Finally Some Fall Pictures

I am so behind on photo processing. So many things happened lately, I didn't even have a second for myself. Now everything back to normal, I am finally catching up. About two weeks ago, when little caterpillar was sick (pneumonia) and staying home with me, I took her out to the yard for some fresh air. Of course when she was not having fever. She has been sick a lot this fall, so we cancelled our foliage trip. So, when fall came to my own backyard, I just have to take some pictures of my little girl with all that wonderful colors.
We had such a great time. But I noticed it's getting harder and harder to get good pictures of her. She either runs right into the camera, or runs around so fast, or fake a smile for mommy.
The poor thing was still quite sick, within half an hour, she was exhausted. Couple of minutes lying in sofa watching cartoon, she fell asleep. My poor baby. Thank goodness she is much better now. No more fever, coughing or even running nose.

Topsfield Fair, Part I

We took little caterpillar to the famous Topsfield Fair last Sun. My friend told me about it when we were discussing fall activities for kids. There are tons of information on their website. You want to get there early as the traffic and parking will get pretty bad around lunch time. There are so many wonderful activities for all ages, so read their website for the daily schedules and announcements. Oh, if you buy the tickets online, it only takes them a couple of days to send it to your home. The ride tickets from online are 11 for $20, and each tickets good for any one ride. The ones you get at the fair are $1.25 each (I think), but you need 3-5 tickets to get on most of the rides, so it's actually way more expensive. You also can buy food tickets online as well. We didn't, because Stubborn had other plans.

Anyway, we got there right after 10Am (opening time), parked near the entrance, very convenient. And just beyond the entrance are those kiddie rides (36"-42"), perfect for little caterpillar. She went on one after another, very excited. Oh, some rides are too small for daddy to tag along, but they do have seatbelts or ropes to protect kids, and they were slow, so no problem at all. Here are just some of the pictures I took at the kiddie rides area. The rest of the pictures have to be processed and posted later, since our little girl got sick after we came home from the fair, and we have been too busy taking care of her.

Here is my girl on her favorite ride, the merry-go-round. She actually insisted to ride this one and the bigger one several times.

This little train was so cute. There was the engine, two open carts and one bigger closed cart at the end. But all kids want to ride in the engine cart, hence the crowded view. Little caterpillar was a little uncomfortable having other kids sitting so close, and it was her first train ride, so she looked very concerned, no smile for mommy, nor those excited "choo choo" other kids were making.

Then she went on the little elephant ride. I didn't think it was dumbo ride since they all had normal size ears. Nonetheless, she was having so much fun as the elephants flew around and around, up and down. But not enough fun for her to request another ride though.

Then daddy took her aboard the crazy bus. Guess she felt much safer having daddy sitting next to her and holding her, she actually looked around for mommy and waved. Yay!

Then it's her turn to ride the cute cars. She was in the front of the line, so daddy got to pick any car she liked. Of course, a pink floral car! It was so funny she drove with only left hand on the wheel, just as her daddy and mommy.

After these rides, we went to see the animals. There were so many other exciting places there, you just have to wait till I post the pictures later. Or, if you live in MA or NH or ME area, you should just go there and see for yourself. Oh, did I mention they also have elephant and camel ride? Amazing!

Farm Pictures Comparison

Just processed some pictures from our apple picking trip, so here are some comparison of same activities from last year and this year. Sorry I still cannot show you her face. But you get the idea, how much she has grown during this past year. Oh, the weather this time is much warmer than last year, but they are taken around the same time, I promise.

Here is my baby sitting on a big pumpkin. Yeah, she totally faked that smile for mommy!

She got mobbed by the goats again and again.

She loved feeding the big animals with daddy, especially the llama and cow.

She enjoyed picking apples, especially this year she is old enough to enjoy eatting it.

This is how she looked on daddy's shoulder. Still so sweet!

There are so many cute pictures, they will be posted on my flickr soon.

Hayride Accident

Some of you in MA or NH area might already seen this on the news, there was a hayride accident at Applecrest Farm, Hampton Falls, NH. When Stubborn called me yesterday about it, I was totally shocked. We were there that day, and Stubborn and little caterpillar took that ride just 2 hours before the accident. I couldn't get the horrible question out of my mind, "What if they were on that ride?" We were both in denial, those horses looked so nice and calm, what on earth spooked them? You can read more about the accident here on the news. They say the woman who got seriously injuryed saved lots of people. I kept thinking I might talked to her while waiting for Stubborn and little caterpillar's wagon to come back. There were two ladies there, and they were both very nice. So sad. I truely wish she can get well soon.

We have been to that farm twice so far, and we love it. Last year, little caterpillar was just one, and didn't know any fear, so she enjoyed feeding the animals with daddy. This year though, she got so scared and cried so hard every time daddy put her down. Oh, they were in the fence with the animals, not outside. Those goats were bigger than her! Some of them were very aggressive! One of them was so aggressive, in order to get to the little cup of food in Stubborn's hand, he/she used my baby as stepping stone! He put his hoof on my baby's shoulder or head, then climbed up on my husband's chest! Totally stood up! I was in shock and outside the fence, didn't notice where it hit my girl, but she was crying so hard, telling us the goat poked her left eye! I checked closely, there was no damage, but she must got so traumatized. Even the next day, whenever we mentioned goat, she would poke her own left eye and cry. So, it's safe to say that she won't get anywhere near those goats anytime soon. We never thought goats or sheep can be this dangerous! Next time, we have to protect her more, maybe just feeding them from outside of the fence.

