This is quite an entertaining age -- every day Athena is learning more ways to communicate, interact, and perform!
Of course, all of this activity can really tire a girl out...
Friday, August 31, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Jacob and Gavin
Yesterday we got to visit with the Oslands, good friends of ours from our Durham days who now live in Louisiana. Anna grew up in Fort Collins and her mom now lives in Boulder, so we are lucky enough to get to see them a couple of times each year when they come to visit. As we pulled up to Anna's mom's house, Mazie informed me that she was going to be shy... about 10 seconds later she and Jacob were chatting away to each other and having a grand old time playing in the backyard.
Gavin and Athena, just 3 weeks apart, also played pretty well together... a lot of parallel play, but they did interact a bit. Gavin picked up a ball Athena was playing with and gave it back to her. Pretty cute kids.
Jacob is just 3 months older than Mazie, and Anna and I went to prenatal yoga together in Durham... Actually, the Oslands played a big role in our decision to get pregnant with Mazie -- Caleb was trying to talk me into it but it was about 2 years before we had been planning to have our first kid. After talking it through with Anna, who was already pregnant with Jacob, I decided we should go for it! Five years later, it's pretty amazing to see how our families have grown, and so nice that we've been able to keep in touch and see each other so regularly despite both moving all over the country!
May 2008: Jacob visiting Mazie in the hospital the day after she was born.
August 2008: Mazie and I stayed with the Oslands for a few days before moving to Madison.
November 2008: Mazie and Jacob practice standing during a visit to Durham.
June 2009: The Oslands visit us in Madison for a week while Mike goes to a conference.
December 2009: The kids meet up over breakfast, followed by a sledding adventure, while we're both in Boulder visiting grandparents for Christmas.
(I know we've seen each other a few times since then, but can't seem to find any pictures to prove it! Oh well...)
Gavin and Athena, just 3 weeks apart, also played pretty well together... a lot of parallel play, but they did interact a bit. Gavin picked up a ball Athena was playing with and gave it back to her. Pretty cute kids.
Jacob is just 3 months older than Mazie, and Anna and I went to prenatal yoga together in Durham... Actually, the Oslands played a big role in our decision to get pregnant with Mazie -- Caleb was trying to talk me into it but it was about 2 years before we had been planning to have our first kid. After talking it through with Anna, who was already pregnant with Jacob, I decided we should go for it! Five years later, it's pretty amazing to see how our families have grown, and so nice that we've been able to keep in touch and see each other so regularly despite both moving all over the country!
May 2008: Jacob visiting Mazie in the hospital the day after she was born.
August 2008: Mazie and I stayed with the Oslands for a few days before moving to Madison.
November 2008: Mazie and Jacob practice standing during a visit to Durham.
June 2009: The Oslands visit us in Madison for a week while Mike goes to a conference.
December 2009: The kids meet up over breakfast, followed by a sledding adventure, while we're both in Boulder visiting grandparents for Christmas.
(I know we've seen each other a few times since then, but can't seem to find any pictures to prove it! Oh well...)
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
More Pictures of the One Year Old
How old is Athena? ONE!!
Splashing and walking!!!
Eating (and wearing) her cupcake.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Athena is 1!
Happy 1st birthday to my beautiful, sweet, bold, and social Athena Lee!
Dearest Athena, what a joy it has been to be your mother this year, and how absurd to think that we ever survived without you in our lives. From your perfect and rapid entry into the world one year ago today...
to your busy babbly one-year-old toddling...
your presence in our lives has been a constant source of light, love, and laughter. We all adore you.
Over this past year, we've begun to unwrap the gift of your bubbly little personality. While there's still so much we can't wait to find out about you, particularly as your budding language abilities continue to let us glimpse what's going on in your mind, the 1 year old goddess has already won us over with her many wonderful qualities...
You are BUSY. You love to move, and just in the past week have transitioned from crawling to walking as your primary mode of locomotion. You have an active brain and love to figure things out... putting blocks into things and taking them back out, banging on your little piano, pulling books and toys off of shelves. I've been noticing that you're usually not as content just sitting and reading a book... you like to be on the go.
You are BOLD. You have very little fear of the unknown and love exploring new toys and activities. Climbing the stairs is one of your favorite activities... you keep us on our toes and if we forget to put up the gate and turn our backs for a second there's a good chance you'll be halfway upstairs when we find you, laughing heartily at your own sneakiness when we come grab you. You also love the water -- like your sister, you happily bob up and down and can "swim" underwater and come up with a big grin. You also love the splash park, where we held your birthday party this afternoon, and seem completely unperturbed by the blasts of cold water on your face and body. The world is yours to explore, and you explore it without hesitation.
