new hampshire

Whew-- well it's been a crazy three months, and I'm not even going to try to fill in everything that happened during that time. In short: enjoyed our farm share from Stillman's Farm; had parts of the house painted; tried to keep up with the garden but didn't really succeed; the usual jamboree of grant- and paper-writing and data collection; went to the park a lot; got a new bikeseat for Sam for J's bike that fits in the front so he can see-- whee!-- and then the two of them went on lots of bike rides; went to Martha's Vineyard for a really lovely week of beach time, biking, hiking, and no work (the first time since our honeymoon that J. and I spent more than a weekend away from our laptops!). Sam is taller and more articulate, and is very nearly potty-trained during the days.

Two fun verbal things that he is doing these days:

1. for a few months now, he's enjoyed substituting the first letters of words-- he seems to find this hilarious. But now he's doing whole songs this way: "the vipers on the vus go vish, vish, vish... all voo da vown" is a favorite (with first consonants randomly varying across renditions), as is "binkle binkle bittle bar..."

2. he's been making up his own onomatopoeia lately. The other evening in the car, listening to the rain on the roof, he said "mommy the rain is plinkering on the car," which was really just about perfect to describe the sound it was making.

We were in New Hampshire last weekend-- J. had a meeting, and Sam and I tagged along for some foliage-viewing and hiking. Sam and I rode a slow scenic train on Saturday morning:


The view was pretty...



... but two hours is a long time to sit anywhere, and Sam was happy to get off and actually see the engine at the end of the ride.



The hotel we were staying at was on Lake Winnipesaukee. (Note change of pants; still working on aim.) Sam's Red Sox cap misleads people into thinking we have a clue about baseball. I mean, we know they're in the Series, but we're otherwise pretty clueless. Sam just thinks it's a "B for Boston" cap.



That evening we met up with J. and the other folks for a dinner. The meeting was on Squam Lake, and there was a spectacular rainbow, a full (and partially double) arc over the lake.


The next morning, Sam and I went to a nature center and saw some animals in semi-naturalistic captivity. Some colorful views, too:



We met up with J. as the meeting ended, right before lunch. In the afternoon, we went on a short but steep hike to get this view of Squam Lake:



Sam cheerfully climbed up and back down the 2.5-mile trail, and did a little bouldering while we were at the top.


I'll try to post pics more regularly in the next months, but no promises-- lots of work as always, and we're still trying to get the house in shape. At least there's no garden guilt in the winter (but for now, there are plenty of leaves to rake!)

Here's a cute image to leave you with: The Stompers (new daycare classroom) started using scissors this week. His morning teacher told me today that when Sam got the hang of it he spent a long time cutting a fringe along a piece of paper, opening and shutting his mouth in time to opening and shutting the scissors (-: