While Daddy is Away the Girls Play

While Mike is away this week Tatum and I have been very lucky to have the company of mom for 10 days. Saturday brought us an overcast day but it was about 50 degrees which in Maine means time to get out! We ventured down to Portland to walk around downtown and then we drove over to the Portland Head Light. In all the time that my mom has visited Maine we have never done any of the above. We enjoyed our day and also made some time to stop and play at the park at Fort Williams State Park.

Tatum watching the big kids swing

Swinging with Grandma

Walking to the beach

Overcast but scenic (an island and lighthouse in the distance)

A quick update on Tatum...

It is hard to believe that Tatum is now 17 months old...time sure does fly! Along with getting older there are some new skills/behaviors that are becoming more evident/regular and they are not always the most wonderful. Here is a brief taste of life with Tatum:

1. At 17 months she decided to...JUMP OUT OF HER CRIB! Mind you, this first occurred at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday morning while Mike was gone and I was alone in the house. Imagine how you would feel if you heard the pitter patter of feet and then "Hi!" without expecting it. There is not much more that I can say about this other than that I am sleep deprived now b/c I cannot rest knowing that it can happen at any moment. Hello crib tent!

2. Walking is her favorite thing to do now, regardless of rain, snow, sleet or ice! "Wa, wa, wa" is about the only thing we here when we are remotely close to any door or if we are in the car.

3. Last but not least...we have entered the stage of the lovely fit throwing in public (and at home too)...if she does not get her way the kicking and screaming starts along with hurling herself at the ground. It is so lovely to be in public with a screaming child who is flailing her arms and kicking her shoes off when she cannot do what she wants...which usually includes "wa, wa, wa."

Aside from the above Tatum is a wonderful little girl who has quite the personality and she can make anyone laugh with her funny antics.

Maine Maple Sunday

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since Maine Maple Sunday 2008...time seems to be flying by us! Fast forward to 2009 and once again, we 3 Smiley's ventured out on the 4th Sunday of March to join the masses at the annual opening of the sugar houses around Maine. Additionally, we dragged Mike, Dana, and Caroline along too; after all, they heard us raving about warm maple syrup poured over ice cream for the past year. This year we drove about an hour west to Poland, Maine where we visited Harvest Hill Farms. Fortunately but unfortunately, the day started out chilly but sunny however as we arrived at the farm the temperature began to drop and by the time we left, the snow was falling at a quick pace. While at the farm we had a chance to stop by and visit/pet the horses and then we ventured down to the sugar house for a lunch of pancakes, bacon, AND maple syrup (of course!). After the pancakes Mike and Mike treated themselves to ice cream topped with maple syrup. With the temperature at about 35 degrees, us girls passed on the ice cream. We would have loved to spend a longer day on the farm but with the cold temps and the snow it was just not going to happen. We sure will miss this day next year!

Eating Pancakes under the tent (wind was gusting!)

Swapping girls

On the hayride back to our car...we did not feel like trudging through mud in the snow

We Picked a Winner!

Not every new thing that kids do is cute. Take for instance...Tatum learning to pick her nose! This is one of her top #3 new activities and will likely stay high on the list for a little while because of the cold, dry Maine winter air. We will definitely be showing this to all of her friends and boyfriends when she is a teenager.

More Snow!

As a lot of people were sitting in front of their fire places watching the Oscars last night, we were at home without electricity watching the temperature steadily drop throughout the night. Another storm rolled through and dumped approximately 16 inches of ice and snow on us. After waking in a frigid house and clearing the driveway we had a pile of snow next to it nearly 6 feet tall! We tried to get a picture with Tatum to put it in perspective, but it didn't come out as good as we had hoped. Lindsey and I can now say that we are officially sick of the Maine winter.

Tatum's New Skill

Tatum has graduated from her "kiddy chair" and has learned how to climb onto the couch unassisted. While she is certainly proud of this achievement, it makes Mom and Dad very nervous! We've been trying to teach her how to safely climb down, but her attempts at that are sporadic at best. Enjoy the videos.

Rocking Moose in Birthday Suit

What would any toddler's blog be without the mandatory childhood picture of being nude on a rocking moose? This is also Tatum stalling at bedtime!

Portland Children's Museum

We decided to celebrate Valentine's day by going to the Children's Museum in Portland. Tatum had a blast there, although it is really more of a random collection of children activities than an actual museum. Tatum was particularly interested in the fake grocery store and fake veterinary office. After 90 minutes of chasing Tatum all over the museum and being nauseated by the collective dirty diaper smell, it was time for Mom and Tatum to get home for a nap.

Tatum's Rocking Moose

Tatum recently discovered a toy that has been sitting in her room for the past year and loves it. Every now and then she gets a little too excited and falls off, but no major crashes yet!

