vermont... the sequel

Just back from Cape Cod and New Hampshire, our New England summer continued this past weekend with another visit to Vermont to see the Carlsons. This time (in addition to Gramma and Grampa) Uncle Matt, Aunt Joanna, Joshua, Peter, and Aunt Holly were also in town, so it was something of a mini family reunion. We spent most of our time at Lake Dunmore, despite some mixed weather (although you'd be amazed how much less crowded the lake is in the rain!) Nate was still a little odd about going in the water, but he did go on the tube a couple of times and also went "swimming" with Thad. Other weekend highlights included a ride on Joshua's balance bike, golf mayhem with Bumpa, pretending to sleep under the dining room table, and throwing rocks off the footbridge over Otter Creek in Middlebury.

And without further ado, copious photos for your viewing pleasure!
[trumpet fanfare]

-ing

Nate's language explosion is continuing at a rapid pace, recently with the formation of verbs. Particularly, he's creating his own verbs by adding "-ing" to (mostly) nouns. While driving, he's asked me to "stop windshield wipering." And he can often be found "scissoring" paper into lots of tiny fragments. Below, you can find a picture of Nate "wheeing" down the bulkhead at the Mudd's house and some belated pictures of our cherry picking expedition that same day in the wilds of Cambridge, which is slightly less jungly than it appears here.

birthdays

Happy birthday to Aunt Jean and Uncle Matt, and belated happy birthday to Anna (I guess they're all technically belated because I'm behind on blogging and am backdating this posting!)

We're all back in town from our recent travels, albeit briefly because our 2009 Tour de New England continues next week with a trip to Vermont. Thad and I had a great time in NH at Amelia and Mike's wedding but missed Nate tremendously. We really enjoyed being able to actually enjoy the celebration, even sitting through the entire wedding without having to chase anyone [gasp!] Here are a couple of photos: one of me and Meils, and the other of me and Caroline, the two barefoot and pregnant ladies.

dentist!

Nate had his first dentist's appointment today and he was AWESOME! Completely awesome. I couldn't have asked for more. We talked about the visit beforehand, but I figured we'd be lucky if he let the dentist look in his mouth for more than a few seconds. But to my surprise, Nate had a full cleaning - they counted his teeth (there are twenty, in case you were interested), brushed them with the fancy-smancy electric toothbrush thingie, and painted them with fluoride. He followed every direction the dentist gave him - open your mouth, say "ah," close... you know the drill. Nate did get upset about halfway through, which was brought on by the spit-sucking thing they used to rinse his mouth, but he let the dentist finish and even let her do the fluoride treatment right afterward. They let him have two special prizes when he was done and he also got a new toothbrush. Did I mention how awesome he was?

Since he was so great, we went to Modern Pastry for a special treat and got cannolis and a cookie that was probably more frosting than cookie (and yes, I realize it's ironic to get someone dessert after the dentist).

martha's vineyard, part deux

Today's Nate's last day on the Vineyard. The vacation synopsis, from what I understand, is that they've been to the beach a lot, ate ice cream, got the brass ring Nate's first time on the Flying Horses carousel(!), ate more ice cream, climbed a lighthouse, ate ice cream, went to Chilmark Chocolates (which bodes well for me), ate ice cream, watched boats, ate ice cream, went out to dinner, and had ice cream for dessert. Ah, vacation!

vineyard update 1

This just in! Nate's first couple of days on the Vineyard have gone well and, after a slightly traumatic start, he seems to be enjoying his vacation. He didn't nap the day before he left on his trip and also didn't nap the day he left (he's never slept well when we travel), so although he was very excited about the ferry ride to the island, he was also not excited about the extremely loud horn on the boat. To add insult to injury, it was a very foggy afternoon, so they were blowing the horn a lot. That said, he liked driving the car onto the boat (well, technically he was driven in a car onto a boat) and he liked exploring the ship. They made it safe and sound to (Great) Aunt Anne's house just in time for a relatively decent night's sleep.

Yesterday they visited the local Audubon Sanctuary (I think it was Felix Neck) where Nate explored crabs and other crustaceans, and other oceany creatures. After that it was off to Menemsha, a great little fishing village on the west side of the island. I think they went to the beach (which is on the bay, so it's nice for little kids), looked at the boats, and walked around the area a bit. Nate reported that he had ice cream with sprinkles at the Galley, which photos confirm.

Luckily, our tech savvy cousin Lucia is part of Nate's entourage this weekend and sent some photos. Today Thad and I are off to the wedding festivities. Should be a busy weekend all around for the Carlson/Corbo/Hudak/Corbo-Hudak/Carballos (and Panicella, when Albie gets there tonight) family.

away

This coming weekend my old friend Amelia is getting married in NH (she's "old" because I've known her since kindergarden, not because of her age. I'm actually older, so I'd say she's quite youthful!) In order to be sure Thad and I could actually enjoy the festivities my parents (aka Pop-Pop and Grandma) took Nate for a weekend of island fun on Martha's Vineyard. They left yesterday and I'm already lonely for my little buddy. It's funny how I'll whine about not having time for myself and then immediately upon having my freedom again I complain about being alone. The grass is always greener. Except this time I've decided it's nicer having Nate around. At least it's nicer when he's in a good mood!