London-time New Year's

 

Annapolis City Dock

I like to try and blend in with the tourists when we visit my in-laws in Annapolis, by carrying my camera around when we walk or drive downtown for coffee or in this case, milkshakes and pickles, ducks, some minor flooding, and early holiday lights.

 

 

Rockport boats & stuff

Boats

More boats...

Motif #1 with my in-laws (Alisha slept this one out). Perfect weather.

yep, and rocks.

Baby trio with dads and moms

 

Sitting down, over chips and salsa. Dylan, Alisha & Trevor. (Alisha is 2 months older but both the boys have already outgrown her.)

Rosh Hashana - Tashlich in Concord (2012)

When all goes well, Rosh Hashana falls on the nicest day in September, and we enjoy a lovely hour at the kids' services, early lunch at Soundbites in Somerville, then take our stale bread out to a river to toss away our sins. Location of choice for the last couple years for the bread tossing (Tashlich) has been North Bridge in Concord's Minute Man National Park - the site of the first bloody battle of the American Revolution. No particular meaning - or for that matter consideration - however, it means we usually run into either a school group and/or a tour bus of folks from England or Japan who give us quizzical looks when Jeremy busts out his shofar.

 Zach and Lilia, being 4, took this as an opportunity to play squirrel family. We were able to convince them to walk for quite a while with the promise of a large acorn tree at the top of the hill. Which was a good alternative to carrying or dragging them.

Picnic with a crawling baby who likes to eat grass plus apples, honey and a bunch of yellow jackets was about as flawless as it sounds. 

Then everyone climbed a tree (after posing for pictures). Jeremy fell out. But I think he's ok now.

 

 

 

 

6 hours in Ogunquit

 

Remember what it was like to be 4?

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I'll call the above picture: "lazy parents sitting with camera."

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Thank you, kind passer-by, for this. 

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 You know you're in Maine because sweaters are required after 5 in August.  

Forest invasion

Camping: a reasonable excuse to eat hot dogs, get dirt under the fingernails and play with fire.

We stuck through the morning of rain to make sure to maximize the marshmallow eating. 

Zach + Ryan:

And Alisha, wearing/eating corn at the picnic table, after sampling a few nibbles of dirt and pine needles. 

 

Alisha around and about

 

Pastimes: beating things with her toothbrush; food - long noodles are a favorite; blowing back-washy bubbles into my water with my straw; stealing stuff sneakily.

Skills: kneeling, standing at the coffee table, feeding herself beans, screaming mercilessly, and (new!) slithering. 

Dislikes: sleeping in her crib,  soft baby toys, being sat on by Zach.

 

Lazy lake week

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Lake Anna, Virginia

Pool Time

 

Halibut Point...rocks

 

 

The extra baby is Finn; he belongs to Josh and Hilary Falk.  

Conversations with Zachary

Yesterday:
R: What should we get daddy for father's day?
Z: I know, an LED!
R: An LED? Really? Huh?
Z: Yeah, one of those lights!

[clearly, his father is obsessed]

This Morning:
Z: I'm getting braver in my dreams.
R: Really?
Z: Yes. I'm not scared when the monster wants to eat me.
R: Really?
Z: Yes, when he eats me, I'm in his belly. It's dark and wet, but he uses soap that doesn't make my eyes hurt to get me clean. He doesn't take bites.
R: Really?
Z: Yes.

Afternoon:
Z: I have an idea for an invention.
R: Really?
Z: Yes, it's sticks, made out of fish.
R: Like… fish sticks?
Z: Yes! … but without the crusty stuff.  And you don't have to put them in the refrigerator.
R: They stay fresh?
Z: Yes.
R: But how do they stay fresh out of the refrigerator?
Z: They just stay fresh.
R: Implementation detail, I guess.
Z: What? … And they sometime have mold on them.


This Evening:
Z: I made hands today at daycare!
J: Is that supposed to be a surprise?
Z: No.

Z: Daddy, I did something today at daycare, but I don't want to say what it is, because it's a surprise.

New Family Photo

One of these days I'm going to go to Sears and have a real family portrait taken. (Does Sears still take pictures? I have unpleasant memories of being locked in a dark Sears photo studio with my sister in matching outfits, circa 1979.) Anyhow, till then - here we are in our usual disorganized manner.

 

(Thanks to my father for capturing this.)

Remembering my mother

The last time I saw my mother - just a few weeks ago - I asked her if she had any advice for me on raising my baby girl. "Just love her" was what she offered. Like many other things with her, it was heartfelt and lovely, but not especially practical.



"Practical" was never a key consideration for my mother. Case in point: she continued seeing a dentist in Massachusetts for 9 years after moving to Virgina. Though, I'm pretty sure this was a thinly veiled excuse to spend more time visiting me.

When guiding us - her own daughters, Sarah and me - through our education, being able to paint and play the piano were at least as important as picking a "career" that would put a roof over our head. And yet she worked like crazy to make sure we were taken care of, while still finding time between work and raising 2 girls for drawing classes, singing lessons, an MBA, and a dinner theater troupe. 



Her big passion was hunting bargains, tirelessly. No yard sale too small or schedule too tight not to take "just a few minutes" to investigate. She did not want to miss out on anything, and loved more than anything to find misplaced and undervalued treasures. We played hooky from work to buy my wedding dress at a sparsely advertised $99 dress sale. Honestly, I'm not sure which made her eyes well up more - her daughter in the perfect ivory dress, or the amazing deal we scored. 



After I had moved out of the house, she reminded me her love with a bevy of care packages and magazine clippings. Once she even sent me a clipping explaining why she sent me so many clippings. There was always something in the mail from mom. My college roommates would be jealous when a box would arrive filled with a variety of impractical items - bendy frogs, wind-up toys, dried fruit, chocolate, sparkly socks. When my son, Zachary was born we'd get tiny Hawaiian shirts and like-new firetrucks, scored from Goodwill (usually), with pride. 

 

My baby daughter Alisha will miss out not only on these mystery packages, but on getting to know her Grandma Marjorie. I will, of course, heed her advice to just love her, as she has done for me.

The above was written for her funeral, posted here for those of you who had asked. Yesterday I was back at work after a week scurrying around the east coast, attempting to get my head around this, trying (unsuccessfully) to bury my head under my desk for most of the day. I wanted to call her on my drive home, to see how she was doing. Wondering what I forgot to ask her. Wanting to know when it will hit me that this is permanent.

Easy Prey

 

 

 

Alisha (not in pink)

 

Chubby legs

Alisha takes on Kaleigh in a battle of "who has the meatiest legs" (and wins).