Friday, October 31, 2008

Tatum Gives Tanya a Kiss

Tatum decided that since she was allowed to stay up late on Saturday night she was not going to go to bed on Sunday night before 9:30. After listening to her scream for an hour in her crib we decided that since it was Tanya and Kieran's last night in town we would not make her cry it out. Also too, we just could not listen to it any longer! Tatum enjoyed playing on the floor with Tanya and while doing so we captured some funny pictures of Tatum giving Tanya a kiss:

Scoping out the scene...

Going in for the kiss...

Smack! Tatum gives Tanya a kiss.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The "Spookiest Town in America"...

...is Salem, Massachusetts...and we ventured there this past weekend to take in the historic sights and to participate in the Halloween festivities with our friends Tanya and Kieran, who were visiting from Chicago, and Mike, Dana, and Caroline, friends of ours from Maine. Although the crowds were numerous, the parking sparse and expensive ($20/car for the day), and the wind quite strong, it was well worth the 2-hour journey to experience a piece of American history. Salem is a great little New England harbor town with lots of shops and restaurants. The majority of homes in town date back to the mid 18th century (some date back further) and it was neat to walk up and down the streets because many of the homes have a plaque out front with the date that it was built, who built the home, and the profession of the first homeowner. Additionally, it was very interesting to make note of the decor outside of the homes because most of the locals have their homes decorated very elaborately for the holiday. According to all the research that we did prior to heading down to Salem, the month of October is full of events that lead up to Halloween weekend.

Salem Harbor

Most people know of Salem as the infamous home of the "Salem Witch Trials of 1692." During these trials 20 people, both male and female, were put to death after being accused of, and found guilty of, practicing witchcraft over the course of 3 months during the summer of 1692. At the time witchcraft was seen as a crime by the court. Of the 20 people put to death, 19 were hung and the other person was crushed to death by stone. It was very interesting to walk around the town because the shops and businesses are largely based on marketing to tourists who are drawn to witches and the stories surrounding the witch trials. One of the things that we wanted to do while in town was to stop at the Salem Witch Trial Memorial built in 1992. The memorial is surrounded by three walls that bear stone benches with each of the names of the persons who were executed and the means by which they were executed. It was very sobering to walk around and look at each bench. Unfortunately we were not able to look at all of the stone benches because people were sitting on them eating food from the nearby food stands.


After walking around town and stopping at the memorial we did enjoy taking in some of the sights and sounds of the Halloween celebrations. One such stop was at the decorated pumpkin contest in which we had a chance to see "Hannah Montana" in person:


Overall the day was a lot of fun and we had chance to squeeze in more fall fun and New England tourism while the days are still warm enough to be outside. The day was topped off with a stop at the Red Hook Brewery in Portsmouth, NH for some good dinner and great beer.


Sunday, October 19, 2008

Tatum's Birthday Party



Today we celebrated Tatum's 1st birthday with our friends. There was a great turnout and Tatum was excited to see all of her friends. Overall, it was a laid back affair with the two big events being singing "Happy Birthday" and opening presents. Tatum was a little freaked out by everyone singing to her, but she didn't cry fortunately. She also had no idea about what to do with the candle on her cake, but we helped her out. Tatum's friends were very excited for her to open their gifts and they also were very helpful with assisting Tatum in unwrapping them. We are very appreciative of everyone who was a part of Tatum's special weekend, both those here and far away.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Tatum's First Birthday!

Tatum celebrated her 1st birthday today and what a year it has been! Our lives have been transformed in ways that were previously unimaginable. This includes giving up our favorite past time of sleeping in...unless you consider 7:00 a.m. sleeping late. We can easily say that the trade has been well worth it. While Lindsey drove down to Portland in order to pick up Grandpa, Tatum and I went to Rocky Ridge Orchard in Bowdoin in order to pick up some miniature pumpkins for her birthday party on Saturday. Tatum didn't care much for the pumpkins, but she did love her wagon ride! Once Grandpa got up here, the birthday celebrations began. Tatum was not short on presents and she loved tearing the wrapping paper. In addition to this, she seems to be a natural at the xylophone. The evening wrapped up with the traditional first birthday cake. It turns out that Tatum is kind of a "neat freak" and didn't know what to do with free reign on a birthday cake, but she quickly figured it out. Finally, the evening was topped off with Tatum making a cameo in her silk pajamas that I purchased in Japan during deployment before meeting her. Stay tuned for more birthday weekend updates, as her 1st birthday party with all of her friends is on Saturday.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Tatum's Fall Fun

Now that Tatum has started walking, she has been exploring the surrounding world on a much more grand scale. What better place to start than in the front yard? The foliage has reached its peak color intensity in most areas of Maine and the leaves are just starting to fall. It did not take Tatum long to realize that leaves are not good snacks!


Saturday, October 4, 2008

Here she comes...Miss Tatum is walking!

While we have been telling everyone that Tatum is now walking, very few of you have seen proof so here it is...Tatum is walking!