Mat's Visit from Portland

Mat had a meeting here in DC yesterday, so Phoebe and I took the Metro up to Rockville to meet up with him and visit with him on the train ride back to our place. He had hoped to hang around for another day, but Laura and the kids are all back in Portland ill. We got to hang out and he got to meet Phoebe.

Phoebe got scared for a second and started to cry.

"Hmm, so that's what dad would look like if he didn't have hair like Jeff Lebowski."

Happy Halloween!

CALVIN AND HOBBES

starring Phoebe and Tigger

since trick-or-treating will be meaningless for a year or two, we just killed some time Tuesday afternoon while it rained like crazy. Enjoy.

Arlington National Cemetary

Arlington National Cemetary

Phoebe and I took the bus and train over today for a walk. We're having more gorgeous fall weather (60s and sunny!). She rode on my back with little fuss, as long as there was some stranger that got sucked in to her cute smiles. Then she knows how to put on a show. The views from Arlington House on the hill are fantastic. Probably the best views in the entire area, which is the reason for the site I presume. Colors are at peak right now so hopefully we can get out more in the next few days to enjoy this great weather and the beautiful trees around here.

At JFK's site
From the Arlington House on the hill.

Arlington House . . . and our goofy daughter.

Looking over the river and the city.

JFK's Memorial overlooking Washington with the monument in the center.

EATING PEAS

As we've said, she can use her fingers, but is clearly enjoying eating a bit like a bird. This sequence should give you a pretty good idea what it looks like. We're grateful she loves peas. She had some chili I made Saturday night and seemed to think that was okay too!

Planning her attack

Like bobbing for apples. There's a lot of smearing her wide open mouth across the tray.

Success is always announced in case we didn't notice.

What a beautiful day!

The weather in DC was aces today. It's about 70 and very sunny with not a breeze. We hopped the bus and a train and made our way to the White House this morning. After that we walked up to St Matthews Cathedral (where JFK's funeral was held if I'm not mistaken) and then to Dupont Circle Park.

At Dupont Circle
The fountain at Dupont Circle

Phoebe loves fountains.

St Matthews Cathedral. Phoebe was a very quiet girl in the church, for a while. Then

she yelled and heard the brilliant echo--leading to more yells, which prompted us packing up and heading out.

At the White House with the tourists. It was quite quiet compared to the time I passed by this summer. The white paint on this house is jarring to look at. The house looks like a matte-finished white frosting on a wedding cake. It's quite odd, yet beautiful.

Feeding herself . . . well, sort of.

What am I supposed to do with these?
Got one!

Wait, now what are these again.

Breakfast attempt at eating sweet potato without the use of her hands.

I guess that's one way . . .

Phoebe would not do well on the SAT section related to logic. Currently, she understands that peas, cheerios, and other chunky, tiny foods are fun to pick up. She also understands that these are indeed food when we offer them to her with our fingers and model eating by taking bites ourselves. Yet, she is struggling to put together that she can pick food up and then place it into her own mouth.

Last week we took a pear from the Farmers Market to mom at work. While waiting, Phoebe used her one tooth to tear the skin of the pear and then suck on the sweet juices. So maybe she is just not in the mood to waste any time on these mere chunks and would rather jump straight to apples and lamb shanks.

Well, here is a video showing great success. Also note her bobbing up and down. Although it's silent, she decided she enjoys music yesterday. She first grooved to an AC/DC guitar riff on an NPR commercial break. Ah, she's my little girl :-) ~Andy

Squats and Jumps

At our 9 month visit, we were told to help Phoebe build leg strength. I was a little annoyed by her comment, but decided that encouraging her to stand and use her legs more wasn't a bad idea. We knew we didn't have room in this little apt for an exersaucer, but we happened upon this instead.

We inherited a jumper from a fellow stay-at-home dad I see at the park every day. His daughter is just a few months older than Phoebe and is walking, so he passed this along for us.

Phoebe loves it and gets upset now if she spots it on the floor and we don't hook it up for her.

Quite the post-bath hairdo.

A Week in Maine

We just got back from a week-long trip to Maine. Phoebe travelled like a trooper (14 hours each way across 9 states) in the back seat. We didn't have to ride back there with her once! Fall colors were at peak the whole week. Alisa really wanted me to see Maine in the fall this year; if I were to go back to teaching in the near future, a Sept/Oct trip is out of the question!

On the beach at Wilson Lake where Alisa grew up swimming as a kid.

Phoebe got pretty mad when we didn't let her sit by the water.

So big . . . again.

These pictures with the pumpkin were in Dale and Rina's back yard.

Imelda, Ibelga, and Duane, at Ben and Leslie's home. The three big pigs were named by

Phoebe's cousin Abrahm. They're going to butcher this week.

We tried out the trike, but it wasn't really much fun as you can see.

Wilson Lake

Attempting to take a family portrait. At least two were trying to look adult (Phoebe and Alisa).

Again with the so big . . . sheesh.

Phoebe and Oma . . . the next 5 minutes consisted of Phoebe

attempting to pluck Rina's glasses off her face.

Phoebe likes dump trucks.



BIGELOW MOUNTAINS

Ben, Leslie, Alisa and I drove north about 90 minutes to the Bigelows. These are a series of peaks along Flagstaff Lake on the Appalacian Trail. We hiked Avery Peak (the second highest by merely 50 feet). We had excellent colors below until we ended up in a cloud on top. It cleared after a bit and we got some stellar views. For better pics (if you care), google image search "Bigelow Mountains Maine" and you'll see how grand they are.

About half way up the mountain.

The top was quite a bit colder as you can tell.

The hike was about 2500 vertical feet--a pretty solid day hike.

Notice the frost everywhere.