Our first visit to Santa... not a success

At what age do children become fearful? Mae has shown no fear of strangers, strange things, men with beards, anything. That was until today, when we went to visit Santa. We where at the mall with some extra time and the Santa line was empty, so I wheeled Mae back to meet Jolly Old St. Nick. Never have I seen her apprehensive, but something about the long white beard, tiny glasses and white cloth gloves must have pushed her over the edge. We didn't have hysterics, but we weren't happy. No pictures, but hopefully in a few weeks we'll try again (with reinforcements).

If anyone has any advice on how to get a smiling baby with Santa, PLEASE let me know!

Golf Watching

The day after Thanksgiving, Rich and his Dad played 9 holes of golf at the Spanish Wells course while Mae and I tagged along. It was Mae's first exposure to golf (other than on television with her Daddy), and it seems she is a big fan. Towards the end, she insisted on having a "front row seat."


Mae helps her Daddy sink a shot on the 9th hole by holding the flag.

I guess she didn't like the cart parking section.

Thanksgiving on the Island

Mae in her Thanksgiving dress (already almost too small!)

We had so much fun celebrating Thanksgiving with Mae's Omi and Opi in South Carolina, on Hilton Head Island. We shared Thanksgiving dinner with some of their friends and had a lovely time. The weather was too cold and windy to play in the sand, but the rain held off so we could enjoy several walks around their plantation earlier in the day.

Mae, Rich and Opi looking for dolphins.

Mae's First Day of School

Yesterday, Mae and I went to our first day of school. We are participating in the county's Ready To Learn program, sponsored by the public school system for kids under 5.

Our infant group, meets twice a month where we learn all kinds of fun activities and hang out with other mommies and babies from our town. In our first class, we played with a colorful beach ball to strengthen our crawling muscles and learn how to "push". We also did some baby stretches to help with future writing; we played with blocks and muffin tins to learn some fine motor skills; and we practiced picking up dolls from contact paper to practice fine motor skills and explore our senses.

We didn't get any pictures in class because we weren't sure we were allowed. But we will get some in the future so you can see all the fun Mae is having.

Fall Foilage

Picture of the leaves and colors in our backyard. Mae really enjoyed the leaves, especially trying to eat them.

Finding the Lost Colony

Today, Mae and I went in search of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, now on display at the NC State Museum of History. It was pretty cool, and they used some of the sets and costumes from the Lost Colony play, that's been running now for 75 years. Mae slept through most of it, but we did get excited to see the first English sketch of a diamondback terrapin.

Hanging out in a Croatan Indian Village.

First Cold of the Season

We are feeling the first cold of the season here in NC -- both with the temperature dropping and with little Mae. As a result, we haven't been as active as usual **but** we wanted to post something to let you know that we are still here and will post more soon.

In the meantime, I am posting this picture of Mae in "better" times.

Playing with Omi at Hilton Head.

Hanging out "South of the Border" with Dad (Rich) and Pedro.

More pictures

We've put up some pictures from the 2007 Inaugural in our Picasa album, and hope to add more as we get time. Please take a look!

If you are looking for more curling pictures, the great folks at Potomac have also posted several bonspiel pictures in their gallery.