Sarah Jane at 16 months

Sarah Jane has had a rough 16th month.

She spent most of December getting 3 molars, two on the top and one on the bottom. The bottom one got bloody and swollen and did not come through quickly. She lost her appetite and at the same time Veronica went to Venezuela for Christmas and for surgery and Sarah Jane's schedule was thrown off. On top of all that she got a fever from her MMR/Chicken Pox shots and got a cold.

As a result, she got very clingy and forgot how to sleep through the night. She got used to having us sit with her while she fell asleep and she expected us to be there when she woke up at night and got very mad when we weren't. She also stopped playing in her crib by herself in the morning which was VERY sad for us. We really enjoyed that extra time to snooze.

At the same time, she has developed a bit of a personality? Not sure what the right word is.... Instead of getting sad, she gets mad. She YELLS NO! and lies on the floor with her head down kicking. Classic temper tantrum pose. Grandma says she is just advanced for her age...

Yesterday (1/5) we did the official Ferber method to get her to go to sleep and hopefully it worked, she slept from 8:15 to 7! Hasn't done that in a long while.

Despite all this she had a good Christmas. She woke up from 3am to 5am on Christmas Eve but then (in a first ever) slept until 9am which her Smuesby Aunts & Uncle truly appreciated. She got much better at opening presents as she got lots of them and had two Christmases - one at 690 and the other at Aunt Carrie's. All of her family was there except Uncle Mike and Aunt Julia.

At our last doctor appointment she was 23.5lbs and 30 inches (I think.) She was 75% for both height and weight and 90% for head size. She wears mostly 18month sized clothes but is slowly starting to grow into 24 months. She is slightly less cuddly than she was for a while but still is good at giving hugs and kisses and still likes to sit in our laps.


Most used words:
PBs? - Cranberries please
Apple? - Oranges please
Peas
TankU
Moe - More
NO!!! (used to be nononono, now it's more directive)
SIT (Stay in the room with me mommy while I fall asleep or I'll scream and scream and scream)
Book
Agua - water please?
Baba - Bottle
Mama
Dada
Click Click Click - Please can I have a goldfish?
Hat
Hot
Mama - Grandma
Zeee - Zeke
Baby - Doll or Brady
Gonica - Veronica (and she recognizes Veronica's car!)
Rrrarr - What a bear or a lion or a tiger says
Shes - Shoes
Byby
Ba? - It's time for Bath now?
Acker? - Can I please have a cracker?
Acket? - Please take off my Jacket
Out
Down
Up (she gets out, down and up mixed up, they all mean the same thing - get me out of here!)
Happy! (I'm not sure what this means but sometimes she runs all around the house yelling it. I think maybe it means open?)

Favorite Toys
Baby from Veronica - she is a very good mama and drops her baby off for babysitting with me frequently
Stroller from Nana
Rocking horse sent from Uncle Bill & Aunt Becky (Mom's old rocking horse)
Hello kitty wallet from Aunt Whitney

Favorite Foods
Oranges (aka "Apples")
Cranberries
Chicken soup (but just the noodles)
Black beans (occasionally)
Crackers
That's about it... She is a very picky eater.

Favorite Activities
She is very good at picking out books to read and very picky about which one she wants. She pulls them out and looks at them and then either decides she wants it read (and brings it over to me) or puts it back. It appears that she actually recognizes the different books and occasionally when I say "Get the bobo book" she will actually look for and find the correct book. I find that very impressive. Sometimes she likes to sit quietly and look through books, she flips back and forth through all the pages. She has graduated from board books to the big kid books (those are the ones she likes to pull off the shelf) but she doesn't usually make it through an entire book before she's off to get a new one. The selection process is her favorite part.

Tricks!
When we ask her to go get her shoes, she runs right into her room and opens up the drawer and pulls out a matching pair. Again, we are very impressed! She also remembers to say "TankU" to daddy all on her own when she gets out of the shower or when he gives her an orange. She is very good at waving byby and blowing kisses. She blows kisses to everything she leaves including the car and whatever we flush down the toilet.

