Summertime, and the livin's easy (at the river)

Old Deerfield has some great places, but my two favorites would have to "The Rock" up on Pocumtuck Ridge, for surprisingly excellent views of the valley, and the "beach" on the Deerfield River by the JV football field. We've had so much rain this spring and early summer that there were a few weeks there where it wasn't safe/healthy to go swimming, but it's really settled down now. It's one of the most idyllic spots around, especially when the farmers and campus aren't sucking water out for irrigation (which no one is doing right now, 'cause it's so wet). I've seen bald eagles fly by, there are little freshwater mussels, and the river is one of the cleaner/colder ones around. The trees on the banks (along with holding some rope swings for when you are older, Socha) make for nice shaded beaches and dappled light. If the leaves are on the trees and it's not rush hour on nearby I-91, there's very little human sights or sound, except for the occasional kayaker or tuber floating by. The eddies in the current have lots of water bugs striding around on them, and the far side has a little rapid that makes a nice sound. But you don't really care about most of that. You are really excited that there is mud there (and sand...both are good), you can play with your bucket and shovel, and I let you throw rocks into the water. Good times. Summertime, and the living is easy.

Sand toys! Mud!

There was a crow CAWWING across the river that had you very concerned.

Throwing rocks. Daddy's phone camera is much too slow for an action shot.

Bad quality video...mostly no audio, but some nice nature sounds punctuated by Dad talking and Socha squealing with delight.

"DA-dee DA-dee!" (Biking)

Socha loves to bike. I mean really, really loves to bike.
Whenever we go downstairs, you urges us all to put on our bike helmets, even if we aren't going riding. (I'm actually not completely sure if you like biking or really just like wearing the helmet...). When you see a bike parked somewhere, you'll point and clap, exclaiming "Da-dee! da-dee!" or something like that. I once thought that "daddy" was a special word you learned to make me smile (and to refer to your father), but now I'm less convinced. Now it seems to mean "Look over there" or "I want that" and several other variants, but once in a while it seems you do mean me.
We've spent June and the first part of July mostly hanging out around Deerfield, trying to get some nice bike rides in when it's not too hot.

Mom and Socha cruising along Mill Village road in Deerfield

When we went to Albuquerque for Anna and Nick's wedding last weekend, you kept pointing out all the bikes we saw, so we broke down and rented a tandem bike with a kid trailer on  Monday, and tried tooling around the bike path that runs along what counts as a river in New Mexico (the "Rio Grande" didn't always have water in it). We learned that your mommy and daddy shouldn't really ride tandem bikes (I want to go faster than mom does down hills, for instance), that a "shady trail" in New Mexico is really only shady in comparison to the shadeless desert, and around noontime is not shady at all, and that you mother really doesn't do well in the heat/sun. You were pretty red and hot too, but not as bad as mom. You also didn't seem to dig the trailer nearly as much as you like sitting up on the seat behind mom's chair, with the wind in your hair. At one point you fell asleep in the trailer, and it was sort of like the old movie Speed, where we figured we couldn't slow down or you would wake up. We even tried turning around to pedal the other direction (away from where we were trying to go), to provide you a tiny bit of shade (no luck...you woke up soon). Perhaps we'll post some photos from that trip in your 16 month photo album.

The trip was an inspiration though - your mom and I decided that we want to try to take a multi-week biking/camping trip with you next summer. It will be a challenge, but we think we'd all have a good time if we can figure out the logistics. I went to a few bike stores here in Greenfield this week to look at a new bike that would be more appropriate than my old mountain bike for a long road tour. I was taking care of you, so I brought you along. I left you as collateral (strapped into the stroller) with a few different bike shop managers as I test rode some bikes. I thought you would be mad to be tied down in the stroller or upset when I left, but you just loved hanging out in the bike store and ogling all those bikes.
We were reading you "Make way for ducklings" yesterday, and you actually starting hugging the book when we turned the page to one that had a man riding a bicycle. You eventually also hugged a few duck drawings, but you were certainly most affectionate to the bike. Daddy's going to go buy one of hte new bikes I test rode the other day, and then I'll be able to put the Socha-carrier seat onto my bike as well as mom's. Then we'll really be able to move around exploring, with the wind in  your hair. Yay for bikes!