You are SOCIAL. You love new faces and it seems entirely appropriate that the one word you say consistently at this age is "HI!" (Although you've also been learning lots of new words and signs... "milk," "more," "water," "hurt," and one of the cutest: "thank you!") You love to show off your two new big front teeth with your charming smiles. In your first year, you've let me go back to work and have spent time with Daddy, Ahya, Aunt Jen, Nana, and many babysitters, charming each one and bonding quickly with every caregiver. Still, you do have a special place in your heart for your mama, and the grins and cuddles you give me when I get home light up my days....
Because you are my second child, from the day you were born I have been acutely aware of how quickly you will grow up and how fleeting your tiny-ness is... Your big sister, who was once my little perfect baby, is now a little perfect 4 year old, and right now the most perfect thing about her is her complete and utter love for you. When you were in my belly, she sang songs to you about how excited she was to meet you and how much she wanted someone to play with at her house... one year ago today, when she came into the hospital room to meet you, her first question was, "Where's my baby?" She loves you more each moment, and I'm so excited that you're really beginning to be able to play together. The other day Mazie made up a game that involved you sitting on the couch while Mazie "hid" on the ground... she would say "Only the bear in the house... PEEK A BOO!" and pop up, and you would both erupt in fits of giggles. As your mama, there's nothing more wonderful than watching your relationship grow. Mazie has recently been telling us that she loves Daddy this much (hand at about eye level), Mama this much (hand just below Daddy level), and Athena THIS MUCH (hand as high as she can reach).
So I am acutely aware that my days at the top of your list are numbered. (You are still an enthusiastic and frequent nurser... so this is probably the primary reason you're still such a fan.) I have no doubt that over the next year, your love for your daddy and, especially, your big sister, will continue to grow, eventually eclipsing your love for me. So for now, as I say goodbye to my infant and welcome my cheerful toddler, I am soaking up every last minute of being your favorite, of the special bond I've shared with this little being who was a part of me for 9 months and who I've gotten to gaze at while you nursed every day for the past year. You are such a joy, my little goddess.
Happy First Birthday!
Love,
Mom
Here's more recent footage of the birthday girl:
Her birthday celebration at Community Park with friends and family...
Playing with her big sister...
Just playin' around...
Entertaining us...
Dearest Athena, what a joy it has been to be your mother this year, and how absurd to think that we ever survived without you in our lives. From your perfect and rapid entry into the world one year ago today...
to your busy babbly one-year-old toddling...
your presence in our lives has been a constant source of light, love, and laughter. We all adore you.
Over this past year, we've begun to unwrap the gift of your bubbly little personality. While there's still so much we can't wait to find out about you, particularly as your budding language abilities continue to let us glimpse what's going on in your mind, the 1 year old goddess has already won us over with her many wonderful qualities...
You are BUSY. You love to move, and just in the past week have transitioned from crawling to walking as your primary mode of locomotion. You have an active brain and love to figure things out... putting blocks into things and taking them back out, banging on your little piano, pulling books and toys off of shelves. I've been noticing that you're usually not as content just sitting and reading a book... you like to be on the go.
You are BOLD. You have very little fear of the unknown and love exploring new toys and activities. Climbing the stairs is one of your favorite activities... you keep us on our toes and if we forget to put up the gate and turn our backs for a second there's a good chance you'll be halfway upstairs when we find you, laughing heartily at your own sneakiness when we come grab you. You also love the water -- like your sister, you happily bob up and down and can "swim" underwater and come up with a big grin. You also love the splash park, where we held your birthday party this afternoon, and seem completely unperturbed by the blasts of cold water on your face and body. The world is yours to explore, and you explore it without hesitation.
You are SOCIAL. You love new faces and it seems entirely appropriate that the one word you say consistently at this age is "HI!" (Although you've also been learning lots of new words and signs... "milk," "more," "water," "hurt," and one of the cutest: "thank you!") You love to show off your two new big front teeth with your charming smiles. In your first year, you've let me go back to work and have spent time with Daddy, Ahya, Aunt Jen, Nana, and many babysitters, charming each one and bonding quickly with every caregiver. Still, you do have a special place in your heart for your mama, and the grins and cuddles you give me when I get home light up my days....
Because you are my second child, from the day you were born I have been acutely aware of how quickly you will grow up and how fleeting your tiny-ness is... Your big sister, who was once my little perfect baby, is now a little perfect 4 year old, and right now the most perfect thing about her is her complete and utter love for you. When you were in my belly, she sang songs to you about how excited she was to meet you and how much she wanted someone to play with at her house... one year ago today, when she came into the hospital room to meet you, her first question was, "Where's my baby?" She loves you more each moment, and I'm so excited that you're really beginning to be able to play together. The other day Mazie made up a game that involved you sitting on the couch while Mazie "hid" on the ground... she would say "Only the bear in the house... PEEK A BOO!" and pop up, and you would both erupt in fits of giggles. As your mama, there's nothing more wonderful than watching your relationship grow. Mazie has recently been telling us that she loves Daddy this much (hand at about eye level), Mama this much (hand just below Daddy level), and Athena THIS MUCH (hand as high as she can reach).