Likes and dislikes
Bath - pouring water in and out of buckets (likes)
Getting dried off by the towel (DISLIKES)
Getting a new diaper on (DISLIKES)
Running around naked (LIKES!)
Sitting in her Red Chair in the living room (Likes)
Playing with the wallet from Aunt Whitney (LIKES - or any wallet)
Phones, purses, shoes (high heels) (Likes!)
Listening to music (likes)
Singing at night (likes)
Grandma (LOVES!)
Wearing Hats (Likes - used to Dislike)

Sarah Jane at 15 months

Events
Peed in the potty three times! (before bath)
First real pair of shoes (pink and white Saucanys)

Vocabulary (new words)
Peas (it's time to chase me because I'm not going to give you what I want)
Tankoo (whenever she gives YOU something)
Head shaking no
Mama! (but only pointing out mama in the pictures)
Baba (Grandma)
GG (Great Grandma)
Papa (Occasionally)
Zeek (Occasionally)
Zooes (shoes)
Zocks (socks)
Huhuhu (with hand movement = monkey)
Eeth (Teeth)
Bear (on the toothbrush)
Oww (what a cat says)
Eese (cheese)

Likes and dislikes
Still doesn't like blueberries
Picks out the books herself but does not sit still to read the whole thing, she can also find exact books according to suggestions "Get the book with Bobo"
Shoes!
Shy at the park, gets quiet around other kids
Singing songs at night with mom (Flicker of the campfire, Mr. Moon, God gave the wise man his wisdom..., You are my sunshine, Adel Vise, Swing Low, Clementine, Shanandoah...)
Kissing the relatives goodnight in the pictures
Brushing her teeth
Pointing out her nose, ears, eyes, mouth

Sarah Jane at 13 months

Sarah Jane has come a long way in the past 2 months. She learned how to walk on Wednesday, August 12, kindly waiting until I was home from work to take her first 3 steps (and plunge headfirst into the dishwasher.) Despite the collision, she was not deterred and went at it again, two more times that evening. I was very proud of her! She spent the next week and a half walking about 7 steps at a time, usually between me and Dave, and not very consistently. Then we went up to Tahoe for the weekend and she took off. That Saturday, the day after her birthday, she was suddenly walking as a means of transportation, and having lots of fun showing off!

She is definitely in a very cute stage right now. She has gotten much more cuddly and likes to climb into our laps and also give us lots of hugs. Her favorite hug is to come up behind us and hug our backs when we are sitting down. Whenever she gives a hug she says "Uhhhhhhh" as on "ohhh, that's so sweet." She gives hugs to lots of people but likes hugging other babies the most. She makes friends with little girls in the playground, targeting 3-4 year olds. Sometimes she is successful! She also likes to hug Brady but Brady is not a willing recipient and sometimes Sarah Jane gets bitten as a result. Speaking of teeth, Sarah Jane just got her 8th (4th on the bottom.) The last time she got a tooth was at Aunt Carrie's wedding. Was nice to have the two month break from teething. This one caused her to be a bit grumpy and off from her usual cheerful self but only required two does of Tylenol. The others seemed harder.

Current vocabulary includes:
"Uhoh" whenever she drops something
"Dis!" whenever she wants something
"Doog" for Dog
"ArArAr" - what a dog says
"uhhhh" - I'm giving you a hug, isn't that sweet of me?
"Huuh" - Hello! I'm pretending to use a cell phone!
Puckered lips and kissing sounds - what a fish says
Waving or clapping hands - Don't give me any more food! I don't want it.

She is learning to go to sleep without crying. Her doctor recommended that we put her in bed with the light on and some books to read. She went from crying 5-45 minutes ever night to fussing for 0-5 minutes immediately! (I LOVE our new doctor, Dr. McMahan and am SO glad we left our old doctor who was NOT good at listening.) She loves the books with 1 word and 1 picture on the page and is very good at turning the pages. When we get to the end, we go backwards, all the way through. At her last doctor appointment (1 year) she was 22lbs and 29.5inches. She is in the 50-75th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height.

She loves music classes (she goes on Wednesday) and is the most enthusiastic baby there. She goes with Veronica, Brady and Grandma and switches off sitting in Veronica's lap and Grandma's lap. She likes to dance and does NOT like to give up the musical instruments when it is time to put them away.

Aunt Whitney comes over to babysit quit often (so I can go to exercise class) and she does not like it when I leave though she only cries for a few minutes, she does tend to get quit hysterical when Aunt Whitney shows up. I am VERY glad Aunt Whitney continues to show up.

