Exploring

We spent much of the weekend exploring the north shore. Here is an amazing family portrait we took on a walk in Ipswich (notice the little Oliver hat (top left) and little tuft of Anna fur (bottom middle/right)?).

After exploring Ipswich we went to Gloucester and went on a hike that took us to Little Agassiz Rock and Big Agassiz Rock. This is a picture of the little rock - it is pretty amazing how the rocks are balanced.

Oliver, Anna, Pippa and I were hoping to do more exploring today - but, unfortunately the 60 degree weather we had this weekend has given way to cold and snow (Again!).

Smitten

Oliver is such a happy little guy - always smiling and laughing. And he seems to fall in love very quickly. Earlier this week it was the walker thing - then Wednesday night he went and met some new friends and became smitten with a girl and a horse (not a bad combo).

First the horse - Oliver's new friend Alexander had some amazing toys that Oliver really enjoyed. The horse, however, seemed to be a favorite. (Thank you Alexander for sharing.)

But then a girl caught his eye - Freya.




Freya was (adorable) and wonderful with Oliver. She didn't seem to mind his staring in the least.

While we were visiting Althea and Freya (and their dolls) got new dresses. The girls looked so cute all dressed up that I had to include a picture.

Track star, retirement, ready for Southie...

It is unclear to me whether Oliver is ready to be a track star, if he is trying out his retirement outfit (leisure suit with matching powder blue shoes), or trying to tell us he is set to move to Southie (again, leisure suit with matching powder blue shoes). What is clear- Oliver is pulling himself up on everything now - nothing is safe!

Danger

When we found out we were having a boy Davis and I decided pretty quickly that the name would be Oliver. Yes, there were times that we questioned this decision and started to consider other names, but we always went back to Oliver. Oliver's middle name was another story. It wasn't until the day after Oliver was born and after the nice lady from the hospital came by and asked us to fill out the information for his birth certificate that we made our decision. One of the names that had been in the running - and that Davis was (and probably still is pushing for) - Danger. Over the past couple weeks I have started to wonder if Davis was on to something.


Oliver has progressed from his worm crawl to speed crawling - if it were an Olympic event Oliver would -- if there was a shiny dog bowl of water at the finish line - win, or at least take home a medal. Thankfully he has only located the stairs a few times - but, as you can see, he has no fear of them.


Oliver has also decided it is time to practicing walking. Molly lent Oliver a walking thing this weekend and Oliver immediately fell in love (and on the kitchen floor, dining room floor, and then we called a time out). Unfortunately I can't seem to figure out how to right the video, so you are going to have to turn your head - or place your computer on its side.



Oliver is 8 months old today - I am guessing that over the next few weeks, months and years, he will, like his dad, explore danger a bit more.

The Smalleywog takes Arizona, Part II

As promised here are several more photos from our trip to Arizona.

Playing in our room before heading out for the day.

Playing in the stroller - if Oliver had his way he would always be either naked or just in a diaper.

A couple of my favorite pictures of Oliver hiking.

And here is a little video of Oliver, Davis and Oliver's papa swimming.


As you can see, we had a wonderful trip. Unfortunately we returned home to a cold house - 45 degrees! We bundled Oliver up while Davis diagnosed the broken boiler and then we waited for the boiler man to come and replace the broken part. The good news is that we are now toasty warm.