...and i mean that quite literally. i don't think i've blogged on this before so it's probably about time. perhaps it's our fault for encouraging Arwyn to love the outdoors, perhaps it's Lorri teaching her to touch the leaves and bark of trees, or maybe it's something else? in any case, our daughter is really into hugging, patting, and even kissing trees. here is Arwyn visiting a few of the trees in our front yard.
note: the mismatched outfit is all dad's fault.
undoubtedly her favorite tree is this one, found along our daily walking route. if one (read: daddy) forgets to stop the stroller and let her visit this tree, you'll always get a response - ranging from a sad little hand extended in silence, to full-on moaning and fussing. warning - there are lots of mommy/nana "aaaawwws" in this clip!
last weekend we had a nice visit from my mother, Arwyn's Nana. while it was a bit hot outside for my taste, the nice weather gave us ample opportunities to have fun outside, including a nice trip to our town lake and so-called "beach". not surprisingly, this child of ours wasted no time and ran right into the water. perhaps she wanted to show off her new bathing suit?
while we didn't spend the whole weekend at the beach, we managed to fill our time with plenty of other fun activities. of course we took a lot of walks (see the next post) and visited our neighborhood park.
in all, it was a great weekend, and of course we were sad to see Nana go. here's a parting shot of two generations of our family sharing a quiet moment together.
last weekend we finally got out to Cape Cod, to visit my dad/Arwyn's grandpa, and his significant other, Patty. we were certainly treated with wonderful weather, and while we'd have liked to have a longer stay, we had a great time. as you well know, Arwyn loves being outdoors. while it was a little windy, she had a great time at the beach as these videos that Patty shot will surely attest:
we also enjoyed seeing the herring run in Brewster, something for which pictures do not do justice. you've just got to see it for yourself. i'm not sure whether seeing the pools of thousands of massing fish (accompanied by very interested seagulls) or watching the fish try to navigate upriver using the long series of fish ladders was more impressive - suffice it to say, both were amazing.
in addition to spending a lot of time reading (as usual),
we also got a big kick out of watching her figure out how to navigate in and out of her new Adirondack-style rocking chair, a generous gift from Dad and Patty:
in all, it was a great weekend. thanks to Dad and Patty for a really nice time. Arwyn did very well in the car on both legs of the trip, which was awesome (thank you portable DVD player & Baby Einstein for coming through for us). our Cape Cod weekend was the start of a trifecta of grandparent visits, as Arwyn will visit GiGi and Poppy this upcoming weekend, and then Nana is coming to CT next week! we're looking forward to seeing you all and of course Arwyn gets a huuuuuuuuge kick out of all the attention :)
ok, so dad is a little behind with the blogging. that's no surprise, is it? seriously, it's been a little busy lately, really. anyhow, now it's catchup time. a few weeks ago we took in one of the area sites, Gillette Castle. as you'll perhaps read on the website, this is a CT state park on which you can find the former residence of famed American actor and playwright, William Gillette. that first website doesn't do it justice, so here's another one, for the truly interested. anyhow, the "castle" itself was not yet open for the season, but the grounds were. we had a nice time walking around, watching Arwyn run around, and just taking in the sites in general. here's a shot of her exploring the picnic area inside "Grand Central Station", the former hub for Gillette's narrow gauge railroad.
the next weekend we took advantage of the free rides being offered to area residents on the Essex Steam Train. it was basically just a short ride between Essex and Chester, with passengers riding in old Pullman cars that were pulled/pushed by coal-fired steam engines. our hope was that Arwyn would enjoy the ride on the train (something she reads about often in her many books) and we were happy to see she did.
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