She is a very picky eater and currently eats mostly bananas and goldfish crackers (or Bunnies - we buy the Annie's brand, at least they are all natural!) She also likes the fancy soufflés I buy her, sometimes she'll eat noodles and she definitely likes lots of fruits - peaches, berries, nectarines and applesauce (but she hates blueberries.)

Her favorite toys are the stacking alphabet boxes and the nesting colored plastic buckets. She likes to put things in other things and shake them. Great fun. She also likes to clean things up. Sometimes she even scrubs the floor with a cloth. Her favorite non-toys are mommy's shoes, mommy's purse, Veronica's purse and Veronica's makeup making her dad a bit scared. She got two purses for her birthday (from Grandma and from Brady) and she loves to load them up and carry them around. She knows just how to put them on and holds on just so, very sophisticated! She also loves cell phones and anything that might remotely resemble a cell phone including remote controls, ipods and credit cards. She holds them up to her ear and says "Huuh?" and then she runs around the house "chatting." It's very cute. (Though we are going to crack down on cell phone use until her brain is fully developed!)

She goes to sleep between 7:30 and 8pm and sleeps until 6-6:30am (which is a greatly appreciated adjustment from 5-5:30!) Usually we give her a bottle and then put her back in her crib for 45ish minutes of solo playtime with her toys. She is very cooperative and her mother and father truly appreciate the extra sleep they get. She is still taking two naps a day, one in the morning 10-11:30 and then one in the afternoon - 3-4:30. We have gotten her down to four bottles a day (6am, 9:30am, 2:30pm and 7pm) and switched her to real milk which she likes a lot. The first few days were sort of iffy (she had some gas) but no real problems.

Sarah Jane is great at clapping but not so good at waving goodbye or blowing kisses. She did a lot of waving about 2 months back but apparently that was SO 2 months ago, we've moved on.

Walking!

Walked today!!!!! She took 7 steps and then face planted into the dishwasher. Not to be deterred, she did it again (missing the dishwasher this time) and again, this time making it all the way into my arms. I think she was very pleased with herself. And I was pretty happy that I was home for it! Pictures will come soon I hope:)

Sarah Jane's 10th Month

Some highlights from Sarah Jane's 10th month
Sarah Jane had her first illness during her 10th month (during the weekend of Aunt Carrie's shower while dad was gone) so mom had her hands full. She made it through like a trooper though and didn't complain too much. She got sick on Friday night and my Saturday had a fever of 102. Her fever came down a bit on Sunday and she was just about better on Monday but still sleeping a lot and got to spend the day with Grandma as Veronica stayed at Brady's house.
She is still not sleeping through the night, she usually goes down at 6:45, sometimes with some fussing (probably due to teething - she has 5 now!) and stays asleep until sometime between 4 and 5 when she wakes up fussy, usually with a poopy diaper. She poops A LOT. Usually we can get her to go back to sleep without feeding her but sometimes have to feed her and/or lie down on the floor with her while she plays. Mom is good at making a nest out of blankets and getting her final zzzs in while Sarah Jane takes everything out of the book case and throws it on the floor - her favorite activity.

She is still very very cute despite a scrape on her nose that she got the first day we put the safety gates in (they weren't very safe!) and the scare hasn't faded entirely yet. We like to put her hair in two little pigtails and she get's lots of comments. The general consensus seems to be that she looks like both her mom and her dad. She has her mommy's eyes and eyebrows maybe but her dad's skin color and the same more rectangular shape of her face. She also has Hoverman hair - it stays in the pigtails even when we take the rubberbands out.

She is getting ready to talk - she makes mamama sounds when she wants something and dadada sounds when she is excited. She knows what a ball is and sometimes says "bah" when prompted but isn't consistent. She can also play catch with the ball - she catches it when it is rolled to her, pauses to clap her hands and then rolls it back. She spent 4th of July weekend in Tahoe and by the end had everyone convinced that she could say "dag" and had Grandpa Zeke convinced that she was saying "Ickle" though no one else believed it. Her favorite book is "Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See?" and when we get to the page with the goldfish she makes the goldfish noise - kissing sounds. When mom says "What does a fish say?" she also makes kissing sounds and when we went to daycare for the first time (when Veronica was on vacation) there was a fish tank and she crawled over to the fish and made kissing sounds all on her own! Mom was very impressed that she connected the picture of the fish to the actual fish. Clapping usually means "No more! I'm full" and she can wave goodbye (though hello seems to be more confusing.) She likes to wave to everyone in the grocery store, she's noticed that it gets everyone's attention! Her wave is either a full arm wave or holding her hand palm up and opening and closing her fist.
Sarah Jane is very good at taking things out, and this month has mastered putting things back IN. She likes to rattle things around (smaller boxes in bigger boxes.) She hasn't gotten to stacking yet but she's good at pushing stacks down.

Sarah Jane at 9 months

Sarah Jane is crawling (she started on Mother's Day!) and pulling herself up to standing on whatever she can grab a hold of and just this weekend (Memorial Day) she figured out how to walk with assistance (she leans backward and goose steps, hasn't figured out how to bend her knees yet.) She doesn't know how to sit back down from standing up so sometimes she gets stuck. She used to know how to wave but quit as soon as she figured out how to crawl. Every now and then she will wave first thing in the morning but that's the only time. She has two bottom teeth, acquired back in February and just got her top right tooth on Memorial Day weekend. The first two teeth seemed to be a bit more painful than this last one though we had a couple of rough nights. She can say bababa and dadada and mamama but not really in relation to anything. She is not interested in clapping though she can bang two plastic things together great. She LOVES music and when it comes on she bops around and nods her head and bounces her whole body. She thinks her dad is the greatest and gets nervous about new things.


A typical Sarah Jane day goes something like this:

She usually gets up around 5:30. I'm still nursing so she comes into bed and "snuggles" with me. Snuggles in quotes because she's not really a cuddeler, more of a kicker. Then she fusses for a bit until I get up and play with her. She likes to pull all of her toys off the shelf and dump everything out of the baskets. She loves the aquarium toy, particularly the clam, and anything that stacks (alphabet blocks, plastic stacking toy.) She's good at pulling things out, has not yet mastered putting things in.

She just started getting breakfast around 7:30. She gets oatmeal with mashed up bananas and raspberries.

Veronica comes at 8 and then Brady comes at 9. Sarah Jane is always very happy to see Veronica but not so happy to be passed from mom to Veronica but once she's there, she's pretty content. She never cries when I leave for work (or at least we haven't gotten there yet.)

She has a bottle and goes down for her morning nap around 9:30. She sleeps until about 11, Brady sleeps in her room in the pack n' play.

They wake up and have lunch. Sarah Jane loves sweet potatoes and avocado. She hates anything else that is green (broccoli, pees and green beans are NOT appreciated.) She never likes the first bite but if you can persuade her to try a second, usually she'll eat the whole thing.

Then there is a trip to the park in the double stroller. Brady and Sarah Jane LOVE the park and go in the baby swing together, back to back.

At home, there is another bottle and the afternoon nap around 1:30.

At 3:30 there is the final bottle and more play time with Veronica.

Mom comes home around 4:30 and is very happy to see Sarah Jane who always crawls into her lap and gives her a hug and then zooms off again. The hug makes mom's day. Brady likes to crawl into mom's lap too and Sarah Jane is usually not to pleased about that.

Until this week Sarah Jane ate dinner at 5:15 and then had a bath (which she LOVES) and went straight to bed (after nursing and the nightly rendition of Goodnight Moon) at 6:15 but this week we are stretching until 7:15 so dinner starts around 6. If I put her down before she gets tired she goes down happily but waiting until she's tired guarantees about 10-15 minutes of truly unhappy crying which breaks my heart. Not very much fun. Looking forward to growing out of this stage.

12 hours of my life. Sarah Jane 4 weeks...

