lobstah in new england

we traveled up to boston/new hampshire last weekend to see all of our extended family, and especially for janie's cousin gabriella's baptism. we just kept feeding janie to keep her quiet and so the plane ride went way better than we ever could have imagined. she's a good little traveler, and i was pretty impressed with our ability to make it all the way there without forgetting anything too important. upon arriving in manchester we did realize that the wardrobe we had packed was not quite appropriate for the climate, but luckily there is someone for each of us to borrow clothes from up there.

janie got to meet her great grandparents, great aunts & uncles, and few great-great aunts & uncles (if there's such thing), cousins, friends and her dog-cousin, riley. here are a few photos of the meetings.

on friday night, 8 of us packed into the healey's sequoia and headed up to petey's in rye beach for clam strips, haddock, clam chowder, steamers and more. i rate janie's liking for things based upon her crying, so judging by her unusual silence the entire meal i'd say that she is a huge fan of new england seafood. here she is with uncle chris and auntie andrea, proof of what happens to your chins when you eat too much tartar sauce:

we went to gabriella's baptism at the church that we grew up in in massachusetts. it was exactly the same as always. same 55 people, same watered down kool-aid in the fellowship hall, same service order, even the same bibles that we circled letters in as kids when our parents weren't watching. there are lots of memories in that place and i was glad andy finally got to check it out, though i left thanking god for summit.

we concluded our trip with a stop for andy's favorite meal of all those he's had in the boston area - clam chowder and a lobster roll at atkinson cc. my theory on janie's feelings towards seafood held true, as you can see here.

of course janie couldn't leave the state without something to prove her new england blood, so gigi sent her home with a sweet little red sox onesie and a green monstah tee-shirt. she's ready for fenway this fall.

it was a great time despite the cold and rain. we're looking forward to another trip up north sometime in the near future. thanks to all of our great family for the baby gear, rides to and from the airport, beds to sleep in and especially for the 10 extra pounds we gained!

not so magical magic game

what were we thinking? bringing a 3 month old to a basketball game is a terrible idea. and an even worse idea is getting a ride home from a basketball game in a rickshaw-bicycle contraption with a 3 month old. since we think janie still has a fine sense of hearing and we all got home alive, i'd say it wasn't a total failure. we will remember janie's first magic game and that babies should always travel in car seats forever.

monica and brackston were kind enough to give us the less terrifying seats, with our backs to the traffic. that way we could just judge how much time we had left by the looks on their faces.

dinosaurs, dunes and dwight

i'm getting worse at this as time goes on. the weather has been gorgeous, which has meant tons of time outside, and very little on the computer. here's a quick update of what's been happening with us.

as you can see, we finally have a halfway decent family picture which has jazzed up our blog quite a bit. you can tell that we watched zoolander a lot while i was pregnant based on janie's facial expression.

janie, caroline and i took a trip to atlanta to see my folks a few weeks ago, but not before stopping at disney world. who knew that the turnpike exit came far before the disney ones?! it was a ton of fun, and janie was surprisingly well behaved for most of the car ride. we listened to raffi's bananaphone album on shuffle for approximately 16 hours of our round trip drive.

janie and i took a trip to dinosaur world to meet up with becky, david, and grammy. yes, the place that has a giant dinosaur under the billboard at about exit 17 on i4. if you've driven by the sign, you have seen it all. becky and i had been joking about going ever since we learned of our mutual love of the movie clifford. it was not at all like the dinosaur world in the movie, but i am glad to be able to say i've been.

we went to the beach on monday and it was probably the nicest day we've had all year. it was wonderful until it came time to fold up the special UV blocking baby tent, which according to andy is like trying to squeeze a blown up balloon into a coffee mug without popping it. after 45 minutes of wrestling with the thing, we ended up carrying the tent to the car and shoving it in the backseat in a half open/half squished form. needless to say, onlookers (possibly including myself) had a great laugh.

i have been feeling crafty, which has resulted in our kitchen sink being temporarily dyed purple, a few articles of clothing being transformed into a lovely shade of florescent yellow, and a constant pile of ribbon, fabric and paper on the dining room table.

the first time i visited summit was easter of 2005 and there were maybe a few hundred people meeting at winter park high school. it was the best easter service i had ever been to (with the exception of saddleback's sunrise service at john wayne equestrian arena, when a baby was born in the stands. i think they planned that). this easter sunday at summit was even better than that. almost 4200 people worshipped across three different venues and it was awesome.

tomorrow will mark a very memorable day in the history of janie. she will be attending her first magic game. i'm hoping if i dress her like stuff (he's the magic dragon, celtics fans) she will get some air time on the jumbotron. we will surely update you on that soon!

here's what janie thought about dinosaur world...

janie's first trip to alpharetta.

relaxed look on andy's face = pre-tent folding experience

auntie jody arrived to the easter party just in time to receive two fussy babies.