Arrival in Cape May

After we left Ocean City, we made the short drive on to Cape May, where we got checked in to our hotel- the Montreal Inn. We had a beautiful view from our 3rd floor balcony (see above!). And shortly after arriving, we went to the beach. Rick took Cate down first, and that's actually them in the middle of the above photo. Below, you can see our hotel- the long place with the red roof- from the beach. I wish we would have been there for more than one night!

Cate with hands full of sand.

Right along this stone jetty, there were tons of fabulous rocks and shells that made for lots of fun. Rick's pockets were also clanking with shells on our walk back to the hotel.

Below is Cate's artistic pile of rocks and shells that she created.

Look at those sweet little footprints!

Cate digging in the sand and doing her best NOT to leave the beach. In the end, she had to be carried away. :(

Sheila's graduation/on to PA

We arrived at the Coast Guard station at 8:30 on Friday morning- a beautiful, bright, sunny day. A perfect graduation morning! The Coast Guard Auxiliary provided a breakfast, and then there was a welcome and a short film on boot camp, and finally graduation was on the practice field at 11am sharp.

Cate took full advantage of all the new sights and sounds, and she seemed particularly pleased with all the grassy areas in which she could run full tilt.

I LOVE this picture.

Below, we're in the bleachers waiting for the ceremony to start. We could see the companies lining up all around the perimeter of the field- "newer" recruit companies participate during the ceremony of the graduating recruits.

The graduating recruits marching out onto the field.

Sheila is the little fair-skinned one right in the middle of the picture!

Sheila receiving her certificate.

After graduation- that's her boyfriend, Derek, in the green.

Sheila's aunt and uncle drove down from Boston for the celebration. We were happy to finally get to meet them.

After the ceremony and a tour around the base, we all went out for lunch. Then we said our goodbyes to Sheila's aunt and uncle, and we went on to PA to see Rick's family. During our two days with them, I realized that the only pictures I took were of Cate and her cousin Barrett. There really were many other family members there, but somehow, all the pics were of the kids!!
Cate loved taking care of "Baby Barrett."

Semi- Hugging.

Taking care of Zoe

We had our first showing on Saturday (side note- she's coming back for a second showing this week), and I had Zoe's dog beds stowed away. So when we got home and Cate knocked a couch pillow on the floor, Zoe decided to claim it as her own. If you look closely, you'll see that she managed to curl up her 70+ pound self and balance it on top of the pillow. Cate said, "Zoe go sleep. Zoe need blanket and baby." And she then covered Zoe with her beloved taggie blanket and plopped her favorite dolly on top. So sweet! Will try to get actual pictures of Cate sometime soon!

New Toy

We got a new toy. This is a 1978 Honda Hobbit Moped. This thing is a classic, it was a barn find down in Mass. The ride only has 900 miles on it and looks new. Lindsay is thrilled and Cate loves it. A few of the guys I do Daddy daycare with have them including one of the Dads who has eight of them. This is just good old fun

More funny things Cate says

We continue to enjoy Cate's ever-growing vocabulary, and we wanted to share some more of her funny sayings.

1. The other night, after putting on her new "dancing girl" pajamas (they have little ballerina-type girls on them), I picked her up and stood her on the bathroom counter for a look, and she exclaimed, "Ooooohhhh, soooooo pretty!!!"

2. This afternoon, Cate was trying to put on her flipflops, and though she's getting better at putting on shoes, they often end up on the wrong feet. So I got her set up and said, "Now, this foot goes in this one, and that foot goes in that one." And Cate said, "That works."

3. Often before Cate goes to sleep, she'll say, "Mommy, say, 'Close your eyes, Cate.'" I think that comes out of daycare (it took over a year, but they finally have gotten Cate to nap there!). Anyways, so now Cate thinks it's funny to have me say it, and she'll squeeze her eyes closed and smile. Well, now she's added a follow up. After the "close your eyes, Cate," request, she now says, "Say, thank you Cate for closing your eyes." At least she's learning manners!

And still on my list of favorites...
"It happens."

House for sale!

Well, we are officially back on the market- complete with a brand-spankin' new furnace, to sweeten the deal. Wish us luck and say your prayers, and if you want to see our Realtor.com listing, here it is....

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/19-Maxwell-St_Bath_ME_04530_1117798687

Lamb Day

This afternoon Cate, Mom, Dad, and I (Rick was working) went over to Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick for their annual Lamb Day. Over 120 lambs have been born on the farm this spring, so they have an open house for visitors. As excited as Cate was to see the lambs, and as much "Baaa-ing" as I heard this morning, it did take her a while to get up the nerve to pet one, but eventually, she did.


Funny that when she did finally decide to pet a sheep, she wanted to pet a big mama sheep instead of one of the little babies. Luckily, this one decided to cooperate. Then Cate didn't want to leave, but I was thankful that she went without a fight, unlike the poor mother in front of us who was carrying off a toddler who was in a Stage Five Meltdown.

Outside after dinner

As some of you know, Zoe loves to stand on the bench and lean over the deck railing. Cate joined her tonight.

A barking dog in the distance caught the attention of them both.

Ok, the picture below still has me laughing. I think I need to send it in to Ellen Degeneres for her "What's wrong with this photo?" segment. HAHA!!!!!

A beautiful Easter day

Easter in Maine can't get much more perfect than today. The sky is blue and the thermometer is currently reading 77 degrees. So it was a good day for white shoes and frilly skirts. We met up with Mom and Dad at church, then we came home for Cate's nap. We'll be heading over to their house for dinner when Cate wakes up.

Cate looked like a little princess in her dress today, and the hat and purse from Gr. Grandma Sprague really topped off the outfit!

Smelling the crocuses!

Outside after church, running around while eating a bread roll.

Backing up to this morning... here's Cate waiting to come downstairs to search for her Easter basket.

And here's a video of her finding her basket...

Getting ready for Easter

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few weeks. Not only have we been super busy (house is almost ready to go back on the market!!), but we were all pretty much out of commission last week when the stomach flu ran through our house. Rick fared the best, I didn't do so well, and poor Cate took a full week to get back to normal. I'll spare you all the gory details, but let's just say that by about day 5 I called up mom and said, "I'm just so tired of dealing with vomit!" I had a pair of slippers that went through the wash twice in 24 hours. It was awful. We had had a cookout with three other neighborhood families two nights prior to the start of the sickness, and five of us ended up with the flu. One of the families had been sick the week before, so we all blamed them for contaminating us. So now there may or may not be plans in the works to TP their house....

But Cate had never had the stomach flu like that before. It was so gross. And really sad. Poor thing! But we're all better now!

The following pics were taken only a matter of hours before "the sickness" began (with me first!). Cate has been getting packages galore for Easter- an Easter hat and purse from Great Grandma Sprague, goodie-filled eggs from Gr. Aunt Chris and Gr. Uncle Charlie, an Easter cookie decorating kit (which has been a hit with the play-doh) from Gr. Aunt Tish and Gr. Uncle Tom, an assortment of clothes and Easter treats from Nana and Papa, and an Easter plate and bunny cup from Gr. Aunt Kathy and Gr. Uncle Larry. I happened to have the camera handy when she was opening that particular package, so here she is...

Plus I got a couple of little videos....