and Eli - the boys are having TONS of fun together! Oliver loves the Christmas trees - ours in NJ (see photo!) and mom and dad's huge 12-foot tree here in Maine. He walks around them and points out all the cool ornaments that he recognizes (airplane! pickle! kitty! snowman! train! moon! etc), and sometimes he kisses them all, one after another. There's an electric train around the tree here in Maine, and that's his favorite - it even toots and blows smoke!!! I wonder what he'll think of Christmas morning!!

Big Birthday Boy

Hello! Sorry for the long delay - we were in England visiting Oliver's grandparents for over 2 weeks, then mom and dad came to visit from Maine and were here for Oliver's birthday, and now we're back to normal and catching up on regular things, like the blog! We had TONS of fun in England, and got to spend lots of time with Oliver's new cousins there, Chenise and Tilly. Andy's parents were endlessly patient with Oliver, and had tons of ideas for fun places to take him. Here's a photo of Oliver with Grandpa Maurice, having a good time, as usual! We came home just in time for Halloween, which was lots of fun this year. Oliver didn't try to tear off his costume the whole time (same costume as last year!) and he had fun trick or treating to a few neighbors we know. Mom and dad came the next week, and we all went to the Bronx Zoo on Oliver's birthday - so much fun! He had a party with his friends a few days later, and got to enjoy his second birthday cake of the year (first was made by Grandma Carole!).

This photo show is a bit of everything, except for England - I'll have to do a separate show for that. Until then, enjoy some BIRTHDAY PHOTOS!!!

Art-house Oliver

Only time for a few photos today, couldn't resist... we're packing up to leave for England tonight, so there's LOTS to do!! The first photo I call "Art-house Oliver," since he looks so artsy in his black turtleneck!! The second one is from the beach at Lake Mohawk on Friday afternoon - a gorgeous fall day.

The good and the bad, but no ugly

Hello again! Sorry for the delay, I do get grief about it... :-) Oliver is doing great, despite his trip to the ER a week ago!! Yup, he had some bad cold symptoms so I took him to the doctor, who was very concerned with his breathing, so he had to endure some inhaler thingy, and steroids to open up his airways, and had to go to the ER for a chest x-ray! Andy and I took him together, around 6:30pm, and after about three hours there and more treatments, including the oxygen feed for a good hour or more (as seen in the photo), we were told the xray was just fine, and he has a respiratory infection/virus. The next day he was in SUCH good spirits, I wonder if I should take him to the ER more often!!

On a lighter note, Oliver has a new good friend! Her name is Anja, and I met her mom, Kara, at an indoor play place nearby - since then, she and Oliver have been playing together every week! She's only about 3 weeks older than Oliver (unfortunately, we'll be in England during her birthday party, bummer!), and they get along really well. Anja is already talking quite a lot (come on already, Oliver!), and she is really good at saying Oliver's name. The day this picture was taken, she and Oliver and his other good friend, Georgie, were having a great time at a playground in Chester, NJ - gorgeous fall weather and good friends, a perfect day for a boy.

Good times

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that Oliver's eye is healing well... so far he hasn't tried to climb up that table again! It's been a funny few weeks with the weather - we've had a few days that were so cool we had to wear long sleeves and slippers (imagine!) and others, like yesterday, that were so warm and humid that I barely stepped outside. I hurt my knee a while back, and it's still giving me trouble, so yesterday Andy braved the sun with Oliver and they went to a local park to play. Down the road from the park is a little beach on Lake Hopatcong, and they decided to go there, too - Oliver came back soaking (tshirt and shorts) from head to toe, happy as a clam. That's the difference between moms and dads... dads don't worry that they don't have a swimsuit with them, they just point the way to the beach, anyway!!

So, that's why you see Oliver's fancy new bear slippers in some of these photos -- I got them from Beans right after the big bear "event" (see March 19th if you missed it!). Oliver thinks they're really cool and he doesn't even try to take them off! Notice the chic hand in the pocket, too... he's started doing that sometimes, too cute. He also puts his hands on his hips sometimes - I wonder where he got that?! :-)

Another new hit is his favorite Sesame Street video (well, at least it's my favorite, and he seems to like it, too): http://www.sesamestreet.org/videos see Feist 1234. His cousin, Saul, sent him the link a few weeks ago, and we've been enjoying it ever since. Oliver now knows how to start and stop the video using the mouse buttons; the other day I was washing dishes and he played that video about 12 times in a row! That's when I took this photo.

What else is new...... we're planning to go to Guilford this weekend for the big Guilford Fair - a nice agricultural fair that also doubles as an excuse to go back to Guilford! We'll probably stay over Saturday night so we can go to the Ikea up there on Sunday. No other big plans until our trip back to England in October... not looking forward to the flight, but being there will be nice!

