Self

Oliver is very much in to doing things on his own. Although he has long been opinionated about what he wears he now chooses every aspect of his outfits (day and night) (and god help anyone who tries to intervene and suggest some other choices). This is what he chose to wear on Wednesday.

Kingdom Swim

We spent this past weekend in Newport, Vermont - just feet away from the Canadian border. We went up north to support Davis in the Kingdom Swim, a 10 mile swim in Lake Memphremagog. We'd never been up in that area - it was beautiful!

Prior to heading up to the swim we had to put a roof rack on my car (so we could bring along the kayak). Oliver was very helpful with this project (as he is with any project that involves tools - the more tools needed the happier he is).
Since he couldn't reach the roof of my car, he focused on the wheels - we all felt safer on the journey up knowing that he'd given each of the wheels a once over.

Giving Davis a pep talk prior to the start-

Cheering Davis on at the finish -

Hanging out with Daddy at the end of the swim -

Practicing to do the swim next year -

Davis completed the swim in 4 hours and 33 minutes - pretty amazing I think. I also find it incredible that he was beyond hot and sweaty when he got out - he found the 70 something degree lake water too hot and says he's looking forward to getting back into the chilly ocean waters (crazy!).

In addition to lots of swimming, there was a lot of driving this weekend, and lots of popping around from place to place. Oliver was incredible. Honestly, he did a lot better with it than I did. I think a lot of it had to do with Le Le - Le Le made the trip to Newport with us and Oliver was super excited to have Le Le with him for four days (she also watched him for the day on Thursday when I was working). We owe a huge thanks to Le Le for running around, in and out of the water, with Oliver - thank you!

Hot, hot, hot!

Normally we have a few days of HOT weather here in New England, but this summer we've been getting day after day after day after day...of hot, sunny and humid. We've been enjoying the heat by spending lots of time in and around the water and by running around naked (Oliver that is, Davis and I have remained at least somewhat clothed (don't want to have the neighbors start talking (more than they already are)).

Here are some of my favorites from over the past few weeks -

Cooling off Aunt Elizabeth-

Hanging out at the beach -

Surveying the ridiculous amount of stuff we bring to the beach (yes, it is necessary to bring a dump truck, excavator, boat, noodle, boogie board - and for Davis and me to at least have a towel or two) -
Playing polo -
And swimming -

Oliver surprised us the other weekend when we were at the Stockwell Compound - the little fish swam by himself with a noodle!



Getting dry after lots of time spent in the water -

Happy!

I think I've mentioned before that Oliver does this wonderful thing - when he is happy he announces that he is "happy, happy, happy." He can be eating dinner and declare that he is happy, just sitting with me or Davis, playing at the playground, riding in the car... There are times that I can totally understand why he is super happy, but other times that I am surprised - but no matter, whenever he says he's happy I smile.

The other day he got a birthday present in the mail - a fancy new shirt from my Aunt Connie and Uncle Bob. Oliver immediately put the shirt on and ran around the yard telling everyone and everyone how happy he was.

Camp Stockwell

We spent this past weekend at the Stockwell's family compound; to say we had a fantastic weekend would be an understatement. Oliver was so enamored with the compound and his buddies, Ethan and Adam, that he cried himself to sleep on the car ride home.

Saturday morning we had three little munchkins itching to get outside and play in the water, go on the boats, and head to the beach - unfortunately it was pouring outside. This, of course, meant we had three little ones climbing the walls (chairs, tables...). We decided we'd give bowling a go -

Adam was a little hesitant at first, but Ethan and Oliver jumped right in - they thought the shoes and the game were great fun. While the majority of the balls did end up in their lane, there were many victory laps around the bowling alley and several balls did end up a few lanes over - thankfully we were the only ones there.

By the time we finished bowling and everyone took naps the weather had cleared so we headed to the water. The boys had a great time in the canoe, paddle boat and playing on the beach.

The day ended with a birthday celebration for Davis,

and a perfect sunset.
Sunday was sunny and warm - ideal for more time in the water and on the beach. Oliver took advantage of the calm waters and practiced his swimming; by the end of the morning he was swimming by himself using the noodle!

Thank you to Liz, Ben, Ethan and Adam for such a wonderful weekend!

Freedom

The weekend of July fourth was spectacular - we spent five cloudless hot days being utterly spoiled. Not only did we have many willingly hands wanting to play with Oliver, but we also spent each and every day on the ocean AND the lake.

Our time on the ocean was spent cruising the rocky coast and exploring islands.

And our time on the lake was spent swimming and kayaking - and scuba diving.


Oliver spent the majority of the weekend happily naked and in the water - we were only able to get him out of the water and put clothes on him when he was blue and shivering (and even then sometimes we had trouble getting him dry and clothed).