So I am acutely aware that my days at the top of your list are numbered. (You are still an enthusiastic and frequent nurser... so this is probably the primary reason you're still such a fan.) I have no doubt that over the next year, your love for your daddy and, especially, your big sister, will continue to grow, eventually eclipsing your love for me. So for now, as I say goodbye to my infant and welcome my cheerful toddler, I am soaking up every last minute of being your favorite, of the special bond I've shared with this little being who was a part of me for 9 months and who I've gotten to gaze at while you nursed every day for the past year. You are such a joy, my little goddess.
Happy First Birthday!
Love,
Mom
Here's more recent footage of the birthday girl:
Her birthday celebration at Community Park with friends and family...
Playing with her big sister...
At the splash park...
Just playin' around...
Monday, August 6, 2012
Cottage 2012
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| From Cottage 2012 |
We had an awesome two week vacation at the cottage this year. Week 1 was our family week. The ten cousins, aged 11 months to 12 years, had a fantastic time together, and we parents thoroughly enjoyed how mature the group is getting and how well the kids play together. The "little kids," Mazie, Olivia, and Crosby, played at being pirates:
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| From Cottage 2012 |
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| From Cottage 2012 |
so our job as parents has gotten pretty easy! The weather was fabulous -- the hottest week we've had up there for a while, but with temperatures in the low 90s it was still a wonderful break from the heat wave and wildfires back home, and the lake provided a perfect escape from the heat. Like last year, Nana joined us for part of the trip... she arrived on the 4th and wasted no time jumping in to the fun!
And of course, Athena kept us all entertained and enjoyed being passed around to all her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
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| From Cottage 2012 |
On Saturday July 7th the Dickinson crew moved out and our friends arrived for Week 2! Following the reunions we held at the cottage in 2009 and 2010, the 2012 event was much anticipated... and our numbers have increased substantially since that first trip! In 2009, the Booher-Mitas, Ekblad-Gray, Lupien, Collins, and Dickinson crews were in attendance, and the 10 adults fared pretty well looking after just 2 kids (Mazie -1 year, and Miles - 2 years). In 2010, the Lupiens and Collinses were both home with newborns and didn't make the trip, but the Smiths were able to join the rest of us with their 2 sons (Tobin - 4 years, and Evan -1 year), giving us a 2:1 ratio of adults: kids. This year, newborn Mallory kept the Collinses close to home once again, but the other 5 families made the trip... and found that our advantage over the children, in terms of numbers at least, has been whittled away to nothing. 10 adults, 10 kids, and with those children aged 6 (Tobin), 5 (Miles), 4 (Mazie), 3 (Evan), 2 (Sarah Beth), 1 (Ada), 1 (Lauren), 11 months (Athena), 6 months (Hazel), and 4 months (Silas), we were plenty busy taking care of children! I had one moment when I needed to help Mazie with something and was holding Athena, so I turned to find someone to hand her off to -- an incredibly easy task during the family week with Athena being the only baby -- only to find that every single one of the women I was with was holding a baby of her own! We played a week-long game of musical naps, with one baby going down for a nap as another one woke up... I'm guessing there were only 3-4 hours each day when the whole crew was awake! Here we are during one of those rare moments:
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| From Cottage 2012 |
Of course, we thoroughly enjoyed the chaos and had an absolutely wonderful time swimming, relaxing, and chatting together. The big kids played very nicely together, with very few exceptions, and we even managed some fun grown-up time around the campfire each night after the hoard of children went to sleep (although every 10 minutes or so one of the 47 baby monitors would squeek and one parent or another would have to take leave of the group for a while).
It's a pretty amazing group of friends, and we feel incredibly honored that everyone made the trip happen again... plans are already underway for the 2013 reunion!
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| From Cottage 2012 |
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| From Cottage 2012 |
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| From Cottage 2012 |
It's a pretty amazing group of friends, and we feel incredibly honored that everyone made the trip happen again... plans are already underway for the 2013 reunion!
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| From Cottage 2012 |
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Travels with Athena
Athena with some new friends in Key West...