The last few photos are of Oliver enjoying a "banana milkshake" this morning (milk and banana, a drop of honey) - you can tell from the second photo that he likes it a lot! Plus, he likes to ham it up for the camera now - he loves it when I show him the photos of himself right away on the little camera screen. How things have changed from when we were kids!!

September Daze

Quick update here... not too much to report, really. We're enjoying the cooler weather, and might even go camping this weekend when Andy gets back from Latvia. Nothing like sleeping under the stars to help with jet lag!! Our big excitement this week was on Sunday night... we were having dinner, and O was running around as usual, and before I knew it, he had attempted to climb up our side table (the one with all the stuffed animals on it) and it had FALLEN ON TOP OF HIM! So I ran over and pulled it off him - the top edge was right at his neck - and I think the radio had hit him in the eye, hence the swollen gash.... it was NOT FUN! Andy had left for his trip that afternoon, so it was just me at home, and I was a worried mom!! But Oliver just cried for a few minutes, coughed a lot, and then was back to running around. The picture you see here was taken the next morning, when his eye was more swollen. Poor guy! I don't know how he manages to look so cute when he's all banged up, plus he had a fever still from sometime on Sunday.

Anyway, he's back to himself now (gash is healing). On Monday night I even still managed to go to my first choral rehearsal for the new group I've joined - he had a sitter for 3 hours, and she did the whole bedtime routine with him and he was FINE - what a boy!! Very proud of him!!! The choir is great, I'm so excited - imagine rehearsing the Messiah all fall, not just one night at Christmastime! I met some nice people there, too, so that's good.

Ok, lots to do before he wakes up from his nap - I'll try to write more soon!

Summer photos!

Just put together a little slideshow of the second part of Oliver's summer - lots of photos from Maine, and a few from here at home. Enjoy!

Sunny days

Sorry it's been forever since I've written... we've been having a very quiet August here in NJ, and the weather's been surprisingly mild and pleasant! I was bracing myself for hot and sticky, but we lucked out this summer. Oliver's been enjoying lakefront beaches, playdates with his pals, lots of trips to different playgrounds, and other fun stuff. A few weeks ago we went to Guilford for the day, visited with Sharon and Lisa and played on the green with Rachel and cousin Saul! Dad had a big long kayak ride.

Just the other day Oliver was telling me why he thinks Barack Obama is so much better than John McCain... I think he summed it all up by explaining that he doesn't want another four years of a Bush presidency. I thought these were very mature sentiments coming from a 22 month old, but then he showed me this article so I better understood their origin. Very clever boy!

No really, Oliver's still not talking! Lots of lovely sounds and sort of words... especially "uurdn" which repeats with regularity and gumption!! We're wondering if it's a variation on "Aidan" (his cousin). Who knows?!

No new wildlife sightings, just our usual backyard groundhog and some very vocal foxes waking us up with their crazy screams at 3am a few nights back. Will keep you posted!

Oliver's new friend

So here's the latest installment of "Wild Kingdom in the Backyard..." - we had two raccoons on the deck the other day, one of whom dashed away pretty quickly after we started watching them, but the other one was very, very tame. He basically acted like a cat, stretching, yawning, sniffing curiously, even lying down and lounging around - all right on the other side of the glass from us. He even played in Oliver's little kiddie pool (eww, I know, we washed it out afterwards), pushing the toys around for a while. He was SO not afraid of us, even when Oliver banged repeatedly on the glass -- I think he was outside there for at least 40 minutes. He was still there when Andy got home from work, and he managed to chase him away, although I think the raccoon pretty much thought Andy came out to play with him. Weirdest raccoon ever! But very well groomed and happy, as far as I could tell. One of these photos shows Oliver blowing a kiss to the raccoon, and you can see his little friend peeking out from under the grill cover. Who needs the zoo when you live in Landing, NJ?!

Maine a-gain

We've only been here three days so far, and already we've had fried shrimp twice, delicious crab rolls, and steamed lobsters - not to say that the purpose of coming to Maine is yummy food, but come on! It's just too good, it deserves a lot of comment. We decided today that the fried shrimp (tiny lovely sweet Maine shrimp) at Cod End in Tenants Harbor is a bit superior to the Dip Net in Port Clyde, though we all love the Dip Net...

St. George Day was happening when we first arrived on Saturday, and we enjoyed a wonderful lobster feast, along with everyone else in town!! Here's a photo of Oliver having dinner with dad - too bad Oliver can't have shellfish yet, according to baby allergy experts!! His cousins tucked right into it, though, as you can see from the photo! Later on, Oliver tasted the last drop of dad's beer, which makes for a cute photo, even though there's not actually any beer in there.

We've been to Drift Inn Beach a couple of times already, where Oliver gets thoroughly covered in sticky grey sand, and he doesn't like it much when we dunk him in the cold water to wash a little of it off! But other than that, he has the time of his life, running in and out of the shallow water, moving rocks from place to place, jumping into the deep holes that daddy digs, and generally having great little boy fun.