Got up to feed baby at 1am. Tried to turn on light but found it unplugged as husband apparently thought charging toothbrush more important than light for feeding baby. Stubbed toe in dark and unable to find slippers. Asked husband for help. Received no response as husband turned over and arranged pillows more comfortably in sleep. Silently contemplated ways to punish slumbering husband as fed baby in dark. Finished feeding and changed baby by 1:20. Was hopeful for sleep. Put sleeping, fed, burped, changed and swaddled baby in bassinette. Baby suddenly wide awake. Picked up now crying baby and sat rocking in dark. Baby feel asleep. Husband suddenly leaps out of bed and yells "What?" at 1:35 in apparently delayed response to plea for light 35 minutes prior. Baby wakes up. Husband returns to sleep immediately. Not sure he actually woke up. Attempted bassinette two more times. Failed. Finally reverted to swing in living room and curled up on couch. Baby cried in swing. Unable to remove myself from couch. Husband appears at 2:10 and suggests I feed now hungry again baby. As usual he is right. Baby falls asleep, husband redeems himself by sitting on couch with me and patting back. No longer angry about toothbrush charging. Baby successfully placed in bassinette at 2:20.

Baby wakes up at 4:00. Repeat experience above. Baby asleep in bassinette at 5:00.

Baby wakes up at 5:40. Apparently swaddle not successful as baby is now uncovered and freezing and, of course, hungry. Fed baby. Unable to face bassinette battle. Crawl into bed with baby at risk of alerting SIDS police. Balance myself carefully so as not to squish her. Baby falls fast asleep. I promise myself I will get up and start day in 10 minutes. Suddenly it is 7:30. Fortunately baby is not squished.

Bathe and clothe baby and self with assistance of husband. Pump. Cleanse pump gear. Attempt to put engagement and wedding ring on. Fingers still too fat. Load baby and husband into car for trip downtown to Bain to fix broken computer.

Make it to Bain, park and put baby in the stroller and up the elevator. Requires three elevator rides. Difficult to get stroller into full elevators. Get computer fixed and visit with people, baby still asleep. Print out address labels for baby announcements and return address labels for announcements AND Christmas cards. Feel very accomplished.

Return down three elevators. Put baby back in car, no longer asleep.

Drive to Wholefoods. Baby screaming entire way. Feed baby in parking lot and change her. Nearly have fist fight over parking spot as woman tries to park in adjacent spot while busy changing baby. Pleasant. Attempt to put baby in sling twice for shopping expedition but have to abort due to danger of being arrested for child abuse due to volume of screaming. Put baby back into car feeling like dismal failure.

Drive home. While in car panic that pediatrician appointment was today. Call 411 to get dr. number. Call doctor. Pediatrician appointment next Tuesday.

Arrive home. Unload car (2 trips), put laundry in dryer. Carry baby upstairs, still feeling like dismal failure. Decide need coffee (still had not had bfast).

Carry baby downstairs. Set up stroller. Walk to grocery store. Buy food for sandwiches and tuna noodle casserole. Hang groceries from carabineer on stroller. Requires delicate balance to not launch baby like catapult through air. Walk to starbucks. On way, noticed sign in Baby Gap window indicating sale. Enter Baby Gap. Spend too much money. Leave feeling like dismal failure for spending too much money. Resolve to return purchased items.

Walk to Starbucks. Purchase Mocha. Leave with mocha. Spill mocha into bag of clothing on way home in middle of Lombard street. No longer resolved to return clothing.

Carry groceries and chocolaty clothing upstairs. Carry dried laundry upstairs. Carry baby upstairs. Put groceries away.

Sat on couch. Fed baby. Baby smiles. All is worth while. Then baby pees, overflows diaper and soaks my only pair of clean pants that still fit. Change baby. Change self. Return to couch. Baby throws up all over my formerly clean shirt on return trip to couch.

Sitting on couch. Covered in milk. Resolve to remain here indefinitely.

Belly evolution

Week 11



















Weeek 13



















Week 19




















Week 22




















Week 35

Week 37





















Week 38

Kate & Chase's wedding, Rhode Island

yes, you've seen the dress before...

Dave Ware & Jenny Hanson's wedding

Got up at 4am in Geneva, Switzerland. Flew to Milan. Flew to Washington DC. Changed into wedding dress in airplane bathroom. Landed, made it through customs, rented a car, drove 2 hours into somewhere in the middle of nowhere Virginia, couldn't tell you where and beat Jenny down the aisle by about 7 minutes. Still standing 30 hours later...

