The Faces of Molly

U r a bus no more

It's time to say good by to a dear friend. Almost ten years ago is when we first met in the summers of the north. She was young and ready to impress. And impress she did. Over the ensuing years we traveled the country together. She was there with me for some of the best moments of my life. and now it is time to say goodbye

I am, of course, talking about my beloved Subaru Outback. She was able to survive two earthquakes, multiple hurricanes and blizzards. She drove through 15 states and two countries. She took me to see my future wife countless times, including to the church to get married. She took Katie to, and Molly home from, the hospital.

In short, she did it all.

Until she met her match. Two rear facing car seats and a 6'3" driver.

She will be missed.

Fall

It is in the 50s, raining and we have our first fire of the season. Fall is here.

4 more years! 4 more years!

Okay, so actually I'm hoping for many more than just four more years (we made a pact that we would reassess at 70 years, so we have 66 to go).

Anyway... four years ago two houses joined as one.  Unlike the fabled Montagues and Capulets, these were not two houses "both alike in dignity" nor was there an "ancient grudge [to] break new mutiny".  In fact, this story doesn't really have anything to do with Romeo and Juliet (save the true and everlasting love part) so I'm not really sure why I brought it up.

So, on with the story.  Four years ago we were married.  In many ways it seems like a long time ago (in a good way. No, seriously. It seems like there wasn't a time before we were together. Not because of some sappy star-crossed lover thing, but because - I like to think - we're best friends and once you marry your best friend everything just seems right and better).  In other ways, it is just a blip in time.

In that blip however, we've managed to do a fair amount:

Get married (obviously).

 Buy a house.

Add to our family by adopting Harry.

Go on our first international trip together (and first cruise).

 Renovate our house.

 Live through Snowmageddon.

 Live through Snowpocalypse.

Live through Snowmygod. There was a lot of snow that year.

 Have a baby.  It was a lot of hard work for me.

 Welcome Molly to the world.

 Introduce Molly to the Great Lakes.

 Have more work done on the house.

 Introduce Molly to the Atlantic Ocean.

 Bring Molly to her first political rally...

 ...which she promptly slept through.

Laugh constantly at the faces Molly makes.

Introduce Molly to her first Maine blizzard.

 Introduce Molly to the Gulf of Mexico. (there has been a lot of introducing lately).

 Celebrate Molly's first birthday.

 Celebrate Nate and Ellete's wedding.

 Catch up with college friends (and Molly's future roommate at Hamilton).

 And ponder what the future holds (hint: a baby brother).

Relaxing

There's nothing better than snuggling up on a chilly Sunday morning and reading Little Golden Books.

We were kidding

In our last post we made light of the recent natural disasters and hinted that a horde of locusts may be next.

Well, after four days of nearly constant rain, we sincerely apologize to Mother Nature. You can make the rain stop now.

Up next, locusts?

It's been an eventful few days for us.

First there was the earthquake. The house, the animals, and the people all emerged relatively unscathed, though one of the cats was pretty spooked (she was running from room to room all wide-eyed and ears back). Apparently there was a relatively significant (4.5) aftershock on Thurs morning, but we're such seasoned pros with earthquakes that we slept right through it.

After the earthquake we figured it'd be a good idea to get out of town for awhile. Thankfully my cousin had the foresight to have his wedding in Nova Scotia this weekend. Overall Molly was a good traveler, but she was not a fan of being woken up to be moved from the car seat to her crib. This of course required a hour or so of screaming to ensure we were aware of the horrible mistake we as parents had made.

Thankfully all was forgiven this morning in time for her to see her cousins Jack and Nate. Molly was thrilled to see them and excited to have someone else to run around and explore with.

Fine dining

Molly's New England Tour - Summer '11

Last year was Molly's first big summer tour of New England. This July we did it again.

First stop was Marion, MA for a wedding of my college friend Tracy. Tracy was kind enough to invite us to the rehearsal dinner/cookout the night before so people could see Molly before Grammie and Gramp came down to take her (Molly) to Maine so Mom and Dad could enjoy the wedding.

At the rehearsal dinner we got to catch up with another college friend Tricia, her husband Justin and 9-month old daughter (and Molly's future roommate at Hamilton) Charli. It was really great to see everyone.

