Great-uncle and -aunt and woods and shoes and party

This morning Madeline was ready for some weekend happenings.

First up: a visit from great-uncle and great-aunt. Alas! All my pictures came out blurry.

Madeline had a little while to enjoy her relatives and to play with her new wooden block puzzle at home, and then we all went to Olga's for a lovely brunch.

Great-uncle and great-aunt had to catch a flight back to DC, but the rest of us proceeded to Fisherville Brook (again) for a stroll.

The woods were damp and full of interesting little creatures and bright-colored fungi. For instance, we saw a snake!

Madeline saw it, too (zoom in and you can spot the snake at the tree's base).

We paused for a picture at the first bridge, where the most interesting creatures were red dragonflies.

Then on our way past the old Gardner family cemetery, we ran across a baby snapping turtle nestled in a clover bed.

Madeline was intrigued.

Soon we reached the second bridge, which was broken, partly submerged, and, for our purposes at least, impassable. As we retraced our path, Madeline fell asleep.

Back at home Madeline was refreshed but Summer and I were rather sleepy, so we let the baby romp around the bedroom. She made her way to the closet and immediately pulled out a pair of Summer's shoes.

Most of the rest of her time was spent exclaiming each time a cat wandered through the room and then trying to catch the much-faster cats.

After Madeline had napped, we went back out briefly to a party at Ceci's. Madeline again tried to charm Ceci's dog Rainy, this time with enthusiastic screams in addition to smiles. Needless to say, she met with limited success. And after not too long, it was home and to bed.