While I know that it has been quite some time since the last post, I thought it fitting to share another video of the little darling. She sure does love putting on all her gear to go out in the rain
I have some more footage to edit from her first trip to the zoo, but that will have to wait until summer vacation. The last couple of months have been a bit intense at school, a lot going on at the same time. Fortunately we’re in the home stretch.
So Autumn departed with haste as Winter chased her away a couple of days early. Within the last couple of weeks New England has taken a weather beating, to be sure.
Just over a week ago the worst ice storm in years ravaged central Massachusetts with vengeance, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, ours included. Ali and I routinely awoke during the night of the storm to the sound of snapping tree limbs. It wasn’t until daylight that we could truly see the devastation. Our neighborhood looked as though it had been hit by a hurricane. While what trees that were left standing were beautiful, it was a dangerous beauty. As limbs continued to fall most of the morning, smashing into whatever lay in their way, most our cul-de-sac was plunged into the powerless.
No electricity and no heat resulted in our having to pack up the baby and vacate, seeking safe harbor at the in-laws for a spell, but not before our basement filled with five inches of seeping water. With no functioning sump pump, there was little we could do. Fortunately, we didn’t lose much. We were pretty well prepared to battle the occasional water in the basement. It has never been as bad as that, however.
Less than week later, while many in the area are still without power, the first major snow storm struck, and it had a mean streak. The snow arrived on Friday afternoon around 2:00PM and did not leave until 6:00PM Sunday. There is easily over a foot of white powder covering everything.
As we headed out for one of our shoveling episodes, Hadley got to enjoy her first real look at the snow. She wasn’t completely sure what to make of it, but she was clearly fascinated. She has taken quite a liking to watching the snowplow trucks clear the street. As soon as she hears them rumbling down the street, she runs to the windows to catch a glimpse. It is quite cute, really.
It seems as though ages since the last update. So much has happened. Of course our baby daughter has turned one and is far too quickly becoming a baby no longer but a little girl. In fact, in the last six weeks or so she has begun walking and gotten so good that she is on the verge of running. It certainly gets trickier to keep up with her and she is into more now than ever before. Yet, it really is fascinating to see her relish her newfound freedom and curiosity growing. Plus, her personality just keeps evolving more and more, and out kid is definitely a character. Also, she just keeps getting more teeth, as you can see here.
In other news, right after the school year started I hurt my back pretty severely, which laid me up for about six weeks. It was everything I could do just to get to work everyday. It really cramped my soccer coaching this year. Fortunately, I am definitively on the mend, and while not completely healed I am getting close. Unfortunately, I inherited more than my winning looks and personality from my father. I got his back too. So either of us can have a bad spell any time. Yet, we can stave of too many disasters with some good old-fashioned exercise.
On the soccer season, my girls will finish this campaign already guaranteed with a winning season, which is always a goal. I am endlessly interested in just how different the character of each team is from year to year. It is one of those bonuses of coaching or teaching anything. This group has probably the widest disparity in talent and skill of any team I have had recently. Mixing them together provided some interesting play and required more tinkering than usual to ensure strong results. In fact, I would blame most of the non-victories on me, as I tried to find the best way to work everyone into the game while maintaining a certain level of play. This season was more challenging, in that respect, than any other I can remember.
Last month, Keri and Ali took a mini vacation and headed north to Toronto. They took in the sites and the Red Sox over a weekend. That left me and Hadley on our own as Ail got a little r-and-r from mommydom.Their consensus was that Niagra Falls was cooler than the city. Still, I have to say I want to take a trip to Toronto at some point and have a look around for myself. Tragically, they were having some camera issues. So the shots from the trip are limited.
So fall is in full swing and the New England leaf peepers and Red Sox Nation are at the end of their glory. Winter’s chill is already starting to nip the air a bit. Sadly, the Sox did not make a repeat trip to the Fall Classic. Still, autumn is the best part of the year, if you ask me. Fall is festival season, and we have been making the most of it. I imagine it won’t be long before we see some snow here.
That’s all for now. Hopefully you enjoy the pictures from the last month and half.
