Natalie’s Blog

We were lucky to have sunny weather almost the whole time we were camping. On the one day it rained, we took the opportunity to visit the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, MA. When we arrived, it was pouring rain and we got all wet. We left the galleries to discover the sun had returned. Natalie enjoyed looking at all the art, and was only frustrated at times when she couldn’t touch it. She and I took a nap on a big bean-bag chair in a Jenny Holzer exhibit.

As parents, we don’t want our personal dislikes to limit the things that Natalie experiences. So, parenting has really encouraged Chris and I to do things outside of our comfort zones. On our camping trip, Chris took Natalie swimming in the cool lake water—something he normally hates to do. And I played with Natalie in the sand, the texture of which kind of disgusts me.

As you can see from these picture, Natalie loved spending time at the lake while we were camping, even with the cool water and gritty sand!

Natalie and David are at an age that makes picture taking pretty difficult. For most of the trip, they were much too busy running around the camp site to capture a photo of them together. But on the last day, I caught some of them coloring together in this amazing light.

And I couldn’t resist pulling out these pictures of the “driving cousins” from last summer for comparison’s sake!

Look how much they’ve grown and changed in a year’s time:

Natalie is a natural camper! We had a wonderful time enjoying the great outdoors at the DAR State Forest in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. We had great weather and Natalie had a blast being outside all the time. Some photo highlights…
Natalie relaxing in her very own camp chair:

Generally being cute:

Eating a whole tomato like an apple:

Sleeping in Daddy’s arms:

Playing with hammocks:

Making funny faces in the woods:

Hanging out with Aunt Katy:

Saying “Good Morning Newts!” every day:

Chris & Katy enjoyed organizing the camp kitchen:

And Natalie loved standing on tree trunks pretending the be The Lorax:

We took Natalie to the Blueberry Festival at Terhune Orchards, where she enjoyed her first puppet show. I wasn’t sure how much she would like it, considering we were pretty far from the outdoor stage. Despite all the possible distractions, Natalie was mesmerized by the show! She especially liked the cow puppet, as you can see in this video:

Natalie’s First Puppet Show from nataliecaroline on Vimeo.

Natalie and David also got to meet cousin Michael’s bearded dragon, Rex!

After discovering that Rex liked to eat clover flowers, Natalie got to feed him:

Grandma figured out why Natalie liked that picture of Skinner so much…It’s because he reminds her of her favorite “pizza man”….

We celebrated Natalie’s half-birthday and our 5-year anniversary by going to the Aquarium!

We bought this harness for Natalie a couple of months ago, but this is the first time we’ve used it. It was great! Natalie was free to run around through the crowd and we could relax without having to keep our eyes on her at all times. Plus she really liked wearing a backpack like Mom and Dad do.

We spent Memorial Day weekend in the Poconos with the Schantz family. Natalie (despite her illness) and Clara had a great time running around together. And the adults got to relax a bit. All in all, a very nice trip!

Here’s Natalie snoozing on my lap, lakeside:

Lovely blue skies:

Dave, Diane, and Clara canoeing:

Clara playing by the lake while Natalie slept:

Chris reading the girls a story:

Clara asleep in the ergo: