Our new home

Today, we finally got internet access hooked up at home, so we're back in blogging business! Since our last blog entry (somewhere in the midwest), we have finished our drive across the country and winced our way through the delivery of our possessions, and we've been having fun getting to know our new neighborhood and community.

Over the past month, Caden has added a number of new words to his vocabulary, including the following: ant, apple, bath, block, boat, book, boots, bottle, bye-bye, dirt, egg, high chair, house, jet, moon, Nana, no, noodle, owl, puddle, rice, shoe, sky, slide, stairs, star, stick, up, and wow.

The final four states

We finished our cross-country drive by cutting north through Ohio to the Lake Erie shore, zipping across the far northwestern corner of Pennsylvania, then taking I-90 (a.k.a. the New York Throughway and the Masspike) across upstate New York and Massachusetts. We stopped in Columbus, Ohio to visit with our Oregon State friends Gary and Becky and meet their super-cute kids, Aaron and Claire. Caden had a great time playing, we enjoyed a tasty dinner, and everyone had fun at a neat playground and park the following morning.

We spent the next night at Niagara Falls, New York, and had fun walking across the bridge for up-close views of Horseshoe and American Falls. Caden was amazed by all of the water, and kept saying "wa-wa, wa-wa, wa-wa," over and over again. We ate dinner at the Top of the Falls Restaurant, then watched fireworks (Caden's word for them was "wow!") from the sidewalk in front of our B&B. The next morning was beautiful, and we strolled down the river to check out the falls from another--even more amazing--angle. Then, we continued eastward, stopping for the night in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and arriving at our new home in Swampscott on the afternoon of August 14th.

Settling in

The truck arrived on the morning of the 15th, and we have spent the last month unpacking all of the boxes. Our first course of action was to set up Caden's room--here he is, rediscovering his toys. Nana arrived a week later, and it was wonderful to have her spend a week with us, keeping Caden entertained and us sane. We all miss her, especially Caden, who now says, "bye, Nana, bye," when something reminds him of her.

We've had fun exploring our neighborhood and getting to know the area. One fun discovery was that we can walk to the beach from our house! When Nana was here, we spent a great afternoon swimming (yes, you can swim in the ocean here!), playing in the sand, and enjoying the sunshine.

Beach baby

Playing in the sand

At the Marine Science Center

Cooling off in the backyard

Labor Day Weekend

We celebrated the end of summer with our friends Mark and Anne in western Vermont. Mark just started a faculty position at Green Mountain College in Poultney, so we all moved from California to New England last month. We had a great time eating tasty food, playing games, chatting, and going to the Vermont State Fair in Rutland.

On Monday, we headed over to Sal, Liza, and the girls' house for a barbeque. Daddy gorged himself on meat, and Mommy enjoyed corn on the cob. Caden really liked playing with Mae and Summer's toy kitchen. The kitchen is stocked with lots of plastic foods, and when Mommy started eating her corn, Caden grabbed a toy cob of corn and ate some too!

At the Vermont State Fair

Eating corn