a little yard work

Maren loves to help dad in the yard. Mostly, she loves to watch him mow the lawn - and, thanks to a wonderful gift from Aunt Brenda and Uncle Bob, now she can mow the lawn herself! (Not to mention the living room, hallway, bedroom, and kitchen, all of which have been freshly trimmed this morning.)

maren goes to holden

Last week, we spent some wonderful time at Holden Village. Maren in particular loved being outside ("aaahtside! AAHTSIDE!") as often as possible, which was generally how we spent the bulk of each day since the weather was fortunately beautiful.

She was a big fan of her first ice cream. Not such a big fan of Indian chicken, cod with capers, or the bacon cheeseburger (yes, you read that correctly, we had cheeseburgers at Holden) (for the fourth of July), but luckily, she survived quite happily on numerous bowls of corn flakes with milk.

She fell in love with Emma, a little girl a few months younger than Maren. Maren spent much of the week chasing 1.) squirrels, 2.) chipmunks, and 3.) poor unsuspecting Emma. Her parents were very good sports about this.

She learned to say some key Holden words: bell, boat, beep (what the boat says), squirrel (or something like it), and within 24 hours could point to the Dining Hall when she wanted "nummies." Every night, she was a ball of dirt, with a few scratches on her knees ("owies"), but none the worse for wear. Her sleeping patterns were...well, she slept. Sort of. Mostly. We'll get over it.

All in all, a fantastic week at one of the best places on earth.

Okay, so the whole boat idea wasn't a big hit at first. But she loved it. Trust us.

She even got to help drive the boat.

First bus ride = first bus nap.

Watching the percussion band practice for the 4th of July parade.

Mmmmm...Holden bread.

Watching the Holden Fire Brigade show off their skills.

One of the week's favorite pastimes: making Daddy nervous.

Bye-bye, Village!

Might as well sleep on the way down, too.