A few days back he said that he wanted to ride a boat while wearing a stripey shirt. Love the specificity.

And, you know what, dreams do come true.

Ewan was captivated. Heck, we all were.

With views like that, it was hard not to be.

A fine dream. A fine day. A fine adventure.

Thanks for the idea, buddy. What’s next?

I’m not entirely sure why it is that I love these photos so much. Perhaps it’s the green. The wide(ish) open spaces. The unfettered exploration.

The pictures do make me realize, though, that this boy, this big boy of ours, doesn’t get nearly enough time to run around in those types of spaces. So often he is constrained by streets, cars, sidewalks, bicycle seats, stroller chairs. Often his only chances to run freely come when we head to the playground. While that is good, and all, seeing him in this park and watching him run and explore the seemingly empty space, well, that shows me how much he was craving this sort of green as well.

Must do more this summer, luckily it is only the beginning.

Happy Solstice, friends.

A weekend in Michigan with good friends. Good friends who are, sadly, moving abroad. I’m just so glad that we had this chance; a few days to be together, talk together, share good food, and dig around in the sand. Ewan’s first trip to the beach will be memorable, moreso because of the company we kept while we were there.

There was a whole lot of walking about. Exploring stairs and looking around at nothing in particular.

Babe’s first protest. A passerby, not participant.

Boat loads of frozen yogurt. Three days in DC. Three different frozen yogurt shops. It was hot.

We discovered that farmers markets were the places to be. It was an easy (and cheap) way to get a delicious, nutritious and baby-friendly meal. We went to two.

We got an obligatory shot with the Capitol. A crappy, do-it-yourself shot. Ewan’s sleepy. We’re all hot and sweaty. And my head’s covering the dome. This is the stuff that family memories are made of.

We took many naps in fancy hotels. Without any chores to be done around the house, it was easy to lie down and have a little nap-along.

Lessons we learned:
-Eating at restaurants takes a long time. Several hours each day. Farmers Markets make getting and eating food fast and fun.
-It is boring in a hotel room when the babe is asleep by 8pm and all the lights are off. Thank goodness for streaming netflix and iphone games.
-Downtown DC doesn’t have any play parks. Next time, we must stay somewhere with a playground nearby.

Can’t wait for our next family adventure. There is a debate around here, midwestern vaca staying on a lake in a cabin and playing in the woods or an international trip, probably Ireland on a canal boat.

What do you all think? What would you do?

We are exploring DC as a fam which means that we are napping in fancy hotels, seeking out farmers markets for healthy breakfasts, and eating ridiculous quantities of frozen yogurt. (It’s hot here and the froyo is so good.)

Little man and I return tomorrow sans Papa. I’ll have some photos and stories to share.

loads of travel – busses, trains, planes, subways, taxis, and cars.

funny faces and loads of laughs.

a most excellent pizza.

an amazing place to stay.

beautiful walks on beautiful days, both winter and spring.

showing Ewan his first horse.

visiting play parks across Boston.

spotting my favorite color green.

and spending time with family, the reason for the visit.

A good weekend, indeed. Hope yours was as well.

This weekend was FULL. Full of everything that the past three weekends lacked. Full of outings. Full of quality family time. Full of life and full of health.

This is what we all truly needed. I am grateful.

It’s official, four-day weekends are awesome. Two four-day weekends in a row, well, we couldn’t ask for much more. This Monday is a bit bittersweet with the holidays behind us, Papa back at work for 5 days, and an awful cold spell hitting the city. We’ll manage, but I’m not sure how.

At that moment, the excitement and magic of a train ride through the city stopped and, unfortunately for my companions, the ranting began.

Really?! People think this way?! A company would actually use this as an advertisement?!

I was, and still am, outraged and working on what to do about it. I have thought about many responses and yet I can’t really come up with something suitable, something that will get through to the company, those viewing the sign, and will make me feel better, like I’ve done something.

Anyways, as we were headed out of town for the holidays, we passed by the same ad. They most have gotten some sort of response already because now, right next to the original we saw a few weeks ago, there is this one:

I guess the counterpoint is nice, but it seems so, disingenuous.

After all my early struggles with breastfeeding, and pushing through to make it work, I have found myself becoming quite passionate about a woman’s right to breastfeed and a baby’s right to nurse. I am continually frustrated by the culture in which we live and how it perceives and reacts to breastfeeding. This ad is just a single, poignant example of an unnecessary obstacle that mothers have to overcome when offering their babe the best nourishment available.

How can I, or we, help everyone else see it so clearly?