October 28th

Ada spent some time with her cousin's foal Izzy at the Vienna Va. Halloween Parade (in which Ty her cousin proudly showed off her training skills), it took Ada a few seconds to enjoy straddling the pony. 

I think it was the hat that closed the deal.

She had a great past couple of weeks... aside from the teething. As you can see: she teethed, read, played, took in some art, grew out of clothes, and learned how to drive an automatic.

I proudly picked up Ada's birth certificates down at vital records, and the Vespa odometer rolled to an even 1,000 right when I pulled up to the office, which struck me as memorable timing for such a small thing. I guess that's about 500 errands in it's life, mostly getting groceries 5 minutes before the store closed.

And on a non-Ada related note... the all-too-enjoyable two month long 'renovation' of PALOMA, our 1971 G30, is finally finished (sans a few small things). Here's a random picture of her shiny new topsides being carried back to the water. I'll miss the boat yard, but we're looking forward to getting under sail again.

Pumpkin Patch

I've been to a lot of pumpkin patches in my day,

done a lot of Jack-o-Lantern selecting,

done a lot of hay bale related things,

drank a lot of apple cider, and hunted the great pumpkin king all night,
done more pumpkin picking than a grown person should admit to, 

and I have to say- this was the best time yet.

Adachu had a good day.

She got a chance to pick a pumpkin, in the way a 5 month old does that. She rolled in hay, fell into a pile of stuffed animals a few times, and we all got to hang around fields on the Eastern Shore. We parents learned that if for some reason you forget to bring daipers, you can always buy the "huggies emergency pack" from a 7-11 somewhere on the road, and even if the emergency scented winnie the pooh diapers are a few sizes too big, they'll still work just fine.

D&C Visit

Ada's aunt and uncle visited a while back... Cristina took some beautiful pictures, here are two.

2nd Weekend of Oct

Second week of October in this area always means: sailboats, orchids, cider, and pumpkin patches. (among other things). 

Ada finding the National Arboretum's koi pond.

Ada's selection.

A beautiful show winner in the Fuukiran category this year, a Kinroukaku with leaves so yellow they look autumnal. The plantings were perfect.

And Ada had a chance to hang out at her cousins house, try out a few new toys and all.

First Food-ish Meal

Ada ate with a spoon for the first time the other day. 

She enjoyed it more than I ever could have imagined. 

Realizing that it's the first time this little person ate something in her life- 

she had so much fun eating 

what can I say... it made me too happy.

Cool weather & the Metro

Some random shots of Sept.

Just some pictures of Ada that were lying around, so I put them in a little collage. 

September was the rainiest September here in the mid-atlantic since the 1930's, we thought the sun would never shine again, but Ada rolled over for the first time, grew so much, and among it all there were a few other minor triumphs.