The Hairs

We visited the Wightman’s Farm/Apple Orchard in Morristown, NJ on Sunday, October 5th for a couple of hours of family fun. The pictures are available on family photo site (link to Wightman’s Farm pictures). Some samples from the day:

The Hair family joined the Billinghay family at Sesame Place for a good family outing yesterday. Take a look at the thumbnails below or visit the gallery for all the pix.

I continued breastfeeding Riley until he was 13 months old, though in the last three months it was mainly upon waking and right before bed. I pumped milk at work until he was 10 months old, and then after that he had formula during the day. Actually, between 7-10 months, he had some breastmilk and some formula during the day since my production was going down. It ain’t easy keeping up with the pumping when you’re working and particurly when traveling for work. ‘Excuse me while I disappear from this important meeting for a half hour so I can go pump and find a way to keep the milk from spoiling…’. I really did enjoy the intimacy and unique bond that breastfeeding gave me and Riley, and I went through a little mourning when we finally stopped, but the collateral stuff was tiring after a while. It wasn’t to difficult to stop, which makes me think the timing was right for Riley. He tried reaching into my shirt occasionally a few days after, but he was so used to bottles during the day by then (which he been taking at day care since he was 3 months old) that the transition was pretty easy.

Speaking of day care, Riley seems to be thriving there. He has a little pack of friends that he’s been with for months, and they transtioned from the first-level infant room to the older infant room (which is really yound toddlers) together last month. His closest buddies are all a month or two older than him, so I think he’s inspired to learn from them, as well as the other kids in his class. This and the structured but warm environment of the center is exactly why I think day care is better for him than a home-based day care or a nanny.

The Hair family has returned from the Dominican Republic. We went to Punta Cana for a six day vacation/destination wedding for one of Danielle’s friends, Ellen, and her new hubby, Russell. The wedding was pretty relaxed with a tiki cruise on Thursday, a two hour photo session in the pool and the wedding on Friday. After the wedding, we had cocktails/dinner at Jellyfish in Punta Cana. This place is definitely a gem in the rough. Unfortunately, there’s not many photos from our side - we kept spacing because it was the smaller camera I suppose…

Punta Cana is a city under construction. It’s obvious there’s a big divide between the rich resort owners and the general population. However, this *may* be changing with the tourism comes increased need for construction workers and services for multiple populations. Apparently, it is the number one destination for American tourists and this makes sense. It’s close (4 hour direct flights from JFK and Newark Liberty for the NYC crowd - many other directs including Air Canada) and the cost of vacationing does not seem as crazy with the weak dollar.

We had a great time overall. We stayed at the Majestic Colonial all inclusive. As with all inclusives, just about everything is included but it comes at a price. You’ll see the same food everyday and you’ll have the same mediocre drinks . Danielle and I stayed at an all inclusive in Cozumel and both recall the food and drinks being better there. The beaches are drop dead gorgeous and this would be the main draw if we were to return. The sand is such fine white sand and long natural beaches are available at multiple resorts.

We were a bit embarrassed by a fellow American who was very vocal (cat calling) when a woman took off her top on the beach. Suppose this is the downer of going to a popular American destination. It was also disappointing to see some fellow Americans not attempt Spanish (this IS the primary language of the Dominican Republic.) If you knew Spanish you were certainly able to get better service and have your needs fulfilled much more easily. Danielle and I spoke a good amount of Spanglish during our stay. Overall, the staff was very interested in helping you speak Spanish more easily. Sure, some would see the need for Spanish as a downer. On the contrary, I found this refreshing. It brought an authentic feel to our stay.

Oh, and Riley and his experience. We found he likes to sleep in lines at the airport and stay awake on planes now. He had his own chair but now that he’s walking, he thinks he should always be on the move. Four hours on an airplane tested both Danielle and I. I definitely don’t think we’ll take cross country on overseas flight longer than this.

More about Riley - as noted, he’s walking everywhere now. He’s also learning how to throw things (off his highchair and even a bit horizontal as well.) He loves bread more than anything now. It occupies him more than any other food. He still have a love affair for berries and fruit though he went through a brief stage this week where he was more interested in making orange juice than eating the local oranges. It was much more fun to squeeze the fruit than eat it.

We also noticed the Riley was more closed off to strangers in the Dominican Republic. We think this was due to a few factors:

Needless to say, we went out to our local diner for our Sunday breakfast. He was back to normal so it was one, or more, of the factors listed above that caused his uncommon shyness.

Riley liked the beach. He, like his aunt, thought it would be fun to eat sand. It did not take long for him to realize that it’s not a nourishing food. We bought him a set of sand toys and he loved playing with the shovel. He also warmed up to both the pool and the ocean after a couple of days. Obviously, he forgot his swim lessons from 6/7 months ago and we’ll work on this at the Westfield pool this summer.

That’s about it for now. We enjoyed the time away and the wedding. The Dominicans are a very friendly people and have beautiful beaches. We’re not sure if we’d return quickly unlike our feelings for both Cozumel and Nevis (not the Four Seasons part….)

At 8:20AM our wait to drop off the paperwork to join the pool was over. Danielle and Riley showed up sometime between 6 and 6:30 with fresh coffee for yours truly and some “linemates”. Shortly after posting the last article, I put the laptop away and became more social quickly developed a good level of camaraderie. We became, as one of the other linemates coined, the “Magnificent Seven”. We had a great time cracking jokes on the stoop and theorizing what others were thinking about as they queued.

I was corrected by a local reporter/photographer - there were only 996 slots available. On one of my walks I guesstimated around 350 in line, and considering this is a 2.2 kids type community, the numbers were not matching up for everyone to get in. We’ll see - a couple of the local newspapers were out taking photos and interviewing people. I thought my neighbors were pulling our leg about the turnout we should expect from their experience last year. They weren’t!

Also, it’s important to note - we made some good acquaintances this morning that may turn into friendships. Both Danielle and I have been repeatedly and pleasantly surprised on the friendliness of our neighbors. After a couple of years, it almost seems like we’re in a small town out in the Midwest and not 18 miles away from New York City.