We've had a busy, jet-setting month, that little goddess and I. After our Yellowstone trip at the end of May, we had a few days at home and then hopped on a plane to go to West Virginia for the wedding of Julie and Zack, good friends from Duke. Our itinerary had us flying to Dulles via Charlotte... as luck would have it, some huge thunderstorms hit Dulles right as we were supposed to be flying that way, so Athena and I ended up stuck in the Charlotte airport for about 6 hours before the weather cleared up and we were finally able to catch a flight. So instead of getting to Dulles at 3:30 and arriving at the lovely Capon Springs venue in time for dinner, our flight didn't land until about 10 and it was close to 1 am before we finally reached our final destination. Luckily, Athena was an angel through the whole thing -- here she is sitting on the floor of the Charlotte airport.
She took well-timed naps (sleeping for the hour and a half they had us sit on the runway before deciding we weren't actually going to take off and bringing us back to the gate) and then occupied herself by crawling around and charming anyone who would look at her. I think every one of my seatmates on our various flights ended up holding her at some point... whenever she would have a moment of fussiness, all she needed to do was find a new person to smile at and she was happy again. The kid is quite social. At one point, I marveled at the fact that traveling with this 10 month old was actually making my ordeal easier.
The wedding itself was an AWESOME event spread out over 2 1/2 days or so -- we missed some of the fun on Friday (they had Julie-and-Zack-themed trivia after dinner), but jumped right in on Saturday morning with a shuffleboard tournament (I competed with Athena in the Ergo on my back... I will blame that handicap for our first round elimination). Next was the "taking the plunge" splash contest in the pool, and then a little rest time before the ceremony at 4:30, which was absolutely lovely. The setting was gorgeous, the weather was perfect, and the ceremony itself was the perfect mix of fun (the first processional was "We Are Family," and Zack's 80+ year old grandpa threw his cane down with a flourish before walking down the aisle) and touching (recordings of several songs sung by Julie's late grandmother played before and during the ceremony).
The cocktail hour and reception were up on a hill overlooking the golf course...
And then after dinner there was a PIRATE-THEMED DANCE PARTY that was absolutely amazing... this shot of Zack's grandpa wielding his cane-sword at the inflatable shark just about sums up the awesomeness.
And here I am with the beautiful pirate-bride!
On Sunday, after a quick round of extreme mini-golf on the par-3 course (Hole 1: Use your putter like a pool cue. Hole 2: Putt while doing tree pose. Hole 3: Putt behind your back -- especially challenging when wearing a baby on your back! ...), Athena and I hopped in our rental car and drove back to the Dulles airport, and then flew to Asheville, NC, for an environmental economics conference at the lovely Grove Park Inn. Mazie and Caleb flew in earlier in the day and came to pick us up at the airport along with Uncle Michael and Lily and Abby. Over the next few days, I had a good, interesting conference and had fun seeing friends and colleagues from Duke, while Caleb and the girls slept in late and spent lots of time with Michael, Alaya, and the cousins. On Wednesday, June 6 we all flew home, and home we stayed for 10 whole days....
Then on June 17, Athena and I packed up again and flew down to Key West. A colleague of mine, Mary Hayden, invited me to come along to help out with a study on dengue virus in the Keys, and since I hadn't had the opportunity to do any real field work since before Mazie was born, this was a great opportunity! Since Thenes is still nursing a bunch (including a lot during the night, which is getting a little old...), I wasn't really ready to leave her for an extended period. Luckily, Mary and the project's lead researcher, Kacey Ernst, thought it would be great if I brought her along, and they helped put me in touch with a contact down there whose daughter, Lauren, offered to babysit. That ended up working perfectly -- I had Lauren stay with Athena in the mornings while I went out and did surveys, and then most afternoons I stayed at our rental house with Athena, got a little work done around the house (doing some data entry, etc.), and then taking little walks around the area. On a couple of days I even brought Athena along to do some surveys! She was very helpful in recruiting participants, and at one house she got to get out of the Ergo and crawl around and play with some toys belonging to the great-grandchildren of the nice couple I was interviewing!
We worked pretty hard while we were down there, but we did manage to squeeze in one day of "leisure" and on Sunday we decided to book a 1/2 day sail-snorkel-kayak excursion with Danger Tours. During the week leading up to the tour, a tropical depression had been hanging out over the Keys and dumping lots of rain on us, so we weren't sure if our tour would actually go out as planned, but when Sunday afternoon came around the sun was actually peaking out for the first time in a week, so we got on the boat (65 ft sailboat named Danger) and off we went.
There was a good wind and some fairly big swells as we motor-sailed across a channel, but then we got into shallower water and the water was fairly calm. They anchored the boat in water that was about 7 ft deep, and it was snorkeling time. Thenes got her first taste of saltwater as we floated in the water for a while, and then Mary took a turn hanging out with Athena on the boat while I snorkeled around for a bit. Nothing too spectacular, but always fun to see some fish and explore the reef!
