Visit from Grandpa Paul

Last week, life carried on in the usual way.

Then Grandpa Paul came to visit!  On a beautiful Saturday, we went to Evelyn's for seafood.

The whole bellies, lobster rolls, and chowder and clam cakes were delicious as always.

The meal knocked the kids out.

But later, Oliver revived enough to help me grill.

On Sunday, we mostly stuck around home and played.

Madeline and I found a grasshopper in the yard and caught it.  We observed it with a magnifying glass and then let it go again.

Madeline sorted her rocks.

Then we did something exciting ...

... we made our first excursion to Olneyville N.Y. System for hot wieners and coffee milk!

N.Y. System is a Rhode Island institution that's just a short walk from our house, but somehow we'd never been.  Perhaps surprisingly, it's a well-respected institution too -- it just won a James Beard Foundation America's Classics award.

We decided that its honors were deserved.

For his part, though, Oliver mostly enjoyed the decor.

Later, Madeline donned her space suit.

Then Grandpa Paul had to fly back to Oregon, and another week began.

dancing & swimming & walking (& Worcester)

Last Friday -- ages ago, now! -- we went to the Providence Shanty Sing with Sharks Come Cruisin'; we all sang along, and Madeline spent the whole evening dancing in a circle with friend Lily (whose parents are in the band).

That Saturday, Madeline displayed her unique sense of style ...

... and we met up with Geoff for lunch and then the EcoTarium!

(That picture is Oliver and Geoff poking their heads up into a sort of terrarium, and Oliver is wearing his most giant smile.)

Oliver admired the Dilophosaurus model (fun fact: Dilophosaurus may well be responsible for some of the Jurassic-era footprints that make up most of New England's dinosaurian fossil record, as I've mentioned  here before).

After the EcoTarium and a deeply rewarding stop by Worcester's own Wholly Cannoli, we returned home.

Our next big outing was a trip to the neighborhood pool.

Everyone got ready ...

... and we enjoyed it so much that we've made good use of our season family pass since.

One day, Madeline asked if she could listen to The Sorceror's Apprentice while reading along and eating cereal.  We obliged.

Meanwhile, Oliver has been up to his usual shenanigans: smiling a lot ...

... and driving his car with an open container -- oh Oliver, how many times do we have to tell you?

But Oliver's 11 months old now, free to make choices for himself.

Like:  Should I surf on the chair?  Yes!

And now that we're past the 14th too, Madeline's just a hair away from three and a half.

Her passions these days are wearing dresses (she also enjoys accessorizing with sunglasses and a trout), writing letters (which is why she can often be seen carrying a notebook) ...

... and finding rocks, sticks, and bugs outside.

Oliver's passion is walking everywhere!

He particularly likes carrying things -- preferably large, cumbersome or heavy things.  He sneaks into the bathroom so he can carry around our scale.  And he loves climbing up steps if we look away for just a second or two.

This weekend, given all our wanderings of late, we decided to stay close to home.  Yesterday, we walked to the library, to Crugnale Bakery for a delicious and shockingly inexpensive lunch (plus some pizza dough) ...

... and to Benny's for some water wings for Madeline.  Then that afternoon, when Kristin came over to swim with us, the pool people wouldn't let her wear them!  After an initial period of shock, Madeline recovered and had lots of fun swimming (as did the rest of us).

Then while I grilled some chicken, Oliver alternatively carried and kicked this soccer ball around our back yard -- large and cumbersome, but not too heavy.

He's also quite enthusiastically been learning the mechanics of drinking from a cup.

Today, just Madeline and I swam during Oliver's afternoon nap.  She needed a brief period of zone-out time afterward.

And that was that!

Beginning of July - Vacation II (3 of 3)

Saturday morning we drove into the White Mountains toward Clark's Trading Post, an odd place that offers train rides, bear shows, and acrobats, among other attractions.

We kicked off our visit with the train ride, which departs to calliope music and a story about the "Wolf Man" who lives in the mountains.  The kiddos were excited.

Sure enough, we soon met the Wolf Man!

He turned out to be perhaps the highlight of Madeline's whole vacation.  She was very proud that "I wasn't scared of the Wolf Man!" and in fact announced that "I want to be a Wolf Man when I grow up" -- only without the beard and eye patch.

After the train ride came a bear show.  You can see one of the performers resting in the background of this shot.

The bear show was fun!  And afterward we had lunch.

Next, Madeline panned for gemstones -- and found some!

Then we exercised Oliver before the acrobat show ...

... which was also impressive (the show, that is -- not so much the baby exercise, which was cute more than impressive).  Madeline tried afterward to emulate the women who did spun and tossed tables on their feet.

The next day, we went to Squam Lakes Natural Science Center.  Oliver approved of this plan.

We saw lots of neat creatures, ranging from a tiny saw-whet owl to this impressive mountain lion -- all native to New England.

And, along the way, we hopped off the wooded path for lunch ...

... and garden romping!

Afterward, it was back to the wooded path, where our next stop between animal enclosures was this cool playhouse.

Oliver enjoyed his occasional opportunities to join the rest of us and walk!

Then we finished up and, at dinner, Madeline explored her letters some more.

The next morning we headed away from the mountains and toward the coast.  We stopped off for lunch at a New Hampshire lobster pound.  The kiddos were excited ...

... but the lunch was disappointing.  Certainly no match for Rhode Island seafood.

The next stop was better.  Maudslay State Park in Newburyport, Massachusetts offered a great place for kiddo romping.

Madeline and I raced from picnic table to picnic table, then found a quarter in a hollow tree.

And from there, it was smooth sailing on home.