The Great Outdoors

After it snowed over 16 inches on Sunday, Lindsey and I decided to try a new activity with Tatum today...Snowshoeing! It was the warmest day in over a week, topping out near a balmy 30 degrees and it was finally done snowing, so we headed to Wolf Creek State Park. There were some beautiful semi-groomed trails right on Casco Bay. Unfortunately, we forgot Tatum's winter hat and so she had to wear the one Lindsey bought while we were in the Andes Mountains in Peru. Tatum seemed to enjoy the new activity at first, however, halfway through our trek she started to get bored and wanted to do the walking herself. That was a no-go and the second half of our hike was definitely louder that the first. We wrapped things up with some hot chocolate and a late afternoon snack for Tatum.

Let it Snow (Again)!

Another weekend has come and so has another foot of snow! While it certainly makes for a nice landscape, it also makes for some serious cabin fever. Tatum and I decided to make the best of it and "went sledding" outside. This consisted of pulling her up and down the street in a sled for about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, because of the heavy winter gear, she was not able to hold on and every strong wind gust or bump in the sled caused her to fall of. While there are tons of winter activities to do in Maine for older kids, there really aren't too many that are appropriate for toddlers. After it finally stops snowing, we make take her out for round two of sledding or some other winter activities.

Reading Buddies

There isn't too much to write about with the bitterly cold Maine winter right now! However, all of this time indoors has turned Tatum and Sadie into bookworms as you can see below. Tatum has also started to "talk" quite a bit too with her new favorite word of "NO!" We are hoping to get out and enjoy some of the winter weather this coming 3-day weekend, so stay tuned....

Home (sort of) for the Holiday's

This year we ventured west to St. Louis for Christmas so as to spend quality time with our friends and family. As is usual, we overbooked ourselves with commitments and before we knew it our 12-days away had come and gone. We had a wonderful time and it was so great to see everybody. Tatum also enjoyed being showered with hugs, kisses, and TONS of attention from her grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Unfortunately however, Tatum learned that sometimes she has to share Mommy and Daddy while her cousin is around, which she did not seem to like too much! Also, as in usual fashion, the camera pretty much stayed packed in our suitcase so we only have a few snapshots to share but they are from some of our highlights of the trip, Tatum's first visit to the zoo, Zoo Lights (a night time display of holiday lights all through the zoo), and time with friends and family.

Tatum, Mike, cousin Roman, and Uncle Brad at the Petting Zoo

Zoo Lights

The Penguin House

With the Baker's (Dave and Kari)

Tatum with the Baker's (Gabrielle, Josie, Christian, and Sebastian)

Tatum and Aunt Melanie on Christmas Eve

Santa's Little Reindeer Helper

Tatum's First Snow

Today was the first snow of the 2008-2009 Winter Season in Maine and the first time that Tatum had the chance to play in the snow. The first hurdle was getting her dressed; this includes her snow-suit, boots, gloves, and hat. As you can imagine, this is not an easy undertaking! Next, Tatum had to practice walking in all of her gear. She did pretty good since she went out before there was any accumulation. Overall, Tatum enjoyed the snow and we are looking forward to a winter season full of quality time in the snow.

Tatum meets a Reindeer (kind of)

Lindsey and I were going to make this picture into a Christmas card, but unfortunately, Tatum will look at anything but a camera! We are definitely starting to get in the Christmas spirit around here as the weather has turned consistently cold and all of the various towns have their Christmas tree lightings. We are hoping for a white Christmas when we go to visit family in St. Louis for the holidays and maybe Tatum will even get the chance to sled at Art hill.

Tatum the "Dancing Queen"

While Tatum has yet to master her true dancing skills, she appears to be practicing some future moves...especially when the song is the alphabet song! However, she has not yet realized that spinning in circles will lead to dizziness as evidenced by this video. Looks like she has daddy's great knack for dancing...

Tatum and the Dogs

As Tatum continues to get older and more aware of her surroundings, she has become increasingly interested in the pets. Sadie seems to like Tatum the most and will let her do pretty much anything to her. Getting a picture of Tatum and Max would be a miracle as he tries to avoid her at all costs. Apparently cats don't like being pinched and slapped!

Fall in Maine

Although it has been 2 weeks since we snapped these pictures it has been our intention to post them as they provide a glimpse into the beauty of the fall here in Maine. Sadly, all of the leaves have fallen now and the trees are barren in preparation for the cold months to come. We enjoyed the foliage while it lasted and it was especially beautiful at nearby Bowdoin College where we took these pictures...

Tatum was fascinated by the acorns (one in each hand) and she tried to eat them too!

Tatum showing daddy her acorn (I love snapping pictures in the moment)

Trick or Treat!

Tatum was excited for her 2nd Halloween and wanted a little more freedom than last year. Lindsey found Tatum a perfect costume to match her personality...a clown. After trick-or-treating up at my squadron's hangar on base, we had our friends over for some Halloween festivities. Although it was cold, Tatum and Caroline hit the street with hundreds of other neighborhood children in search of candy. Tatum managed to only get one Kit-Kat because she ended up being more interested in exploring haunted graveyards than eating candy.

Tatum and Mom Getting Ready to Trick or Treat

Tatum Exploring a Spooky Graveyard!

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.

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.

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.