our trip north~

There are many, MANY photos in this post.  We were up visiting friends and family for almost 2 weeks, after all.  Here's a little run down of our recent trip.  A trip filled with many firsts. (of course, it seems we've entered a stage where there is a new first experienced daily...)

Claire's first parade, (leading the way it would seem, with her papa and Aunt Jen) the Memorial Day parade in Pennington, New Jersey~

Her first encounter with a sprinkler~  my brave girl thought it was pretty cool...

until it turned on her, something sprinklers are notorious for...

her cousin Kate encouraged her to give it another go and so they went,

but alas, the tricky sprinkler did indeed get her wet again.  She was not pleased.

Luckily, there were horses next door to cheer her up.  Worked like a charm.  Surely one of the highlights of the trip for Claire (along with her regular morning excursions to the garden to pick strawberries with Nana) was watching and feeding the neighboring horses.  (I know there's no horse in the picture, but trust me, it was there)

We took a trip to nearby Howell Living History Farm, a very cool place that as you can plainly see, Claire was thrilled to visit.  If this photo doesn't make it to the cover of their promotional brochures I will be very surprised.

Just look at that cute little piggy tail..... it makes me think about her first pig tails, a lovely pair of the stick-straight-out variety~

There was some napping of course,

some dress-up,

and some dressing down, too.

(she made it all the way up that slide, all by herself)  See that bird bath in the back right corner?  That's where Mike and I got married almost 6 years ago.  Right there in Nana and Grandpop's yard.  It looked a little different then, with 2 big tents and lots of tables and chairs and flowers and such.... a very lovely day.)

On with the tour......

We went to the wedding of one of papa's very best friends.  Mama even got to stay at the reception until almost 10pm(!)  Claire of course, was up waiting for me.... we do still have a ways (ahem) to go in the go-to-sleep-without-mama department, but we'll get there.  And those few hours of hanging with the grown-ups laughing, talking, dancing and enjoying a couple gin and tonics were well worth it.

Our plan had been to leave for Western Massachusetts the day after the wedding.  The Berkshires, Mt. Greylock, museums (like the Carle Museum), and good food all awaited us.  Thing was, we woke up and weren't feeling like getting in the car again for 4 or 5 hours.  So the plan became to leave the next day.  But then that day came and we started wondering about justifying the drive for what would then only be a very brief stay.  In the end we decided we couldn't.  So we stayed.  The plan became day trips and relaxing and more trips down the slide.  And as hard as it was for me at first to let go of the planned trip further north, I was so relieved to welcome our new "un-itinerary".  That morning, instead of heading to Massachusetts we headed to Philadelphia.  We took Claire to the zoo, where we saw very happy gorillas and watched a baby orangutan just a little bit older than Claire (and approximately the same size) nurse and then swing by her feet on a vine 30 or so feet high.  Seeing that made me feel quite relieved that I don't have to worry about my little monkey doing that.  At least I don't think I do.  Not yet anyway.  Soon enough her papa will be teaching her about climbing trees, but hopefully he won't be encouraging her to swing from her toes.

We also saw a beautiful mosaic mural,

sweet baby (and mama) ducks,

 this curious fellow, whose name I can't recall,

and many other creatures big and small.

Next we headed to the very worthy of a visit Reading Terminal Market for lunch and browsing, and then went for a walk in the Historic District where we saw buildings from the 1700s standing next to those from the late 20th century.

The next day we took Claire for a little rock throwing on the banks of the Delaware river, she took her first dip in a little baby pool (thanks, Grandpop for going out and getting one!), and then we took a short drive to Princeton for some food.  As we often do, we made our selection after looking through some posts on Chowhound.  We decided on Nassau Street Seafood and Produce, a little seafood and specialty produce market with a to-go counter in the back.  Nothing fancy.  We ordered fish tacos and fish and chips and went out to enjoy them at one of the outdoor tables of the adjoining restaurant.  But we were too late.  Their dinner service had begun so we took our bag of fish and had a little sorta-kinda picnic in the grass by one of the university buildings.

Afterwards we set out for some very important business.  Something I had planned on doing at some point during our trip.  We took Claire out for ice cream for the first time.  It couldn't just be anywhere.  This was serious.  It had to be somewhere special.  An establishment worthy of such an honor.  Lucky for us, Princeton has just the place.  The Bent Spoon.  The inaugural ice cream flavor(s)?  Lavender marscapone and strawberry marscapone.  Yum.  She was wide-eyed and so very into the act of devouring the ice cream.  I am sad to say that my camera was back at the house and so I did not capture the sweet, sticky, drippy experience on film.  No worries.  I'm betting there will be many more ice cream outings to come.

On our last day in New Jersey we did a whole lot of nothing.  Aside from a quick trip back to Howell Farm for Claire and I, most of the day was spent in the backyard on the slide or on the couch reading stories.  Mike made a delicious meal for dinner including these amazing bacon-butter scallops over spinach~

I think I could get by on just those and some of that lavender ice cream......  Indeed.

We lingered outside watching the horses at dusk, then packed up and readied ourselves for the journey home.

Both a very full and very not-so-full trip.  For the most part, it was just right.