A Baby in Salem: Staycation

We're a bit behind on our posting, because we've been so busy over the last month, and with October arriving in Salem, it won't slow down any time soon. All of these photos are from mid-September.

"Mommy, I made lipstick!" (It's diaper cream she's sporting on her lips.)

Giving Justin a play haircut

Our crawling, climbing, talking, eating baby

Someone was not happy about their first dentist visit

The mood wasn't brighter in the kids' waiting room either.

She barely consented to the exam but was then perfectly behaved for her cleaning--that is, if she were auditioning for "Linda Blair has her teeth brushed" the production.

"Take my picture."

Reading to Will

Grampy came to stay with us for a week so he could replace our front door, and the kids needed to be out of the house to let him work. So we spent the week having a bit of a "staycation." Our first day started with visiting the Paper House in Rockport.

Avonlea Jane feeling all the layers of shellac put on since 1932

All of the furnishings are made of rolled up papers.

Then we went down to Bearskin Neck to watch the boats and have a picnic lunch.

Avonlea Jane with the famous Motif #1 building in the background

We left Rockport to walk downtown Gloucester and get some ice cream.

Then, Avonlea Jane took her first art class

She made what she said was a turtle.

She also made (with some construction help, of course) a coil pot.

Playing with Grampy

Mid-deconstruction at home

Spending the morning at Home Depot with both kids made me realize why the hardware store in our hometown used to give popcorn to kids.

We spent the next day at Connor's farm in Danvers.

All by herself in the cow train on the other side of the pond

Avonlea Jane was adopted by a big kid in the bouncy house at the farm.

After doing all of the attractions on the farm, we went into the corn maze. Going in, I didn't have a good enough idea of the size of the maze. I thought we might be in it for twenty minutes. It took us well over two hours. That's a lot of walking for little legs. Luckily for Avonlea Jane, I agreed to both wear Will and carry her for the last twenty minutes.

Leading the way

There were ten hint stations in the maze. Before you went in, you picked your clue set, and ours was for the little kids. "Who owns a farm? Old MacDonald (left) , Old King Cole (right) , or Old Mother Hubbard (turn around)?"