Next was the kayaking. Andy, another reasearcher from NCAR along on the trip, was nice enough to be the oarman for me and Thenes... since I was mainly concerned with keeping her from launching herself out of the boat, I wasn't much help paddling.
All of us paddled from the big boat over to a little island of mangroves, which was pretty neat. We explored the trees, saw a horseshoe crab, and watched the cormorants for a while, and then noticed that Captain Wendy was blowing her horn for us to come back to the boat. As we started paddling away from the shelter of the island, we noticed that the winds had really picked up... in fact, it looked like a storm was blowing in. Getting to the boat took a little effort, but then when we got there Wendy yelled out that the anchor had been dragging... she told us to hang on and stay off the boat while her other crew member who had been leading our kayaking expedition got back on board and tried to help her out. A few minutes later they let us row in and get back on board, and by then the winds were getting really strong. The other crew member, Janet, was the last kayak out and had a really hard time paddling in... until she realized that the water was only a couple of feet deep and got out to pull her kayak over to Danger. But while that was good news for Janet, it was also big trouble for Danger, who with anchor dragging was now firmly stuck in the shallow water. As hard as they tried, our crew couldn't get the boat unstuck, and by this time the storm had really picked up and was starting to pelt us with rain. Luckily, there was just enough room in the aft engine room for a few of us to take shelter "down b'low," as Uncle Ty used to call it, and within a few moments Athena was sound asleep. So this is how she spent the next couple of hours as we waited for another boat to come pull us out and then made our way back to port....
This trip cemented her reputation as "best baby ever" -- she charmed everyone we met along the way. At just under 11 months, she gets more amazing every day... she is incredibly social, calm, happy, and curious. Ahya has recently noted her fascination with "moving parts" like lids, the stopper in the bathtub, cups that nest together and come apart... she studies these things and seems intent on figuring out how things work. She is talking up a storm -- there are a couple of sounds that are close to words... my favorite right now is "hi" with she makes into an enthusiastic, lilting "IIIIIIII" accompanied with a wave. A couple of weeks ago we were ready to declare "up" as her first word -- she says it very clearly and seems to know what it means, although she hasn't been using it as much recently. Other than these almost- or barely-words, though, she is constantly babbling and seems to pick a sound that she likes and repeats it over and over for a few days. In Key West, it was "Bobby?" repeated loudly and often, always with a little question-like inflection. We were all curious who Bobby might be, and Mary and I ended up finding her a little stuffed manatee that we've given the name. Yesterday's sound was "dap dap dap dap dap." We'll see what she has to say tomorrow! (oh, she also got 2 new teeth on our trip... so now she's up to 4 -- 2 on top, 2 on the bottom.)
After we got back from Key West, we had 2 days at home and then drove down to Colorado Springs for Eric Vivier and Maggie's wedding, which was lovely despite coming less than a week after the most damaging wildfire in Colorado history burned 360+ homes a stone's throw from their reception site. While this made things pretty stressful for them leading up to the big event, the actual wedding went off without a hitch... Ahya was nice enough to come down with us and take care of Athena, while Mazie got to come along and enjoy the wedding. She and two other four year old girls danced all night! Mazie also turned to Caleb at one point during the reception and asked him, "Who am I going to marry?" He jokingly answered that if he had to pick right now, it would probably be Miles, but that she had a long time before she had to figure that out. "But," he said, "whoever he is, he'll have to ask my permission." "Or SHE," I chimed in. (We've been doing our best to raise her in a way that leaves all those options open!) "Okay," Dad said, "How about if our rule is that if it's a HE, then he'll have to ask my permission, and if it's a SHE, then she'll have to ask Mom's permission." Mazie listened to all of this with a very serious expression, and then asked, "Why does he have to ask your permission?" Continuing to joke, Caleb said, "Well, because ultimately Mom and I get to choose." To which Mazie responded, very forcefully, "NO, they will have to ask MY permission!! Because I'm the one who chooses!" Of course, we immediately gave her high fives and told her that she was absolutely right and that we were just joking. She's a smart little kid.
Then on Sunday morning we got up, stopped by to give Eric and Maggie one last hug, and then drove home, packed up the car, and started off for the cottage! We went through South Dakota since it was one of only 5 states I had never been to... one of our road trip project was coloring in US maps for each of us! Here they are...
