Caleb Nadine and I took a trip to Great Brook Farm State Park yesterday morning for some hiking and to see if the animals were out. It was an awesome day — crisp, beautiful, and not too cold — and Caleb and Nadine were excited for the trip. (Click on the photo to the right to see more pictures.)

We didn’t hike for as long as I had hoped — Caleb’s energy waned pretty quickly and it became obvious that he would benefit from a solid nap at home — but it was still a lot of fun. Nadine found a goat friend and Caleb had a great time watching the animals and hiking.

As indicated in an earlier post, we spent this Thanksgiving up in the White Mountains, in the wonderful comfort of the Highland Center. My parents drove up from New Hampshire to spend the holiday with us and everyone had a great time. (Click on the photo to see more images from our trip.)

We filled the daytime with a lot of hiking and playing, and the evenings with games and stories. We did a number of short hikes and a few more ambitious hikes but also had fun building snow forts and messing around in the powder in front of the lodge.

Caleb had a fantastic time and really enjoyed winter hiking. His boots performed wonderfully though his mittens became wet due to frequent contact with the snow. Even so, Caleb’s hands stayed nice and warm and everyone was happy to be out in the cold and snow.

For evening games, we played Caleb’s favorite version of ping-pong each night (”Crazy Ball!!”), a round of CandyLand, and some hide-and-go-seek.

We look forward to our next trip to the White Mountains and certainly to the Highland Center.

(Thank you Vinnie for being so hospitable!)

While this may not seem like a relevant Caleb & Me post, Megan and my recent trip to New York City to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary most certainly is to us. It represented the first multi-day trip away from our son. Caleb stayed with Nonna and Boppa for three days and two nights while Megan and I traipsed throughout New York. My awesome friend Nora lent us her apartment in Grammercy while we were there, which meant that Megan and I more or less walked all over Manhattan taking full advantage of the perfect location of the apartment. (Thank you again Nora — thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Click on the photo below to see more images from our trip.

Early this November Caleb and I headed back to the White Mountains for a few days to keep Megan company as she attended a two-day wilderness first-aid class. (Click on the photo to see photos from our trip.) The class, held at the Joe Dodge Lodge, was part of her job at AMC and taught her a ton of excellent skills necessary to allow her to take AMC donors out on a hike. Fracture something or come down with hypothermia while you are hiking? I hope you have Megan with you…

The class entailed two full-day sessions so Caleb and I had plenty of time to romp around and do some hiking while Megan was learning, role playing, and taking tests. It was a tad cold (mid 30’s and 20’s without wind chill the first and second day) so we stuck to hikes that were short and offered easy retreats (i.e. close to the lodge and less than a mile out). The first day we hiked up a portion of the Tuckerman Ravine Trail and the on the second day we hiked up to Square Ledge. We filled the time in between with some reading, a lot of playing tag and chase, and some flying (essentially chase with our arms stretched out while pretending to be planes).

We are on our way back up to the White Mountains this weekend for Thanksgiving. There is snow on the ground and the temperature is quite chilly (it’s in the low 40’s right now, but the temperature has ranged from 9°F to 28°F during the past week (eh, before windchill, which dropped the low end to the negative teens…). So, we are headed up there armed with some new gear for Caleb: new Sorel boots (comfort rated to -25°F), super-warm snow bib pants, and new thermal bottoms and tops. He’s still bringing along his blue parka, trusty mittens, beanie, and a few fleece layers to pile on and peel off, and we may outfit him with a second hat depending on the temperature and wind.

We’ll see how he does and can always retreat to the lodge if he is uncomfortable. We picked out a few short hikes that we have already done and know are accessible, and may simply choose fun activities like trying out snowshoeing or building snow forts if the conditions are too rough.

Caleb and I have been commuting to Boston together for a week or two now. Originally Megan and I split the duties (she would take him in the morning and I would bring him home) but it is more efficient if I take him both ways. My office is about a half a mile from his preschool (I’m in the Financial District and he’s in the North End), and our train (the Lowell commuter rail) arrives at and departs from North Station, which is just under a half mile from Caleb’s preschool. The ride is usually right around 12 minutes and I am usually at work within 45 minutes of leaving our house.

