Out and about in Salem

This weekend was another busy one for us, and we were given plenty of opportunities to be outside with Avonlea Jane.

On Friday Avonlea Jane and I went to our first "natural family living" baby group. Several babies braved the cold to come, and Avonlea Jane loved watching all of the crawling babies play on the floor. Normally when I hold her, she has very little patience for time spent not nursing; however, she was more than happy to look at all of the other babies. Afterward, we ran all of our errands around town and then Avi had her first museum visit.

We went to the Peabody-Essex Museum to check out one of the new exhibits. I would love to say that she was enthralled with every painting that we saw and clearly she's the next Chagall, but just like a baby, she slept the entire time we were there. Now that she's happy in the Ergo, life is so much easier. The only downside is that even when the temperature is in the teens, we both get sweaty from all of the body heat.

Once we got home, we went on a Freecycle run to pick up a nearly brand-new travel highchair/booster seat that attaches to any table and a box of awesome wooden toys (a puzzle, nesting/stacking boxes, a book, a rattle, a couple instruments, an abacus, a boat, a helicopter pull toy, and a whistle). All of the items were a great boon, and for those of you who haven't tried Freecycle, it is truly a must. We have gotten a host of wonderful items for her and for the whole family.

On Saturday we spent all day walking around town enjoying the annual Salem's So Sweet: Winter Ice Sculpture and Sweet Treat Festival. Local businesses sponsored ice sculptures around town and gave out complementary sweet treats. We were able to enjoy dried fruit and nuts, hot chocolate, licorice, truffles, baklava ice cream, a chocolate fountain, walnut-pomegranate-wasabi cream cheese on crackers, and locally-made chocolates. The weather was warm enough to enjoy being outside, but cold enough that the ice sculptures were still in pretty good shape.

A peace sign inside of a bike tire (Outside Salem Cycle and Crunchy Granola Baby)

This year some of the sculptures featured things inside of them. While this is interesting, we weren't crazy about it. (Outside of Gulu-Gulu Cafe)

(Outside Rockafellas restaurant)

(Outside of Maria's Sweet Somethings)

Curious George (Outside of Cornerstone Books)

(On the pedestrian mall)

A dancing polar bear (in front of the PEM in honor of their Polar Landscapes exhibit)

(On the pedestrian mall)

(On Pickering Wharf)

The Friendship in the snow

Above and below: A witch...ugh. (Outside of the Salem Witch Museum)

Mom and Baby (On a snowy Salem Common on our way home)

On Sunday, we took Avonlea Jane to her first musical, a local production of Urinetown. We had expected that she would sleep through the whole thing, but for more than half of the show, she was quite interested in the stage lights and the dancing. At this young age, we would never consider taking her to a straight play, but the musical was loud enough that it hid any of her squeaking.