long weekend (as if they're ever long enough)

last weekend we went to visit our friend kate and her son jack who were visiting from the far flung lands of michigan. on sunday afternoon we packed bebe up and headed north, to maine: the way life should be.

mommy drove and daddy bebe-watched.

she slept almost the full two hours, really only waking up once we got to portland.

hello, vacationland!

"meet me at that pizza joint."
"which pizza joint?"
"the pizza joint"
"which pizza joint?"

kate and bebe say hi.

kate works in the jewelry business and is currently a pandora bead pusher. she even got bebe a small pandora bracelet of her own, but she's not quite big enough to wear it. she's plenty big enough to eat it, though. here she snacks on one of mommy's.

mmmm... that's sterling silver, beatrix. good stuff.

at least we know she's not a werewolf.

kate's mom jane was getting some great playtime in with jack. he's such a big kid now! it seems like just a short time ago he was just a little chunk of baby.

and believe it or not, kate was not on the phone the entire time. it's tough coming back to civilization- everyone wants to check in with you. "having trouble with the savages? had dysentery?" it's just the wilds of michigan, folks...

here's a shot of mommy turning away, looking quite indignant, i might add. baby? what baby? scoff, scoff.

a second or two is the only opening bebe needs. she quickly finds her foot, right where she left it- at the end of her leg. 'i knew it was around here somewhere.'

then she realizes that just past her foot, underneath, is the floor. babies are so dumb.

clunk. well, that's that. or is it?

a ha! roll to freedom, beatrix!


sunday night we had a tasty dinner with kate's parents, jane and mike. jack had us say grace before we ate, and after the kids went to bed the grown-ups spent some time trying to convince kate to move back east.

monday morning, beebs was up bright and early. she hung out in the bathroom while daddy brushed his teeth. she's such a big girl, and so immobile, too! you can sit her down anywhere and she'll just sit and sit. those days are numbered, though. she's rolling onto her face more and more...

auntie kate was up early with jack, and when his grandparents took him out to breakfast, she decided to get some bebe time in.

she thought she'd be strong enough to crack this walnut, but in the end i guess we all have our limits.

"hey you!"

"you takin' to me? you must be talkin' to me, i don't see anybody else here."

bebe, don't say 'ain't.' and the reason you don't see anybody else here is because your eyesight hasn't matured.

"ahem. what? whatever."

lookout, aunt marge. i see a banana on the way...

houston, we have banana.

with a side of pear...

and jack?

after breakfast it was time for some exercise.

or more breakfast?

luckily jack was around to help bebe with some toys that were new and unfamiliar to her.

she didn't appear to be that open to suggestion, so in the end he hopped on his firetruck and rode away.

auntie kate and bebe got some snuggles in...

and we talked about trading kids...

they had a good laugh over that one!

when we were all done joking around, we decided to walk the breakfast off down at the beach. you know what that means, beatrix-

suit up!

oh, hey there.

it was cold, but the fresh sea air felt good.

we looked for what mommy calls "sea treasures-" sea glass, cool rocks, shells...

jack explored left

jack explored right

jack explored straight ahead.

then he waved good bye and headed off into the distance...

well, not really, but he did have a hard time leaving the beach. when we got back from our walk it was time for some lunch, and then the trip home. we had a great time and it was so much fun to see our friends. sure would be great to be able to see them more often, hint, hint...

thanks to jane and mike for being such great hosts! see you guys this summer...