We made it to Sioux Falls late on Sunday night, slept at a Red Roof Inn, and then got up and drove another 9 hours on Monday, getting in just after 6. So after a whirlwind of travels, we are on vacation for 2 wonderful weeks.... This week, the whole Dickinson clan is here... I've hardly seen Mazie since we arrived. I think she's off playing pirates with Liv and Crosby, who are all 4 now until Liv turns 5 in September. (A little while ago Livi addressed Jen as her "minion." Awesome.) Gil has been up here for a while and will leave today, and then Nana is coming up tomorrow (July 4) for the rest of the week. So we get lots of family fun until Saturday, and then the Dickinson clan will head home and our friends' reunion friends begins! The Lupiens are coming from Maine, the Mitas-Boohers and Smiths are coming from Durham, and the Gray-Ekblads are coming from Guelph! It should be quite the vacation... this week, we're here with the 10 cousins aged 12, 10, 10, 10, 8, 7, 4 ,4, 4, and 11 months... (9 girls, 1 boy). Next week, we'll have a DIFFERENT set of 10 kids aged 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 11 months, 6 months, and 3 months, with 6 girls and 4 boys! The weather forecast looks great... speaking of which, Athena just woke up from a nap so I think we'll go jump in the lake!
We've had a busy, jet-setting month, that little goddess and I. After our Yellowstone trip at the end of May, we had a few days at home and then hopped on a plane to go to West Virginia for the wedding of Julie and Zack, good friends from Duke. Our itinerary had us flying to Dulles via Charlotte... as luck would have it, some huge thunderstorms hit Dulles right as we were supposed to be flying that way, so Athena and I ended up stuck in the Charlotte airport for about 6 hours before the weather cleared up and we were finally able to catch a flight. So instead of getting to Dulles at 3:30 and arriving at the lovely Capon Springs venue in time for dinner, our flight didn't land until about 10 and it was close to 1 am before we finally reached our final destination. Luckily, Athena was an angel through the whole thing -- here she is sitting on the floor of the Charlotte airport.
She took well-timed naps (sleeping for the hour and a half they had us sit on the runway before deciding we weren't actually going to take off and bringing us back to the gate) and then occupied herself by crawling around and charming anyone who would look at her. I think every one of my seatmates on our various flights ended up holding her at some point... whenever she would have a moment of fussiness, all she needed to do was find a new person to smile at and she was happy again. The kid is quite social. At one point, I marveled at the fact that traveling with this 10 month old was actually making my ordeal easier.
The wedding itself was an AWESOME event spread out over 2 1/2 days or so -- we missed some of the fun on Friday (they had Julie-and-Zack-themed trivia after dinner), but jumped right in on Saturday morning with a shuffleboard tournament (I competed with Athena in the Ergo on my back... I will blame that handicap for our first round elimination). Next was the "taking the plunge" splash contest in the pool, and then a little rest time before the ceremony at 4:30, which was absolutely lovely. The setting was gorgeous, the weather was perfect, and the ceremony itself was the perfect mix of fun (the first processional was "We Are Family," and Zack's 80+ year old grandpa threw his cane down with a flourish before walking down the aisle) and touching (recordings of several songs sung by Julie's late grandmother played before and during the ceremony).
The cocktail hour and reception were up on a hill overlooking the golf course...
And then after dinner there was a PIRATE-THEMED DANCE PARTY that was absolutely amazing... this shot of Zack's grandpa wielding his cane-sword at the inflatable shark just about sums up the awesomeness.
And here I am with the beautiful pirate-bride!
On Sunday, after a quick round of extreme mini-golf on the par-3 course (Hole 1: Use your putter like a pool cue. Hole 2: Putt while doing tree pose. Hole 3: Putt behind your back -- especially challenging when wearing a baby on your back! ...), Athena and I hopped in our rental car and drove back to the Dulles airport, and then flew to Asheville, NC, for an environmental economics conference at the lovely Grove Park Inn. Mazie and Caleb flew in earlier in the day and came to pick us up at the airport along with Uncle Michael and Lily and Abby. Over the next few days, I had a good, interesting conference and had fun seeing friends and colleagues from Duke, while Caleb and the girls slept in late and spent lots of time with Michael, Alaya, and the cousins. On Wednesday, June 6 we all flew home, and home we stayed for 10 whole days....
Then on June 17, Athena and I packed up again and flew down to Key West. A colleague of mine, Mary Hayden, invited me to come along to help out with a study on dengue virus in the Keys, and since I hadn't had the opportunity to do any real field work since before Mazie was born, this was a great opportunity! Since Thenes is still nursing a bunch (including a lot during the night, which is getting a little old...), I wasn't really ready to leave her for an extended period. Luckily, Mary and the project's lead researcher, Kacey Ernst, thought it would be great if I brought her along, and they helped put me in touch with a contact down there whose daughter, Lauren, offered to babysit. That ended up working perfectly -- I had Lauren stay with Athena in the mornings while I went out and did surveys, and then most afternoons I stayed at our rental house with Athena, got a little work done around the house (doing some data entry, etc.), and then taking little walks around the area. On a couple of days I even brought Athena along to do some surveys! She was very helpful in recruiting participants, and at one house she got to get out of the Ergo and crawl around and play with some toys belonging to the great-grandchildren of the nice couple I was interviewing!
