Raised in the Woods: Summer Adventures

On Monday night, we returned from a six-day excursion to the East Coast. Our good friends have a summer home in Cape Cod, and they graciously invited us to join them. So join we did, and had a wonderful time exploring the Atlantic seaside, clapboard houses and pastoral valleys of New England.

Carter was a pro on his first long flight (almost six hours!), taking two naps on the way there and (drumroll...) sleeping 4.5 hours on the way back! Hallelujah!
We dragged that poor kid around city after city in 90+ degree weather, through humidity so stifling that a bottle of breastmilk (packed on ICE, mind you) curdled within 45 minutes of stepping outside our Boston hotel room, and through it all he was simply a joy.

Nevermind the fact that he was teething (two more top teeth comin' on down) and therefore refusing food (his major teething MO), which of course drives me fairly mad, as each time I am irrationally certain he's going to starve. Or the fact that he's only reliably breastfeeding at bedtime and morning, when he's too groggy with sleep to be distracted by the BRIGHT SHINY WORLD all around him, so that I had to schlep my Medela around the highways and biways of New England, pumping every four hours and bottle-feeding, then packing it on ice and crossing my fingers that it would stay fresh in our travels. Nevermind the fact that traveling with an infant involves a small army of crap shoved into every spare pocket of an overstuffed suitcase, hoping for the best but being prepared for the worst, and that "relaxing" and "carefree" are no longer words that can really apply to vacations.

Regardless, we had a blast. A hot, exhausted, delirious, wonderful blast.
And in two days we're off again, up to see Grandma and Grandpa and to celebrate Auntie Erica and his new friend, due in September.

At the ocean with Daddy (he was not a fan):

...and the pond with Mommy (he's a BIG fan):

Hmm...what is that delicious-looking stuff in the water?

Happy boy:

Exploring Boston's Newbury Street with Daddy:

Fun in Boston's Public Garden, birthplace of "Make Way for Ducklings":

Great white pigeon hunter:

On the move:

Making mischief in the hotel room:

Meeting Auntie Anna - and, more excitingly, MR. BIV (upon seeing said feline, he pointed and calmly pronounced "CAT." Then he did it again. And again. HUH?? He has never met a cat in his life - who taught my child this??: