dad and ada striking a pose

meal time = fun time

The last few weeks have been all about enjoying summer. Ada made her first trip to Vermont over the Fourth of July when we visited Manchester for a friend’s wedding. Fortunately, she was asleep by the time the fireworks started!

During the week we were deluged by a severe storm that struck the local area. Over 8 inches of rain fell in less than 5 hours and much of the school sustained severe water damage. There were inches of hail on the ground and the roads were blocked with water. (link here to local news report.)

We just got back from the Maine coast where we spent time car camping with Kara’s parents. With the exception of one rainy night, the weather was picture perfect. Ada slept much better on this camping trip and seemed less afraid of the ocean.

All in all, the summer is going well and we, as well as Ada, are enjoying all of the time outside!

Enjoy some pictures below. As always, you can double click on the slide show for a full screen version.

Recent pictures from a few days spent on Lake Waukewan in New Hampshire! Enjoy!
(as always, you can double click on the slideshow for a larger version)

Happy Father's Day (to me!)

I had a great first Father's Day! The day started off on a great note with some extra sleep, coffee in bed, and then polishing off a box of girl scout cookies before I ever set foot on the ground! Kara helped Ada put together some very thoughtful gifts and she and I were lucky to be able to visit both of our father's as well.

Camping on the Cape

Enjoy a slide show from our overnight camping trip (Ada's first) to Cape Cod! It was rainy and cool but we had a good time and still managed to get to the beach in between rain showers. Ada falls asleep every night (and has since day 1) to a cd of ocean wave sounds... and one ironic part of the trip was that she was really frightened of the actual sound of the waves once we were standing by the waters edge! Overall, she was a trooper and we are encouraged for longer, future trips- like maybe a couple months across the back country!

(TRY THIS! We have tried a new feature and there should be several short videos incorporated into the slide show. If you view the slide show on our blog, the videos will not play... but if you double click on the slide show, you should be redirected to an online web album. Click on the 'Full Screen' button in the upper left part of the screen (below the text, "My Photos > Cape Cod"), then click the "Play" arrow in the lower part of the screen, and you can watch the slide show full size! It will take some time to buffer before the first video plays, but let us know if they are not working and we can post them as individual clips.)

School has wrapped up. The students graduated on Saturday and we have just concluded our final end-of-the- year teacher meetings. We are excited to have a break from all of the craziness of the last few weeks and we are looking forward to a fun first summer with Adalynne.

Greg will be working two days a week running the school’s rock gym and ropes course for the summer day camp and Kara will be tutoring a couple of days a week but it is shaping up to be a pretty relaxed summer. We have a number of weekend trips around New England planned and will be spending time on various lakes, rivers, and oceans throughout the summer.

As the amount of baby stuff we tote along with us has increased our car has started to feel small and we bought a roof top carrier to help alleviate some of the crunch. We will take its inaugural trip as we head down to the Cape this weekend to try our hand at camping (albeit car camping) with Ada. She loves being outside and gets to spend a couple hours a day enjoying the view from her stroller as she accompanies us on various walks and runs. We will be sure to post pictures of her first mouthful of sand!

Another note worthy event- Ada has spoken… sort of. We are calling it “Her First Words” though the evidence that she knows what she saying is a little thin! Kara came home from work the other day and Ada turned, looked at her Mom, and said, “Mamamamamama.” Since then she has looked at quite a few other things and said “mamamamama” but it is tough to deny the original event. So- for those of you who are keeping track or voted in the poll- Ada's first words are “mama.”

Happy summer and please let us know if you are in the area!

Ada uses a special blend of oatmeal and bananas to keep her hair styled

Spending a little family time at our plot at the local community garden