A little kite flying in MA

Last weekend we enjoyed a fun-filled trip to Merrimac! The weather was awesome the whole time, a real bonus.

Adelaide adored the museum in Harvard where we saw more taxidermied animals in one place than I've ever seen. Ade proudly told anyone who would listen that she planned to be a paleontologist. The artist in residence had a bunch of art supplies and asked her if she wanted to sketch. Of course she wanted to draw!!! She studied and drew the camel and the baby rhino. The artist told me she had amazing talent, and couldn't believe she was only 4. Proud, proud, proud.

We also went to Salisbury beach and it was a real treat. Uncrowded, and just the right temperature. It was fun watching the horses and the dogs, and also fun watching grammy and daddy struggle with the kite! Adelaide had some amazing belly laughs not just over the kite, but also over grammy trying to capture her feet in the sand.

Cousin Jack is growing huge!!! He is only 4 lbs lighter than Adelaide!



Ryan and I also got to have dinner with his friends John and Meadow in Newbury Port one night. Hooray for grown-up time AND family time! :-)

Easter!

After an egg hunt at school...


We headed to Wrightsville with Jenna, Jon and Vivian...

And were home in time for the Easter Bunny to visit...

Mommy even bought Ade her very own grown-up ring to match her, hidden in a special golden egg...

Just relaxing in the shade of a tree

A while back, an article was circulating on Facebook about a world famous violinist who played in a DC subway anonymously in an experiment to see if people stop to recognize beauty. The tickets to his performances run $100 a seat, and he made something like $30 in donations during his 40 minutes in the metro station. Of the people who stopped to listen, nearly every single one was a child.

Last weekend I was outside gardening with my favorite little helper. While I took care of some of the plants around the porch, Ade was playing in the front yard. I glanced to notice just as she sat down by the big tree, laid back in the grass, and put her arms behind her head. It was a gorgeous day, and she was taking notice. I dropped my can of slug killer, and leaned back in the grass beside her.

Me: Whatcha doing?
Ade: Laying in the shade.
Me: It's very nice. The light coming through the tree is really beautiful.
Ade: We're just relaxing, right?
Me: Yes! You looked so relaxed I had to come over too.
Ade: Yea, right. That's why you joined me.

Four year olds are the wisest of us all. Duh.

(No photo to accompany since I was participating in the moment instead of capturing it.)

Kissing knees and confederate fish

Adelaide has a sweet, but semi-awkward habit of hugging and kissing strangers. She will grab someone's hand and kiss it, such as a waitress, Target checkout person, or really any person. She will even kiss their pant leg if she needs to give some drive-by loving. We have told her to reserve this kind of affection for family, and close friends, but she explained to me, "I want the person to like me more. More than they even did before." I know she is trying to be a sweetheart, but her effusiveness really knows no bounds. Sigh.

Occasionally Ade comes home from school spouting odd religious information, which she has picked up from the other kids, who are apparently being raised as missionaries... ;-) We don't really mind Ade learning about God and Jesus, but I have to say I find it a little disconcerting considering we are talking about a completely non-affiliated preschool here. In any case, the other day Adelaide came home and told us God made everything. Then she grabbed our hands and said, "See those lines on your hands? God put those there." I asked her how she knew that, and she said she just knew. I asked if she was talking to someone at school about it, and she said no, she just thought about it and knew. Now, Ade would certainly have told me in this conversational way if she had been talking about it with someone at school, so in fact, in this case, maybe she just had a little talk with God directly!

Last weekend we had a fabulous time outside gardening, and dying Easter eggs. My favorite kind of Spring weekend!

The weekend before was really special - the Guhs came down so that Ryan and I could manage a little 2 night escape to Richmond. We had an awesome time! We stayed at The Jefferson, and saw the confederate museum, the Maymont, the art museum, and ate some great meals. Meanwhile, poor grandma was really sick, but she was a dedicated trooper and they all had a blast back here as well. Then, we still got to spend some time together as a family over the weekend before they headed back.