like apple pie

So Seal Pup 1.0 is into baseball right now.  I don't mean that "he likes it," or that "he thinks it's fun," or that "he enjoys hitting and catching," what I mean to say is that this child is sort of obsessed. 

He hearts baseball to distraction.  And when you love it that much, it's only fitting that you score your team's first run in the very first game of the season.

Go Blue Claws (or Blue Crabs, there is still some disagreement about the team's name, but there you are).

vermont, in a snow storm

I forgot to mention our great winter adventure. During spring break (that would be March), while normal New Englanders took themselves some place warm , we wandered north to ski country. Our timing could not have been better, apparently. We made it to Stowe, Vermont, just before they shut down the state for the fifth largest snow storm in the state's history. Snow storm or no, there was skiing to be done, well, by the crazy people. I am not a skier, so when Seal Pup 1.0 begged us to let him go back to the hotel room because skiing in a blizzard was no fun, I was willing to bring him in. Papa Seal, weighing the economics of the situation (the class was already paid for, so....) decided, that it would be a good opportunity to build up his moxy (or whatever skiing in snowstorms builds up).
The second day of skiing went much better than the first because the storm blew over and Vermont was left with a foot and a half (maybe more) of fresh snow for the skiers to go crazy on. And go crazy they did. Seal Pup 1.0 finished he second day of lessons by skiing down a green triangle run with his class, and then he did it all over again with his dad. Good times.

(Pretend there is a video here. There was supposed to be, but, well, nevermind).

You might be wondering what Seal Pup 2.0 and I did. Let me tell you! We ate, slept, went shopping and watched other people exert energy performing the fine art of skiing. I can't speak for the masses, but that's my idea of a good vacation.We also stopped at Ben and Jerry's on the way back home. As one does.

take a hike

I am not sure if you are aware of this or not, but the Wandering Seals are into the whole hiking thing...still.

We have found that fall is a good time to go hiking in New England. We recently hiked Lantern Hill in Ledyard, Connecticut. It's fun and everything, but pretending to be a pack mule does make for a difficult ascent.

But still fun.

More pictures in flickr.

come fly away...

I figured that catching up on things we did last month, like Coast Guard Aviation Day would be much more exciting than me talking about moving boxes from one place to another (we are moving, still).
CG Aviation Day involved bringing in an example of each type of Coast Guard aircraft for the 3rd and 4th class (freshman and sophmores) cadets to take a look at. One of the perks to being a member of the Coast Guard is that you can widgeon your family into things like this as well.

And, well, you know, it was free, so there was that too.

More pictures in flickr.

fall tradition(s)

Last weekend we engaged in one of our favorite family fall traditions: apple picking. This year, as in years past, we wandered over the Holmberg Orchard in Gales Ferry, CT. There was a tractor ride involved, so obviously it was worth the drive to get there.

We measured ourselves to see how tall we've gotten.

We picked some apples.

And we picked out a pumpkin. Serious business, that.

As exciting as the apples are, prepare yourselves, next week: sheep. Get excited!

We took lots of pictures. You know where the are.

new year

Because the first month of the year will soon come to an end, I figure it only logical to finally get around to sharing how are year ended last year and began this year. The operative word: low-key (technically, that's two). My back went out two days before Christmas (it is still on a little vacation, if you find it, please tell it to come home) and I was a wee incapacitated for about three weeks. I was still able to get our Christmas stockings done, though (because I am, to be sure, a crafting champion). I figure these should last for a while, you know, until the kids have their own favorite nicknames and they start calling us Mom and Dad (which is always better than "hey you").Christmas Day was fun (I am pretty sure, I was asleep for most of it, but the pictures tell the story of great joy, so there you are). The pups were right and properly spoiled.

Papa wasted no time in removing the jolly from our house the day after Christmas, because that is how we roll.

We spent the days after Christmas and around New Year's Day messing about with holiday giftage. Santa brought Papa an HO scale train set, that will be the start of his collection (maybe he will get around to getting the trains from his childhood, too). The whole train thing is a big deal because it's why he got into engineering, and really, I am just glad for him to have a hobby that is, potentially, as expensive as mine (um, all of them).

And then the new year also saw us digging out of snow again. But we also got a chance to practice our snow angel technique.

Happy New Year! Tons of photos in flickr.

like a whirlwind into october

Things have been a little crazy around here. Since we have more craziness coming up, I figured I should do an update now before things get too ridiculous.

First thing: at the end of September, I ran a 5K (I know some of you are more shocked than I am about this; but, it's true). It was my first 5K in 17 years. I did okay, I won't be winning any prizes anytime soon; but, I ran the whole thing, so that's something.

It was cold.

After my 5K race, we went to CGA for a football game (yes, it's that time of the year).

It was SP2.0's first football game. We arent' sure what his feelings are about the sport as of yet, we will let you know.

After that, we spent a ridiculous amount of time prepping our house for new windows.

They are supposed to be energy efficient.

Quite frankly, we will settle for anything that stops those charming New England drafts that have graced us for our last 5 winters here.

I guess you could say that we are really ready for the winter now.

There is a great mash-up of pictures in flickr.

a-wandering we will go

Yesterday, Seal Pup 1.o's pre-school class went on a little adventure. There was a little walk to "The Secret Garden" otherwise known as the Caroline Black Memorial Garden in the Arboretum on the Campus of Connecticut College. After taking at turn in the gardens, there was a picnic. It was fun. Parents were invited, so Papa and I went.

Aside: I caught a child who biffed it near a little pond, so I was sufficiently puffed with pride when I returned to work after the picnic, it's not easy being a hero.

While Seal Pup 2.0 could not join us on the Garden adventure, we do have good news to report: he found his belly button. Cancel the search parties.

We are going to wander to the left coast for a while. So no updates next week; but, I will make up for it when we get back. Also, if you are catching up with us on a feed reader, I heartily suggest that you click over to the blog to see the new banner which reflects SP2.0's wandering with us. As SP1.o would say, "I did it all on my own."

a hiking endeavor

We went for our first family hike over the weekend. We stayed close to home while testing the waters of family physical fitness. Also, the weather didn't offer much promise, what with all the rain and June-gloominess New England has been experiencing of late. In any case, we went for a little hike at Bluff Point in Groton, Connecticut.

We opted to do the shorter route which worked out to be a little over two miles, five seemed a bit much for Seal Pup 1.0. And while SP1.0 was very excited about "hiking in the jungle!" we wish he was as excited to actually walk, or rather, hike the hike.

There was a goodly amount of shoulder riding; but, that's okay, he is only three, after all. And since Seal Pup 2.0 didn't have to do any walking whatsoever, well, I guess I can see where he was coming from.

There are a few more pics of our hiking adventure in flickr. And, as promised, there are also a few 3 year and 6 month update, portraity shots in flickr as well (scroll to the bottom of the first page and click to the top of the second). I am playing around with lenses to figure out which I like best for portraiture, so you will likely see more portraits of the pups coming your way.