Fun with cousins

We have some hot off the presses photos for you from our Thailand adventure, in random order.

Here is Jeff and Caitlin- he's just over 5 months, and is such a cutie. Very observant and engaged, and easy-going too.


We went to see the elephants this morning- Lucy let one put a hat on her head and take it off, and she and Sam fed the elephants bananas and sugar cane. The big elephants eat the bananas whole, but the baby one peels it first. The elephants do all sorts of tricks (painting, playing soccer, playing harmonicas), but I most enjoyed seeing them get bathed and how they interacted with each other.

Sam giving Lucy a ride on his bike. She fits just right on the back bag-holder.

The two blankey-loving cousins, watching tv in the car (a real help when we're trying to keep them awake before getting home for nap time!).

Caitlin and I, on our horse and buggy ride. I'm so enjoying our time together. We went for Thai massages yesterday, and have had many a motorbike-ride excursion and good talks during naptimes.

Super Sam and Super Lucy.

Don't worry- Sam wasn't just about to bash Lucy on the head, even though it looks like it (he's actually been very sweet with her, giving her lots of hugs and sharing admirably with his cousin).

Lucy and Jeff together on the first night we got here. They're actually just 18 months apart- soon enough Jeff will be ready to join in the playing too!

Silly spinning

Lucy and Sam love being silly together. It's such a delight to see them make each other laugh. Here's a video from a few days ago. Pictures to come in the next post!

Labors of love

Lucy received 2 wonderful presents recently. The first is a baby quilt from my Aunt Lee- many family and friends gave pieces of fabric for it, which makes it so special. Lee put it together beautifully, even hand-sewing on all the trim!

The second one is a "new to Lucy"gift. When Caitlin and I were little, my dad hand-made a big bird pillow for us. He spent a long time on it, and it meant a lot to us, especially because he doesn't usually do craft sort of things. I found it recently and after a wash and re-stuffing, it's ready to delight another sesame street-loving girl.

Update from Thailand!

Lucy and I are visiting with my sister and her family in Thailand now! We arrived on Monday night, after a 30 hour trip (21 hours of it on planes), and will be here for about 2 weeks. Lucy was such a trooper on all 3 flights- she just had one 15 minute melt down, and otherwise was relatively cheerful throughout. I packed tons of snacks and toys, as well as a portable DVD player, which all helped. Plus, the flight attendants and passengers were really sweet with her.

We're having such a wonderful time here with Caitlin and John, and their sons Sam (almost 3) and Jeff (5 months). Lucy and Sam get along very well, and like being silly together. They played footsies under the table the other day at dinner, and today had a blast spinning around in circles and giggling. Jeff is a real cutie- very strong and attentive, and definitely eager to be moving around like his big brother!

The weather is gorgeous- low 80s and sunny. It'll be very hard to return to our cold weather at home, I'm sure! We've had some amazing Thai food- one of my favorite cuisines. So far we've been to the night safari/zoo (tons of animals, but the highlights were the monkeys, peacocks, hippos, and the elephant- it was outside at the end and Lucy got to touch it), visited the botanical gardens, took a horse and buggy ride around temple ruins, and fed some truly massive fish at a local park. It's also been fun playing with the sprinklers and swings and sandbox in the backyard.

Overall it's been super relaxing so far. Caitlin and John have a wonderful full time cook/helper, so we haven't had to worry about cooking or cleaning at all, and have extra help with the kids. And I'm so enjoying having quality time with my sister.

I've scheduled some posts to appear while we're away, so you won't miss us too much. And I hope to maybe get a few new pictures or videos up while we're here, or definitely after we get back.

Two cups!

Here's a live demonstration of the "two-cup" picture from a recent post. I love the glint Lucy gets in her eyes when she knows she's being silly.

Tree harvest and fun at home

We had a blast at the Tree Harvest party my Aunt Lee and cousin Veronica threw last weekend. The party is one of my favorite Wald family traditions, and goes back to my great-grandmother. Everyone brings small presents, divided into 2 or more packages (so a set of crayons could be divided among 3 packages). You hang them on your de-ornamented Christmas tree, and then hold hands and sing carols as you walk around the tree. When the whistle is blown, everyone stops and takes a present. If it's something you can wear, you have to wear it. At the end of the evening, you barter with each other to end up with complete sets of whatever presents you like best. It's sort of a mix between musical chairs and a yankee swap, with a Christmas tree thrown in for good measure. This one was Lucy's first, and she had fun opening all the presents.

