Our jam-packed August began with a bang. Because I need to leave for the airport again at 4:30 tomorrow morning, I'm going to make this really summary. If I have time later I'll fill in details. Which at this point you all know means it will never happen.
Nicholas loved seeing so many people on our trips, but it was a bit too much of a whirlwind for him. So many of the people were ones he either didn't know or didn't remember that he kept getting confused about who fit in which world. And just when he got comfortable with one group of people, we'd change things up on him.
After a day with Joe's parents and grandmother, we spent an afternoon with a bunch of Joe's father's cousins, most of whom Nicholas hadn't ever met. He had fun, but was also overwhelmed. He fell asleep in the car and woke up in Vermont, where we spent the next 5 days with a bunch of my aunts and uncles, a few of my cousins, my parents, and my grandfather. As Nicholas will tell you, we all stayed in a big red house and he got to sleep on a bunk bed (the bottom bunk, of course).
While in Vermont, we did lots of local things: going to a farm, learning how cheese is made, going to the Ben & Jerry's factory, seeing some of the family sites,
and of course hiking on Mt. Mansfield. I have only actually hiked Mt. Mansfield once, 11 years ago, but my mom and her siblings and parents used to do the hike up to the top on family vacations and my grandfather has fond memories of it from his own childhood. Neither Nicholas or my grandpa were up for doing the whole climb this time, but we got advice that if we drove up the toll road we could do an "easy" 1.5 mile hike across the top and meet up with the rest of the group. It started off okay, but before long it turned into this:
I wish I could say that Nicholas rose to the occasion and conquered the mountain, but in fact he threw fits, tried to quit, begged me to carry him, and only made it because I refused to be thwarted in my own desire to get to the top. To be fair, as much as he did whine and cry, he actually walked over half of it, so at least 1.5 miles, and did another half mile with a combination of walking a few steps and being lifted up the steep parts. He had no choice, really, because I refused to carry him or allow anyone else to on the steep rocky parts--it was just too dangerous. And as long as I kept him distracted with making up stories he did do a great job. But mostly I remember the fits and his declaration that he wasn't going any further, that he would just stay on the mountain forever.
But he made it, and so is in the pictures on Mt. Mansfield.
There are pictures of my mom with her parents and siblings at that spot and me with my parents and brothers. I wish we had gotten a frame-worthy one this time, but I wasn't about to fight him on looking at the camera after all the fights I'd already picked on climbing rocks.
In the big red house he also got to do TONS of puzzles and even found people willing to play baseball with him. He loves these big (500 piece) puzzles, but they really did work best in this setting, where he could do a couple of the big, easily identifiable pieces, adults could fill in the harder stuff, and then he could put in the last 5 or 10 pieces.
Then we went to Maryland for a few days, left him with a babysitter he didn't remember from his infancy to go to a wonderful wedding, and took the daytrip he had been waiting for--to visit Alice!!!! He and Alice seem to become closer every time we visit. I clearly remember the playdates when they were a few months old that were a thinly veiled excuse for Katie and I to get together. And then this time they played together for hour upon hour with no need for adult intervention! (Although they did create a "sand pool" and Nicholas had 3 accidents. But they came up with games on their own and worked together beautifully.) It was really amazing to get to sit around with the adults and catch up without needing to jump up every 10 minutes to help or entertain them.
And Alice has a new baby sister, so Nicholas got to meet Glenda! He was intrigued by the baby, but not very attentive. He went over to touch her arms and feet a couple times and was happy about the idea of holding her with Alice, but after about 1 minute of Glenda sitting on their laps, he started to squirm, seemingly trying to slide out from under her. He was much more interested in playing with Alice!
There are a ton more pictures in the
August Gallery.
