Breakheart Reservation

Jen made me a deal that if I let her sleep in on Saturday morning, she'd clean the kitchen.  So at 7:15am when the boys woke up, we had our oatmeal, got dressed, and went out hiking/geocaching at Breakheart just North of Boston.  I had only been there once, but never exploring.   This serves as a photo journal of our morning adventure on Saturday.

Ian took my picture with Blake.  I kind of have to put myself wherever he's pointing. :)

We found a geocache.  Good reason to stop and have a break, eh?

Ian was surprised to see this car on top of Breakheart Hill.  I was too... but with a straight six like that, how could it not make it?

This is how Blake got forward looks strapped to my back.  And that's the vein the Red Cross sometimes uses to take my blood.

This is how you grow crows feet.  Contort your face in as many ways as possible, and the wrinkles will just stick.

I am surprised that Ian looks like he's 22 in this picture.  While I am plenty eager to go on adventures with a man-son, I am happy to have my little boy for now!

Note:  As soon as we sat down at the top of the hill, Blake insisted that for his break to be official, he needed to take off his socks and shoes.  So be it.  I'm sure the granola bar tasted better with the breeze between his toes.

Hydration is especially important when you are strapped to someone's back.

Here's an action shot while hiking down the paved trail.  Okay, so it's in the suburbs, not in the mountains.  It's close to home, though, and has plenty of miles of trail!

The boys at the Upper Lake.

Blake thinking, "Dad, I want to go splash in that..." and it wasn't too long after the click of the shutter that I had to quickly prevent such fun.  I don't mind splashing, but it would help if he had a bit better balance first.

Here's Blake receiving wisdom from heaven.  Or at least a very interesting camera shot with glare.

Ian thought this flume was awesome.  Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, it connects the upper lake to the lower lake.  He gave me the grand tour of where the water goes.  Smart kid!

This is several miles into the hike.  Turns out when a 5 1/2 year old hits his limit of walking, he starts crawling.  I guess I had forgotten that, since we haven't done much hiking this year.  Last year, we had vanilla wafers to keep the feet motivated.

And here are the happy hikers just before the home stretch back to the car.  Some of us are more alert than others.

Few words... but it's intonation!!

{a joe post.  still worth reading, though!}
We once had our friend from collage, Jennaye, who had served a mission to Taiwan, describe speaking Mandarin as all in the intonation.  I remember sitting around the living room trying out the ways to say "ma", which depending on how it was said, could mean "mother", "horse", or the word indicating a question was posed.  Honestly, I can't type intonation, so I'm not going to try to impersonate how that discussion sounded.  But rest assured, the same consonant and vowel can be put together with a different sing-song to mean something completely different.

We have an 18 month old linguist in the house that understands this principle.  His name is Blake, and he knows how to use similar consonant/vowel combinations to indicate a host of words.  Until you spend a little time with him, it's tough to know what "Dah" means.  Here's a primer in the language of our dearest Blake.

Unknown meaning:
assah.  (not sure really, but could be what's that? or maybe awesome!)


Word,  Blake Version
Dad, dad
Uh-oh, uh-oh
(not interested yet?)

No, nun  (German, perhaps?)

Yes, dah  (is that Scandinavian?)

Ball, bah

Up, bup

Down, dah  (now, do you mean yes? or down?)

Noodle, doo-dt

Cat, dat ("I want dat": a potentially confusing sentence)

Dog, dah or oof-oof

Bite, bup

Bath, bahf

Car, dahr

Cheese, chiz

Done, dut or ahhhh-dah

Brother, buh-buh
Papa, pa-pa

and finally, the much anticipated term

Mama, mom-mom.

Addendum 10/12/2011
I've asked Blake to tell me some of his other words, and this is what he came up with.  Also, keep in mind that all of blakes words slide upward  _-^ in pitch toward the end, they way you might say "really?" or "want to go?"

Teeth, theeth
Tickle, thithle
Shoes, boo  (boots?)
Cup, bup
Spoon, poo