Life, and All That Surrounds It

I was reminded again today of one of the best parts of having a kid: getting the parents to do things that are really fun but they wouldn't have done on their own. It's been raining here for two straight days (although it feels more like twenty straight with all the rain this month) and Hannah was feeling cooped up indoors. On our way home from daycare she told me she wanted to go for a walk. She knew it was raining but wanted to get her umbrella and walk in the rain. And so we did.

We spent about half an hour outside walking around the apartment complex and we both loved it. We checked out the pool to make sure it was still closed (she swam in a hotel pool this weekend and is excited to swim this summer), which it was. We looked at the flooding in the adjacent woods and talked about the water all around the trees. She didn't want to hold the umbrella so she got a little wet from the driving rain, but didn't mind a bit. We got some funny looks from people in their cars, they probably thought we were crazy but I like to think it was jealousy. It was a great reminder that a walk in the rain can be a lot of fun.

This past weekend we took advantage of her ability to be ridiculously adaptable. We were invited to a wedding in New Jersey where kids were not invited. We initially were going to leave her home with grandparents for the weekend, but after recently being away from her for a whole week we wanted to spend the weekend with her. Turns out that good friends of ours live in the same town in New Jersey and they offered to have Hannah stay with them for the night. They have three kids: twin 5-year-olds and a 3-year-old and Hannah loved being around them in such a fun house. We spent the day with them on Saturday, then left during nap time for the hotel where we stayed for the night.

Hannah was on her usual great behavior all evening. She ate a great dinner (out-eating the big kids), went to bed without a fuss, and didn't get up until the others were awake in the morning. We had a blast at the wedding and then picked her up and brought her back to the hotel in the morning for the post-wedding brunch (and for a quick swim in the hotel pool). We were so appreciative of our friends for watching her allowing us to have a night away while Hannah once again proved that even two-year-olds can handle sleepovers.

Monday night we went to my parents' house for Passover Seder. Hannah once again behaved remarkably well (I sense a theme here) keeping quiet for much of the time and going off and playing alone when she got bored. She loved the matzah ball soup (although the broth and carrots were a bigger hit than the matzah balls) and liked the idea of eating flat crackers throughout dinner. I'm not sure that she'll be ready for the Four Questions next year, but it's not too far off.

Some pictures from the past two weeks:

Posted by Pete at 8:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past week Hannah spent the week with Nana and Papa while Jeanne and I went on a Caribbean cruise. We initially thought about a family trip but decided that she'd have fun with her grandparents (which she did), they'd have fun with her (which they did), and we'd have fun without her (which we certainly did). The week worked out incredibly well and now we're slowly (and reluctantly) adjusting back to real life.

Hannah's week with Jeanne's parents included trips to the zoo, the museum, the park, the bookstore, church, out to eat, and plenty of walks with Hannah's close friend: their dog Bailey. From all accounts she behaved incredibly well. She took a day or two to open up and was kind of quiet at first, but once she started talking she didn't stop for the rest of the week. Nana and Papa did remarkably well keeping up with a constantly-moving toddler, and I think it was invigorating for them to have such a busy girl in their house. Hannah became a regular in church during the week ("tourch" as she calls it) and all the ladies were impressed by her behavior. It was so fun for us to hear and see how well she adapted, both for the connection to her grandparents but also knowing we can take trips again in the future.

Our week was so much fun as well, but in a different sort of way than Hannah's. We had two days at sea (Monday and Thursday) with a day in Grand Cayman and a day in Cozumel, Mexico in between. The days in port had great excursions: we swam with dolphins and saw sting rays in Grand Cayman and visited the Mayan ruins of Tulum in Mexico. But the days at sea were less structured and more fun as we explored the boat and relaxed in the sun. And part of that fun was that we had unknowingly signed up for a trip with hundreds of college students on spring break.

A 5-day cruise in March leaving from Miami fit the schedule perfectly for college students from all over the South (most from schools in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas). Since neither Jeanne nor I had ever done a true college spring trip this was as close as we've ever come to an MTV-sponsored party. It was pretty close to what you see on TV with hundreds of students letting loose for a week-long party. Many of the older adults were quite annoyed at the prime pool-side real estate being taken over by beer-drinking 20-year-olds, but we were amused by it.

We spent much of Monday sitting on the upper deck watching the scene below, feeling like we were observing a different species in their natural habitat. In some ways we felt really old, but in other ways we identified more with the young kids than with the older complainers. And while we felt bad for the families with young kids who were expecting a tamer crowd, we were glad that we had made the choice to leave ours at home. It's not that the college crowd was the majority, just a very vocal minority.

A couple of the pictures give a glimpse into what it was like, but it's really hard to describe how raucous the pool area was each day (we pretty much learned the Florida State fight song by the end of the week). And we know how funny many of you will think it that Jeanne and I ended up at Spring Break 2010. We did our best to represent the "older" crowd with a couple late nights mixing with the younger generation. It wasn't quite the same as Nana and Papa being inspired by the activity of a two-year-old, but it was similar.

The week extended a little longer than planned when our flight from Miami to Boston on Friday was canceled due to weather. We spent a night in Miami, had to change planes in New York (with only a 20 minute layover to dash through LaGuardia) but made it to Boston by noon on Saturday (our bags had beaten us there and were waiting). By that time we were more than ready to see Hannah and get home, and it's been a relaxing weekend at home as she tells us all about her week and we get back into our family routine.

We really loved being on the cruise and are already thinking about when we can go back...

Pictures from our week:

Posted by Pete at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hannah has become quite the singer. She'll sing whatever pops into her head, sometimes nursery rhymes and sometimes she'll make up lyrics to go with the situation. It's really cute and fun to watch (although the twentieth verse of "Row, Row Your Boat" on a 2-hour drive gets a little old) and it's been fun to watch her become a little performer. She isn't always in the mood to sing (and dance) but it seems she's doing it more and more often recently. Here are two recent videos of her "singing" some of her favorites:

Singing the ABCs (with a few extra letters thrown in for good measure)

One quick verse of "No More Monkeys"

This past weekend we thought she'd be excited to meet Tyler, the newest member of our group of friends who was born on Friday (congratulations Andrew and Jess!). But it turns out that getting to take care of their dog for the night was even more exciting than a newborn who just sleeps. Hannah and Kiji (and I) shared a bed for half the night and Hannah loved having a little dog to boss around. Add to that, a fun visit with Annie and it was another exciting weekend in Quechee.

Photos from the weekend:

Posted by Pete at 8:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)