Trip to France - Katie's wedding

Email to family from Villefranche

Hi Everyone,

Wanted to say hi quickly. Jenny and I made it safely to the South of France after an epic battle with the airlines (I'm going to strongly recommend that non of you ever try to have a connecting flight through Italy. Not a brilliant idea on our parts.) While we made it to Nice, despite the fact that our flight from Milan to Geneva was canceled and no one bothered to tell us, and despite the fact that we spent 13 hours in the airport in Milan and waited in no fewer than 9 lines as we were directed to multiple different people as no one wanted to deal with us, despite all that, we made it, but our bags, unfortunately did not survive. And still have not materialized. Although we have heard distant rumblings that they are, in fact, in Genoa. (Which makes perfect sense - right? Alitalia couldn't get us to GENEVA, so why not send our bags to Genoa??)

In any case, we are at a lovely little hotel in Villefranche which is a tiny town next to Nice, right on the water. Yesterday we spent the morning shoping for necessities (we've heard that we will be compensated but we're not sure for what so we've only bought one outfit each - life is very simple when everything you own fits in to one plastic bag.)

This morning we bought a day pass and got on a train and then decided where we were going to get off - very fun! We are currently in Cannes, heading down to the beach, this afternoon I think we are going to Grasse where we will see the capital of French perfume, then to Nice to see the Matisse musuem.

Tomorrow is Jenny's birthday (as well as Whitney's - Happy Birthday!) and we're going to have a lovely, and totally vacation themed day on the beach in Villefranche and then we will spend Wednesday in Monaco before heading to Geneva, hopefully with our bags at this point, to Katie's wedding in Chamonix.


Email to family from Chamonix...

Hi everyone,

I am currently in a break between wedding events and thought I would say hello... I think the last time I sent an email, Jenny and I still did not have our bags, they finally showed up Tuesday evening, and were received joyfully. After going a full 4 days without any clothes except the ones we flew over in, we were very, very happy to finally see the airport taxi show up, everyone in our hotel helped celebrate with us (I think they were tired of smelling us...)


We spent a lovely 5 days in a tiny town in the South of France, Villefranche, which I would highly recommend to anyone traveling anywhere. Definitely a little piece of paradise. It is the first town East of Nice and while Nice is big and dirty and busy and crowded, Villefranche is tiny and quiet, built into a hillside with pefect weather, its own little, uncrowded beach and the most friendly people in France as far as we could tell. We started out in a cheap hotel but then we felt sorry for ourselves because of our bags so we upgraded to the Hotel Welcome, right on the waterfront with our own little balcony overlooking the harbor. We made up for our housing splurge by eating inroom, picnic style and let me tell you, we ate very, very well. I think that grocery food is magnificently subsidized in France and we had lovely picnics for breakfast including fresh cantalopes (that the lady in the fruit store cut open for us), fresh croissants, baguettes, jam, butter, brie, salami, wine, peaches and the best grapes Ive just about ever had. The train comes right through Villefranche and its as easy as anything to hope on and then decide where you are going to get off while you are one the train. We visited Cannes, Antibes, Nice and Monaco and got a lot of sightseeing done on the train. On our last night, while we were packing up, they even arranged for an amazing firework show, seemed like it was just for us, absolutely nothing to complain about there!

Thursday morning we managed to get to the airport for an 8am flight using all public transportation (train and bus, definitely not easy) but arrived safely in Geneva and were whisked off to Chamonix for the wedding festivities which began yesterday (thursday) with a magnificent 5 course rehearsal dinner. Katie is very happy and its fun to see the mix of the Florida and Serbian families. The five courses were delicious but totally decadent and I left in physical pain, it was just too good to leave anything on the plate. They served us salad with truffles, fish with a delicious saffron rice, pheasant and amazing potatoes, a cheese course and then an amazing plate with four slices of different cake each! (chocoalte, lemon, apple and raspberry!!!) This morning I got up early and took the tram up to the top of the mountain for a magnificent view of the alps and Mont Blanc. Absolutely breathtaking. Had a quick hike and made it back to the hotel in time to change into my dress for the wedding ceremony which took place in the hotel that we are staying in (Hotel des Grandes Alpes, you should check it out on google, it is pretty spectacular!) tonight we get another magnificent 5 course meal and then, apparently, there is dancing until 2am. Poor Jenny has to leave at 4am so I am not sure we will make it that late. (She has another wedding Saturday night in Cape Cod which is why she is leaving so early.) I am heading back to Geneva with the rest of the wedding party Saturday day and we have another party planned for Saturday night as it is both Katies and her new husbands birthdays and they are treating us to a dinner cruise on Lake Geneva, like I said, nothing to complain about!

