No other way to start a trip

On our way to visit the Winthrops on North Haven Island, Maine. The '4 hour' trip to the ferry took slighly longer than 5 due to traffic, so we missed the 2:15 we'd intended to catch and are burning time in Rockland. Grabbing a late lunch, Syl is pleased to find her standard on the menu...

Who's that Duck in the mirror?

Sylvie the post-bath duck, brushing her bill and mugging in the mirror...

Attack of the Mutant Cucumber

This photo is in no way enhanced. Syl just helped me pick this monster out of our garden. Syl just also picked and ate 13 cherry tomatoes, easily the largest single ingestion of vegetables in her life. Who knew having a garden would have so many unexpected benefits?

Anyone need some tomatoes?

In case folks were wondering how Melissa's first foray into gardening is going..

Gone mobile

Syl has learned to pedal.  Here's the proof.

Last park concert of the year

I got home from DC yesterday in time to join my girls at Goodwill Park for the season's last Concert in the Park.  This week was geared specifically toward kids, though Melissa and I enjoyed the music as well.  Syl has a nasty cold; on the way there she said, "I go to bed?  Sleep?" and we almost turned around.  After a picnic dinner on the blanket, however, she rallied strongly and joined day care pals Sophie and Kevin in running, dancing and climbing on the bleachers.

It's very cool to see Syl developing her own peer group.  They light up when they see each other across the crowd.  Also a nice moment when Sylvie took my hand and told Sophie's mom, "This myyyyy Daddy."

  I didn't bring the camera, so these are Blackberry photos - apologies for the low quality, but they capture some of the fun.

It's Kevin!

Boogeying with Sophie

Tickle attack!

Sophie shared her rice crispy treats

A daycare inside joke?

Climbing the bleachers.  Always climbing...

Madeline's 5th Birthday

Madeline's 5th birthday party yesterday really had it all - even a cameo appearance by Cinderella herself!  Brendan and Trystan (especially the latter) always out-do themselves.  Though Syl was the youngest at the party by far, all the girls were very nice to her.  She had a blast.  Poor Jake was vastly, VASTLY outnumbered by the girls - but his obvious crush on Cinderella seemed to make that okay.

A few photos here, many more here in the Madeline's 5th Gallery.

Self-dousing in the bath

Been a while since I posted bath time photos.  Sylvie's latest thing is self-dousing with her watering can.

Face painting!

I got an awful lot of photos at Madeline's 5th birthday party today (476, to be exact... though I've culled it down to just north of 300).  Since it's nearly 2 AM and I'm not even close to through editing them, I'm going to post a sub-set that I find particularly enchanting.  One of the many excellent little girl surprises that awaited the lucky invitees to Madeline's fiesta was am expert face painter.  Since Syl was by far the youngest guest, we weren't at all sure it was a good idea when she got in line.  We figured she'd fight and squirm and grab.  We were wrong.  She scrunched her face a little at the beginning, but then settled in and relaxed - and was VERY pleased with the final product, as you can see from the last couple of photos that have her mugging in the mirror...

More photos from Tuesday Drumming

Even though the "interactive drumming" concert last week was kind of a bust (weird, sort of pretentious artsy guy, whose music was oddly sedative), I did manage to get quite a few good photos of the kids enjoying a pleasant evening outdoors...  More in the July 2010 Gallery.

She's been framed!

And a bake sale...

Honestly.  Buds.

Having a ball (trite, I know)

Kevin!  From School!

Call me the Fonz.

Snugglin'

This photo makes Syl's Dad happy.