Baby's First Hike

Holy garbanzo beans, the weather today was absolutely gorgeous. We had to do something! So we went to an Audubon wildlife sanctuary in Natick to walk around and see some naturey stuff. The place has a really nice boardwalk which we enjoyed immensely.







The wood from which the boardwalk was constructed seemed to be ancient and by itself was quite beautiful.





There was no railing on some of the sides and it was a bit nerve wracking (racking?) watching Cole just walk right up to the edge. He behaved himself though.



The woods shared all sorts of beautiful secrets with us.

























True found it fascinating.



We saw some wildlife, including a musk rat and some little turtles sunning themselves. It was a little rainy, so they were a little frustrated, as you can see.





Cole started off with a bang, running off ahead of us and getting his little hands all over everything. It was great!







He played more hide and seek with us, and this time chose some better hiding places than the other day.









But then he got tired and annoyed.





Eventually we made our way back to the car and drove home so Cole could enjoy the Graham Crackers he was promised.

The Parabolic Continuum of Huge Successes

No seriously, let me explain that.

When a baby is born, it's like HOLY CRAP A BABY!! And then if you're lucky and have a normal healthy baby, it is not capable of much more than eating, pooping, making a bunch of noise, and hanging around being adorable. Then it starts to grow and exciting things start to happen.

The baby picked up its own head and moved it around all by itself!! HUGE SUCCESS! Then the baby does that all the time and it's no big deal.

The baby becomes aware of its own limbs! HUGE SUCCESS! Then the baby does that all the time and it's no big deal.

The baby eats solid food for the first time!!! HUGE SUCCESS! Then the baby does that all the time and it's no big deal.

BABY TAKES FIRST STEP!! HUGE SUCCESS! Then the baby does that all the time and it's no big deal.

Etc.

What I'm getting at here is that it's really fun to be so excited about all the little things. And so easy to lose sight of how amazing we are as humans as the exciting things become common. But check out all the cool stuff we can do! And check out how quickly we learn to do it!

The other day Cole threw a basketball into the net by himself for the first time on purpose. It was really exciting!! It was a HUGE SUCCESS!! And True was lying on her belly looking one way, and then she picked up her head and looked in the other direction all by herself! HUGE SUCCESS!! They are totally different levels of success but super exciting either way. We as a species are capable of so much. It's just cool.

What I'm wondering though, is do achievements that we consider so exciting become rarer as we get older? Or does our appreciation for greatness just become more discerning?

In other news, yesterday we enjoyed the spring weather and went for a walk in Cabot Woods.




It was a beautiful sunny but chilly afternoon.


Cole threw rocks in the brook.



And Kate tried to take a serious portrait of the guys.


And then we played a whole bunch of hide and seek with Cole.


It was really fun! Cole's sense of what you can hide behind is a little skewed though.






It makes it easy for monsters to sneak up and NOM HIM!!


Though I don't think he minds.


True wasn't impressed by all this "outdoors" malarkey.


But Cole frigg'n loved it.


We ended the afternoon barreling through the woods with reckless abandon. Well ... Cole did anyway.





Lastly, I experimented with some photos shooting into the sun just for kicks.









Happy Marathon Monday! Go runners go!