A Vacation, Business Developments, and Blueberry's Latest Accomplishments

Last week Hazel and fam visited our friends Sally* and Peter* at their time share at Breezy Point Resort, a couple of hours north. It was quite pleasant. It was a great time to be there because the fall foliage was at its peak. I don't remember when I've experienced such a beautiful fall. Here's a path near their place, showcasing the birch trees (which I love) and the sumac (the orange stuff on the left - my new favorite plant).




We took a trip on this paddleboat:


Which came complete with a bar, which came complete with wine. Here, Sally demonstrates how to enjoy yourself:


We circled an island that has goats on it.




Another activity I enjoyed was climbing a fire tower. I have a moderate fear of heights so this was a challenge.



Blueberry is not afraid of heights so she agreed to come with me for moral support.



I could only muster the courage to go halfway up the tower. I still got a great view.



In other news:

I've been planning my new business endeavor and building up my product line (see previous post). And I've decided on a name for my business! It took a while but I brainstormed the heck out of it and finally came up with something that works for me. I will reveal the name in a future post. Once I decided on a name it allowed me to open an email account (that was easy), start an Etsy shop (nothing for sale yet, just reserved the shop name), and set up the blog (no content yet). Meanwhile I've been producing items to sell, which is kind of a slow process but I'm just going to keep plugging away.

Blueberry is doing great. Here are her latest accomplishments:

• She seems to be ingesting some solids rather than spitting them all out on her chin for me to wipe away. That's exciting.
• She learned to pucker up and make a kiss sound yesterday. It's incredibly cute.
• Also yesterday, she took the spoon from me and put it in her mouth by herself several times.
• A couple of weeks ago she learned to sit up from a laying position without help. This is huge, and greatly enhances her playing time. Now I only need to help her if she scoots herself under furniture - she can't switch directions. Here is an 18-sec video of her performing this sitting-up skill:

• She's also been practicing standing and is getting pretty good at it (using the sofa and Stanley for support).
• She does a pretty good downward dog yoga pose with no help from anyone.
• Not crawling yet but Stanley never crawled so she may skip crawling as well.
• She's been sleeping 8 pm to 5 am the last few nights, a big improvement from her long-time habit of waking up to cry at 3 or 4. It could have been worse but I am really glad the 3 or 4 thing hasn't been happening.

I'm going to have a cup of tea and I think you should as well.

*Names changed.