What a month!!

Sylvie and her dad were reflecting last night on what a fun and crazy month June 2010 has been.  Here's a re-cap in fun photos:

Phew!!!  And that doesn't even count the two kayak trips we had in there.  What a great start to the summer.  More fun is right on the horizon, too.  We're headed down to Maryland this weekend for Uncle Pat and soon-to-be-Aunt Kem's wedding!  Then the Liggetts are coming up next week for a trip to Storyland.  THEN Syl and her mom are being joined by Aunt Emily for a road trip out to Ohio!  And that's just the stuff we know about...

The best photo Melissa has ever taken

I just love this photo that Melissa took this evening when she and Sylvie joined Madeline, Jake and Trystan for a "Concert on the Green" downtown in Goodwill Park.  She told me Sylvie and Madeline didn't stop running, dancing and JUMPING the whole time they were there, but I didn't really appreciate what that meant until I saw this picture.  Apparently Jack skinned his knee on the way to the park, so he mostly cooled his heels and enjoyed the show.

Here are some more photos by Syl's Mom.  She's becoming unusually blog-active, have you noticed?  First an independent post this weekend while I was away, and now proactively taking the camera with her on an outing!  What could be next!?

Looks like I missed a fun evening in the park.

And my girls made the Holliston Reporter!  Do you see them?

Girls' Night In

Dan was in DC last night, so Sylvie and I had a great girls' night in. We ate one of Sylvie's favorite dinners--pizza and "frozen blue treats" (blue cotton-candy flavored yogurt tubes that I stuck in the freezer)--on the sofa and watched "Elmo in Grouchland." I think I pooped her out, though, because it's almost 10 a.m. and she's still snoozing...

Carnival 2010

The best of friends from high school AND from college, AND their kids.  All at the Holliston Lion's Club Carnival on a beautiful early summer evening.  I can tell you this, it doesn't get much better than that, so far as Sylvie's Dad is concerned.

Quite a few more photos in their own gallery here, or at the tail end of the June 2010 Gallery.

Everybody say "ice cream sundae!"

This was the scene earlier tonight, as a trio of very, very (VERY) tired kids rallied long enough to put down some Friday's mac n' cheese followed by three adult-sized sundaes.  This took place AFTER a couple of energy-sapping hours at the carnival (Syl's third night in a row, for the record).  Photos to follow.

Now look who's here!

And don't fail to note the trailing dragon...

Big smile!

This is one of those rides I was referring to when I said I recognize some of them from my childhood.  I'm quite certain my behind sat on this very same purple motorcycle some thirty plus years ago...

First ride at the carnival

And I mean "first ride at the carnival."  Syl got on the very first ride to fire up.  She piloted that chopper like a pro!  Very serious and intent.

Yes, it's what time of year again: the Holliston Lions Club Carnival.  This is the first year when Syl's dad is working it as a Lion.  Kind of a hoot, given then I recognize many of the rides from my childhood.  I don't mean I recognize the type of ride - I'm pretty sure they are the  very same rides. 

Syl and her mom went to the first night of the carnival on Wednesday, when I was in DC.  I'm working it tonight, and Syl and her mom were, as noted, the very first patrons to arrive.  Tomorrow night we're going again as a family, along with the O'Learys.  I'll have my camera with me and will get a few better quality photos, no doubt.

One thing is for sure: Sylvie LOVES the carnival.

Lunch with the O'Learys

Thanks to Trystan for shooting me these fantastic photos of Sylvie with her pals Madeline and Jake, at lunch at Budda-Bing's right now.  The girls-plus-Jake met up after Sylvie's Little Gym excursion this morning for some playground fun and a lunch date.  Fun stuff!  Looks like Sylvie got a workout at the playground.  We really feel lucky to have such good friends right here in town - and it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly well our kids get along.  Madeline and Jake really treat Syl like a little sister.

SCIENCE!

It's kind of funny what passes for "science" at the Boston Children's Museum. Golf balls, huge vats of bubble stuff, a big petri-dish of a water table... Whatever. The kids really like it.
Here's the last of my clean-up videos - I'm all caught up! This is from our trip to the Children's Museum in Boston when Boden, Beck, Matt and Jen Hamilton were staying with us a couple of weeks ago. Good time!

Father's day on the lake

Back in the boat, this time on the lake at Hopkinton State Park.  Sylvie tried sitting in back this time, at Dad's feet, and seemed to like that position better.  We found a big rock, two islands and a nice looking beach, all of which bear further exploration as the summer goes on.  We also visited a whole lot of ducks and swimming dogs.  An excellent Father's Day excursion, followed by a fun lunch with my girls.

Happy Father's Day!

Thought Syl was going to sleep through Father's Day this year - she got out of bed at 10:30!  This is just before she and Mommy gave me an excellent gift - a swank new shirt and tie from Thomas Pink.  Fancy duds for Dad.  We're heading back out in the kayak in a little while, and then maybe out to lunch.

Syl sends Happy Father's Day wishes to all the dads and grand-dads in her life.

Playground. Lots of kids.

Still catching up on my back-footage.  Here's a little clip from our trip to Oak Grove a few weeks back when the Liggetts and Tracys came to visit. Lots of, um... energy.

The boat!!!

First time out in the kayak this year. We took it out on the Charles River, right by our house. Who knew there was such serenity 5 minutes from our front yard!? Syl was a little bit perturbed by the sun off the water at first (if anyone knows of a pair of foo-proof toddler sunglasses that stay ON, let us know), but she soon settled in for a nice hour-long cruise.