We've seen Chloe a few times, went swimming in Crawford Lake in Union, and have seen little Weston across the street, too. Andy's been out in his kayak once, and on his bike - he's signed up for an organized ride on Saturday, the "Ride and Roll," where upon finishing (50 miles) he gets a lobster roll!! Yum. Today was the St. George Ocean View Kitchen Tour, where 8 homes are selected for public viewing, and mom and dad's house was one of the eight! So we've spent lots of time making the place all nice and tidy, and today about 175 people trudged through the entire house, with lots of compliments on the cool kitchen. I'll try to write more updates soon!

HAPPY 4TH!

Well, our festive holiday weekend is drawing to a close... we missed being up in Maine, but we did have lots of fun down here. We had our friends Sharon and Johan down for 2 nights, as well as Johan's sister, Lise, who has become our friend as well over the last few years. Their friend, Bruno, came for one night as well. On Friday afternoon we all went to Swartswood State Park, where there's a very lovely beach and lake - the weather wasn't great, but Oliver and Andy went for a quick dip! Andy biked there and arrived only about 10 minutes after we did! That's where Oliver enjoyed a very patriotic ice pop!

On Saturday we slept in a bit and had a nice bagel brunch, then headed up to the Warwick Valley Winery, just over the NY border (Andy biked there, too!). We had a nice snack there, sitting outside on the terrace, then Andy and I strolled around the grounds with Oliver a bit while Sharon, Johan and Lise tried out the wine tasting inside. Not great wine, really, but a great day out and very nice ambiance! Live music, too, which Oliver liked a lot!

Then we came home and started preparation for our big blow-out bbq -- we had marinated pork tenderloin and Andy's homemade tandoori chicken on the grill, as well as kielbasa (a big hit with Lise!), a big bowl of Asian Slaw, and rice, and lemon tart for dessert. All super yummy! Johan and Bruno added their homemade garlic aoli and "European cocktail sauce," which were great. After a bit, the girls got first dibs in the hot tub - lots of girl talk! And then the boys went in, complete with cognac and cigars!!! I think we all slept well that night.

Oliver has loved all the company and special attention - he's been such a good boy. Today we said farewell to everyone after brunch, and the three of us will head up to Lake Mohawk later for a stroll and an ice cream.

Sorry for the delay!!

Ok, back again... back home from our trip and back to a fairly busy life at home. Sometimes I don't understand why it seems so busy, but it does...... and this weekend we're having lots of houseguests, so it's *extra* busy!!

I was FAR too optimistic to think I could keep up with the blog while we were traveling, especially when we went to a cottage in Wales for a week that wasn't internet "ready!" We had one neighboring cottage, probably also built in the 1500s, and lots and lots of neighborhood sheep! We didn't miss the internet at all.

Stories are best told through photos, though, right? The photo you see here is of Andy and Oliver with Grandpa Maurice, Grandma Carole, and Uncle Steven - only missing is Auntie Alison, but you'll see her in the photo show! So here's the link to photos from our whooole trip:

Oliver's First Trip to England!

I spent a lot of time working on captions so you'd know a little bit about what's what; unfortunately, I don't think you can see the captions in the "slideshow" mode. You have to just click on the first photo, then click next, etc. Stupid design!!! Hope you like it... next up: our trip to Maine in July!

A few days in...

Wednesday: Oliver slept ok – the first 4 hours in the borrowed pack-n-play crib (called a cot here!), then the rest of the night back with me, after he woke up crying. I can understand – strange new place, nothing familiar, it must be pretty scary for a little one! He slept about 9 or so hours, not his usual full night but certainly pretty good! He was happy for the first hour or so, then started to get fussy – he’s clearly not caught up on all his missing sleep yet. Still, we went to a local garden center this morning which is quite big and has a wonderful mini-train ride all around it – through tunnels, woods, gardens, etc. – Maurice says he’s been waiting 40 years to take his grandchild for a ride on it!! Since Oliver was a bit fussy by then, I took him around for the first ride, with Carole sitting next to us, and once we got going he loved it. But by the time we tried for the second ride with Maurice, poor Oliver was inconsolable. No worries, we’ll be going back soon and Granddaddy will get his ride with Oliver!!

Auntie Mavis (Carole’s sister) met us at the garden center towards the end, and we all headed home to a great lunch of homemade soup. This was Mavis’ first time meeting Oliver, and it wasn’t till after his nap that she really got to see the good side of him!! In the afternoon we went to Bramhall Park, which was gorgeous and has an incredible Elizabethan manor in the middle of it, overlooking a valley with a river and lake below. We brought bread to feed the ducks and geese, and Oliver got the hang of it after a bit. Once in a while he tossed a piece in his mouth instead of out to the birds! He also had great fun in the playground there. When we got home, we had dinner (Oliver has learned to help “set” the table!) and then Neil stopped by for a visit after work, and also met Oliver for the first time – he says he can really see Andy in him!

