Strawberry fields forever

We helped Grandma pick strawberries from her garden last week (and spinach and lettuce and snap peas too!)

On the way to the patch...


A word about these strawberries- most of them are the size of raspberries, and they taste like real strawberries, if you know what I mean. They smell heavenly, and eaten warm and fresh off the stem are like little bits of summer.

Lucy was just like Sal from "Blueberries for Sal", eating every berry she picked. We had to remind her that we wanted to save the ones in the tupperware for Papa.

Here she is with Grandma.

Our abundant crop!

And the next day, for Father's Day- served over french toast with syrup- so good!

Dog days of summer

My blogging has been a bit sparser of late, due to some other committments. But hopefully I'll find a way to make it happen, as I do love sharing our adventures.

Last weekend we dog-sat for some friends. Lucy wasn't a big fan of the dog when we were in the house, but she did a great job holding his leash on our walks. The area was beautiful and we enjoyed soaking in all the trees and gardens.

We also went for a little picnic in the downtown area.

And discovered the most delicious ice cream place. It's my favorite of all the local homemade places- Rancatore's. I've been thinking about the mild chocolate ice cream (made with Belgian chocolate) all week!

In the picture below, Lucy is doing her smiling thing (putting fingers on both cheeks- I'm not sure where she picked this up), though not actually smiling. But I wanted to show a "before" picture for her hair cut. As you can see, it was getting a bit scraggly and in her eyes.

I didn't manage to get a picture of the actual haircut, since I was focused on keeping her happy/calm. But here is an after picture!

And a frolicking in the field picture- I love seeing Lucy run.

Pretend playtime

I love watching how Lucy plays, and how her mind flits from idea to idea.

Jumping in to summer

Lucy and I have discovered a new beach nearby. It's beautiful, and has a playground too.

Lucy had such a great time in the water. She gets so excited, splashing and kicking her legs while I'm holding her in the deep water, laughing and screeching with delight. It's amazing to me how much she loves it. Then she wanted to jump off the dock because she saw other kids doing it. She jumped off a bunch of times holding onto my hands, and then jumped in a few times by herself, going all the way under water until I caught her. I was so impressed and proud of my gutsy little girl! Thankfully she doesn't seem to have inherited Caitlin's inclination for jumping into deep water without grown-ups nearby (my parents can regale you with many tales), as she always makes sure I'm close by.

We met some friends there earlier this week, and after a wonderful time at the beach, we decided to go to a nearby farm and get ice cream for dinner. You can watch the cows while you eat your ice cream, and they also had sheep and goats and bunnies. It was such a fun summer experience.

I've also been meaning to write a bit about Lucy's personality. It's so neat to see how she's developing and becoming her own person. One funny thing is that she loves changing clothes. If we let her she would change outfits 4 or 5 times a day. Sometimes she'll tell me, "this shirt not pretty", to convince me that I should let her change it. Matt and I kind of think that for Lucy changing clothes is as much about the independence for her as it is the fashion.

Tonight I came home after a day in the office and Lucy wanted to go upstairs and get me some clothes. I asked why, explaining that I already had clothes on, and she said, "No, those work clothes". So she went upstairs and came down with a shirt and a pair of pants for me- so cute. Then later she decided she wanted to wear one of my shirts too (pictured below). She loves it when I let her go upstairs by herself for these "errands".

Another part of her personality that's coming out is her need/desire for "quiet time". It's been much more prominent recently, and she'll sometimes tell us or her babysitter that she wants to read a book by herself. Tonight when I was trying to get her ready for bed, she crawled under our bed and hid there, reading a book. Also, last week we went to a party where there were lots of kids (mostly 1 year olds)- Lucy took one look around and headed for the kid's bedroom, where she settled into a rocking chair and read books for the first 10 minutes or so. After that she emerged and happily played with toys and the other kids.

We love our little Lucy so much, and look forward to seeing how she continues to grow and become more herself.

Farming fun

After another busy week, I'm hoping to get back into my blogging swing. Here are some pix from the Littletons' visit with us. On their next to last day, we went to a local farm. It was a gorgeous day and the kids all enjoyed it.

Jeff is such a charmer.

A priceless (and unposed!) picture of Lucy and Sam.

Consulting the maps.

Jeff loved pulling up on the train table- it was at the perfect height for him to lean on it and play with the trains.

One more picture of Jeff- this was the first time Matt had met him.

Down-time

We had a wonderful Memorial Day visit with the Littletons, including 2 family gatherings, a picnic at the local arboretum, and dinner with my aunt Lee. It was so fun to have this special time with them, as we likely won't see them until next spring. The picture below is from their first visit- I'll post more soon.


One of the reasons for my sparse blog posting recently (other than their visit) is that Lucy came down with a bad cold/virus after they left. She had a few days of a high fever last week, and now has a bad cough and runny nose. She's definitely not been feeling well, and has spent much of the past week on my lap reading books or watching tv. She tells us, "I feeling sick, I need to watch tv". And when we put it on, "This make me feel better".

The interesting (I should put that in quotes) thing about a 2-year old being sick is that they vocalize every bit of their unhappiness, as opposed to grown-ups, who have usually learned to moan on the inside. And Lucy's been feeling pretty unhappy. We hope that she'll be on the mend soon.

On a related theme, here's a picture of Lucy having some down-time a few weeks ago. She was whining or getting worked up about something, and so I suggested she have some down-time (as opposed to a time-out) on the couch. She happily agreed, and I set her up with a blanket and books. She read there for a few minutes and then came back in a much better mood.

Hair styling

Caitlin and John and Sam and Jeff have returned for a few days' visit. They arrived late last night, courtesy of memorial day traffic, but we had a wonderful picnic at a local arboretum today, and my aunt Lee is coming for a visit this afternoon. We're taking lots of pictures which I'll try to post soon.

Lucy's hair has been growing longer and I've been having fun with it. The other day I braided her hair for the first time. It felt like quite a rite of passage- I've always enjoyed braiding and french braiding, and have looked forward for awhile to being able to do it with Lucy. Here's hoping she'll sit still enough for a french braid sometime soon...

We've also done some fun ponytails.

And the front view. :)