Apple picking, play date, haircut

Friday:
Oliver was happy!

And Friday night, Madeline was happy she got to try a famous Iggy's doughboy -- yum!

Saturday:
Madeline helped me make pear pancakes.

Then (after stopping to pick up a jacket for Madeline) we went apple picking.

At first, Madeline said, "I don't like this place."  But frequent encounters with woolly bear caterpillars changed her mind -- especially this one on her hat.

The day was gorgeous too -- too gorgeous for Madeline's new jacket, which she shrugged off her shoulders.

We picked lots of apples.

And we had fun.

Today:
Ilan came over -- and we got to meet his little sister Avigail, too!

Madeline and Ilan played hide and seek -- Imri found the kids hiding behind a tree.

When Ilan and family were leaving, they spotted a praying mantis in our front yard.

To use Madeline's favorite word these days, the mantis was cool.

After Madeline's nap, she and Summer went out to run errands while Oliver and I hung out and watched football.

The game was disappointing, but the results of the errands were not -- Madeline ended up with a haircut that is, in her words, cool.

This seems as good a place as any to interject an incomplete list of pet names Madeline has used for Oliver:

• mourning dove
• morning glory
• scallop shell
• sticky bun
• bowling ball
• armadillo
• lollipop

She's a character for sure.

Walk, visit, frozen yogurt, smiles

Monday:

We went for a walk after dinner.

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Arturo and Kristin came to visit Summer and Oliver in the morning.

And the family went out for frozen yogurt after dinner.

Thursday:

Hike & bottle

Thursday:

Yesterday, Oliver tried some of Madeline's patented cherry tea.

Then we went for a hike at the Maxwell Mays Audubon refuge.  I wore Oliver and Madeline wore her baby, Sophie.

Though the beginning of the hike was disastrous -- Oliver crying because he's a baby, Madeline crying because she tripped and face-planted in the dirt -- we recovered.  And we found cool bugs like crickets and grasshoppers and spiders.

After his initial fussing, Oliver slept soundly for the rest of the hike.

Today was more low-key.  Oliver took his first bottle and drained it like a champ.

And Madeline did lots of playing.  Here, she's performing a checkup on Petey with her doctor kit.  Bad news for Petey: he needed two shots.

One month

Yesterday, Oliver turned one month old!  You know what that means: a chair picture.

Madeline joined in too.

That was morning.  In the evening, Oliver had his first real bath.  He seemed to find it very interesting!

Today, Oliver had his one-month checkup.  He seemed to find it less interesting than his bath.

Oliver checked in at 11 pounds, 8 ounces and 23¼ inches long.  He was declared very healthy.  And Summer and I got flu shots to keep it that way.

At Madeline's tea party later ...

... Oliver showed off his double-digit poundage by sizing up Petey.  He's gaining on his elder, feline brother, but he's not quite there yet.

Beach and home again

Before going on to chronicle the kiddos, I'm taking a moment to note that the beach is a pretty place.

Most mornings I got up early to breathe the fresh air and take pictures of the predawn light ...

... and sunrise over the Atlantic.

It was nice.

Saturday morning, the kiddos frolicked in bed.

Madeline played with Summer and Alex while Oliver worked on his neck muscles.

Madeline and Alex drew scary ghosts together.

Summer and I took Madeline and Oliver into town (Sea Isle City) to pick up diapers, eat lunch, and buy some sweets.

We stumbled across the town's Fall Family Festival, which flooded the promenade with vendors and crowds and precluded the low-key mid-September beachside stroll we'd anticipated.

Apparently we missed sand-scultping demonstrations (which I only now learned were going on then), but we did manage to find crab cakes and lobster bisque -- yum.

And that evening, we added some delicious steamer clams to our seafood extravaganza.

Sunday morning, Madeline had something perhaps even better than crab cakes and clams -- sticky buns.

Then we posed for some family photos.  Here are four generations of Greene males.

And here's our little nuclear family.

By late morning, we were on our way home.  The drive was long and exhausting.

We finally made it home around 8 pm.

Today it was back to work for me and school for Madeline.  Oliver, though, got to keep hanging out with his mom.

And when I came home, he and I hung out a bit too.