Now (Thursday) I'm off to stay with Chloe for 2 nights in Bagshot (near London) - my flight is at 3:30pm. Andy comes up tonight after finishing work in London, so I'm going to miss him! I'll be back Saturday night, and Sunday is his big 100 mile bike ride (the Polka Dot Challenge) through the peak district - that link will tell you all about it. He's been working hard to get ready for it - can't wait to go and cheer him on! In the meantime, I'll be having girly fun with Chloe, and Oliver will be looked after by his dad and grandparents - no diapers for me for two whole days! But I'll miss my little lamb.

What a journey!

Here we are in Hazel Grove! I think I'll be using this blog as a diary, and hope it might be good reading for anyone interested out there... if I don't update it often, I'll forget our whole trip!

Oliver did really well at the airport - we have this cool new gadget called Gogo Kidz, which attaches to your car seat and gives it wheels - since we needed the car seat in England, and I thought it would be helpful on the plane, this was a great option since I couldn't carry bags, Oliver, and the heavy car seat by myself! So when it's all put together, I could put Oliver in it and drag him behind me as if he was a suitcase! He didn't mind a bit, seemed to enjoy the view. We had lots of fun walking back and forth a million times on the people movers before we boarded the plane, and he enjoyed watching the planes outside through the big windows.

We took off around 10:15 pm, and by 10:45 he was asleep. I thought, hooray, maybe he'll sleep the whole way!!! It was nighttime, after all. But no, after 2 hours he woke up, fussing and uncomfortable, wondering "why am I not in my crib??!" So I tried putting him next to me in the empty seat, with his head on my lap, and he slept for maybe another hour that way. But that was IT!! 3 hours sleep. The rest of the time he was pretty fussy, obviously exhausted, but I managed to distract him with bits of food, drink, books, toys, and the people behind us were very helfpul as he spent a lot of time standing in his seat, looking over it at them, playing peekaboo (their idea). I did have trouble with him in the carseat because it was so big that it brought him close to the seat in front of him, and he thought it was great to put his feet up and push the seat away - I felt so bad for the woman in front of him! But at the end of the flight I apologized to them, and they were so nice, saying "oh no, not at all, he was wonderful!" I was pretty surprised about that!

It was so nice to see Carole and Maurice again, and they are sooooo charmed with little Oliver! I don't remember him laughing so much in such a short time, ever! They've got tons of toys here for him, and books, and all sorts, and Steve and Al (uncle and aunt!) have loaned a lot of things as well. C & M are amazingly patient as Oliver sets out to examine and then toss to the floor nearly every object he can get his hands on, and we're all spending all day, every day just playing together. On our first day here (after the 3 hours sleep - well, I personally got about a half hour!) we had a nice lunch, played for a good while, and then Oliver and I had a nap for two hours. He woke up and sat bolt upright and started bawling - I think he was just so confused and probably still so tired. I've never seen him so distraught! I finally calmed him down and he napped a while longer on my lap on the couch. After that he was all right, and he and I and Maurice took a nice walk to the field down the road with the sheep grazing, then to the little local playground for a swing. We came down and had dinner, some more playing, and then Oliver went to sleep at 10pm. He slept till after 7:30 am, not bad!!!

After breakfast (Oliver tried porridge and seemd to like it!) we all walked to the bus stop and took 2 buses (he actually snoozed on one of them) to get to a wonderful indoor fun place called Funizuz, where Oliver ran around and played for well over an hour. Alison met us there and joined the fun - Oliver jumped in and out of the big ball pit, walked through mazes, went down a few slides, and actually walked UP the long slide you see in the photo - something kids are not supposed to do, but I helped him up the first (steepest) part and thought he'd slide back down, and then I couldn't get to him in time to stop him! He was fine though, but he could have had a scary tumble!

Alison drove us all home, and then later she and Steven came by for playing and dinner. After dinner Maurice had to go to a choir rehearsal, and the rest of us set out for a big rally and parade to honor the winners of the football league, Stockport County - Maurice and Steven are big fans, and Al as well! There was just a big final game in London, and they won, and there was lots of happiness all around! So hundreds of people turned out for the parade, and the team came by on the top of an open double decker bus, and then they came out one by one in front of city hall, and everyone was cheering and waving flags and blowing air horns and Oliver thought it was quite something! He didn't love the air horns...! I took loads of pictures, so I'll put them up as soon as I can. When we got back, he fell asleep around 9:20 - I hope tonight goes as well as last night!

