Sailing! Sailing! Over the Bounding Main

After a couple days of hiking, Grandfather Sir arrived in Maine and the sail boat came out to play. Our hands-down favorite. Frances wasn't a big fan of her life jacket, but she liked just about everything else about sailing, especially this larger than life teething ring:


That's right, our baby is teething! Her parents were a little surprised; her Auntie Jocelyn thought it was all very amusing.

Frances and the Bubble

After all the gluttony at Jordan's Pond, a little hike seemed in order. Around the pond we went, and Frances promptly fell asleep. When we started up the South Bubble Mountain, she woke up and decided she needed a snack. She had a lovely snack, sitting on boulders in the dappled shade of the birches, and then we continued to the summit.

Yeah! Frances went up her first mountain, and, thank you, Daddy, for doing most of the heavy lifting.

Frances likes it!

Most of my paternal family gathered in Maine to celebrate my aunts' 65th and 50th birthdays which conveniently coincided in the past year. We immediately high-tailed it to Jordan's Pond, a restaurant overlooking a lake. Before eating, we romped on the yard between the restaurant and the lake.



James Cowen and Frances bonding, I suppose.


James, Frances and Zoe Weneck with their mothers.

The signature goody at Jordan's Pond is the popover, an eggy pastry, served with butter and jam, that looks like a muffin and tastes like a German pancake. De-lish. Technically, Frances isn't supposed to have egg yolks (or whites, I can never remember which) until she's a year, but she managed to sample quite a bit of popover and she more than approved. The kid's got good taste.

The restaurant is very picturesque.

Mimi and Frances enjoying a laugh, with the South Bubble mountain in the background.

More about the South Bubble shortly.

Nostalgia Drive Extension

Frances's Mimi stopped in for an afternoon on her way to Maine. What to do on a summer afternoon in Boston with a grandmother, a grand daughter and a nostalgic mother? Ride the Swan Boats, of course! I remember doing this when I was very young and got surprisingly misty-eyed at the thought of going back with Mimi and Frances.

It's hard to tell from these pictures what Swan Boats look like if you've never seen them and they're not easy to describe, but there's a man sitting in a giant swan paddling us around just out of sight in this picture. Mostly, it's just a pleasant way to see the park.

And then we were off to Maine!

Where Memory Lane meets Nostalgia Drive

Memory Lane, Part IV: We took Frances to see where her maternal grandparents were married, the chancel of Trinity Cathedral in Boston.

She thought the church was great, but she thought chewing on the paper map that came with the church tour was even better.

Nostalgia Drive: Then we headed over to the Boston Garden to visit Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack. If you aren't familiar with Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack, check out Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey. It will be worth the effort. It's one of my childhood favorites.

Frances thought they were pretty good, too, but not as good as that paper map of the church.

Yep, it's a girl, alright!

Before too many more of you make negative remarks (I'm talking to you here, Beka), let me explain the outfit. Auntie Tara is getting married in mere days, and, because she's Tara, she invited all her little girl wedding guests to be flower girls. Frances, I believe, is the littlest flower girl. Frances's outfit arrived the other day in the mail. I tried it on her once before, but I wanted to show her dad before we packed it up and ship it to Arkansas. I think it will survive better in a box than in a suitcase. It's absolutely as big as it looks. Her father is thrilled with it and just hopes it still fits for Frances's first birthday. I can't believe we're making plans for her first birthday already.

One more parting shot:

Seven Months Fun Facts

• Her dad's latest nickname for her: Chicken Wing. Can you see why?

• Favorite foods: Avocado and oat cereal, everything else elicits dramatic retching
• Frequent comment: "She's so alert!"
• Hardest part of the day: about 5:00 p.m., but only if she hasn't had her catnaps in the afternoon
• Favorite activities: bathing and screeching, occasionally simultaneously; chewing and drooling rank way up there, too
  

She sits! She scores!

Frances really sat on her own today. All her other attempts have ended very promptly in nose dives but she must have stayed like this for a full three minutes. We were thrilled. She must have been pretty pleased, too, after seven months of lying around.

She did nose dive shortly after this picture was taken, but, still, it's progress! It may appear that she was sitting on her own at her seven months picnic, but there was some trickery involved there. This was real deal independence.

Seven Months of Bubby Frances!

Frances hit the seven months mark this week. We celebrated by dressing her up and taking her out for many photos. First stop was the fountain by Claude Cormier featured in Frances's six months posting.


This month, it was so warm we could remove her sweater and show off her sun dress. Mind you, it is June.

She thought it was all pretty fun.

She loves standing now. Mark has even got himself convinced that she likes to walk holding on to his fingers. I think it works like a Ouija board - Mark is steering her more than he realizes - but they both enjoy the illusion.

Ready to take off!

It was such a nice day, we decided to have lunch in the park. This was more for her parents' benefit, but Frances was game, as usual.

I don't think it gets any better than this!

Onesie, by...

...Kenneth.

(It says "Bow to My Will," and I say "All day, everyday.")

Onesie, by Heather.

(It says, "Look, Rocks" and has a Mama and a Baby Rock. Guess what Heather majored in back in college? Now she works for the EPA and we're very proud of her.)

And, lastly, Onesie, by Beka.

I'll leave you to figure out what's on it.

Poor bubby Frances.

Concord (pronounced Con-crd)

Memorial Day weekend, Frances, Mark and I went to Concord, MA, to poke around. The highlight for Mark came early in the trip: Frances's first shoulder ride. She seemed to really enjoy herself and had a great time grabbing at leaves.



After wandering through town, we walked out to where the American Revolutionary War began.




Many plaques, statues and commemorations.

On Sunday, we went to the DeCordova Museum and Statue Garden. It was lovely strolling around 35 acres of statues.

Here's a sampling of the art:

I didn't understand all of it...

...but Frances had a good time.