Tanner and Edwin's wedding

George & Alexa's wedding - Upstate New York

Greg & Katie's wedding

The Dartmouth crew at Greg & Katies recpetion

Covered bridges

Abby still happy at mile 4


Dave enjoying mile 12




Carrie & Jason enjoying the finish line

Phil & Tracy's Wedding

Phil & Tracy's Hanover reception

Trip to London

We flew over on Friday morning, I got to work the entire way over on the plane which was fabulous as it meant I didn't have to take the day off officially - and also lots of fun - picture laptop, pen, notes, articles, notebook and folders "spread out" in the middle seat of the middle row of five in the back of the plane, needless to say, I was happy to get there! We flew into Heathrow and took the tube straight to our hotel which was in a lovely section of town right on the edge of Hyde Park, two doors from Harrods and on smack dab in the middle of the absolute fanciest shopping street I've ever seen. There was Prada, Gucci, Versace and Chanel to name a few so we had some very expensive window shopping every time we stepped out. One of the windows had a necklace that looked like it belonged on the queen's head... I told Dave that I really didn't need it though. I did fall in love with a perfect green purse in a store that sold tennis shoes so I thought I might be on safe ground only to discover it was a cool $850. I didn't come home with the perfect green purse.

On Saturday morning we did all the things on Dave's list of things he wanted to do while in London - we strolled through Hyde and St. James' Parks arriving at Buckingham Palace just in time to see the changing of the guards (very serendipitously but it was on the list!), we rode the Eye (which is the largest Ferris wheel you've ever seen - you stand in line, in the rain of course, for an hour and a half and then get into a little bubble that fits 10 to 15 people. The "ride" takes 30 minutes to go all the way around, and takes you up super high so you can see all of London, or at least the parts of London that you can see through the rain and the fog. Very worth it in terms of getting situated.) and we took a cab (very high on the list). We also bought tickets to see The Producers, hid from the rain in a series of pubs, made the mistake of ordering pub food (despite Ellie's warning), and found the tea shop that Ellie had recommended. I also went into every store that sold purses in the hope of replacing the perfect green purse but my search was in vain. The perfect one remains the only one. The show was phenomenal and only made better by the fact that our tickets were to seats so high that we could practically see behind the curtain - sort of like watching the top of a puppet show. They even had a separate entrance for us cheap seaters - around the alley and up 6 flights of dingy back stairs... it felt very elegant. Despite the altitude, we thoroughly enjoyed the show - very funny if any of you ever get a chance to see it.

Sunday we set off to see the Chelsea Flower show that Ellie had recommended only to discover that it ended on Saturday. We were very disappointed but on the way back found another very fancy shopping area so that raised my spirits somewhat. Dave entertained us both by pointing out cars - one of his favorite pastimes - he limited himself to cars that cost over $100,000 and that kept him very busy. We saw Aston Martins, Rolls Royce's, Bentleys and, incredibly, four Ferraris. One was baby blue. Who are these people? We also saw a real estate listing for a studio apartment with one of those beds you pull out of the wall for $900,000. Returning to the hotel we went on a long run through Hyde Park as we are both "training" for a half marathon this coming Sunday. (I use the term training loosely, this will be an interesting race.) Dinner was at a fancy Indian restaurant that Mike (Hoverman) recommended which was excellent and followed by a long people gazing walk through Soho.

Monday we went on a second run, this time through Kensington Park and up to Notting Hill, swinging by the Princess Diana memorial playground which is complete with a full pirate ship. I amused myself, and terrified Dave, by pointing out all the baby carriages which cost over $800. There were many. Once again, who are these people? Returning to the hotel, we had a quick breakfast, zoomed through Harrods, bought some tea and popped back on the tube for the trip back to Heathrow, had a lovely flight back which involved two movies and two episodes of the OC on my laptop (much better use of the laptop) arriving home at 5:00 in time for an evening of gardening and other home improvement (that was Dave's idea.)

