Happy Halloween!!!

We took Henry out for his first Trick-or-Treating experience this evening. He didn't quite get it (when people asked if he wanted candy he would yell "NO" and run), but he had a grand time running full tilt down the sidewalk and watching some of the other trick-or-treaters. We are guessing next year he will understand the process a bit more, but for now Mike and I are enjoying the fruits of his trick-or-treating labors.

The fabulous jack-o-lantern I carved:




Henry and Mike trick-or-treating:





Henry discovering that the true joy of Halloween is running as fast as he can down the sidewalk:

Henry is 18 months old!

Henry is 18 months old today!!!

Here is a picture of him on this day last year:





And here are some pictures of him from today:








To celebrate the milestone, Henry started saying a new word ("washing", while he washes his hands - too cute) and had a truly insane, ear splitting, ridiculous, seemingly never-ending temper tantrum. Full on, on the ground, kicking, screaming, and writhing.

So, what did mom do? Yes - I took pictures:







At one point, a couple walking by stopped and stared for a few minutes - seemingly unable to believe they were witnessing the event of full on screaming toddler and photo taking mom. This is further evidence of me being the BEST MOM EVER! :)

What was the tantrum over, you ask? We had arrived at the Children's Museum 10 minutes before it opened, so he was unable to open the automatic doors like he wanted. It is TOUGH being 18 months old!

Words

So, Henry has reached that age where it seems like he picks up a new word every day. Just yesterday at the park he said what I *think* was his first phrase - "eat crackers". I have no idea where he got this from since he almost never eats crackers, but that's OK.

Most of what he says is still semi-garbled "neanderthal speak" (let's just say not every word is crystal clear), but it is fun to hear all the the things he is picking up. It also makes us more cognizant of what we say around him - you never know what he will repeat!

Some of his most common words:

- "Up" and "down" (used ALL DAY - he also says "UP" as his words for "tree" and "squirrel")

- "cookies" (spoken in a highly amusing, guttural way and used as his word for all food)

- "Mommy" and "Daddy" (not always used correctly, and he occasionally likes to call strangers daddy)

- "Ball"

- "Book"

- "Woof Woof" (used for all Dogs) and "Doggie" (used for all other animals)

Kennebunkport

This past weekend Mike and I were lucky enough to have Nana Gayle and Papa Mark come into town to watch Henry so the two of us could get away. We took full advantage of the situation and spent the weekend in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Kennebunkport was (as always) beautiful. We had great weather - cool, crisp, and sunny. We enjoyed the foliage:



And views:



We stayed at a fabulous local inn:



that had a frighteningly tall bed (anything requiring 3 stairs to get on it makes me afraid of rolling off in the middle of the night):



On Saturday night Mike and I celebrated my birthday by having dinner at the White Barn Inn: http://www.whitebarninn.com - a truly phenomenal restaurant that did not disappoint in any way.



(I think we both look a tad giddy/flushed since this was post wine pairings and cheese platter. YUMMY)

Thanks to Gayle and Mark for watching the little guy - he had a great time - and thanks to Mike for the great birthday weekend away!

Vermont

It has become a Columbus Day Weekend tradition for a group of William Smithers (and significant others) to go to Vermont for our "Fall Festivus" celebration. Apple picking, corn mazes, board games, outlet shopping, lots of baked goods, and bad movie watching are all included.

This year was our 7th annual Fall Festivus - in addition to the Powells we had Beth, Jess, Rene, her husband Kurt, their ridiculously cute son Luke, Amy (honorary William Smither), and her boyfriend Mike. With us in spirit and thought of often were Erin and Roy (we have 3 spaces reserved for you next year!!!) We rented a house in Plymouth, Vermont and thoroughly enjoyed the views:



We returned to one of our favorite orchards where Henry got to meet some farm animals:



And pick some apples:



This is also where Beth had a truly hilarious hysterical laughing fit in the haunted house and was mocked by several young children. :)

Naturally, a Powell beehive cake was made for the occassion:



We had some great meals, a few massive games of Uno, a nice day trip to Woodstock, and Mike, Henry and I had a banner day at the Manchester outlets. Thank you so much to everyone that made it - it is always one of our favorite weekends of the year and is so much fun to catch up with old and dear friends. I miss you guys already!

Fall Weekend

Autumn has come to Massachusetts - it is crisp, it is cold (we had to turn our heat on this morning!), leaves are changing, and hot cider is being sold. I love it!



To fully enjoy our favorite season, we were out and about this weekend. On Saturday we took Henry to the Topsfield Fair - the country's oldest agricultural fair.



In addition to the usual Fairway rides and games, Henry got to have fun in a petting zoo, see an elephant (random), giant flower displays, and lots of livestock.

We saw the largest ox EVER (and yes, I have seen my fair share of oxen):




And were led to wonder if these sheep were newly shorn and being kept warm, or if they were being prepped for execution:




Henry had a great time looking at the animals, but had a bout of near hysteria since there were so many balloons everywhere. Henry is OBSESSED with balloons, and his inability to have each and every one was a very sad thing for him (as a side note - his obsession with balloons is clear when you see him reading "Good Night Moon". He madly flips the pages until he sees the pictures with the red balloon, jabs his finger firmly at it and yells "this, this!!!", and once you say "yes, it is a balloon!", he then madly flips to the next page with a balloon on it. This is repeated maybe 50 times in a row until he grows tired of it - don't even bother attempting to READ the book to him.)



Today we took him back to the "Battle Road" that runs through Lexington and Concord. He had a great time running along the road and examining flowers (flowers come a close second to balloons in Henry's mind - every time a flower is seen he yells "fla, fla!" and does not stop until you respond that yes, you see the flower and then name the color for him.) The foliage is not at its peak yet, so we are going to need to return and do this walk again in a few weeks to hopefully repeat some of the great pictures we got last year (please see the top left of your screen for evidence...)



Next weekend is our annual Fall Festival extravaganza in Vermont - we can't wait!

Mr. Cutie