At some point over the weekend Oliver began to do this crazy lobster claw jazz-hands kind of thing every time we picked up the camera and said "smile." I have no idea where he picked it up, but it is pretty funny.
When we got home Tuesday night we arrived to a house that was 98 degrees inside - outside was no relief; it was much hotter. After being spoiled with five days of water fun, reality was tough. We filled up Oliver's little plastic pool and put the sprinkler on and tried to pretend we were in Maine, but it just wasn't the same.

The Tails of Great Ulysses

In an attempt for both Davis and me to get a bit of exercise we have perfected a morning shuffle that usually involves Davis heading the the water super early and then coming home to watch Oliver while I get to spend some time doing whatever it is a decide to do in the morning. Oliver, thankfully, chose this morning to sleep in -- I was lacing up my sneakers when Davis asked, "Where is Ulysses?" (Ulysses being one of our fish and a member of our family for close to a year and half). Flippantly I responded that he was in his tank - where else would a three inch goldfish be? I guess I should have realized that Davis would not be asking the question if Ulysses was still in the tank. The next few minutes were a crazy blur - the two of us trying to locate Ulysses, the whole time wondering 1) how could a goldfish get out of the tank and 2) how far could a goldfish actually get? Our frantic search ended when Davis located Ulysses on the floor behind the sideboard - Ulysses had managed to get more than three feet from his home! Davis scooped him up and I suggested that Ulysses be flushed, quickly, before Oliver got up and I began trying to determine how to find a similar fish before Oliver noticed that Bo Bo was the only one in the tank. Davis interrupted my muttering to announce the Ulysses was alive. Alive?! The fish had been out of the water an untold period of time (it was 6:30 in the morning and he had last been seen in his tank at 9:30 the night before) and had fallen more than four feet to the floor, landing a good three feet from the tank, and (I think I forgot to mention) was encased in a dust bunny.

The first few minutes back in the tank were rough for Ulysses but he appeared to get his swim back after a bit - which was great because one of the first things Oliver did when he woke up was to go and say good morning to Ulysses and Bo Bo (I'm not sure he would have bought the whole, Ulysses is on vacation bit).

Tonight Ulysses is staring out of the tank towards where he fell. I've put something on top of the tank in case he decides to venture out again. Although Ulysses defied the odds today (and perhaps last night) I'm still a bit worried about the little guy and am also worried that I may have to spend some of my day at pet stores trying to locate an impostor.
Ulysses is the orange and white fish, Bo Bo the orange one.

Two!

Oliver turned two today!

To celebrate we had a picnic on the water,
explored Penobscot Bay,
played with a water squirter,
ate ice cream,
and took a long nap.
We also had fun on the swing,
put up a tent,
had dinner,and bathed in birthday cake.

Loving life

Oliver doesn't embrace life, he tackles it. From the moment he wakes up to the moment he reluctantly falls asleep he is busy, busy, busy trying to get the most out of every minute.

The town has put in a new fountain right next to the playground that is located downtown. The other day we were supposed to meet some friends at the playground, but they were running late and Oliver was much more interested in waiting by the new fountain rather than at the playground. At first he circled the fountain, then he got closer and closer, then he started stomping in some of the puddles, then he dove right in. Mind you it wasn't one of the warm and sunny days we've had of late, but a rather chilly and overcast day. As I watched Oliver run through the fountain over and over again yelling that he was "Happy! Happy! Happy!". I overheard a couple of people commenting on how they would never ever let their child go near a puddle much less play in a fountain. For a less than a split second I considered that I was being a "bad" mom and that I should pull Oliver from the fountain. But this thought quickly passed - the smile on Oliver's face, that he was announcing to the world over and over again that he was happy...the amount of joy that Oliver was getting out of that moment was so fabulous that I almost turned, stuck my tongue out at the other moms and jumped in the fountain myself. I did have to chuckle when a few minutes later Oliver emerged from the fountain chilly and I stripped him down out of his went clothes, had to beg a dry diaper off a friend, and then wheeled my naked little boy down the street.
We did stroll over to a clothing store in town to purchase Oliver some dry clothes. I was heartened when we walked in the owner asked if Oliver had enjoyed the new fountain - as it turns out there were other moms and children in town who had thoroughly enjoyed the fountain - yea!

Oliver's zest for life also carries over to his love for lamb,

spending as much time as possible with daddy,

and the beach - getting as wet and sandy as possible.

While Davis and I are both people who try to get the most out of everyday and try to enjoy life to its fullest - Oliver has shown us that we can do a much better job - that we need to go further than embracing life, that we should, as he does, tackle it.