So…we are doing a lot of walking, and barring the times when the wind and temperature make things pretty uncomfortable, it is a lot of fun. Caleb enjoys it and the conductors on the train recognize him now (maybe it has something to do with his distinctive bright blue winter jacket and fleece hat with the frizzies on it…). One of them gave him an expired ticket once (I show a monthly pass each time I ride — Caleb gets to ride free) and they regularly punch it for Caleb, pretending that it is a valid ticket. It is very sweet.

And it is also pretty neat to see all of the other commuters smile at him rather than hold the far more prevalent empty stare of the daily grind.

Today was Daddy Day and with Megan out of town for the weekend at an AMC (her job) event, I wanted to do something unique and fun with Caleb. A few days ago I started tossing around ideas and settled on taking him to a farm to go apple picking and check out the equipment and whatever else we could find.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned as we woke up to a fairly even downpour. Picking apples in the rain, I guessed, would not be nearly as much fun as in the sunshine. For better or worse, however, Caleb and I decided to go through with it anyway. What’s a little rain and wet clothes — certainly not enough to stop us from having a good time?

I didn’t take very many pictures (juggling a camera, bag of apples, three year old, and an umbrella is not as easy as it looks), but those that I did take are below.

Just starting out. This is just after we crossed the bridge from Boston to Charlestown.

Heading out of Boston on Hwy. 1

Still on Hwy. 1. Still raining.

Still raining, but now the road is beautiful. We are very close to the farm now.

Boots! Our bag of apples is almost full!

Heading home over the Tobin. Still raining, but we have a bag full of awesome apples to eat!

Our neighborhood is great. Every day there is something unique happening.

On Friday we were treated to a very special road construction exercise. It seems that a rectangle of street outside our building was ready to be ripped up (by a massive, massive machine) and then replaced moments later with fresh asphalt. We can’t figure out exactly why the road needed to be torn up, but at least the timing coincided with the start of Caleb’s afternoon nap…

Click on the photo to see the noise up close and personal.

I am sure I come across as many things through this blog but a computer geek and an economics/finance junkie are probably not at the top of the list. Well… I stumbled across an incredibly creative website this afternoon while reading one of my favorite economics blogs. (Click on the image to the right to see the various images I created.)

The site, Wordle, creates an image based on a block of text you provide. The resulting image can be manipulated some with rough controls that allow you to alter the color palette, general arrangement of the words, as well as the typeface used. The text you submit is parsed using a number of criteria and then individual words are pulled out and arranged according to some logical order, and given weight based on frequency of use.

In looking at the images I created (see them all by clicking on the above image), I clearly have a recurring emphasis. Caleb’s name is consistently prominent as are a few select other words. Rather than blather on about what I see in each image, take a look for yourself.

Yesterday was one of the more physically intensive Daddy Days we have had for some time. When asked, Caleb said that we should go to Central Square. Not content with our normal route of a walk to Park Street to catch the Red Line over the river, I decided that we would take the Green Line to BU and walk to Central Square instead. The weather was perfect and I figured it would be a good way to see a part of Boston neither of us had explored much before (Cambridgeport). Click on the photo to the right to see all of the images from our adventure!

The weather was indeed beautiful — sunny and not too hot — and perfect for a long afternoon walk outside. The walking portion of the trip, essentially BU to the North End, via Central Square and the Mass Ave bridge on the way back (instead of the more direct Longfellow Bridge) was just under 6 miles long. Roughly 5 of those miles Caleb trudged from the comfort of my arms or shoulders. (What’s a stroller?)

We learned a few things along the way, namely that Boston is beautiful in the summer, and the park along the Charles River (adjacent to Storrow Drive) is simply made for running/ strolling/ taking everything in.

Megan took some great photographs of Caleb and his friends the other day. They were hanging out in the playground next to our apartment enjoying the fantastic weather. Caleb did a few tricks on his skateboard for the camera and is really getting a hang of his balance. It helps when there is nice cushy rubber for him to fall on (the green/ gray/ black ground cover in the photos). Click on the image to the right to see all of the photos!