At long last, my computer has been resurrected, thanks to my wonderful hubby. (Thank you wonderful hubby!) I still don't have my files transferred back over so you will have to wait a little bit longer for new pictures -- hopefully I'll be able to post them soon. Molly observed that John is almost 5 months old and I don't even have 4 month pictures up! (I don't even have all of his 3 month pictures up!)
Almost 5 months already? Where has this month gone? It's been another one that flew by, again because of all the traveling we've been doing. Joe's sister was up to visit for the first weekend of this month, so John finally got to meet his Aunt Sandra and had fun playing and giggling with her. Then we headed off on our first family vacation, to Maine for Angela's wedding. We were gone for about 10 days, home for 3, then off again to Cleveland for a night. Now we're back home again, Joe is gearing up for the school year, and we're trying to get John back into a routine after all the traveling messed him up. ;-)
Our trip to Maine was great. We broke the driving down to 2 [long] days each way (3 if you count the fact that we stopped to visit my parents on each end), and John handled it very well (although there were a lot of recitations of "Dr. Suess's ABC", and many rounds of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" along the way). We took a northerly route on the way up and stayed in New Hampshire at a nice place near Franconia Notch. I had been thinking that, arriving in the late afternoon, we might have time to see the remains of the Old Man of the Mountain or something. But it turns out I greatly misjudged how exhausting it is to travel with an infant. We pretty much got there, had dinner, and went to bed. So, if I were to do it again I would stay an extra day there so we could enjoy the mountains a little. Live and learn.
In Maine, we stayed at a place right on the Machias River, in a little cabin with no TV, internet, or phone. I loved it! It was very relaxing being away from it all, and Maine is so gorgeous. We picked wild blueberries right outside our cabin, and my mom even saw a seal in the river. Hanging out with Ange (and introducing her to her nephew!) was great, although of course she was somewhat busy. ;-) Also got to see her other friend Leslie again, whom Joe and I had met when we visited 2 years ago. The wedding was beautiful! They had a Renaissance theme and invited the guests to come in costume, and quite a few did! Ange had had the bridesmaids' dresses made by a seamstress she knew -- mine was gold, Julie's was purple, both gorgeous. The bride herself was resplendent in black velvet. My dad, who walked her partway down the aisle, wore a kilt. My cousin Dana, the photographer, was a pirate. My mom and aunt had lovely period costumes that they made themselves. Joe had a knight's costume, and the baby was a dragon. :-) The wedding was outdoors in the labyrinth garden at Angela and Mike's alma mater, with perfect weather (after a few days of cold and rain), and the reception was lots of fun. I managed a dance with my husband (who spent a lot of the reception feeding our tired baby), and I also did the chicken dance (which had been outlawed at my sister's wedding because she is no fun!) with my dad. My son ended up with the garter. ;-) A wonderful time was had by all!
The next day we went sightseeing with the fam: first to Roque Beach (where supposedly a dead whale had washed up, but luckily we missed that!), then up to Quoddy Head lighthouse, which is the easternmost point in the US. Both are right on the ocean, but it was so foggy that you couldn't see anything! That was a little disappointing, but the foghorn at the lighthouse was pretty cool. Spent the evening packing up and just hanging out, and the newlyweds dropped by for a little while. Next morning it was back on the road, heading toward home via Massachusetts. We had one short stop at a beach in New Hampshire along the way, and John got his little toes in the ocean that time. :-) In Mass we had no silly illusions of sightseeing (though we did stop for a brief look at a St. Anne Shrine, since we saw a sign for it), and just spent the evening vegging in our motel room, getting our first look at some of the Olympic events, which had begun while we were in Maine with no TV. Drove to Caz the next day for one last visit with my parents and my grandmother, and then finally home for a few days. We brought John to the Erie County Fair (er, "America's Fair"), which was nice but will be a lot more fun with him next year. ;-) Then off to Cleveland for one night. We spent some time the first day visiting Tim and Cathy and their kids, who live out that way, and then the next morning went with Joe's parents to see Vatican Splendors, which was awesome, although it was a bit challenging to get through with a 4-month-old. But we managed.
Now we are home again, recovering from all the vacationing! We've been watching a bit of the Olympics when we can in the evenings, which has been fun. This weekend will be Joe's 10-year high school reunion, and we're going to the Family Picnic part. He officially starts back to work next week and the students will arrive next weekend. I need to get back to working as well, now that I have a computer again. John is busy just growing, changing, and learning... but I'll have to write more specifics about him later, as this post has already gotten too long!