Last Night in Maine

All the adults really wanted to get a group photo of the cousins together on our last night in Maine. Mimi wanted to get a Christmas picture out of it. Not so sure we succeeded, but the kids didn't cry either.

From left to right, we've got James Malcolm Cowen, Clare Frances Cowen, Frances Elliott Upton, Nora Ellen Cowen and Zoe Ann Weneck.

Popovers for Frances

Frances on Cadillac Mountain

It was raining at camp one day and the kids needed to get out of the house, so we drove up Cadillac Mountain to see the sights...such as they were.


Our attempt at a group photo:

Walking the trail around the summit:

Boy, do we know how to have fun!

Dogfish Cove

Mimi arrived a couple days ago and we were able to fetch the boat from its winter home. That means it was time for a picnic! We headed over to Dogfish Cove, a nearby beach we like to visit yearly. Mimi brought sunglasses for Frances which pleased her very much. (She even developed her own sign for sunglasses when she wants help finding her pair. Unfortunately, this sign involves walking around with her hands over her eyes, so it's a little dangerous.)


I like to think that Frances is thinking deep thoughts here, not just chewing on the most convenient object.


Last year, we had a wonderful time swimming at this beach. This year it was June and windy - read "cold" - so we practiced our lounging skills. It's possible I've been overdoing it with Frances's sunscreen.



Even without swimming, Dogfish is just about my definition of heaven. So glad to be able to share it with Frances.

Dinner with Frances

And Dinner was delicious.

The End of The Innocence

This is Auntie/Godmother Jocelyn teaching Frances how to play Parcheesi:


This is Auntie/Godmother Jocelyn teaching Frances to blow on her dice so she'll have good luck:


Now Frances knows just what to do on her next trip to Las Vegas. Do I know how to pick godparents, or what?

PNHD

This is the face of Post Nap Hair Disorder.

Primary characteristics: Unkempt or unruly hair secondary to mid-day napping, often associated with a blank stare. The term "PNHD" rightfully attributed to Jocelyn (Hayward) Cowen.

Nineteen Months of Toddler Frances

On Frances's Nineteen Months birthday, we decided to take a trip to the reef, a small, rocky island in our cove that's almost completely submerged by the high tide. The reef is so close that a hearty soul could swim to it from our dock, but I'm not that hearty. I'm more of the "Be prepared!" type, so Frances ventured out in hat, sunscreen, life vest, sweatshirt and water-friendly shoes.

"Really, mom?"

The idea is to go to the reef and cavort and explore, like so:

Cousin Clare, cavorting.

Cousin James, exploring.

Cousin Frances was not so interested in cavorting or exploring. Cousin Frances did not enjoy the sensation of walking on crushed shells. So Cousin Frances sat.

"Really, mom?"

But really, you couldn't ask for a nicer place to spend your Nineteen Months birthday.

Nineteen Month Fun Facts

• Language: Frances continues to master animal sounds: Snakes say "Sssss." Cats say "Wow" (rhymes with "meow"). Owls say "Who-who." Lions make a sound I can't type, but it's like a whispered roar. She likes words that end in -sh, like brush, fish and push. Her favorite word is "my," unfortunately. She can even use it in a phrase, specifically, "No, my" (i.e. No, don't touch that. It's mine.) Makes a mom's heart proud.
• Greatest Aspiration: Successfully showing down Cousin James (aged about 25 months). A typical confrontation involves James growling at Frances and Frances yelling "No" back at him. All day, every day.
• Nickname: Cousin James is convinced Frances's name is "H." We don't know how he came up with it, but it's kinda catchy. I like to believe he was inspired by Hayward, but that may be a bit of a stretch.
  
• Favorite food: Pasta and blueberries. Everything else she'll eat two bites of and then turn up her nose, but pasta and blueberries she'll eat until you'd think she'd be sick.
• Favorite comment: My dad, Frances's "Sir" asked, "Is she always this happy?" Made me so pleased.
• One word to describe Frances this month: Go-er, as in "one who goes." If you want to see the saddest face in the world, just try leaving Frances behind. As soon as we put her shoes on each day, she stands by the front door turning the doorknob with one hand and waving good-bye with the other, saying "Bye, bye, bye."
  

Frances and the Lupine

Never mind the Great Outdoors...

...Let's watch some Scooby Doo!

