our trip north

an explosion of forsythias greeting us through our window at Nana and Pipop's

Horses were fed, friends and family visited..... Claire kept everyone on their toes, surprising them with her interest in and ability to hold a conversation on just about any and everything (well, any and everything that a 2 year old might be privy to), from why she likes forsythia to what she's 'supposed' to do.

I learned how to make some really good tahini spreads.  I learned that playing with an iPad while sitting up in bed at night is both fun and a little dangerous.  I was reminded of how, when we are up at Nana and Pipop's house, Claire needs only to check in with me once every now and then since she's so busy seeing and doing and visiting.

This was her expression nearly every time she pressed play on the answering machine to listen to her special message from papa.  She would then squeal to whoever was around that "it's Claire's my baby song!"

I met some good friends at a favorite Indian restaurant (not only did I enjoy a dinner with grown ups, but it was one that included dosas the size of my arm and fantastic coffee and dessert!), visited a favorite farm, ate good bagels and some really good wood-fired pizza.  Became reacquainted with a dear old friend. Visited, visited, visited.....  watched Claire soak it all in.

playing around on the piano

We did a lot of hanging around the house.  Painting, drawing, reading, snacking (she ate her way through a fair amount of nana's frozen blueberry stash, for sure)...... a nice easy week.

She was a champ on both the drive up and back.  I split the drive home into two days.  It was the first time I've ever done that, but this was also the first time it was just one of us grown ups with Claire, and so I happily embraced the idea of adventuring a bit more with my little one.  (I also embraced the hotel gift card in my pocket, a gift from Mike's parents)  We snuggled together in the big hotel bed, watched a couple cartoons in the morning, and ate breakfast downstairs before hitting the road.  An adventure, indeed.