Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A Vermont Wedding in the Woods!

Well...after a well-deserved vacation in Maine, I have returned to continue updating you on our newest adventures!

Before I headed off to The Maine Cabin with Mom and Gramma Mindy (Dad is sitting this year out) we stopped for a couple days in Vermont. One of Mom's oldest friends was getting married, and we were lucky enough to get to go.

We spent the nights in a lovely little Motel, but the wedding itself was held at a gorgeous cabin on a Lake. It was a very low-key, and mellow affair, but it was so much fun.

We got there and saw how nice and rustic the place was, and immediately we knew that we'd have a great time.

When I got there, the first thing I did was run as fast as I could down the big grass hill, and dive headfirst....

...landing on the grass and destroying my pants but having a blast in the process.

But hey....who buys a toddler white pants? They've lasted through two weddings, and Mom and Dad certainly have gotten their money's worth...so went to town on 'em!


Also, when I arrived, I found out that there were a few more kids of varying ages, which is nice because a lot of times there aren't any other kids.......this time there was, and my favorite was a boy named Jasper. I kept asking Mom and Dad what his name was, and then proceeded to follow him around the camp most of the day calling out his name (sometimes calling him Christopher Robin, because his adventurous spirit reminded me of Pooh Bear's dear friend....also because I kept forgetting his name)

He was really nice, and played with me a lot. He was patient with having me call his name out all day, and even gave me a tennis ball of my very own to have! (His quote "I have too many tennis balls at home...I have a problem.")

I had a lot of fun tagging along with him, and getting to play with a big kid (sometimes he'd do stuff I couldn't do, like climb up on cars and in trees and stuff...but even though I couldn't do it, I was in awe to watch him...)

The cabin was located on the edge of a lake, and Dad hiked up his pants, while Mom changed me into my bathing suit...it was kind of chilly, and I was a bit afraid, so I didn't go whole-hog into the water, but Dad followed me while I ran around, splashed a lot, and got wet...

Later on, while chasing Jasper around, trying to find him when he swam out to the dock, I slid on a rock, and hurt my arm...Mom and Dad were kind enough to refrain from taking pictures during my injury...it was just a few scratches, but it was scary and I was very lucky a lady was close enough to me to grab me as I fell...Mom and Dad were just out of reach and couldn't get me...however, after thanking the woman, they cleaned me up, and I was back, and ready for action!

Mom started playing baseball with me, and in order to help her avoid getting hit in the face while I swung the bat around, Dad set up a makeshift tee-ball...I got to hit the ball off of it, and felt like a real baseball player!

While I avoided much of the food due to my recent general avoidance of food, it was very down to Earth and quite delicious...the setup was a visual feast, as much as it was delicious to eat!


After we ate, us kids got together and ran around...A LOT. We chase each other around the hills at the cabin, and jumped around trying to get as dirty as humanly possible.
I like to think that I had a leg up, since I am truly committed to getting dirty...it's an art for me, really...a passion that I think many people take for granted in their daily lives...get messy, people! You have more clothes at home!

There was a lot of toys and things for the guests to play with, since the theme of the wedding was love, and general whimsy...the only thing cooler than having a grownup blow bubbles so you could chase them around...is being able to blow the bubbles yourself...so you could chase them around.

Towards the end of the day, when things were winding down, Dad found one of those guns that shoot the plastic spinner up into the air...

He loaded up the spinner for each of us, and let us fire it up into the air. He was really good at setting us up so we each had a turn...I wanted to run off and chase the ones I fired, so the other kids were kind enough to let me...

We would simply never tire of this...watching the spinner launch up into the air, spinning quickly into a blur of pink or blue or orange (my favorite was the blue one) was simply magical...

I tried to wind it myself a couple times, but luckily Dad was there to set it up, since it required some very specific skills to get it wound properly...it was certainly a fun way to wrap up the evening!

As we left, we were lucky enough to catch the fireworks that they were setting off, and I was thrilled to get to sit back in the car with Mom and Dad and watch them through the sunroof in our car...

What a perfect weekend...

Oh wait...here's another picture of me running...have I mentioned that I spent most of the day running up and down the hill, and all around the campground?

Congratulations to Mom's friend and her new husband....you guys had a really fun, and beautiful wedding!!! The ceremony was lovely, and very relaxed, and everyone I met at the wedding was very nice to me, and a lot of fun...

Next up....Maine!!

Monday, August 1, 2011

TODDLER_TOUR_2011_LEG_5_A SUMMER TRIP TO GRANDPA AND GRAMMA DEBBIE'S


Since we had the time available to us, and it made the drive a bit easier to do it in stages, we stopped at Grandpa and Gramma Debbie's to hang out for a couple days before we journeyed north to our final wedding of the year. We arrived on Thursday and had a cookout on the grill (Which Dad botched spectacularly with the help of Grandpa and Uncle Steve.

Everyone on Dad's side of the family was there, and we had a great time. Braelynn is full-on walking now, which means that I get to chase after her and play with her to help with her walking skills.

Nicholas is crawling up a storm, and creeping towards being able to walk...but Braelynn is just off like a shot when I run away!

She also liked when I chased her around the yard. She ran away from me, giggling like crazy.

She was having such a great time, that she even let me hug her a bit...and after I did, she would push me, causing me to dramatically fall on the grass. (One time I shoved her down in return as a joke, but I forgot to clue her in on it, and she fell backwards, none too happy that I had pushed her....but she's a good sport, and jumped right back into playing with me again...)

After dinner, once we were inside, Nick and I played with some legos. He was really getting his hands in there and pulling out the pieces. Since he currently lacks both the coordination and the strength to actually put the blocks together, I decided that we would divide the labor, and he would pull out blocks for me, while I put them together. I thought it worked out quite well, actually...

I went to bed, and Mom, Dad, Uncle Steve and my (Second?) cousin Cynthia went out to see Harry Potter (Which they said was amazing) We all woke up the next day, had breakfast, and headed north to continue our journey....