Once again, our summer was full of travel - and Dana grew to the task. She has mastered the art of running down airplane aisles, playing in the Swedish "family wagon" trains, singing in ferries, and sleeping in the car.
The summer started with a month in Europe. We first went to
Stratford-upon-Avon for a meeting where our French friend Aurelie generously met
us and took care of Dana for 3 days during the meeting. We managed to sneak in a little
Shakespeare - and Dana had her first swim in a pool. It took a little bit
for her to get used to the idea, but now she is a trooper and squeals with
delight when we pull up to our local pool.
We then went to Sweden where we stayed for three weeks, working on our ongoing
collaboration with folks there. Dana warmed up our little apartment with a
quick snack. After all that travelling, she was very happy to eat!
Then we got to eat. We stayed in this nice apartment for five days
because the regular university apartment was full, so we enjoyed a bit of
luxury. The apartment came with free bottled water - which Allison took
great advantage of!
When we moved into our regular apartment, we were delighted to find an
incredible park that Dana loved! Grandma and Grandpa Bederson had come to
help take care of Dana for two weeks while we worked. They took Dana to
this park every day. Dana became a master of the shovel. Her
obsession with sand encouraged us to buy a sandbox when we got home, which she
is currently enjoying.
Dana found lots of nice clubhouses to sit in at the park where she could watch
the other children. Dana continues being a very social little girl.
While she loves sand, she'll give it up to go visit with another child.
And she continues to love animals. In this picture, I think she's looking
at a bird.
We had planned this trip to be in Sweden during "midsummer" which is
the celebration of the summer equinox (longest day of the year). It is one
of the biggest holidays of the year in Sweden. Here's grandpa holding Dana
on the ferry to our friend Yngve's house where we visited for midsummer.
There is a big celebration where everyone in town comes to dance around a big
maypole and play games. Here's Dana and mommy taking part in the fun!
Dana is good at dancing and hand-clapping.
Finally we got back home, just in time to meet our friends the Paines and the
Platts from New Mexico. They visited us for a week and we had loads of fun
- lots of kids to share in all the food! This was one of Dana's last meals
with her highchair tray. Now she insists on eating at the table with us,
so we took off the tray and slide the chair up to the table.
Dana's namesake, Dana Paine, was a favorite visitor. They spent lots of
time reading together.
We snuck in a few more trips this summer: visiting the Druin part of our family
for Chloe (her cousin)'s first birthday and our Druin Family Runion. Both were
super events (where we managed to forget our camera both times!) Our last
trip of the summer was to Windsor, the Bederson country home in the Berkshires
(western Massachusetts). We had beautiful weather, and Dana loved it.
We went on some great hikes. Dana got her first pair of hiking boots, and started
learning rock climbing!
And she was a trooper when it came to trail walking. We had a backpack to
carry her, but she preferred to walk herself - well, until she got tired.
Of course, as she shows in this picture, she often has a mind of her own when it
comes to picking a direction to walk...
Back in Maryland, we went to Erica's house-warming party and Dana was happy to
spend some time with cousin Chloe. (No, there wasn't any water in the pool
at this moment.)
Inside the house, grandparents Mar and Mel got in some time as Dana helped
install Erica's new VCR.
While Dana loves to run around outside and play with family, she also loves her wagon - the more bumps
the better. We keep checking to make sure Dana doesn't bounce out, but she
just sits there, enjoying the sun.
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All text and photos Copyright (c) 2000 Ben Bederson