We really enjoyed apple picking this time. Last year, she did pick some apples, but she didn't even know what they were. Now she's old enough to pick her own apple, and enjoyed eatting them in the orchard. She accidentally dropped her apple on the tractor ride back, almost cried. Overall, our applepicking experience was great. The weather was great, much warmer than last year. Once I processed the pictures, I will show you some comparisons.

Have you gone apple picking this year? What's you experience with petting zoo? Do you think hayride is safe in general?

It's Fun To Be Sick

for our lucky little girl. That's because daddy loves her so much and took several days off staying home with her, and took her to lots of fun places! Well, Stubborn always tries his best to entertain our girl with different kind of activities. Sometimes I joke it's because he doesn't know how to entertain her at home, with some simple toys and games. Nonetheless, I am glad he always pushes us, especially me, to go out and find some new place to explore. If it's up to me, I rather stay home with little caterpillar, play her favorite games, read some books, while I multitask and get all the chores done. Maybe I am just too lazy, or maybe men never worry about how and when the laundry is done. Anyway, since Stubborn has more vacation days than I do (I always ran out for whatever reason), he normally is the one taking our girl to doctor appointments, staying home when she was sick, and he is also the one dropping her off and picking her up everyday! I know, I am a lucky woman, that my hubby is a terrific daddy. Even though I don't say it out loud often, I do appreciate his love and effort.

So during last week, when little caterpillar had just a little bit coughing and runny nose, they had so much fun together, besides swimming at YMCA every afternoon. He took her to nearby Stone Zoo last Wed. They didn't see many large animals, but she still had fun touching the skulls,
riding whatever it was,
and spent some wiggly time in a big net.

Then they went to Boston harbor on Friday.


Visited New England Aquarium. We have a membership, and it has been very convenient. She got to watch the giant fish and sea turtle at the big tank,
touch the baby ray and shark,
and had so much fun watching the seals.

When he called me at work around lunch time telling me that he was going to take her on a whale watch, I panicked. Well, she was still sick, if Stubbron sat on deck with her the whole trip, she might get pneumonia. So, I quickly finished lunch, took the rest of the day off, ran out of office, hoping I could get to the harbor in time. Lucky for me, I didn't wait too long for the bus, then subway, and got there 30 minutes before the departure time.
Once we left the harbor, we both really glad that I made it. At beginning, everyone was having fun,
especially the kids, running around the deck in the strong wind. Even little caterpillar loved it. But as you can see, she cannot really stand still without daddy's strong support.
It was so windy, the boat ride was very very uncomfortable. Even though I don't have motion sickness, the wind, speed and 3ft waves made me very nauseated. I had to focus my eyes on the horizon, so I wouldn't end up like the half of the passengers, throwing up in bags and collapsed in their seats. Stubborn has motion sickness, he had to stay in the back, and threw up a couple of times. Even though little caterpillar kept telling me she was not afraid, her legs were shaking everytime the boat bounced. And as I expected she fell asleep pretty soon, just like the five times she was on a airplane, she fell asleep before the plane approaching the destination and landing. I guess this is her defense machanism. Lucky she woke up when we arrived the whale feeding area. And got to see the two young humpback whales. First we spotted the spout, just a burst of water in the air. Then one of them flipped his tail! Amazing!Too bad they were feeding, not playing, so we didn't get to see any jump. But still, that was quite amazing to see them in their natural environment. And besides, where else can you see a big whale in person? They don't have the big ones in aquariums, not even Sea World. The ride back was way more comfortable because the wind died down. We also got to see a couple of lighthouses out in the ocean.

So far, little caterpillar is still coughing, no fever or pneumonia. Kids are so different than us adults. When we get sick, we just rest and hope it will over soon. But kids, as long as they still have some energy left, they will keep running and playing. Guess they don't have to worry about going back to work soon. Hope she will remember these fun sick days when she grows up.

Perfect Weekend

OK, did you had enough of negativity on my blog lately? I sure did. This past weekend was the perfect chance to bring some happiness back to our life.

First thing first, you got to go thrifting on a warm sunny Sat! Am I right? I saw a couple of postings on Craig's list last week about this yardsale, or should we say items there were going to be at this yardsale. We have been thinking about getting a jogging stroller, so Stubborn can take little caterpillar out running more often, so he will get more exercise and she will have more fresh air. Of course, that means some quiet time for me to cook or clean. Well, it's not that we couldn't afford a new jogging stroller, it's just we really don't know how often we are going to use it, and whether little caterpillar will like it or not. So, we decided to thrift one first. Ta-Dah! Isn't it great? Another angle. Oh yeah, the deck floor I refinished last year still holding up really well. And see my new deck gate in action?

OK, enough with the stroller, there are more to that story, I will tell you all about that another time. Well, Stubborn heard about this sand sculpture event at Revere Beach, and we decide to take this "new" stroller for a test run. Yeah, I washed it already, so we packed a wet stroller in the trunk with all our other beach stuffs. Didn't have enough space for all 3 beach chairs, so we decided to take none! A beach hut, big beach towel should be plenty. Oh, we were so happy we went there. Those sand sculptures are amazing, and those artists (from all over the country) are just so talented. See more pictures at my flickr.

And there were live music
mary go round
and lots of playing in the water
and again,
and again!
Hope you had a wonderful weekend as well. I am working on multiple projects at the same time, will share them with you as soon as they are done.