So that is it - I have to run to the ninth floor - I'm in one of our Summer Meeting Videos and we're being filmed today (don't ask...) This weekend we are going up to Hanover for our friends Phil & Tracy's wedding reception (they are the couple that got engaged right after graduation in the BEMA - complete with golf tournament and followed by half marathon from Woodstock to Quichee. We're helping Nat get his stuff down to Boston and the weekend after that we've got Greg Vadasdi's wedding (he's the one who went to Graded in Brazil). They are crazy (Greg just finished climbing Mt. Everest) so we are also running in a race that weekend although it's actually part of their wedding and I don't think it's optional.

Abby's 29th - Acting our age

Surf Camp Costa Rica

Emails to Family from Tamarindo

Day 1
I'm here in Tamarindo all safe and sound althoughincredibly sore and very humbled from my surfing experience so far... Got here very easily - the guy with my name on the sign was actually there waiting for me when I got off the airplane in Liberia (was that a first for us?) and the van ride to the camp was easy and quick. I got to Tamarindo around 3;00 and they had me signed up for a lesson at 4:30. Jess was there waiting, the hotel they built is very nice (simple but pretty and nice that it's all new). Also they improved the patio that they restaurant is on - I think when we were here it was uncovered and sort of rocky, now it's a pretty covered tile porch.

Anyway, I went out for my lesson at 4:30 and it was tough. I was with two other new guys and the surf was actually really rough although I don't think it made a difference because we were just in the little waves. We stayed out until it got dark and through a lightening storm because the instructor wouldn't let us go in until I had caught a good wave. Lots of pressure! I got up a few times but it was tough and not too pretty. By the time we went in, it was raining (so green here by the way - very different than last time) and I was utterly exhausted. Also, I stepped on something sharp and took off half of my big toe and replaced it with hard packed sand which I think is rubbing against my bone. Awesome.

The people here are nice although it seems like the thing to do is to take the surfing VERY seriously, especially if you are boy and talk about the "feel of the waves" and get very competitive about how short the board is that you are using etc. It all sort of makes me laugh.

We have our lesson today at 3:00 and I think we're going to go out in a bit and try to practice before hand. Hopefully I'll do better today without the instructor there freaking me out.


Day 3?
Hi Family -

Thought I would send you a final crazy email for the summer and describe my
latest crazy experiences...

Surf camp is so fun and so silly at the same time - definitely a summer camp
for grown ups complete with activities, seminars, arts & crafts (tomorrow we
get to learn how to decorate surf boards), drama (one of the "campers" had a
fling with one of the instructors - big faux pas!) and of course, lots and
lots of surfing.

Up until now, I was very, very bad at surfing but today I had a break
through and now I'm just very bad at surfing. But going from very, very to very is a big step forward. In the process I got a rash from the surf board, a large hole in my toe, a
big puffy bruise on my leg and a black eye. Also, I'm very, very sore. As
in, I feel like a punching bag at Mike Tyson's gym. However, I have not yet
stepped on one of the plentiful sting rays (other people have) and haven't been stung by a jelly fish, so I'm actually feeling pretty good about my condition. I can't decide whether or not I want to start work at Bain with a black eye. Not sure it will last that long but it might give
me some instant cache?

Surfing is very tough - we started out in the white water (the little waves
that aren't really waves) and learned how to get up. It's tough to jump up
all in one movement, find your balance, put your hands in the perfect
surfing position (sort of like a karate chop), look at the shore and not
freak out all at once. Also, my instinct was to make sure my bathing suit
was still on and adjust my hair which lead to a lot of falls in the
beginning and yes, I looked ridiculous. However, the second day I graduated
from the beginning soft board to a harder board (and promptly got my black
eye) and then today I made it out to the green water AND after getting
smashed by two large waves (at one point my head was in the sand and my legs
were out of the water and I was very confused) I finally caught a real wave
and rode it all the way in!

The people here are very friendly - today they video taped the lesson Jess
and I had and gave us a video analysis which mainly consisted of them
laughing at how far I stick my butt out (I'm going to fix that tomorrow).
The main two lessons I learned is that 1) even when you think that you are
going really, really fast, you could probably crawl faster and 2) there are
dogs in Tamarindo that are better surfers than I am. Literally. However,
things are looking up and I think I'm going to be a master by Saturday. Or
not. But at least I started having fun.

I miss you all lots and am looking forwad to seeing you soon.

Love,

Abby