Quechee Balloon Festival

Last weekend Heli and I took Noah & Suvi to the hot air balloon festival held in Quechee, VT.  We went on Saturday, but it rained and thundered so we didn't get to see the balloons make their ascent, so we went back the next night.  Sunday night was BEAUTIFUL.  In fact, it was so sunny and hot that we all got burned, eventhough we didn't get there until 5:30pm.  Noah and Suvi got to play and watch all of the other kids run around.  They are so cute b/c they really do seem to enjoy each others company.  At one point Suvi was feeding Noah her dinner of peas... it was very cute (I was a bit afraid that Noah was going to bite her fingers!).  Noah also enjoyed some of my ice cream in the heat.  Watching the balloons ascend was quite remarkable, this is an event we will try to attend next year too!

Busy Saturday

One of the great things about living in this area is there is always something going on.  Saturday I worked in the morning, then we set out with Noah.  Our first stop was the Lebanon Alumni Day festivities.  We walked up to the green and watched the parade and people, and ate cheeseburgers.  I then had to do some grocery shopping so we all went up to the Co-op for "dairy day".  This was actually pretty interesting... tons of local farms and businesses that sell any and all types of dairy products sold at the Co-op were there.  Had we known this we wouldn't have had lunch... we had everything from ice cream (3 different companies) to root beer floats, to cheese and yogurt.  The picture with Noah is him with the water buffalo from the company that makes great water buffalo milk yogurt and mozzarella cheese (we usually buy from them at the Lebanon farmers market).  We went home after this for Noah to have his afternoon nap, then Heli and I took the kids to the Quechee hot air balloon festival in the evening.  It was rainy/thunderstorms, so the balloons didn't ascend... maybe Sunday will have better weather.

Blankie

Noah has finally chosen a "blankie".  I wasn't quite sure this would ever happen since he has a clear preference for his shirt sleeves or other article of clothing while he sucks his thumb... who knows, maybe this warm weather and lack of clothes has pushed him to choose something else.  This morning, after he had gotten out of his crib I was doing some laundry, he went over to his crib and pulled this blanket out, which was not the closest one to the edge.  I turned around to see him standing, holding his blanket, and sucking his thumb. He then took off into the kitchen and living room with it... we'll see where this leads:)  

New Things

Noah is rapidly starting to put things together, it is so neat to watch him try to process things and figure them out.  He no longer is content to sit in front of the cupboards and play with the pots and pans.  Instead, he will take them all out, and bring them to me one by one to put up on the stove.  At first I thought he was just giving them to me, but he got very angry when I wouldn't put the pots on the stove.  I finally figured it out when he continually would point and make the sign for "hot" all the while trying to lift the heavy pan up onto the stove himself (thankfully he is not an inch taller!).  Needless to say at any point now we have several pots and pans piled on the burners of the stove...  Two nights ago when it was really hot and muggy here I had hung some of Noah's clothes out to dry (the washer/dryer are in his room and it was way too hot!), so before his bath I let him run around on the porch naked while I folded his clothes.  He found his little ball and started kicking and chasing it all by himself.  He knows not to go by the grill, so when the ball went near it he would stop and point, I would pick it up for him and when I tried to hand it to him he wouldn't take it until I put it on the floor for him to kick.  This was so interesting to watch since I am not sure if Gabe or I have ever really showed him kicking.  I initially thought that he was just bending down to pick up the ball and would miss, but he was purposefully kicking it (or to be more accurate, hitting the ball with his foot)... soccer player???

Dessert!

After a long hard day of playing in the 90 degree heat we walked to the "Dairy Twirl" for an ice cream after supper. The ice cream melted faster than Noah could eat it, needless to say, Noah road back home in the stroller in just his froggie diaper:)

Hot, Hot, Hot... Our Trip to the Montshire!

Noah loves watching the turtles and fish at the Montshire (the local science museum)... He was  able to stand on the stools this time without falling off and hitting his head (it only happened once:)).  He laughed very hard when his dad would blow the bubbles for him to pop!

These are pics from the water exhibit at the Montshire.  The part kids are allowed to wade in is set up in a cascading stream.  Noah was fine being in his own section... he spent a lot of time watching the other kids from the comfort of our laps:)  Being that is was 90 degrees on Saturday, this was a popular spot.  We had some great pictures of Noah here, but the kid in the top picture in the blue swim suit was wearing his shorts a bit too low when he bent down...

We found this great spot that was free of other kids for long enough for Noah to claim a spout and get wet.  He loves to play in the cold running/spraying water... he also is a big fan of his dad's sunglasses...

Back in the nice cool air conditioning, the ball exhibit was a huge hit.  Noah easily picked up a push shovel and started moving the balls around after just one demonstration by his dad, to which we didn't even think he was watching.

Jo Mary Picnic

Noah was playing with his cousin Maria and his truck inside the A-frame while the bugs were terrible outside, this was, of course, followed by a huge thunderstorm...