Lucy, me and Lee. Note the sock on my hand, my extra necklace, and Lee's shoulder decorations.


Our little sound engineer.


A random picture of Lucy. I asked her to smile for the camera, and she did, but also closed her eyes in anticipation of the flash.

My good friend Alainie came over for a visit, and helped us make two sledding runs down the miniature hill in of snow in our front yard. Lucy had fun sledding, though after a little while she decided she'd rather go on my lap instead of by herself.

Here is Alainie working on a tower with Lucy. Lucy was quite taken with "ay-nee".

And here's our babysitter, Jamie, out doing some sled runs with Lucy.

Pretend "reading"

Sometimes Lucy does pretend "reading". The cool thing about pretend reading is that you don't even need words on the page, as demonstrated in the video below. In it, Lucy is sorting some yellow star cards we made.

And as a bonus feature, here we are in our painting clothes, making the cards. Lucy does a great job with sponge painting.

Making Lucy Laugh: 101

We've recently discovered the most sure-fire way to get Lucy to laugh. Namely, throw her animals up in the air and then bat at them to keep them up (like you would for a hackey sack). It never fails to utterly delight her. I think she finds it very funny to see her animals flying, and also to see us lunging around. In the video below, Lamby got to go aerial.

Lucy up and down and all around

Where's Lucy?


There she is!

Double-fisting it.

Lounging in her chair.

Going aerial with Papa.

An ideal place for a phone call.

Ringing in the new year

We enjoyed spending time with family and friends as the old year drew to a close and the new one began.

Baby Emma (my youngest cousin) came to visit with her mom and dad (Kelly and Clark) and her sister Whitney and a friend. Lucy played the role of big cousin quite well, and even got to hold Emma on her lap. Here she's helping Emma unwrap a present.

We went out to the local diner/train station with Meredith, Phil and Skyler (our Walden Pond playmates) on the 31st. Lucy and Skyler love giving each other hugs, though he was distracted this time.


We spent New Years' Eve with our dear friends Rebecca and Gregg. It was our 3rd one together, this time joined by Andrew (a most charming and easy-going little guy), who was still on west coast time, and by their little pea pod (still inside Rebecca). We had a delicious meal of raclette and then not 1, but 2 desserts- peppermint chocolate brownies with ice cream and strawberry shortcake with whipped cream.

Grandma and I got off on the right foot (or ski) this year, going cross-country skiing on New Years' day.

And to cap off a wonderful first day of the year, we visited with our other dear friends, Laura and Michael, playing Puerto Rico after the girls went to bed.

As we reflect on this past year and look forward to the new one, we're so thankful for all the friends and family God has blessed us with, whether close or far away!

Haiku get-away

As a belated celebration of our 5th wedding anniversary, Matt and I went away last weekend to a bed and breakfast for a night. We were so grateful to our babysitter, Jamie, and to my grandparents who shared childcare duties while we were away. By all accounts Lucy did great, though she missed us.

It was a short trip (just over 24 hrs), but completely delightful. We found a little book of haikus in a used bookstore up there (located in an old barn, pictured below), and it inspired us to think of our trip as a Haiku get-away (hopefully longer poem trips and maybe even epics will be possible in the future!).


We've also composed a few haikus of our own since then (the pattern is 5 syllables, then 7, then 5).

Matt's (from the perspective of Elizabeth):

I love poetry
My husband's time is fleeting
So we read haikus

Elizabeth's:

Five years together
Hiking up and down mountains
We're still holding hands

The B&B was very homey and overlooked a river, as did our room.

We went for a fun walk along the river on the first afternoon and then had dinner at a restaurant nearby that also overlooked the river. It was beautiful in all the snow.

Lest a post go by without pictures of her, here is Lucy playing in the snow after our recent snowstorm. The beach bucket and shovel are coming in handy even in this season!

And here is our little princess getting a ride around the house.