So, it's been a While....

I think we became so accustomed to our guests writing blog entries that when they stopped coming, we forgot about the blog altogether. That doesn't mean that there hasn't been a lot going on in our lives. We were lucky enough during the long, hot summer months of June and July to have our friends Julie and Stephen visit for a week from New York. Julie and Stephen introduced us to Rose and that, lots of it, got us through the long, hot evenings. Then we had a nice family trip to the nature isle of Dominica in conjunction with one of Preston's work trips. Dominica is beautiful but not what you would expect from a Caribbean island...there are really no beaches to speak of but jagged mountain sides that dive into the water, lots of rainforest and waterfalls and natural hot spring pools in the middle of it all. Of course, when Amanda gets to escape Antigua, she's mostly excited about air conditioned hotel rooms and TV!!!

Just as rainy season, hurricane season, and bug season was starting, we escaped to the states for two months. Amanda knew it was time to get out of Dodge when at her last playgroup before leaving for home, the talk was focused on "how many tarantulas have you seen at your house yet?" Apparently, when their holes fill with water, they seek shelter inside.

We celebrated Madeline's second birthday in Maine and she was happy to have lots of playtime with her cousins. It's amazing to us the explosion of language and playskills and emotions that come at this age. She's turned into a little person rather than a toddler, able to have conversations with us, and express her interests and desires (No!) and she's getting more and more fun each day. Some of our favorite milestones and Madeline-isms at 2:

• She knows all her colors, and really has since 18 months, which at the time, made the doctor's jaw drop.
• She can count up to 30, inconsistently, but always at least up to 15 without missing one.
• She knows her ABCs.
• She can now sing along to some of her favorite songs including, "Daisy" and "Rock a Bye Baby"
• She is towering over the other two year olds at a whopping 36 inches and 31 pounds (90%). In fact, she's frequently mistaken for a 3 year old.
• Favorite activities include throwing rocks and sand into the ocean ("one, two, three, plop"); flying on the airplane; looking for the moon at night; singing and dancing; swimming in the pool and ocean; drawing (on everything) and searching for stop signs.
• She's finally ventured in the land of vegetables after a good six month break when she tried her best to subsist on watermelon, honeydew and cataloupe.

Most importantly, just after her second birthday, Madeline found out that she's going to be a big sister next year and is already telling people that there's a baby in Mommy's tummy. We're hoping to live it up here in the next couple months while we can before the storm of two children hits! Enjoy the attached photos from Maine and Dominica.