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I’m sure you’ve all noticed this: you look at an analog clock with a second hand, and the first second seems… long. That’s because it is. Chronostasis. Arrived at via this also-interesting read about measuring sound quality.

Enjoy!

Yesterday we took a short trip to a county “see the big trucks” event. The weather was chilly but nice.

The hit of the event for Mal was the fire truck.

She went inside twice (once front, once back).

They guy up in the tree truck was taking pictures, so we thought we’d go all meta.

Playing with connectors.

What does this silver guy do?

Two days ago, any time Mal would want help going down the stairs or walking on uneven terrain, she’d reach for my hand and grab a finger. Yesterday, when I put my hand out she grabbed my whole hand and held it like… a big girl. And she’s done so every time since. Ah, how it all changes so quickly!

With the leaves mostly down now, saw this up in the tree. First thought it was a turkey hanging out, but looks to be a nest. Wasp? Anybody know? Should I practice my baseball bat tossing skills (it’s about 20 feet up in the air)?

And every now and then these guys get along in a very sweet way.

Has it been six years already?

Birthday time!

Mallory has always been curious about my watch, so she got her own for a morning birthday present today. An analog Timex kids watch with lizards on it. Only time will tell (ha!) when she’ll learn to actually read time. It’s a Timex, so it should last a while barring major catastrophe.

Today we visited the Goldendale Community Pool and Mal went for a swim.

Friday we decided to take a little drive and do a little exploring, so we pointed the car towards the north west corner of NJ. Just a few miles from the border (with NY and PA) is Highpoint State Park, which not only has a high point in it, but in fact as the highest point in NJ at about 1800 feet. It’s about an hour’s drive (yes, NJ is a small state!), and I was hoping we might have some nice scenic terrain to go through on the way there. There were some nice bits, but it was a quick reminder that when you live in the most densely populated state, there’re pretty much people everywhere. The park and surrounding areas were nice. They’ve even built a monument at the peak:

We parked at the top and explored.

The monument is about 220 feet high with stairs to the top. Mal was interested in going up. I played along, though I knew I’d be carrying her all the way. We made it about half way when Mal chickened out and wanted to go back down. I was already feeling it, so I agreed. It was a bit scarier than other stair climbing efforts we’ve done, because the stairs were very open. The monument is about 30 feet at its base and 19 at the tip.

The view from the base was still nice. (click on picture to embiggen it!)

Then we went on a bit of a hike down to the lake. Selfies were captured.

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Then it was time to get lunch, so we drove on to Port Jervis, NY and ate at Tom and Arlene’s Diner. I’d recommend it (as much for the atmosphere and experience as for the food), but I’m not sure I’d order the meatloaf sandwich again. From there we took a lazy drive back through the beautiful Delaware Water Gap and home via I-80 and Cliff’s Dairy Maid – check out their flavors! A nice day out.

Knowing it’s like chasing the rabbit on the dog race track…

This is the first night that Hannah is sleeping in the crib upstairs. Upstairs meaning the former attic, because it doesn’t quite feel right to call it the attic when it’s only partially being used as such right now. And anyway, I think “upstairs” is legal: if you’re in Manhattan and you’re on Canal street and say you’re going “uptown” that could mean you’re going to midtown or you’re actually going farther. And you could be in the 70s and be headed to Harlem and still say you’re going “uptown.” So upstairs is what I’ll call it for now.

With Hannah in the crib upstairs, we can disassemble the portable pack and play that has twice served as a bassinet and also move the chair back into Mal’s room (only in our room because there wasn’t room in Mal’s room when both crib and bed were there). And so we have our room back! That means we can hang out past 8pm, which really means Adrienne can fold clothes in there and then we can watch The Daily Show on the laptop on the bed before we both conk out. It’s the little things.

For those curious, we’re hoping to (sooner than later) move Mal upstairs as well, and it will be a shared bedroom for them. While we already have a cheap Ikea bed frame for Mal that came with the house, it’s too tall to ideally fit upstairs (I almost typed attic there). Luckily I browsed craigslist today and found a frame that was suitable (both aesthetically and because it was free), so we went and picked that up. It does need some paint though.

Ok, gotta wrap up and go do something crazy.