Alden likes the Street Legal album by Dylan a lot, but always does this special, extra serious dance when "New Pony" comes on. The kid is feeling it! He seems to like intense songs (along with regular kid songs too). He has several other signature moves, but his serious face is his go-to expression.
Other music he is currently into:
They Might Be Giants Kids songs
They Might be Giants early albums
Third wave ska bands
Up tempo Gospel
Techno Dance trash
March 3, 2012
February 28, 2012
Playdate at our house
One of Alden's friends came over for a playdate this weekend and we all enjoyed the snow.
We made a snowman and gave him a bark mohawk. Alden's friend thought it should be a snow alien, so we gave it extra arms.
February 19, 2012
Evelyn's Birthday Party
Evelyn had a birthday party at her house this weekend. The theme was red.
We started out with make-your-own party hats (complete with googly eyes), then moved on to pin the tail on the donkey. The kids got to color and decorate the donkey beforehand.
Lastly, there was delicious cake and ice cream and dancing with tinsel.
February 18, 2012
Fix-y week
House projects seem to ebb near the end of winter. We are in full hunker-down mode and don't seem to have the energy to take on additional chores. Unfortunately our heat stopped working mid-week and the dryer-tumbler stopped as well.
The short version of the solution was that a regulator valve was stuck on our furnace. The valve regulated the hot/cold mix for our bath water. Since it was broken our hot water was irregular and would go from hot to tepid during showers. To 'fix' this I turned our furnace up a little and the problem was minimized... Unfortunately the extra-hot burner slowly boiled away the hot water in our baseboard heat so eventually it would not circulate. No major damage was done and a new valve fixed everything and the hot water in both the shower and baseboard is better than ever.
At the same time as the furnace issue happened, the dryer stopped working. Some quick troubleshooting pointed to a broken belt. 
I took apart the dryer and confirmed it was the belt, I was able to track down a replacement (I think there are only two sizes for dryer belts anyway) and fixed it this weekend.
The short version of the solution was that a regulator valve was stuck on our furnace. The valve regulated the hot/cold mix for our bath water. Since it was broken our hot water was irregular and would go from hot to tepid during showers. To 'fix' this I turned our furnace up a little and the problem was minimized... Unfortunately the extra-hot burner slowly boiled away the hot water in our baseboard heat so eventually it would not circulate. No major damage was done and a new valve fixed everything and the hot water in both the shower and baseboard is better than ever.
At the same time as the furnace issue happened, the dryer stopped working. Some quick troubleshooting pointed to a broken belt. 
I took apart the dryer and confirmed it was the belt, I was able to track down a replacement (I think there are only two sizes for dryer belts anyway) and fixed it this weekend.
February 12, 2012
Sophia Party
We have been hosting quite a few play-dates recently... well, two... but that is a lot for us, in Maine, in winter. Our friends the Precourts came by last week with their two kiddos William and Charlotte. This week we had the Scotts come over with their girl Sophia.
Alden and Sophia have known each other since daycare in Boothbay... 2009. They go to different schools now and live about 45 minutes away. Alden and Sophia are really sweet to each other so we try and have them get together at least once a month. 
We had a fabulous day, showing off the assets of chateau Gilg. The walk by the river to see the beaver dam, the neighbors llamas and our beehive were some of the highlights.
We all made pizza together, and all-in-all the social gathering took about six hours. The best part was that the kids did not have a single conflict in all that time! They played soooo well together. