Here's the Brooke update as promised. Tonight we went to the Holy Grail with Grammy and Grumpet and Brooke really seemed to like the place. We did too, it was a neat place and the food was very good. Brooke loved the french fries and pickles. Unfortunately we also found out today that she is still highly allergic to milk. She was a 59 on a 100 point scale for the reaction and was also mildly (4/100) allergic to peanuts and just a trace to tree nuts. She can still grow out of it but for now it looks like no ice cream sundaes with peanuts on top.

Other than that there's no big news. She's as happy as ever, loves making friends with waitresses when we're out to dinner and spends her time playing with all her new toys from her birthday and playing at playgrounds. She is also a natural climber on the stairs, she bolts for them and tries to get up before we can catch her. We'll be getting a gate this weekend but for now we let her go and just stay right behind her since she's having so much fun with it. Well that's the update. For pictures of all this click here and be sure to check back with us soon.

Franconia Ridge on Memorial Day

Memorial Day was early this year. Saturday and Sunday I went golfing and Monday Jen and I went hiking with Danny and Krystyna. We were planning on going with Brooke until we received the wrong bug net for the backpack. They sent us the one for a stroller by mistake and since we didn't know if it was buggy or not we decided to leave her with Bapcia (Jen's Mom) for the day while we went hiking. It worked out for the best since the winds above treeline were steady at 30-50 mph and gusting to 70. We would have had to turn around at treeline with her but without her we pushed on across a 2 mile section of the Franconia Ridge trail. It wasn't that cold, maybe 50 degrees or so, but the winds were strong. At least they kept the bugs away. They probably blew right over Maine and out to sea.

Other than the wind it was a beautiful mostly sunny day. I don't know where all the people were this weekend, maybe the wind kept them away but we had a great time, well Jen and I did, and hopefully they did too. It was Jen's biggest hike since having Brooke a year ago and it was Danny's first big hike ever. I know Krystyna had a cold/cough to start the day with and some nice blisters on her ankles to finish it with. She'll probably be lucky if she doesn't end up with pneumonia from that weather but if she lives maybe she enjoyed it enough to go again sometime. Everyone did well despite all that and we made the 9 mile trip in about 8 hours including breaks. We're always looking for company but seldom find it so if anyone ever wants to go let me know (I'm still waiting for my first response to this standing offer) and if you want to see a bunch of pictures from this trip click here and enjoy.

If you wanted pictures of Brooke they're comming but we're tired from the hike and this set took a while so there will be some of her in the next day or two. Check back soon. For now we're off to bed for an early night. Thanks for checking in.

The big 3-2

Well there was no avoiding it, Thursday I turned the big 3-2. It was a pretty low key day. I opened a few presents after work including a beautiful finger painting Brooke made all by herself. My actual party was Saturday night at my parents where I stuffed myself on 4 lobsters. After that there were cards, cake and ice cream. Brooke is growing up more every day. She can stand and understands lots of what we say now. She's also getting more of her front teeth. They're not in all the way yet so fer now she looks like she had a go with Mike Tyson but she no longer just has fangs so we're headed in the right direction. There's some pictures of all that stuff and a little more here if you want to see it and you can click the picture above for a close up of her smile too.

The lilac competition is heating up! My Uncle Dan says its no use, he's already taken the winning pictures but I'm still trying. I'm still on the look out for the perfect picture so if you see any out there let me know soon before they die off. I've had some great suggestions already and so far (click) these are the best I think I have taken but like I said I'm still on the look out, especially now that it's finally stopped raining around here.

And speaking of rain this Sunday following the tail end of a rain storm Ryan, Kristy and I set out to hike Killington and Pico Peak in Vermont. Killington is the second highest mountain in the state and second to last on out list of Vermont 4000 footers. Pico is on the North East 100 highest so we took a long (12.6 miles) but fairly easy hike up both of those mountains on Sunday. As usual the sun they predicted for the afternoon was very limited and it was quite windy and cold. There was even a stray icicle hanging on to a tree near the top. The trail however was very photogenic so there's a lot of pictures. It wasn't much for views but it was covered in wild flowers and lush green vegetation of all kinds. It looked like a rain forest most of the way. If you want to see a bunch of pictures from the hike click the picture or click here.

That's all for now, thanks for checking in.

Mothers Day and More

Not a whole lot going on around here this year for Mothers Day. While much of the family was up in Maine at Allison's graduation Jen was working most of the day so Brooke and I hung out until she got home. I taught her to give Jen the gifts, then we did some quick visiting and that was that but happy Mother's day to all the mothers out there. There's a few pictures from the day and the last couple days here if you like.Apparently there's a NH state lilac photo contest every year and they give away some nice prizes. I know there's a few other people in the family who enjoy photography so here's the information if you want to enter some pictures. Even if you don't want to I usually don't like to do this type of stuff but I told Jen's brother I'd at least try so if you know where there are any particularly good lilac scenes or bushes feel free to let me know before they're gone.
And last my mother told me the shuttle would be visible tonight so I went out at 9:15 and checked it out. Then Jen and I went out to see it again at 10:53. It was pretty neat to see this thing that is 250 miles up moving at 20,000 miles an hour just slide across the sky like a slow moving shooting star. I wasn't sure what to expect so by the time I saw it coming and set up the picture was kind of hurried and came out lousy, but it's a picture from the back yard if you missed it. It's going by again a few times in the next few nights so if you want to see it for yourself here's a schedule of when and where you can do that.

Brooke's 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday to our baby girl! It seems like it was just yesterday that we were getting everything ready for her arrival and now she's a year old. Sometimes I thin the time really flew by, other times I think of all the things we've done in the last year and it doesn't seem quite so fast. Either way it's been a year now and Friday night was her first big bash. Lot's of people family, friends and presents showed up and she enjoyed them all. There's plenty of pictures from her birthday party so thank you to everyone who showed up , sent cards and presents etc and made it a wonderful night for her. Now if you want to go to the latest pictures click away.