Happy Birthday Grampy

Grampy's XXst birthday is today, but a lady never reveals an age. Last sunday Sara had a BBQ at her house to celebrate with ALL of the family invited.

Grampy introduced Lucy to motorcycles. She was NOT impressed (though this might not be an affront to the motorcycle as she was not impressed by much of anything at the party, even after a long nap in the car).

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Tim grilled while everyone enjoyed themselves. Jacob led the family in a couple of games of whiffleball, but mostly we stood around and talked.

It must be so hard when nobody loves you ....

And Lucy looked like a big girl walking around with Mammy. It was about the only time she was happy when I wasn't holding her.

And here we are with cousin Lennon. Let me tell you, these are two HEAVY babies!

Thanks, Grampy, for having your birthday on such a beautiful day!

Vacation

Vacation means different things to different people. For Lucy and I this week it was a break from the routine and time to be together all day every day. We spent the first part of the week in Waterville at Grandma's. Lucy had lots of fun with the new "toys" Grandma provided: shampoo, the strainer, and measuring cups. The best toys are often not toys at all, and they're even better when enjoyed with a good bath.

Good progress this week in the mobility department - Lucy is now able to use her walker very well, zooming all over the house. Grandma's walker doesn't work quite as well, but we suspect it's because it's 30 years old. Still no crawling.

Lucy loves to spend time with her Grandma, loves to cuddle, walk, and take walks, but really loves the extra special love she gets every time they're together.

From Waterville we took a short jaunt to Portland, to spend time with our friend Katy. There we went shopping for the husky-girl car seat that goes up to 32 lbs (with eventual success). Lucy also took her first trip to the ocean! We went to the Portland head light - foggy, foggy, foggy - and to Two Lights State Park which is a great place to see high surf when there's a storm. Lucy slept through a good portion of the trip but woke up at the end to get her first glimpse of a stormy sea.



We finished our time off with our special friends, Crystal and Angie and their kids Kara, Dayton, and Dawson. Here are Lucy and Dawson sharing a toy, and no, the camera is not playing tricks on your eye. Lucy is that much bigger than Dawson right now (about 5.5 lbs). I thought for sure Lucy would be the agressor but while playing in the playpen, Dawson grabbed Lucy by the hair, pulled her over, and crawled on top of her. Lucy didn't seem to mind at all.

All in all a great START to the week that didn't end so well. I came home with a vicious stomach flu (that my doctor thought was appendicitis) and was so sick that Grandma came to Old Town to take care of me. Ah well, summer's right around the corner and there will be plenty of time for washing windows and dusting the corners of the house, right?

Timber!

Someone must have been thinking spring a little too hard because the winds of destruction have fallen upon our yard and downed a huge old (and apparently unstable but who knew?) tree. It's hard to get the scope of things in the photos but it spans most of our back yard and is going to be a doozy of a cleanup, though it could not have been a more lucky fall. It didn't come close to our house or even the fence for that matter, just squashed a couple of other trees on the way down.

The split where the part of the tree fell is more than 10 feet off the ground. The trunk is 3-4 feet wide at its widest point. And when I was out there taking pictures it was creaking and moaning at me as though it was going to send the other half of the still standing tree my way as well. Yikes!

Easter

Happy Easter everyone!

Lucy and I went to Grandma and Grandpa's in Waterville for an Easter brunch and lucky we did because the Easter bunny forgot to come to our house and went to Waterville instead! Lucy found a beautiful basket with lots of fun surprises inside, but the most exciting thing she got was pink eye. If you can tell from the photos, her left eye is all swollen, red, and goopy, so we started off our day with a trip to the walk in clinic to get some medicine. (It's looking much better today.)

Here Lucy is looking at her Easter basket. Pretty happy!

Grandma insisted on giving Lucy a peep. She wasted no time in figuring out that it was food, pinked herself up with the sugar crystals, and then lost interest.


We hope that everyone else had a wonderful Easter as well!

Raising a Reader

I read to Lucy every day in the hopes that she will grow up and love to read as much as Eric and I do. So far, her love for books extends no further than the lips.

Think Spring

If everyone thinks some positive thoughts perhaps we can do away with the snow until next winter. The week of rain forecasted may also help.