Maine, Again

One of Owen’s favorite vacation activities was helping Granny and Grandfather pick blueberries and blackberries in their garden.  (He is still learning how to talk, of course, and so picking blueberries and blackberries became picking boobies and blackbabies.  Oh dear.)  Anyway, he really liked the concept of picking food that he could pop in his mouth as well as place in his green bucket.  The blueberries he tended to take a tentative bite from and then hand the rest to me, but he quite enjoyed the blackberries.  Here he is picking berries in a hat borrowed from Granny:

He also helped pick cucumbers and squash and carrots, and was often redirected out of a post-nap tantrum by watering the tomatoes.  Or watering the moss on the front flagstones:

He enjoyed saying hello to my parents dog, Nellie, with a “Hi, Lellie!  Good girl, Lellie!”

Here's Nellie crammed where my feet were trying to be

on the long drive home:

And here's Nellie ignoring Dorothy and Plum in our home

after the journey:

Here is Owen cleaning the bathroom sink:

And stopping to admire himself in the mirror:

I’d have to say that a highlight of Owen’s trip seemed to be when one night Pa dropped a fork on the ground as he was clearing the table.  For reasons unknown, this made a BIG impression on Owen, and for the rest of the week he would hit his hand to his head and say, “Oh no! Pa dropped his fork on the ground!”  (I think this kind of incident OCD must be a 2 year-old trait?  For all this past weekend Owen told me over and over about how “Nanny had apple in her mouth” when he tried to give her a bite of his lunch.)  We are wondering if when he sees my father again at Christmas, whether or not he will bring up the Great Fork Spill of Summer ‘14.  I’m guessing yes, yes he will.

Owen's Maine Vacation

We had a lovely Maine vacation this year at my parents' house in Bristol.  Sean, Owen, Dorothy and I drove up together, and then after one week Sean and Dorothy returned to Pennsylvania while Owen and I stayed on for another week.  I'm not going to lie:  the ride up wasn't easy.  It took about ten hours, which isn't bad, but Owen fussed for a lot of those hours.  But once we were there, the fine weather, good company, beautiful scenery, and delicious food more than made up for the whining traveling hours.

Owen had a good time both inside and out.  Here he is enjoying the lighthouse at Pemaquid Point:

And here is the picture I took before the one above, with Owen exiting stage right:

As is the case with coastal Maine, as we went on many errands, walks or outings there was always the ocean to be seen and boats sailing upon it.  Owen soon learned where to look when we pointed and said "boat!"  Here he is by the water in Damariscotta, looking like a salty dog:

And here he is trying out a swing at the new Bristol Community Playground:

Since Owen is not walking yet, and since he is only one, we did spend a lot of time at home moseying about.  And although walking behind a crawling boy is not always the most scintillating of activities, it was fun for me to spend time with Owen during the day.  He really is quite a happy little fellow.  Here are some of his indoor Maine activities:

He liked to take everything out of the urn by the door, piece by piece, including all the bags that are there for when dogs get walked:

He very much enjoyed both playing Granny's piano, and looking at himself in the side of it:

Here he is enjoying Granny and Grandfather's computer:

And this was one of his favorite activities -- watching the clothes spin in the washer:

It turns out that you can change the settings of a load midway through.  Who knew?!

To come:  Owen at the beach!  And don't forget Dorothy!

The Moose Is Loose

We are in Maine for a bit, and hoping to see some moose, albeit not ones that are firetruck red.  Nonetheless, Owen prepared for his vacation with a bit of moose-riding practice: