the squibix family blog

We'd never been before; I had no idea it was there, even. We went with friends from our homeschool coop, and had a great time. Besides the flowers, there were also turtles and frogs.

Pictures of humans will hopefully be forthcoming in the near future.

You'd never guess that iconic-type of fall image was actually taken on the sidewalk of a busy street. All the leaves fell at once this year, so there's pretty much a pile under every tree.

After that moment of fun and a short trip through Wilson Farm (ask Lijah about the llama...) we went down to Arlington to walk around the Reservoir. Around, and in some cases over: it's very shallow this fall. Still enough water for swans.

The next day I took the boys to Concord. We stopped at the Old North Bridge—pictured at the top of this post—and generally got into things. Like trees.

Zion was very excited to find a shiny button.

We thought it might be off a redcoat's jacket. There was one talking to tourists not far away, but when we looked at his uniform we saw it wasn't a match. Disappointing, but at least it meant Zion got to keep it!

As well as the bridge and its surrounds, we also explored the boathouse. I'd never been in before—I didn't know one even could saw that he could open the latch he didn't hesitate to invite the rest of us in. We had fun playing in the semi-darkness.

The dock was fun too.

And at home, we even managed to enjoy—briefly—a fire out in the yard. It was Lijah who encouraged me—commanded me—to start it, and the two of us spent a lovely 15 minutes appreciating the warmth and light.

November at its finest.

There are lots of things you can do with tables.

The weather last weekend was cold in the mornings and hot mid day; hard to know what to wear first thing.

It was plenty warm last Saturday for the local church's Apple Fest.

And whatever the weather, we like to spend time by the water whenever we can.

Harvey likes to go look at Lego sets, but Zion's needs are simpler. Frozen has been playing on that particular television since before Christmas, and we stop by this store every couple weeks; another month or so and he'll have seen the whole movie! Out of sequence, sure, and without sound, but that's the best you can do when you have dirty hippy parents like us. When we tired of toys and television (well, he didn't really tire, but you know) we moved on to the kitchen store. The wall of cookie cutters is almost as engrossing as an animated film.

We also took in the art supply store and the cheese shop, both of which offered not a single item which would have fit in our budget, if we were even looking to buy something. But at least the cheese shop offered delicious smells for free, and the prepared-food counter inspired Zion to ask for tuna salad for supper. In the event—after I made it deli-style with capers and red onion—he declined to eat it, but Harvey and I enjoyed it a great deal. So it was all worth it!

I think the evidence shows that, despite our lack of time to properly document his unique charms, Lijah is well-loved by all his family. Cute too!

He does more things now than he did back in the summer when I took all those shots: just today he was standing up to play with the new toys attached to the library wall. Oh how I wish I'd remembered my camera! I will aim to do better in future; expect a more regular supply of current Elijah content in these pages, and complain to the management if you don't see it!

Sadly, it isn't even a passable camera. I've made a vow to do better with my real one, at least for a couple weeks. But the snapshots in this post are at least documentary, like the one above that shows what our boys and their best friend not names Stevens can accomplish during a single church service. Then we were back to church for an evening meeting and they were less creative (but not at all disruptive!)

The weather was nice at the start of the month, as the shot that leads off this post shows, but then we were surprised by more snow; not least Harvey's bike, which supposed it was safe to spend the night outside.

Of course, at some point in the period we had a baby. Zion wanted to sleep with him.

Baby in tow, we went to the Discovery Museum. Mama said more about that, but she missed a few Dada-Harvey exclusive moments.

And just today Harvey, Zion, and I took a bike ride to the creek, which was running high and cold. But oops, I forgot my camera. Here's what my phone recorded.

Zion got up and, better-mittened, stayed out on the ice until I convinced the boys it was time to head home for lunch. Can you believe it: a three-hour outing and only one small container of crackers for a snack?!

I promised them we'd go back later this winter when the ice is thicker and we can slide all the way across the pond. We're all looking forward to it.

Usually when they see water the boys jump right in, but here the boats were a potent distraction.

Harvey did great on his second time on a boat, and then also on his third, fourth, fifth... etc. I was glad to head out with him each time. Zion wasn't sure about being out on the water, but he loved the miracle of buoyancy, which let him push his big brother around.

Then it was on to the wedding itself, which was also outside.

It took some climbing to get up to the site of the ceremony, but the view at the top was worth it—as encouraging home-made signs along the way proclaimed.

Outside weddings are well suited to our children's temperaments. Harvey could get some private time when he needed.

Zion distracted himself by lying down and kicking his feet in the dirt. It was dry enough that the dust brushed right off.

The reception was back down the hill by the lodge. After a little acclimation (and a lot of hors d'oeuvres) Harvey jumped right into socializing.

Those two were well matched, and spent a happy hour carrying dirt, swinging sticks, and knocking each other down. But even new best friends were no competition for cousins.

After hours of partying we started to feel bad for Rascal and made an early exit, unfortunately before pie but just in time to get on the road to our hotel while there was still a bit of light.

Good thing because there's no cell reception up there so navigation was by paper map, and there were some wrong turns in the empty wild darkness before we found our way to refuge at the Best Western in Mt. Sunapee. Relative refuge, at least, because fireworks and a loud party—with bonfire!—right outside our window kept us mostly awake until about 1:30: in solidarity, it turns out, with the folks back at the wedding who similarly partied long into the night.

This prejudiced us against the place a little bit, but Harvey—who slept through all the commotion—was thrilled in the morning both by the big tv and the complimentary continental breakfast. I would have taken some more pictures but my camera ran out of batteries moments after the sunset shot above; and forgetting my charger meant that I couldn't document our second day of boating and lakeside relaxation, supplemented by a second breakfast-slash-lunch courtesy of the wedding establishment. It was all great fun, and it felt much longer than the 31 hours we were actually away from home.