Crossing the pond

Hello! Sorry for the long silence - we've been getting ready for our big trip to England - we leave tomorrow!! Andy will be at work near London from Monday through Thursday, and I'm going straight to his parents' house in Stockport, with Oliver, of course! Then we'll be all together for the next two weeks, including a week at a "cottage" in Wales - here's a link to the cottage, how good's that?! It's Oliver's first time on a plane, so there's lots of excitment ahead. We hope it's excitment, and not misery... ! I think he'll be fine, actually - the flight over is at 10pm, so I'm hoping he'll sleep most of the way. And he's had LOTS of long car trips to Maine, so he's used to sitting in his car seat. So, we'll see. I've got some new toys to keep him occupied, and even some lollipops, which may help with his ears on the plane. We should have some good new photos for you soon, and lots of news. Here's a photo of Andy and me right after he proposed to me on top of Chinley Head, in July 2005, just to get you in the mood!! xoxo

Mother's Day '08

Hello, again! So between all the sandbox photos and the Mother's Day photos I just downloaded, I couldn't pick just one or two to put on here, so I decided to make a snapfish show and put them ALL up!!! Hopefully this link will take you there: Oliver - Sandbox, Slides, and Shumai! The first bunch of photos show Andy digging out and creating the new sandpit (notice Oliver swinging in the background, so cute!), and then there's a bunch of him enjoying his new "pit of pleasure!" All the rest of them are from Mother's Day this weekend (except the last few, which I took today).

We had a lot of fun on Mother's Day -- Andy cheerfully agreed to go to Chinatown in NY for dim sum, even though it meant an hour on the road each way, crazy tolls, stupid parking prices, ridiculous crowds, and food that I love but he only sort of likes. The drive was fine, but we had to give up on our first choice of restaurant because there were ZILLIONS of people swarmed outside it, waiting... so we went to Ping's Seafood, also good and only a short wait. Oliver was pretty much due for his nap at this point, so he had a meltdown right away, and we almost gave it up altogether, but Andy saved the day by taking him for a little walk then coming back and using his belt to strap him into the chair (no highchairs at the restaurant). After that we were ok for a bit, and Oliver got to enjoy his favorite shumai. We went to a nearby park after that, and then decided to head back. Oliver fell asleep in the car pretty much instantly. We drove straight to Sparta and had yummy ice cream and a good time in the playground right next to Lake Mohawk.

So it was a really nice day, and I was reminded - as I am in so many ways every day - of how lucky I am to be married to Andy and be the mom of Oliver. They are The Best.

Having fun at home

Hello again! I finally downloaded some photos from our big camera, so today I'll show you some things that Oliver's been up to over the last few months... little snapshots of our life here.

I joined a mom's group as soon as we moved here, and have been to several playgroups with Oliver - some are at members' homes, others at parks or indoor play places... and we've hosted a few, too! The first photo is of one of Oliver's new playmates, a lovely girl who doted on Oliver the whole time she was here.

The next photo is from a few months ago when I got Oliver the Fisher Price car garage. He has lots of fun with it, but the day I got it I found him climbing all over it like it was gym equipment! This photo shows him sitting on top of it, with his leg down the elevator chute. Classic!

And the last photo is from just a few days ago, showing one of Oliver's latest fun tricks - wearing mom's crocs! I find him walking around in them most mornings now, very pleased with himself. He likes to wear dad's shoes, sometimes, too, but the crocs are the big favorite.

Today we had a nice walk at Horseshoe Lake and lots of fun playing at the big playground there with Beth and little Georgie. Later on we had a great webcam with Grandma Carole and Grandpa Maurice, where I took the computer outside so they could see Oliver playing in his new sandpit (sandbox in "American!") - so cool! He's looking forward to his first big trip to England in a few weeks! More photos from the sandpit coming soon, promise.

Boys in the Garden

Well, our time in Maine has just about come to an end... we leave tomorrow morning for the long trip home. It's been such a nice week, and the weather's been amazing pretty much every day, and we've had fun with Grandma and Granddaddy and Greenie! However, we're really looking forward to being home again and especially to having our little family all together - it feels like a long time that we've been apart!! O misses his dad, and I miss him VERY much, too.

Today was sunny and cool until late afternoon, when it clouded over and got pretty cold, fast. We played outside early in the day, and Weston and his mom, Nicole, stopped by for a visit on their way back from a walk. Here's a picture of the boys "helping" Grandma in the garden!! I'm inspired now to do more work in our yard back home... let's hope I follow through!! Later on we went to the 'Keag for crab sandwiches and then to the Owl's Head Transportation Museum, where O got to look at all the cool old airplanes.

So, now we have our exciting trip to England to get ready for, and a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa H, Auntie Al and Uncle Steven... and then a trip back up to Maine later in the summer, when Andy can come, too! Lots to look forward to.

It's not ALL mud!

So, spring in Maine is (as anyone who lives here will tell you) actually a lot more than just mud! This week has been glorious, with crisp, sunny days and cold nights - it's been around 55 degrees during the day, which doesn't sound that warm but today we just wore thin shirts and the sun felt so warm... it was perfect! It was a lot warmer inland, but stayed cooler by the coast, as usual. Nice! Just the way spring should be, none of this 70+ degree stuff they're getting already in NJ. Save it for summer!

