New Hampshire

Helena and I took Daniel to New Hampshire the week of February 6th-13th. It was Daniel's first plane ride and he did really well. I think he was scared during take-off, but during the ride he was fine. We flew into Boston from Akron and then rented a car to drive north to Jackson, NH, where Jessica and Chris live.




We were busy the whole time and I didn't take as many pictures as I should have. I'll try to get pictures from everyone else and add them as I can. Here we had gone for a short hike up the mountain behind Jess and Chris' cabin to see the view. Daniel was all bundled up, but he didn't seem to mind.


Back at the cabin, we had lunch together. We stayed with Jess, at the AMC Highland Center where Jessica works, with Chris' Mom and stepfather in Portland, ME, and with my parents at their new home in Bartlett, NH.


As a result, we spent a lot of time driving and Daniel started to protest when we put him in the car. Fortunately, we did the longest drives during his afternoon nap, so he was able to sleep.


We had several beautiful winter days with blue skies and amazing views of the Presidential Moutnains.


This is the Portland Headhouse in Portland, ME. It was Daniel's first trip to the ocean and he kept trying to say, "ocean". The fog horn was blowing, so it was a little loud with the crashing waves too. He enjoyed the commercial harbor with all the cargo ships, tug boats, ferries, and fire boats. On top of that, we saw several airplanes landing at the nearby Portland airport. A little boy's dream.



At L.L. Bean in Freeport, ME, they have several dioramas with stuffed animals. Daniel enjoyed the moose and black bear with Aunt Jess.


L.L. Bean also had an indoor aquarium with New England river species. Here, Aunt Jess showed him the trout from inside a bubble. This was quite amazing and Daniel took it all in with wondering.

We are recovering from all our travels this week. Poor Helena fell during the trip and fractured her elbow, but it is healing well and she will only be off work for 4-6 weeks the doctor says.

Potty Success!

We've been working on potty training since the first of January. We have a great movie with a song and lots of little kids learning to use the potty that Daniel loves to watch. It's called "Once Upon a Potty For Him".

This past week Daniel has been telling us when he went in his diaper. On Thursday he finally sat down long enough on his potty to relax and go potty!!!! An hour later he went again. I was over the moon, but he seemed to think it wasn't such a big deal. Almost as if he was saying, "Geez Mom, this isn't so hard. I can do it whenever I want." :) So we'll keep working on it and hopefully he will start going all by himself in a few weeks. Yeah!!!

Christmas and Wintertime Fun

Daniel helped make Christmas cookies. He really liked licking the spoon!


Christmas Day- His present from Mommy and Daddy


As first-time parents, we were introduced to the term "Some Assembly Required". Fortunately, Daniel liked helping us put it all together and even played with all the parts as we sorted through them.


An hour and a half later, we finally had it all together on Christmas morning. Daniel loves playing with his kitchen.


Standing in front of Grandpa and Grandma Holmes' tree on Christmas day.



On New Year's Eve Day we awoke to perfect snowman-making snow! So after breakfast we bundled up and headed out to make our first snowman and clean up the driveway. Daniel loves to pretend he's driving the snowblower everyday because it sits in the garage waiting for its next use. So, he was very excited to see it actually being used today.






Eating breakfast-He picks up his bowl at the end and drinks the milk out of it.



It's a crab! No, it's just Daniel showing off how he can put Mommy's gloves on his hands all by himself.



A recent sunny day, Rocky was sunbathing in the back room and Daniel jumped up to sit next to him. Rocky was probably glad when he didn't have to share the sun with anyone anymore.



Daddy and Daniel playing drums to a Waylon Jennings DVD.

Christmas Decorations

Daniel really loves the lights in the house and around town. During a recent Lowe's trip he enjoyed watching the blow-up outdoor decorations on display, especially the elves on a helicopter and Santa on a rocking horse.


We have two trees this year. Our little 3 ft artificial is decorated with shatterproof balls and bows just for Daniel. The big tree is a white pine this year with 4 strands of colored and white lights and primarily child-proof ornaments. He loves watching us turn on the lights and gives a big smile when they light up each time.

New Tricks

Daniel has figured out how to open drawers and use them as steps to get to things much higher. That has added a new level of childproofing.



Additionally, anything with a string or cord is super fun to pull around the house. This includes acceptable items like his grasshopper, but also things like my hairdryer and hand mixer. I'll be amazed if those last two items still work the next time I try to use them. Funny little guy.

Samuel's 1st Birthday

We traveled down to Centerville last weekend to celebrate Sam's first birthday and help David and Beth move into their new home. Daniel and Sam really enjoyed playing with each other and even seemed to talk back and forth at times. With the holidays coming we'll hopefully be able to get those two together more frequently.

New Chicken Pen

The girls insisted on visiting the neighbor's yard over the last few weeks and kept wandering further and further. So I finally got around to making their movable pen. When Mom and Dad were down over Halloween weekend, Dad helped me finish it up.

The girls seem to like it and it rolls well across the grass. Interestingly, ever since I started building the pen the girls never really strayed from the yard. They must have gotten the message!