Rainy Days

We’ve had rainy days lately so we’ve been busting out the play house Bryan’s mom made Norah. She loves tending to her indoor garden.

Cayuga Nature Center

Norah and I had a play date this past Wednesday with two of my former coworkers from IHS and their kids. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun.

This nature center has a six story tree house that was built in a community effort. It is super cool. I don’t think Norah is old enough to fully appreciate its awesomeness but we’ll be back when she is 3 for sure. We also enjoyed spotting butterflies and caterpillars in the butterfly house

Norah’s first Campout

Last weekend a friend of Bryan’s hosted a big party / campout on his property to celebrate his retirement from the Air Force, finishing his PhD and his daughter’s HS graduation. He lives way out in the countryside near Rome NY– as in there was no internet or cell phone service! It was a great party complete with a bbq, bonfire, bouncy house, swing set, trampoline, blueberry picking, swimming in a nearby creek and lots of kids and lots of dogs. Needless to say Norah had the time of her toddlerhood and declared “I like it camping!”

Norah LOVED this collie named Sadie May and even prompted us to include Sadie in our family prayers days later.A major diversion for the men was trying to set this tree on fire using strategic chain sawing and lots and lots of lighter fluid. The little girl pulling this wagon showered Norah with attention and made sure she had a good time

Farewell Lincoln

Norah’s very first friend, Lincoln, moved away from Ithaca at the end of July. Norah and I are still in denial that they are gone. Hillary and I were pregnant together and Norah was born exactly three months after Lincoln so she doesn’t know life without him. This blog is full of Lincoln and Norah pictures and it makes me very sad that the Era of Lincoln and Norah is coming to a close. Fortunately Lincoln’s family moved less than a half hour away from Bryan’s family so we will be able to visit them when we go down to Virginia.

Hillary took these endearing pictures of Lincoln and Norah together the night before they moved.

I loved what Hillary wrote on her blog about the evening and I can’t think of a better way to document this sweet memory so I’m going to repost her post here:

“Even though they didn’t understand that we were about to leave forever, Lincoln and Norah sure seemed like they were trying to make the most of their remaining time together. They spent about 30 minutes running toward each other with open arms (I wish it had been lighter so I could have gotten some action shots) and hugging tightly, only to release and repeat.”

Thank you Hillary, Jonathan and Lincoln for three years of great memories and Kodak moments! We will miss you.