Frances takes Newport

For what is very likely our last family foray this summer, Mark, Frances and I spent the night in Newport, RI with some friends from the Cambridge area. I'm sure it's possible to have a happy life without access to beaches and oceans, but friends with summer beach houses sure make it easier.


Michele, Dave and Sophia gave us a mansion tour. And I thought Bar Harbor, Maine wasn't too shabby! Newport is a whole other kind of wealthy. That's a Vanderbilt house in the back ground. In the foreground are Michele and Sophia. Frances may not have figured it out yet, but Sophia is Frances's oldest friends. They were born at the same hospital on the same day and we're pretty sure they were in the nursery at the same time together.



The wind was a little brisk that day.




Frances and Sophia take in the view, with a little help from their friends.


Michele and Dave stayed with Frances so Mark and I got to go out to dinner like grown ups. It was spectacular. Thank you, Michele, Dave and Sophia!

Cuteness

I'll mostly let these photos speak for themselves. They were taken at Tara and Andrew's wedding. Very wisely, parasols were provided to keep the sun off the guests. Frances was appreciative.

This was at the very end of the night. Poor bubby had a full night of dancing and was up two hours past her bed time. What a trooper!

We had such a great time, and loved having an excuse to dress up Frances in a mildly ridiculous outfit. Thank you, Tara and Andrew, for including us in your celebration!

So Big Bubby Frances

We've had construction going on outside our window. We'll take any distraction we can get, so Frances has been standing at the window to supervise the work. She'll stay like this for at least five minutes at a time.

The really big news is that right after this photo was taken, Miss Frances Elliott Upton pulled herself up for the first time. So Big Bubby Frances!

Look, Heather!

One of the pluses of living in Cambridge is that all sorts of friends and family from all over are always passing through. The latest visitor is Heather, from my Haverford years. She stopped in for a visit while in transit from Maine to D.C., where she analyzes water policy at the EPA (did I get that right, Heather? Apparently, I've mixed that up repeatedly) . Frances gave her the thumbs up.


We had to get a shot of Heather with the onesie she made for Frances, back before Frances was born. I had forgotten some of this, but back in college Heather took some sort of mineralogy class. Why anyone would do this was beyond me, so I took to sending Heather post cards of rocks that said clever things, like "Look, rocks!" Heather returned the favor with her onesie. It says "Look, rocks!" and has a Mama rock and a Baby rock. We love it; it's a frequent flyer around these parts.

Thank you, Mimi!

Mimi sent Frances some outfits the other day. Her mother was completely pleased. Her father liked some outfits...


...more than others.

Never fear, Mimi, he'll learn to love them, just like he loves my flower carpet and my purple couches. He does encourage Frances to get her hands in his bicycle's grease and then go crawl on the carpet, but he's coming around. I can feel it, I have faith.

Frances, the Shaker

Some parents drag their kids to Civil War battlefields. Some kids get dragged through museums. Frances Elliott Upton gets to see Shaker villages. Yes, Mark and I have an interest in all things Shaker, so we headed to very Western Massachusetts to see the Hancock Shaker Village, which at its largest housed 300 to 400 earnest souls. Frances, as usual, took everything in good-naturedly.



The grounds were beautiful, but their round barn is the Hancock Shaker Village's particular claim to fame. It housed a manure trough underground, a horse and cow stable on the ground floor and a hay loft on the second floor.

Inside the round barn.

There were also plenty of live animals to talk to.

Sir, we're practicing saying "Baaa," but no luck so far. She's far more versed at something that sounds like "Dah-di." I'm sure "Grandfather Sir" is right around the corner.

I believe this was the kitchen in the basement of the living quarters. I liked the irregular marble floor. I'm making notes just in case Mark lets me have some say in the design of our future house. A girl can dream.

Workshops, divided east and west so men and women wouldn't have to interact.

The ice house. Ice was gathered from frozen lakes and stored upstairs on slatted floors. Cold air and water preserved food downstairs.

The school house. The Shakers may have been celibate, but they reared many children, both from their lives before joining the Brethren and foster children in hopes of swelling their ranks. Only about 10 percent of the foster children became Shakers.

I think the docent in the school house was a little bored. As soon as we came through the door, she wanted to know Frances's name so she could spell it out. We were completely pleased with her, of course.

The worship house, where the Shakers earned their name, shaking with the holy spirit.

Frances appreciated all the room to move around.

Then it was back in the car for the two hour trip home. Frances slept the whole way, and still was in bed by 8 o'clock. What a good baby.

More Maine

In no particular order, some more Maine shots.

We lounged on the green in Bar Harbor, taking in the harbor view.


We took the western trail around Jordan's Pond. This board walk went on and on and we thought it was particularly magical. When we explained that to a fellow walker we passed on the way she literally laughed at us. Oh, well. Some people see magic, others see a twisted ankle. You can't please everyone all of the time.




Coming down Beech Hill. You can't see Frances because she's on Mark's back. Mark was quite the trooper, carrying Frances around.



On top of Beech Hill. We didn't have Sir with us to give us the usual talk naming each mountain, cove and island, so we recruited this very willing stranger. Plus, his dog cleaned all the Graham Cracker off Frances's face.

Our lobster dinner. No points for originality, I know, but I'll take "yummy" over "original" any day.

Beka, conquering that waves.

We sailed and saw a seal and a porpoise that day. Not bad.

Mark, contemplating the waves.

Frances, taking it all in.

Nine Months of Bubby Frances!

These are sort of funny pictures, but we spent all of Frances's nine month birthday in the car, so some car shots seemed appropriate.

• Firsts: first top tooth (unfortunately, it came in while Frances had her cold; sad baby) and first successful attempts at forward motion (we've got a video of it we'll get up here eventually)
• Favorite food: not a big fan of eating right now. Some days I feel like giving up on trying to get her to eat solids for the sake of my sanity.
• Frequent comment: "He's so adorable!" Oh, well. They're half right.
• Favorite activity: Still a big fan of "walking" while holding on to our fingers, except now she really provides a lot of the forward motion herself. And she's figured out she can hold on to chairs and couches while standing. Very impressed with herself.