Day-cay!

... like a vay-cay but for one day...
The Morse fam took the Long Island Railroad out to, where else, Long Island on Saturday. We spent the day on the Northern Fork (the southern fork is where the Hamptons are) for Andy's work gathering. The spot was beautiful and the weather was great too. I heard it was sweltering in the City so I am glad that we were not there. Meg was her usual delightful self, even missing the lion share of her nap time. It was nice to spend so much time with Andy too. Lucky me!

Play mat progression

Meg and I have a little dance we do everyday: step one - take all the toys out of the bin. Step two - toss the toys about and scrunch up the blanket. Step three - mama cleans up the toys and straightens up the blanket. Step four - do it all over again, and again, and again...







How could I resist this face?

Day in the life

All smiles.


Rock 'n' rattle!

New ride!

Meg has a new ride y'all and we couldn't be happier! (Thank you Dado and Bean!) I have even attempted a little jogging (gasp!) with it and I was not struck by lightning.

Below is a map of our first mega-excursion together up and back the path in Hudson River Park.

I "heart" NY

Some NYC-themed photos...


Meg hearts NY (shirt courtesy of Auntie Rebecca).


Our hazy Lady of Liberty. One of these days I will take the ferry out to Ellis Island.


The Big Apple.


View of the Hudson. And yes, that is New Jersey.


Chelsea map - oh yeah! I am sooo mainstream.

Washington Market Park

Meg and I try to leave the house at least once a day and go for a walk. This particular day we walked down near the Financial District (TriBeCa?) to a park that was absolutely mobbed with kids and their designer strollers and there were also a ton of nannies. I felt like I wanted to tell people that Meg was actually my daughter but then decided that would be a bit weird, even by New York standards.


Washington Market Park treescape. It was actually pretty lush there. There were signs everywhere saying "blankets kill grass" and "no strollers on grass." I guess they know their user group.


Meg teething and watching the crush of kids at the park.

Hot time summer in the City

We've been in New York City for 2.5 weeks now and boy were we glad to see those 107 degrees days go. After that little heatwave the weather has been quite pleasant. Plenty of thunderstorms to keep things interesting and the sidewalks "clean."


Meg doesn't like the whole heat and humidity combo. What can I say, she is a Boston winter baby?


Mama and Meg sweatin' at the Madison Square Park BBQ.

Next stop Santa Cruz!

It is funny to go on vacation to a place where you used to live. The upside is you know your way around, where to eat, where not to eat, there are people to visit, places to see, etc. The downside is that it is a reminder of all that you left behind. And when the vacation is over the sadness of leaving the people and the place behind is once again brought to forefront of your mind. Don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful time in Santa Cruz but knowing we live so far from a place where we have such great memories and great friends is a bit of a bummer. Anyway, on with the pictures, shall we?


While in Santa Cruz we had to visit the Big Creek Forestry Dept. (not pictured but excited to see Meg, Kristin).


Meg and her good friend Mads having a little photo shoot.


Meg and Daddy at the beach.


Meg at the beach. She seemed to like the sand more than we thought she would.


Meg in her Wonder Woman swimsuit. Couldn't you just eat her!?


Meg and Jonah (4 weeks old). I had to look back at pictures of Meg when she was that old to prove to myself that she was ever that little. Actually, Meg was smaller than the J-man was when she was born; hard to believe looking at her now, I know. Crazy.

Memorial Day weekend

Meg and I stayed in California after coming back from Australia at Dado and Bean's. Andy finished up his finals back in Boston and we rendezvoused in Berkeley for Mikey and Blaire's wedding. The look on Meg's face when she saw her daddy for the first time in three weeks was priceless! So great to be reunited.


Meg on Faculty Glade at Berkeley, back where her parents fell in love...


Redwoods and Campanile.

The wedding was great too. Blaire looked gorgeous, like out of a bridal magazine, and Meg did a perfect job as part of the "wedding posse" in the Radio Flyer. It was a wonderful weekend back in Berkeley.

Pre-wedding golf tourney. Morse men, who apparently dress color-coordinately by chance... or not?


The new-and-improved Morse Family. Welcome Blaire. I am so excited to share this adventure with you!


Double the handsomeness, double the fun (Andy is on the left).


The newlyweds stopping traffic!

Day ?: miscellaneous pix

Below are just some miscellaneous photos from the second part of our Australian vacation.
Next post - USA!


Happy 1st Father's Day Daddy!


Mum at the beach, that's Cabarita Beach in the distance behind her.


Brandy and her gals on the pristine coastline.


Mama and snoozin' MJ on the beach.


Three generations with 50% redheads!


Maggie and Nannie on the beach.


Tuckered out from a day at the beach.

Day 13: BBQ in Cabarita Beach

Day 13:
We spent the day at my Auntie Debbie and Uncle Gary's home in Cabarita Beach. It is a really beautiful spot. Nana Great stayed the week in their granny-flat, which is twice as big as our Boston apartment!


Primary reason for the trip: four generations of Matthews, Pailes, and Morse girls in the same hemisphere!


Auntie B and her goddaughter MJ at the BBQ.


Mary Grace and Claire playing Barbies for at least four hours! Claire is such a trooper!


Nana Great and her daughters.


Sisters.


"Girls Rule" (per the onesie courtesy of Bean).


Meg showing off her pearly whites, all two of 'em.