We worked pretty hard while we were down there, but we did manage to squeeze in one day of "leisure" and on Sunday we decided to book a 1/2 day sail-snorkel-kayak excursion with Danger Tours. During the week leading up to the tour, a tropical depression had been hanging out over the Keys and dumping lots of rain on us, so we weren't sure if our tour would actually go out as planned, but when Sunday afternoon came around the sun was actually peaking out for the first time in a week, so we got on the boat (65 ft sailboat named Danger) and off we went.
There was a good wind and some fairly big swells as we motor-sailed across a channel, but then we got into shallower water and the water was fairly calm. They anchored the boat in water that was about 7 ft deep, and it was snorkeling time. Thenes got her first taste of saltwater as we floated in the water for a while, and then Mary took a turn hanging out with Athena on the boat while I snorkeled around for a bit. Nothing too spectacular, but always fun to see some fish and explore the reef!
Next was the kayaking. Andy, another reasearcher from NCAR along on the trip, was nice enough to be the oarman for me and Thenes... since I was mainly concerned with keeping her from launching herself out of the boat, I wasn't much help paddling.
All of us paddled from the big boat over to a little island of mangroves, which was pretty neat. We explored the trees, saw a horseshoe crab, and watched the cormorants for a while, and then noticed that Captain Wendy was blowing her horn for us to come back to the boat. As we started paddling away from the shelter of the island, we noticed that the winds had really picked up... in fact, it looked like a storm was blowing in. Getting to the boat took a little effort, but then when we got there Wendy yelled out that the anchor had been dragging... she told us to hang on and stay off the boat while her other crew member who had been leading our kayaking expedition got back on board and tried to help her out. A few minutes later they let us row in and get back on board, and by then the winds were getting really strong. The other crew member, Janet, was the last kayak out and had a really hard time paddling in... until she realized that the water was only a couple of feet deep and got out to pull her kayak over to Danger. But while that was good news for Janet, it was also big trouble for Danger, who with anchor dragging was now firmly stuck in the shallow water. As hard as they tried, our crew couldn't get the boat unstuck, and by this time the storm had really picked up and was starting to pelt us with rain. Luckily, there was just enough room in the aft engine room for a few of us to take shelter "down b'low," as Uncle Ty used to call it, and within a few moments Athena was sound asleep. So this is how she spent the next couple of hours as we waited for another boat to come pull us out and then made our way back to port....
This trip cemented her reputation as "best baby ever" -- she charmed everyone we met along the way. At just under 11 months, she gets more amazing every day... she is incredibly social, calm, happy, and curious. Ahya has recently noted her fascination with "moving parts" like lids, the stopper in the bathtub, cups that nest together and come apart... she studies these things and seems intent on figuring out how things work. She is talking up a storm -- there are a couple of sounds that are close to words... my favorite right now is "hi" with she makes into an enthusiastic, lilting "IIIIIIII" accompanied with a wave. A couple of weeks ago we were ready to declare "up" as her first word -- she says it very clearly and seems to know what it means, although she hasn't been using it as much recently. Other than these almost- or barely-words, though, she is constantly babbling and seems to pick a sound that she likes and repeats it over and over for a few days. In Key West, it was "Bobby?" repeated loudly and often, always with a little question-like inflection. We were all curious who Bobby might be, and Mary and I ended up finding her a little stuffed manatee that we've given the name. Yesterday's sound was "dap dap dap dap dap." We'll see what she has to say tomorrow! (oh, she also got 2 new teeth on our trip... so now she's up to 4 -- 2 on top, 2 on the bottom.)
After we got back from Key West, we had 2 days at home and then drove down to Colorado Springs for Eric Vivier and Maggie's wedding, which was lovely despite coming less than a week after the most damaging wildfire in Colorado history burned 360+ homes a stone's throw from their reception site. While this made things pretty stressful for them leading up to the big event, the actual wedding went off without a hitch... Ahya was nice enough to come down with us and take care of Athena, while Mazie got to come along and enjoy the wedding. She and two other four year old girls danced all night! Mazie also turned to Caleb at one point during the reception and asked him, "Who am I going to marry?" He jokingly answered that if he had to pick right now, it would probably be Miles, but that she had a long time before she had to figure that out. "But," he said, "whoever he is, he'll have to ask my permission." "Or SHE," I chimed in. (We've been doing our best to raise her in a way that leaves all those options open!) "Okay," Dad said, "How about if our rule is that if it's a HE, then he'll have to ask my permission, and if it's a SHE, then she'll have to ask Mom's permission." Mazie listened to all of this with a very serious expression, and then asked, "Why does he have to ask your permission?" Continuing to joke, Caleb said, "Well, because ultimately Mom and I get to choose." To which Mazie responded, very forcefully, "NO, they will have to ask MY permission!! Because I'm the one who chooses!" Of course, we immediately gave her high fives and told her that she was absolutely right and that we were just joking. She's a smart little kid.
