Oh Summer

Hello Again!  We've had a busy and fun-filled week around here.  I can hardly believe this is the last day of August.  It's almost time to say goodbye to summer, and hello to fall.  But first...

Barbecues, beach parties, and road trips galore!

We did a Ladies Day Trip up the Valley, including a visit to the fabulous Gaspereau Valley Wool Shop.

Our friends Brandon and Jo held a big barbecue to celebrate their five year anniversary in Nova Scotia.

To which Griffin wore shoes for the first time (he looks  so proud of himself!)

And we went with the Smiths to the beach.

We had a ton of rain over the weekend (this is a picture of the stream behind our house) but today, Monday, was nice and sunny. 

Hopefully we have a little more summer coming our way!

Also...Dayliner, Beaches, Laughter, and Peaches

Griffin's sleeping right now, so I thought I would do a quick update on the rest of the stuff that's been going on around here.  On Thursday night Jai's band, Dayliner, played a show in the park behind our house.  

It was super fun, and they had  a great turnout, considering no advertising was done at all.  My parents even came down from Dartmouth to see them play (thanks guys!)

The cops showed up, but just sat and listened for a while, then left.  Jai says the secret to not getting busted by the cops, is to have a bunch of strollers around.  (Another hidden advantage to having children!)

We went back over to the shore, in a desperate attempt to escape the worst of the heat, but there was not much relief anywhere.

Yesterday was the Hurricane, which amounted to nothing more than a little rain in these parts, and helped to cool things down a little.  Hopefully the temperature won't get back up to those ridiculous extremes.  It was probably the hottest day of the year when I realized that if I didn't can those peaches RIGHT NOW there would be nothing left to can.  As it was, I still lost a whole 3 Litre carton.  I canned what was left, though, standing over a hot stove, with three pots of boiling water, in 40 degree heat.  They better be tasty!

I also froze some blueberries, and some of our basil.  My Mom has this great trick for freezing basil, which is to roll the leaves in tin foil, like a big tin foil cigar, and then put them in the freezer. 

 It works great, because you can just unroll as much as you need, and the leaves actually stay green, instead of going black like they usually do in the freezer.  Anyway, I got about six cigars done, so that should keep us in basil for most of the winter.

These little overalls are the first thing I ever bought for Griffin, the very first trip to Frenchy's after I found out I was pregnant - and they finally fit!  He's growing fast now, and last week Jai even got him laughing out loud for the first time.  It was ridiculously cute, and Jai and I couldn't help but laugh along with him.  It was definitely a moment I will remember for the rest of my life.

Here's hoping you get some laughter in your day, too :)

A Naming Party for Griffin

On Friday, we had a naming party for Griffin (in place of a christening.)  My Grandma had brought out the christening gown that has been in her family for at least five generations, and we wanted to do something to keep that tradition alive.  We also wanted to officially recognize our friends Brandon and Jo as Griffin's "Guide Parents."  So we had a small Naming Party for him. 

We started by burying his umbilical cord under the oak tree in our yard.  Then we read out a small blessing,

May the strength of the wind and the light of the sun,


The softness of the rain and the mystery of the moon


Reach you and fill you.


May beauty delight you and happiness uplift you,


May wonder fulfill you and love surround you.


May your step be steady and your arm be strong,


May your heart be peaceful and your word be true.


May you seek to learn, may you learn to live,


May you live to love, and may you love – always

announced his name, and had a toast.  Then Griffin was passed around the circle, and everyone introduced themselves to him.  All in all, it was very nice, and a great way to celebrate with friends and family.  I don't have a lot of pictures, since Jai and I had our hands full, but my Mom took a couple with our camera so I can share them.

What you can't see is that it was 40+ degrees with the Humidex, and everyone was melting.

Griffin did pretty good, but we started a little late, and he was getting hot and hungry by the end.

Still pretty cute, though.

Afterwards, we stripped him down to his diaper and relaxed in the shade with cake.

Weekend Update #2, and a trip to Hampton Beach

Hello Again!  These last few days have been crazy hot and muggy.  Today, I stripped Griffin down to his diaper, and we stood under the fan to try and get some relief.  We lingered in the air-conditioned bank.  When Jai gets home, we will head over the mountain to Hampton Beach, where it is always much cooler.  We took Griffin there a couple of days ago, and he loved it!

And he wasn't the only one.  I kept wondering why we hadn't done it sooner.  Live and learn.

As for the rest of our weekend update, I won't write too much.  The wedding was beautiful and Griffin handled it great.  Here's a shot of him with Grandpa and cousin Justin:

He loved being the centre of attention, and he loves seeing new faces.  Hopefully it will remain that way, and he won't have to go through an extended shy phase like his Mommy did.  

We also drove past the Fossil Museum while we were exploring around the Wolfville area.  It was really neat, and if it hadn't been so ridiculously hot, we would have spent more time there, and gone down to the beach to find fossils of our own.  The Bay of Fundy is truly an amazing place.

