Long Pond

Yesterday, we had a somewhat leisurely day.

Today, I made chocolate chip pancakes!

Then we went to Long Pond Woods.

The preserve's hiking path requires clambering up and down and over big rocks, but Madeline was up to the challenge.

In fact, she loved it.

She collected sticks (which I'm holding up in the picture below) and called them bones for a doggie.  "I love puppies!" she said.

Then: "RAWWWR!"

Some parts of the path were interesting.

We ended up at a lookout point where the path splits -- a modest distance unless you have a two-year-old in tow, and satisfying either way.

Madeline was not a fan of the bugs in the woods.  She kept repeating, "Go away, bugs. This is not your home."  We told her that the forest was, in fact, the bugs' home, but she didn't buy it.  On our way back to the car, she announced to the bugs, "Bye bye, bugs. I'm goin' to my home."  She also announced that she wanted to sleep in a hole she found nestled among the large rocks.

She was tired.

Quite a character & Harvard Museum

Madeline has been quite a character lately.  One night she served me "butterfly soup" and "pasta with spicy cherry sauce."  She has named some of her "friends" -- her baby doll is now Sophie, and a red, heart-covered bear is Bubby Bear.  (And, of course, there's still Cheese.)  Some mornings she wakes up and sings to herself in her crib.  Some evenings before pajama time she sings in her room.


Tonight while she was singing, she was also trying to watch herself on the little screen on the camera at the same time.  And sometimes -- Tuesday, for example -- she pretends Petey is a baby.

Wednesday, Madeline, Bubby Bear, and I read a book about Japanese lucky cats that came with a Japanese lucky cat.

Thursday, Madeline wore a new sun hat to school!

Today, after promising Madeline we'd go to a dinosaur museum, we finally paid a visit to the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

There are dinosaurs there, like this Triceratops horridus!  (Or, as Madeline says, "'ceratops!")

Madeline liked the dinosaurs.

Here she is with a Corythosaurus casuarius skull ...

... and here with an ancient turtle shell!

Madeline enjoyed a hammerhead shark model hanging from the ceiling here:

But she was perhaps most impressed with the Great Mammal Hall, where whale skeletons hang from the ceiling over two tiers of stuffed mammals (and birds too).

When we finally made it across Harvard's campus and back to the car, Madeline was asleep in about five seconds.

After dinner tonight, we went out for another special treat -- frozen yogurt!

Madeline intently devoured her cake-flavored yogurt with cherries, raspberries, and sprinkles, pausing occasionally for a smile.

As Madeline said afterward, "Yum."

Plants & play date

This weekend has been busy.  Saturday morning we finally tried Mesa Cafe, which is a short walk from our house.  It turns out they produce quite the excellent breakfast.

From there, we went to Southside Community Land Trust's annual plant sale.

The plant sale takes place at the land trust's City Farm, which houses a chicken coop.  Madeline was transfixed.

We wound up purchasing many plants.

I spent the rest of the day with the Corolla at a repair shop, but I hear Madeline had a fine time at home with Summer.

This morning, Ilan came over.

Tamar had proposed making giant bubbles ...

... so we did.

Madeline and Ilan also spent some time spilling and re-collecting pebbles.

They moved on from pebbles to azalea blossoms.

And they generally had a grand time.

After Ilan left and Madeline napped, we did a whole bunch of planting -- a mix of seeds purchased from Scratch Farm that we started, plants purchased from the URI East Farm Spring Festival last weekend, and plants we'd just purchased from Southside Community Land Trust's plant sale.

Hopefully we'll end up with lots of tomatoes and peppers -- we'll see.  This is our first foray into in-ground food growing, and it remains to be seen how hospitable our chosen garden locale will be.

The herbs in planters, on the other hand, should grow just fine.

Twenty-seven months

Grandma's visit continued: many pictures, few words

Tuesday:

Thursday, school was cancelled so Grandma Mandy and Summer took Madeline to the Children's Museum.

They ran into Orlagh from school; she and Madeline proceeded to play!

Friday, Madeline looked very grown-up, so we had to take lots of pictures.

Saturday, we went to the University of Rhode Island's East Farm Spring Festival.  Madeline enjoyed petting the goats ...

... and seeing a worm composting demonstration!

Later, Seth and Indika and David and Sally visited.

Sunday morning, Madeline and I went out to bring home donuts in honor of Mothers Day.

Later, we went to Prospect Terrace Park.

Then we got dinner at Angelo's Civita Farnese on Federal Hill.

Finally, we wandered through DePasquale Square to Pastiche.

It was a good day.