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| From May and June 2012 |
Then on Sunday morning we got up, stopped by to give Eric and Maggie one last hug, and then drove home, packed up the car, and started off for the cottage! We went through South Dakota since it was one of only 5 states I had never been to... one of our road trip project was coloring in US maps for each of us! Here they are...
We made it to Sioux Falls late on Sunday night, slept at a Red Roof Inn, and then got up and drove another 9 hours on Monday, getting in just after 6. So after a whirlwind of travels, we are on vacation for 2 wonderful weeks.... This week, the whole Dickinson clan is here... I've hardly seen Mazie since we arrived. I think she's off playing pirates with Liv and Crosby, who are all 4 now until Liv turns 5 in September. (A little while ago Livi addressed Jen as her "minion." Awesome.) Gil has been up here for a while and will leave today, and then Nana is coming up tomorrow (July 4) for the rest of the week. So we get lots of family fun until Saturday, and then the Dickinson clan will head home and our friends' reunion friends begins! The Lupiens are coming from Maine, the Mitas-Boohers and Smiths are coming from Durham, and the Gray-Ekblads are coming from Guelph! It should be quite the vacation... this week, we're here with the 10 cousins aged 12, 10, 10, 10, 8, 7, 4 ,4, 4, and 11 months... (9 girls, 1 boy). Next week, we'll have a DIFFERENT set of 10 kids aged 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 11 months, 6 months, and 3 months, with 6 girls and 4 boys! The weather forecast looks great... speaking of which, Athena just woke up from a nap so I think we'll go jump in the lake!
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Happy 4th Birthday, Mazie!
Miss Mazie James turned FOUR on May 23. It was quite a birthday... on Friday the 18th we celebrated at her school. Caleb and I both co-oped for the birthday celebration, which involves a series of specific rituals... with all of the kids sitting in a circle, Mazie told everyone to lie down and close their eyes and then she picked out a candle. She then went around the circle and asked each kid what color they thought the candle was, and then she told them to open their eyes and she told them its color. My favorite part was when her teacher, Jim (who, along with Yvonne, taught Caleb at Our School Preschool when he was Mazie's age!), asked her how old she was, and the Mazie had to go around the circle and have each kid ask her, "Do you have four year old hair?" ("Yes.") Or "Do you have a four year old belly button?" (Also "Yes.") The whole thing was very sweet -- she was very serious about each step and definitely felt like the special birthday girl!
Celebration #2 was on Saturday. We had a party at Memory Square Park with many friends and family, and then Mazie led us all on a parade to Sweet Cow for ice cream! Plans were almost derailed by rain, but luckily the sun came through just in time for the party, and then the rain started promptly as we were walking back from Sweet Cow! Our big present to Mazie was a new (used) bigger bike, which she learned how to ride immediately. Here she is with her bike and the awesome boots Aunt Jen got her!
On Sunday the 20th we packed up the car and Ahya, Uncle Logan, Mazie, Athena and I drove to Yellowstone (or "Lellowstone"), where we met Ty and Sara. Dad and Karen joined us on Tuesday, and on Wednesday (Mazie's "actual birthday," as she would have told you) Caleb arrived, so we were all together for the big day! It was a fantastic trip... we had all different kinds of weather, including one sunny and hot day followed by several days of rain and snow, but the upside was that the park was pretty empty (we were there right before the season officially begins) and we had enough good weather that we were able to get out and see a ton of stuff, including 2 bears, tons of buffalo, an animal that we all tried to convince ourselves was a wolf, but was most likely just a (large) coyote, elk... and then of course all of the geysers, pools, pots, and fumeroles. Logan made a fantastic video documenting our trip -- take a minute to check out these 1500 or so pictures he took!
Here's what I wrote on Mazie's birthday card:
Dear Mazie,
Happy birthday, my four year old girl! I can't believe you are already FOUR! Here are some of my favorite things about you:
- your SMILE! I love your cheeriness, the way you shine, the way you laugh and enjoy life.
- your CURIOSITY! I love the questions you ask, the attention you give, your eagerness to learn about your world.
- your ENERGY! I love watching you play soccer, ride your bike, run and climb and dance
- your CREATIVITY! I love listening to your stories, watching you draw and build and play.
- your TENDERNESS! I love cuddling with you, hearing you say "I love you," and, more than anything, watching you and your little sister be sweet to each other.
You are an amazing, lovely, awesome person. I love you so much!
Love,
Mom
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