Today we had a trip to the port in the morning, got a couple of things at the general store and met a great dog who escorted us around the landing - he acted like he was OUR dog! Big, heavy, wet, brown lab, everyone in town knows him - he belongs to a fisherman about a mile away, and comes to the port every day to hang out and get free food and good company. We sat together in the sun and wished that time could stop for a bit, but we had to get O back home for his nap.

We played outdoors a lot in the afternoon, and Oliver got to enjoy his new crocs, which (as you can see) he's quite proud of! We also visited a playground in town, and he had his first visit to a sandbox -- MAN did he love that sandbox! I think he would have stayed in it for an hour if he could - I've never seen him so happy doing just one thing for so long. Here's an action shot - he had tons of fun dumping sand all over the place, and on himself. Andy and I talked this afternoon and decided we'll have to build him his own sandbox when we get home.

Mud Season in Maine

Some of you may have heard about the four seasons in Maine: summer, fall, winter, and mud. This is mud season! Poor mom and dad have a guy come and plow the snow off the driveway after big storms, and he's not very careful when he does it, so when all the snow melts in the spring, they're left with big welts in the side of the yard, and small piles of sod way over in the other side of the yard. This year in Maine there was tons of snow, so lots of damage to the yard!

This morning we did some yard work (mom did, mostly, I helped a bit while mostly chasing Oliver around). In one photo, you can see Oliver actually sitting with his feet in one of the big welts! Later on, he slipped into another one that was full of water and mud, and wasn't too happy about it! Half of him was covered in wet mud, and it took him by surprise.

He refused to take his midday nap, which was strange... I tried for well over an hour, and he just wouldn't settle down - very frustrating for mom! I guess it was just stored up energy from being in the car all day yesterday. In the afternoon, we went next door to see Weston (just turned 2), Rich, and Nicole, and had a great time over there for a couple of hours. Oliver and I got to have some great blueberry juice, yum!

Our Journey Through Multiple Climate Zones

Today Oliver and I said a (very) sleepy goodbye to Andy at about 5:30am (well, I did, Oliver thankfully didn't wake up), and he headed to England for the week. Then after breakfast and some last minute packing, we embarked on the 8-hour journey to Maine. We actually made it door to door in 7 hours and 45 minutes this time, including a good 1:15 in stops, so that's pretty good!

When we left home, it was a balmy 68 degrees or so. A bit later I was surprised to see it hit 72. Then at New Haven, which was heavily fogged in, it was just 59. A half hour later or so, in Hartford, it was 79!!! SEVENTY NINE! At Lowell, MA, it was still about 74, but by the time we started driving through New Hampshire, which really isn't that far in the scheme of things, it was 44! Then it got back up to 50 or so around Portland and Brunswick, and back to 44 by the time we got home... it certainly felt different than when we left home in the morning!!

O was a great little boy... I had lots of different toys for him on hand, which sometimes kept him happy for a bit, and other times he rejected immediately. I had a big bag of treats and sippy cups with juice, etc, which also came in handy. He had a good long mid-day nap, and was only sporatically cranky, never for more than a couple of minutes. And he barely asked to hold my hand (for those of you that have have traveled with us, this is a big achievement, and a BIG savings to mom's aching arms and back). Towards the end of the trip, he was happily occupied for about 20 minutes playing with my empty water bottle with a cool flip-top lid. What a good boy! Extremely engergetic once we got home, after being restrained all day, and not too interested in eating or sleeping... but we managed. Grandma and Grandpa's house is just a big crazy plaything for him, and there are 3 cats here, not just one!

New workout: Step Obstacle Aerobics

So, today I started a new fitness regimine! And I'm writing about it in the blog, so it must be real. I pulled out the old step platform, and the Step Reebok video, got new sneakers (can't find my old ones!), got mentally "ready," got dressed this morning in my workout gear, poured a big glass of cold water... the only unknown was how Oliver would react to his mom jumping around the living room and not paying any attention to him.

It started out great - he literally laughed at first, thought it was funny to see me stepping up and down on this thing, waving my arms around. But pretty soon, he realized I wasn't going to stop and give him kisses every two minutes, or pick him up, or play with him... so he tried all kinds of tricks. He played with his toys nearby so I had to be careful not to step on them/him. He cried for me, raising his arms up to be held. He sat on the step platform. He went into the china cabinet and brought me a bottle of vodka (yes, really). He attempted to hold onto my feet and legs as I stepped (many times). He climbed all over the step so I had to find creative ways to follow the routine while not stomping on his hands. He cried pitifully for his mommy. But she soldiered on, and he survived! I think after a few more times, he'll get the hang of it, and know that his mommy will be at his beck and call again after just 45 minutes!