Not to worry - they were really all about to go to bed. It only looks like this photo was taken in the middle of the afternoon because it stays light so late up here. Frances is so pleased to be included with her big cousins, but her attention span is still minimal. She started wandering the room soon after this photo was taken.

The Frances of Witch Hole Pond

How to get four children around the 3.6 mile Witch Hole Pond loop:

Going clockwise from the left, that's Nora in the tiara,
Josh, Jocelyn the Ridiculous, James, Clare and Frances.

Sometimes the children were less than 100% cooperative:

She wasn't really being difficult,
she just needed to inspect some rocks.

But we all got by with a little help from our friends:

Frances needed to hold Clare's hand.

And then we threw rocks into the pond, just like the big kids:

Complete success, even if we didn't manage to spot any witches.

Maine, Day One

Frances and I have removed ourselves to Maine to allow Mark some peace and quiet while he hunts for a job. The five hour drive up here was rocky, but also completely worth it. We are here with my sister Jocelyn and her crew. Jocelyn knows a lot about keeping her three kids occupied and is ready to whip out numerous art projects at a moment's notice. Frances was particularly fond of her paint pens.

Disturbing, no? If you're not a little disturbed, look again at the photo more closely. She'd gotten hold of the green and yellow paint pens and seemed to like the way they tasted. I only include the photo because she was so pleased with herself for being able to participate with her big cousins.

I'll close on a nicer note, and we'll pretend not to know her mouth looks gangrenous.

Graduate! Graduate!....

...Dance to the music! (Sing to the tune of "Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music!")

I try to keep this blog about Frances, but I have to make an exception because Mark graduated from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, which doesn't happen every day. We had a full house with Mark's parents, brother and sister-in-law and my parents (Frances was in heaven with all the attention) and we made it through the week almost without a hitch. Mark is now officially a Harvard alumnus.

Here's the Harvard alum before he was technically a Harvard alum. He looks studious, doesn't he? Don't be fooled; Mark wasn't thinking deep thoughts. He was trying to figure out where he was supposed to line up with his class.



Mark went on his merry way and my dad and I arrived at the University graduation an hour and a half before it started. I knew it would be crowded, but underestimated significantly. This was the view from my seat. Couldn't see bupkis, but the speaker system was very impressive.



Mark says he was seated under the left-most standard. I will have to take his word for it.

Immediately after the University graduation, the Graduate School of Design held its own ceremony. Our view for it was a little better. Here's Mark heading down to the platform to graduate. We cheered a lot, hence the waving.

After the ceremony, we all met up for pictures. I once promised Vicki I would never put her photo up here, but this post is all about breaking rules. They were so proud of their son. Rightfully so!

My Architect!

Following the ceremonies, we all went for walks/runs by the Charles and played with Frances in the gorgeous sunshine. Then Frances had her second non-relative babysitter and we all went out for dinner. It was a perfect day. So, so proud.

Frances at the Fruitlands Museum

So, I was a little confused. I had heard of the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Massachusetts, and I got it into my head that it was a Shaker village, and therefore worthy of a visit. When Mark, Frances and I arrived, we learned it was the site of a former Utopian community that lasted for the six months its members could stand to live without wool (a taboo animal product) in the Massachusetts winter. Now it's a museum dedicated to the area. We started our visit at one of the homes used by the Utopianists.


Frances was fond of their grape arbor.

We slowly made our way up the hill, stopping for quite a while to help with dandelion seed disbursement.

There was a house of Native American artifacts, both from the region and the rest of North America. Frances wasn't all that interested in the artifact displays, but she did like the wigwam.

Next, we visited the Shaker house that had been moved to the museum from a nearby Shaker community, hence my confusion. No pictures from the house, though. Frances was done with it in about 40 seconds. She was more interested in the modern art we visited just before leaving the museum.

The rock was disappointingly fake to her cynical mother, but Frances didn't mind.

We wrapped up our trip to Harvard, Massachusetts, at a Shaker cemetery. Visiting cemeteries may not be every child's idea of a fun activity, but Frances is learning to indulge her parents at an early age. She wandered around amongst the grave markers for quite a bit. The Shakers separated the sexes even in death; the graves were grouped into male and female areas.

Then Frances jumped off a rock for a while.

We all had a really lovely day. It was so nice to do something together as a family after Mark's long semester.

Next up, graduation!