More Florida video

Here's what Sylvie got up to during our trip to Florida last month when she wasn't paddling around Grammy & Grampy's pool.

More fun photos with the Hamiltons

Culling through all the photos and video I've neglected with all our travel lately... going back all the way to Florida.  Here are some more fun photos from the Hamiltons' visit.  As you can see, she got really comfortable with Beck (who she insists on calling "Baby Beck."  Neither of them was sure about the joint bath thing at first, but once they settled in they had a great time!

Almost recovered

This is a photo of Sylvie hitting the wall at the tail end of an hour or so of frantic dancing Saturday night in Cedar Rapids.  Said hour of frantic dancing came after a day of family activity, which in turn followed a full day of travel begun with a 3:30 AM wake up call.  That was preceded by a week of play with her house guests from Colorado, and before THAT she endured a marathon weekend trip to her Dad's alma mater and a night in a dorm room!

So was she tired?  I think her face in the photo above tells the story, but so does this: Monday, she slept through the night until 11:15 AM, had a good nap in the afternoon, and went to bed at 8 PM.  Yesterday she didn't get up until a half hour short of noon.  Today she's apparently working back toward a normal schedule - she got up at 9:30 AM.  So three days on, and she's *almost* recovered. 

We're looking forward to a calm, relaxing weekend at home.

Wedding weekend photos

Here are some photos from our excellent - if rushed! - weekend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where we were honored to celebrate Tamsyn Phifer's wedding to Brannan Johnston with old friends, Sylvie's Grandparents, the O'Learys and a whole bunch of really, really nice people.

In case none of my prior posts made this clear, the bride was Tamsyn Phifer, Trystan's little sister.  Our families met at my graduation from Middlebury and have been close friends ever since.  This is our third trip out to Cedar Rapids.  The hospitality the Phifers show us each and every time is truly amazing, even in the midst of large-scale celebrations like the one they put on this weekend.  It was a harrowing journey, but well worth it for all three of us (and Grammy and Grampy!).

A lot more photos of the bride and groom, for wedding-aficionados, in this gallery.

More of Syl and her family in the June 2010 gallery.

Almost an excellent victory

So after driving the hour and a half from Cedar Rapids to Moline airport, we learned our quick flight from Moline to Chicago was delayed well past the point when we could conceivably have expected to make our connection to Boston. After some quick math we decided to stay in the rental car and drive like heck for Chicago in the hopes of making it in time for our connection.
We made it to the gate (after some abject begging on Dad's part at the looong security line) with about 10 mins to spare - not bad for the tail end of a six hour drive.
We pushed back on time and congratulated ourselves as we began to taxi. We even mused that we might get to Logan earlier than expected.
Perhaps it was that last bit of hubris that did it. About 15 mins into an awfully long taxi, I noticed we seemed to be heading away from the runways and toward the hangars - a classic sign that the plane is being tarmacked. Sure enough, now we're in engine shut-down, waiting for storms to clear - probably the same #*+;?! storm that followed us from Cedar Rapids.
Syl is playing happily with her Wonder Pets... For now. Fingers crossed that we don't become one of those 'stuck on tarmac' nightmare feature stories on the news...

UPDATE:  Made it.  Tarmac hold lasted just about an hour, and after some "fast flying" (pilot's words - raising the question, why don't they always fly fast?) we arrived at Logan a mere half hour later than scheduled. Got home around midnight and Syl slept until well past 9 AM this morning.   So we're tallying up the drive to Chicago decision as a small victory after all...

On our way

And boy, is there a story...

On our way home

To what Syl keeps calling "our blue house.". First stop: the Maid Rite diner in Moline, IL. Syl's grilled cheese came in a CAR!

The end.

On the dance floor

This actually captures it pretty well...

Back to Ruby Tuesday's.

This time with Grammy and Grampy.

Chowing down

Syl was a real trooper last night. After getting up at 3:15 AM and having a sub-par nap, she rallied to have a real good time at the rehearsal dinner. After we all got a good night's sleep we're having some breakfast.

Lord, she was born a ramblin' girl.

Made it

Lunch at Ruby Tuesday's then NAP.

Off to Iowa!

... On the earliest flight in the history of the world. Syl is doing pretty well (so far) with her 3:30 AM wake up call.

Look who came to dinner!

Madeline, Boden and Beck!  (along with Brendan, Jen and Matt).  

Among other things, this meant Syl got to stay up 'til NINE THIRTY (at which point a particularly crabby bedtime routine commenced...     

A couple of school photos

Photos from Middlebury

Sylvie and I had a just fantastic Dad/daughter weekend (24 hours, really) up at Middlebury.

I won't lie.  There were moments - particularly right at the beginning - when I wondered if I was nuts to try and fly solo for such an event.  But after some post-nap stupor fussiness, Sylvie was a great companion.

Of course it didn't hurt that Matt and Jen were around to help me out.

There was something very, very cool about having Sylvie up at Middlebury with me.  The weather ended up cooperating (yesterday, anyhow - today was a deluge).  I took advantage of the sunshine to get some shots of Sylvie doing some quintessentially "Middlebury" type things (I think I should send the one at left to the Midd alum office).  Some below , and more in the June 2010 Gallery.

And although "reunion" didn't go exactly as it ordinarily might, spending quality time with my little girl more than made up for it.  Anyhow, she did spend three  hours with some sitters last night while I packed in some concentrating "reuniting" with a bunch of old friends.

Overall a great time, and we're home safe and sound.