Pyramid Mountain

This weekend we had a wonderful hike at Pyramid Mountain near Montville, NJ. We found it online by chance, and decided to give it a try... we're so glad we did! It's a very big park, really gives you the sense of being away from everything. Oliver loved it, and the park must be near a flight path because there were tons of planes flying overhead and that was extra fun for Oliver! We had an unexpected surprise near the top when we realized we could see the NY skyline. You'll see it, too, if you zoom in on the photo of Andy and Oliver with the distant views. When we got up to Tripod Rock, we were glad we walked all that way because it was really cool. Andy, of course, had to conquer it with his sweet skills! Oliver tried to follow him, actually - he loved climbing around the rocks. Gorgeous day out, we're looking forward to going back soon and trying some new trails.

A visit with cousin Saul

We made another trek into NYC last week to see Rachel, Beth, and Saul and have a nice dim sum lunch... it was SO nice to see them, but Oliver didn't fare well without his usual late-morning nap. Lunch hit right about the time he should have been deep asleep, and he let us know it! Unusually grumpy at the restaurant, so we didn't get to have much of a feast... but he seemed to enjoy our nice walk down the busy streets afterwards - it was a truly gorgeous day, and he finally fell asleep in his stroller after a while, and slept about a half hour (not much!). Rachel and Saul and I got some ice cream (Beth had to leave after lunch for her conference) and we all played in a great little playground when Oliver woke up. He was ok on the train trip home, despite a 50 minute delay getting out of Penn Station (only one track was open for in and outgoing trains, eek). Here's a picture of Oliver climbing around our seat on the train home. It was so cool seeing Saul - he's got so much to say, and is interested in everything, and just so sweet!! We can't wait for our next visit!

First time on a bike...

But not the last! Here's Oliver a couple of weekends ago, getting a feel for dad's bike... we think he liked it!!

Busy, busy boy

So, this morning Oliver discovered the drawer under the stove where we keep all our cookie sheets and other large, flat metal items, and while I sat here on the couch, he brought them all to me, one at a time. Very busy, very determined. After two large cookie sheets, two cooling racks, a muffin tin and a splash guard were strewn about the living room, he set out to return them to the drawer... I haven't checked to see what that looks like, but I'm sure it's amusing! I think he's only brought two things back so far, actually. It's quite a noisy endeavor. Oh, here comes the cookie sheet, back into the living room...

Yesterday we had a little walk down the street, and he was extremely fascinated in the big oil truck parked next door (engine still running). He stopped nearby and just stared at it, pointed to it repeatedly, murmered interesting noises, and waved at it a bit. The oil man saw him and smiled, and when he drove the truck away, he waved at Oliver. Oliver watched the truck turn the corner, and then waved back, and kept waving for quite some time. Very cute boy!

Right now Oliver's dad is out on his mountain bike with a fellow biker we met at the park a few weeks ago - it's sunny outside but very cold still. When he gets back, we're all going out for a walk in the woods or possibly down to Frenchtown, NJ for a bike along the canal path on the Delaware River. We're looking forward to trying out Oliver's new bike buggy - we'll take lots of pictures! xoxo

BEAR!!!

Background: A week or so ago, when mom was visiting and we were wandering around the yard, we noticed a chunk of our fence had been smashed in (or out) by something unknown force. It was in the bottom of the fence, about two feet wide and maybe 3 feet high, the wooden fence pieces just strewn about near the opening. Then a few days later, at the other end of the yard, another area was damaged, this time high up and much messier, not a real opening like the last time. The (relatively) good news is that we've realized recently that the whole fence is old and in disrepair/rotting and needs to be replaced, so at least this isn't happening to a "good" fence.

ANYWAY! This morning I pulled aside the curtains in the living room to look out at the birds on the feeder, and what did I see?? I think you can guess from the title and the pictures! A bear! Not a baby bear, a big, wet (rainy day), full grown bear! 4 feet away from me, eating up our bird seed and having destroyed the iron rod that the feeder hangs from. I dashed to get the camera and got a couple of blurry shots, but this afternoon I looked up when passing the window, and there he was again! So this time I got several good shots, all of which are shown here. I also got a longer look at him, and as soon as he saw me he ambled quickly away. I tried to see how he got out of our yard, but didn't see him exit - I assume he stayed close to the deck on the yard below, and went out the opening at the far end... otherwise, he's taken up residence under the deck, but I won't be investigating that by myself!!! So, that's the news from the wilds of New Jersey!!

A visit to see Aunt Arlene!

Since moving to NJ, we've been looking forward to seeing Aunt Arlene, my father's mother's brother's widow (get that!), who lives less than half an hour away, in Pompton Plains. We finally visited her today, and she's doing great. Here's a photo!

New Yorkers are NICE! Except for one.

Ok, make yourself a drink and get comfortable, this one's going to be a long one!!! This week, mom's visiting from Tuesday evening through mid-day Sunday, and when we were planning the visit, we decided to have a big gala day in New York City, with two main goals: a dim sum lunch in Chinatown, and a visit to the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden. This required lots of pre-planning, since Chinatown is at the very south end of the city, and the garden is north of Manhattan, in the Bronx... but I'll start at the beginning.

