End of August Already

Edison & I had a mini-vacation of sorts here at home this week. Eben is back at work teaching, but my swim coaching job doesn't start until next week. So Edison and I went for a long run every day, including a stop at the playground. Then we'd do something fun in town, come home for lunch and a nap, and then go to the beach before dinner. It was splendid.

Here a couple last pictures from our Seattle trip (courtesy of my Aunt Kathie):
Edison - lounging in his stroller





The two of us mid-dinner at my Aunt Kirstie's







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One of the places we visited this week was Fort Griswold in Groton. It was built to protect the New London harbor from the British. (Unfortunately, Benedict Arnold led British troops in a successful effort to capture the fort.)
It is well preserved. This is a dug out passageway that links the gun area of the fort to the inner area. It was designed so that soldiers could travel through it and not be seen or get shot by the enemy.
Looking up at the fort from the gun mount area with the monument to the soldiers up on the hill. I think people can go in the obelisk, but it was closed the day we went. But I don't think I'd want to go up all those stairs on a 90 degree day carrying Edison anyway!

Seattle - Part 2

Here are the pictures from the second half of my trip to Seattle.
We met up with my dad on Monday and went to a park in Kirkland. Edison had fun wading in Lake Washington. The rocky beach was quite different from what we're used to now - but luckily Edison loves rocks!
We had dinner with my Aunt Merrie & Uncle Ken. Edison is a sucker for the tickle monster.
My friend Sara and I went hiking on Tiger Mountain - we did the "big tree" trail. Guess what - at the end of it was a big douglas fir. I think the circumference is something like 29 feet. Woah - that IS a big tree. Edison didn't even open his eyes, though.

However, he did like the picnic lunch we had in the woods.




My Aunt Kirstie & Uncle Peter hosted a lovely family dinner for us on our last day in town. My Uncle Floyd got to hold Edison a lot and I think the two of them had a great time together!



Edison is all about pushing buttons these days (luckily not MY buttons!). He had a blast with my mom's hi-fi stereo. When he would get the music on, he would shake his bottom a couple times like he was dancing. Then he'd look at us to see if we were watching - of course we were!





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Seattle - Part 1

Edison & I flew to Seattle August 11 for a two-week vacation. Edison was such a great pilot, as you can see in the picture below. What was that old tag line from Delta, "we love to fly and it shows?" Actually, this was taken at the children's play area in the Philadelphia airport during a layover. He did pretty well on the long, six-hour flight from Philly to Seattle, sleeping for four hours on my lap. I was actually glad when he woke up because I really needed to stretch my legs! He adjusted to PST pretty well, too. My only complaint was that he caught a cold on the plane, so that put a damper on our fun for the first few days in Seattle.
I got to visit my friend Ashley and her son, Colin (remember him? he was born four days after Edison). As you can see, Colin & Edison both love keys and are getting into everything these days. He has beautiful deep blue eyes and will be quite a looker as he gets older. Ashely and I hope that the boys will get to be friends when Eben & I move back to Mill Creek. But maybe they would be too much of a dynamic duo...
I stayed with my mom in Issaquah. It was great that she was able to spend so much time with Edison (which helped me out a lot). On Friday we went to a local park with my Uncle Floyd and we all took turns kayaking (except for Edison). Edison was really excited to play with the valves on the inflatable kayak. While my mom and Floyd were kayaking, Edison & I explored the park. As you can see, it was wet and pretty chilly (for August). Edison continues to make great strides with his walking and now chooses to walk about 85% of the time when he needs to go mobile.
On Sunday Lisa & I went to Jetty Island in Everett. The west side has a nice sandy beach. At low tide, we could walk really far out into the water with it only getting up to our knees. Edison loved it (of course).
Edison also got to see his Uncle Pete and his girlfriend, Jennie (who was also a classmate of Eben's at the CGA). Edison is wearing the Boeing shirt they got him for his birthday. We had fun at the beach and then had a yummy dinner at a local Thai restaurant. It will be fun to see them again in October for the CGA 1999 10 year reunion.

Summer Fun

We spent this week here in Niantic, enjoying the summer with good friends. On Friday Jay, Suz and their kids Jazelle & Xavier came to visit. We went sailing and then down to the beach for a sandy dinner.

Eben catching up on some one-on-one time with his God-Daughter. Hard to say who was more tired.

Today we stopped at the Ray of Light Farm. They rescue and house animals, give riding lessons, and are open to the public to view the farm. Edison's favorite (mine too) was this goat, here he was standing on his back legs to reach the leaves of the tree.


This was from our sailing trip last week, couldn't resist adding it here. I think he was just excited to be off of the sailboat for awhile.




Showing off his supermodel poses.




Edison decided to walk this week. Every day he walked a little more until he woke up Saturday and just started walking everywhere.







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Sailing Again

We just got back from our last long sailing trip. This time we started in Martha's Vineyard and saw three towns there: Edgartown (a wealthy 19th century whaling town), Oak Bluffs (a quirky 19th century spiritual revival camp town), and Menemsha (a tiny fishing town). Then we went to Cuttyhunk Island, it has a small town and people get around the island on golf carts. Finally, we wrapped up in our favorite locale: Block Island.

This shows Edison's sleeping arrangement on the boat. From the cockpit, you can lift up a bench seat and peek into his room. Awww - how cute.

He is beginning to stand on his own - usually only if he needs to hold something really cool with both hands (like this here stick).





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This is a view of Menemsha. The movie Jaws was shot on Martha's Vineyard and the captain's house was here in this village.


Edison is just a fingertip away from walking on his own.


Hey, where'd the water go?