From there it was on to the wedding. Which was gorgeous. The church was set up much like the one we got married in and had two aisles and long center benches. Here Tracy strikes one of her trademark poses.

Two other really cool things about the wedding:

1. The church was the same church Tracy's parents were married in over 35 years ago
2. The dress was the same dress a family friend of Tracy's, and close friend of ours, wore to her wedding over 30 years ago.

This little boy was the ring bearer I believe and stood with the groomsmen.

Beautiful ceremony. Beautiful bride. What's more to say?

One of my favorite shots of Tracy.

At the reception all the place cards were hand written by Tracy's maid of honor. She also did the invitations. Anyone who has seen my handwriting can agree that I am in absolute awe of someone who can write so elegantly.

Awww...

The bride with two of her three freshman year college roommates. Two of the three of these ladies have just moved down to DC (no pressure Trish).

After the wedding was drove up to the coast of Maine. It's really hard to describe the different pace of everything there. I'm not quite sure I'm willing to completely embrace this, but in many ways it's like the welcome sign to Maine says, "It's the way life should be."

On a side note, we did this whole trip in our Prius. It's amazing the difference in gas mileage between that and the Subaru. We put over 1500 miles on the car and had to fill up maybe four times. The most miles we were able to get out of a tank was 465 (granted, that was running on fumes by the end with the gas light on, but still...). And that's on about an 11 gallon tank. This makes me wonder why the hybrid technology is not in more vehicles.

Anyway...

Despite not seeing us for about 48 hours, Molly both remembered who we were and seemed relatively pleased to see us.

Molly seemed relatively interested with the swing set.

And, as I'm sure will continue to be a trend, she always seemed to be a step or two ahead of her parents.

After a long day of swinging, running around, and seeing family, there's nothing better than sitting down for some fresh Maine lobster.

(despite the look on her face, she actually enjoyed the lobster)

Molly also got a treat of hearing bedtime stories from her Great Aunt Valerie with her two first cousins once removed Hazel and Stella.

Later in the week Molly and Gramp decided to check out some tidal pools.

While the ladies kept a watchful eye.

All in all, it was pretty amazing how few bumps and bruises Molly had by the end of the trip. While in some senses the place we stayed is made for kids (really, what more could you ask for than big rocks and tidal pools), in many ways it also could be a death trap for little kids (big rocks, the ocean, tons of things to trip over and fall off of). Thanks to the watchful eyes and quick reactions of Grammie and Gramp (who both really took over most of the chasing after Molly and gave Katie a much needed and much deserved break), Molly only had one, small little splinter during the whole time at the coast. No cuts, nothing else. Hopefully we can maintain these records over the years.

Like I said, big rocks to climb on.

I'm not really sure what to say to this one.

Another cool aspect of the place we stayed (especially if you like lobster) was the plethora of lobster traps in the area. There were probably one to two hundred traps within 100 feet of the shore.

More on these guys later.

Molly didn't just run around and make a mess the whole time. She also helped Gramp sweep the porch. The kid knows she needs to earn her keep.

Cookies and Mom's sun hat were a big hit.


As was checking things out with the binoculars.

One morning Molly decided to greet the lobstermen who were out pullin' traps.


She was even nice enough to wave goodbye.

Just down the road was a salt pond. Molly enjoyed it this year, but I can see it becoming a stable of future trips.

She had no hesitation going into the water. I'd better get on those swim lessons.

Despite the uneven and slippery terrain, she had no problem letting go and trying to walk by herself.

Molly also had a great time checking out the local animals.

After the salt pond Molly had to get cleaned up. And she was all about doing it herself...



...until the stream of water hit her in the face. That threw her for a bit of a loop (don't worry, Grammie has it on video).

The last part of our trip was over to Keene to see my Grandmother. My brother's family was able to join us as well. Prior to showing up at my Grandmother's, we all met up at a local park to try and tire the kids out a little bit. As you can see from the blurry images to kids running around, that didn't work out too well.

Molly and Jack playing with Jack's stroller. Hopefully over the years we'll be able to increase the amount of time the cousins spend together.

Here's a better shot of everyone.

All in all, it was a great trip. It's just a shame we're only able to do it once a year.


After a long week of fun, sometimes you just need to stare out the window and reflect.