We left home with enough time to get to the train station in Dover (less than 15 minutes away) and park, not counting it being nearly 10am and all of the parking lots were full! But when we drove by the station, we noticed the VERY FIRST parking spot was open, so we gleefully pulled in. Then we realized that the parking meter was broken (thus no one else had parked there), but we said, "screw it!" as the train was leaving in about 5 minutes and we didn't have time to look elsewhere! Oliver was *very* fascinated with the train, as you can imagine... he spent the whole trip to the city (about 75 minutes) watching the doors open and close, looking out the window, watching other trains zoom by, and just generally admiring the novelty of it all. Here's a picture of him on his first train trip.

When we got to Penn Station, we followed signs to the subway lines and got a train straight to Canal Street in Chinatown. The reason I've called this entry "New Yorkers are Nice" is that the ENTIRE day, every single time we got to stairs or an escalator or a door (which is OFTEN, when you're navigating the NY subway system), someone came right over to help us. We never asked, they just came right up and offered - they held doors, carried the front of the stroller up or down stairs, helped with directions, often at great length. It's one thing if it happens once or twice, but it was all day, consistently, and it was quite impressive! Except one guy, but we'll get to that later!

So when we got to Chinatown, we walked several blocks to our restaurant, passing the busy street vendors selling purses and scarves, Chinese souvenirs, toys, fruits and vegetables, fresh fish (see photos). We chose a highly rated dim sum restaurant, Ping's Seafood, and had a wonderful assortment of our very favorites: shrimp dumplings, pork and shrimp shumai, pork buns, sticky rice, crispy dumplings... all insanely delicious. I got two portions of pork shumai, as I knew Oliver loved them - he couldn't get enough!! As you can see...

Sadly, the time came when we had to finish our dim sum lunch. :-) We got the subway up to 14th street, then changed trains to go allllll the way up to the end of the green line in the Bronx, the second to the last stop. Unfortunately, the Botanical Garden is about 10 blocks from the subway station, so we could either walk or take the bus, and there was a bus waiting right there, so we hopped on. As much as you can "hop" with a big stroller, a near-30 pound boy, and two increasingly fatigued women! We told the driver we'd like to get off at the garden, and he said he'd make an announcement (foreshadow). So we went to the back of the bus (as requested by said busdriver, with our big stroller). A few minutes later, after we'd stopped, we heard an announcement to the effect of "mother with stroller, exit here for the Botanical Garden." So we jumped up, made our way through the throng of people to the back door, and a man there tried to yell to the driver to OPEN THE DOOR! And two seconds later, the bus drove away from the stop! So we were trapped on the bus, watching helplessly as the huge grounds of the garden passed us by and we got farther and farther away. A few blocks later, the bus finally stopped and we got out, exclaiming very unladylike things to the bus as it drove away (or more specifically, to the driver, the one New Yorker who failed us miserably)... what's the point in saying you should exit the bus, but not opening the back door and then driving away???? So we walked as quickly as we could back to the garden entrance (we were now late for our scheduled entry time), and thereafter returned to our only good NY experiences!

With tickets to the orchid show at the garden, we wandered around and marveled at it all - a very impressive exhibit! Oliver, surely exhausted at this point (approaching 4pm) with no nap all day, was happy to run around and investigate everything. He had lots of admirers as he went from place to place, kept everyone smiling.

When we left, we had to decide if we'd try to make our way back to the subway station, then take a subway (during rush hour) down to Grand Central, then have to get to Penn Station from there - OR take a cab! So we decided to take a cab! Which turned out to be a wonderful decision - it wasn't *too* expensive, and Oliver finally got to take a nap! He was strapped into a safety belt between me and mom in the back (eek, no car seat!!), and within about 3 minutes he was snoring next to me (see photo in part 2), and got to sleep almost 40 minutes, when I had to wake him up at Penn Station (which made him very grumpy, poor thing!). Such a well-deserved nap - what a great boy he'd been all day!! And talk about New Yorkers - our cabby actually apologized to us about the heavy traffic!! We were enjoying every minute of the ride, though - sleeping boy, a chance to sit down, perfect!

At the station, we quickly realized there was an express train leaving for Dover in about 4 minutes, so we rushed down to the track, and we managed to catch it, even making our way with the stroller down a big escalator! Amazing, considering the hundreds of people swarming around. As soon as we got on the train, two businessmen jumped up and offered us their seats - we were so grateful! Oliver was a bit cranky on the ride home, not terrible though, and certainly understandable. The icing on the cake - no ticket on the car when we got back to the parking lot! So, that's pretty much the story of our day, a wonderful day in the big city. Now Oliver and I are all geared up for another trip to Chinatown in a couple of weeks, where we'll be meeting Rachel and Beth and little Saul for dim sum... you can NEVER have too much dim sum!