Also, we picked up a Jolly Jumper for the little guy.  He loves it!  He hasn't quite got the hang of it yet, mostly he just likes to look around, but he's starting to bounce a little.  I'm definitely hoping that this will help me get some more stuff done around the house, although yesterday I got all sorts of things done, and today my back is killing me, and I had a hard time getting Griffin out of his crib this morning.  Today, everything is happening at waist height.  We went for a nice long walk (and just about melted!) and now we have settled in and will wait here for Jai to get home.  

We'll nap and read, and dream of the beach.  There are so many great quotes about the ocean and the beach, but I thought this was one summed up today pretty well:

"Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves to imagine.  A beach not only permits such inertia but enforces it, thus neatly eliminating all problems of guilt."   ~John Kenneth Galbraith.

Update #1

Hello!  We had a very busy weekend, but I haven't uploaded those photos yet, so instead, I will go back a few days - to our latest Frenchy's trip.  I needed to get something to wear to the wedding we attended on Saturday, so my friend Jo was nice enough to accompany Griffin and I on our little road trip.  We got all sorts of fun stuff, like fuzzy bear pants with paws attached, and this fun reversible (cheetah/tiger) fleece jacket.  

They are a little big for now, but it won't be long!  He's already outgrown half of his clothes. 

 I think Griffin's favourite purchase was this little fabric book. 

He sits on my lap, and we "read" it over and over again.  (My friend Sarah pointed out that he might need some more toys.)  He is at the point now where he wants to be on the go constantly, and gets bored with sitting around the house, leaving me racking my brain for things we can do together, around town.  

On Friday, we had a little picnic in the park while we waited for Jai to get off work.  He really liked lying under the maple trees, staring at the leaves as they moved in the wind, and he liked the feel of the grass on his bare legs when I helped him sit up.  I brought a book with me, but probably won't bother next time :)

And it's blackberry season again already!  That means Summer is already sliding towards Fall,  and we are heading into my favourite season.  This summer has been pretty unpleasant so far, but my theory is that we are going to have a really nice Fall to make up for it.  That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it!

Little Glasses Thief

Ok, I know it's getting to the point of pathological with the baby photos (and trust me, what you see here is just a tiny portion of the true immensity of our collection.)  What can I say?  It's an easy way for me to feel creative.  And so I bring you another installment of the "Griffin's just too cute for words" epic (this episode entitled, "Griffin thinks it's funny to steal glasses off people's faces.")  This series was photographed by Jai, and it still makes me laugh out loud.

And here's a shot of the proud papa with his son.  My Soloy Boys.

One Quarter Birthday

Griffin is three months old today!  As Jai said, it is his one quarter birthday.

For his birthday we got him a Bumbo seat.

I think he likes it.

And as a present to me, he gave me the best sleep yet last night.  Thanks, Griffin, it's just what I wanted.  

Starry Twinkles

Where did you come from, baby dear?

Out of the everywhere into here.

 Where did you get those eyes so blue?

Out of the sky as I came through.

 What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?

Some of the starry twinkles left in.

~George MacDonald

Griffin's New Pants

Griffin was patient just long enough today for me to make him a new pair of pants from some of the fabric I picked up at the discount fabric store.  I think he looks adorable, and now he has something to wear to the wedding we will be attending in a couple of weekends (which is more than I can say for myself!)  Sewing for babies is fun.

In Season

Hello!  We had a delightful and busy long weekend here in the Soloy family residence.  We actually went out and did stuff.  It felt good!  

We drove up the Valley to visit a discount fabric shop that Jai discovered on one of his Bookmobile routes.  It was great fun - I oohed and aahed over various fabrics, while Jai and Griffin did an extended photo shoot in the van, of which this is one of the results:

We stopped at Noggin's Corner on the way home, which is my personal favourite when it comes to Farmer's Stands.  

Everything is in season, all at once, which is exciting and overwhelming.  We bought the first sweet corn of the season, and it tasted amazing!  I couldn't even get a picture, because we gobbled it up too fast.  Local cherries, raspberries, blueberries and plums abound at the markets right now.  I never used to be a blueberry fan, but these little ones that they grow here are much tastier than the big, flavourless, gritty ones we always got in BC.  And the flowers in the garden are doing well.  I planted them last year, so it has been exciting to see the results.

Then on Sunday we went to the Drive-in.  

If you are lucky enough to have a Drive-in within reasonable distance of your house (ours is a 50 minute drive, which is pushing it, but worth it for the right movie) then it is definitely an excellent way to see a movie with an infant.  We pulled our beautiful red mini-van up to a spot, got settled in, and watched Harry Potter.  Griffin did great, and it was fun to have an adventure like that.

Monday my Mom came up for a visit, which was really great, and gave me a chance to get a much needed bit of shop time.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the boxes before they were sent off to Halifax.  But they were very nice!  

Our boy is going through another growth spurt right now, so he has gotten off his schedule and gotten a little fussy.  He grows so fast!  He's looking all around now, and he loves telling long stories to anyone who will listen.  I don't know exactly what he is saying, but he's very expressive, all the same.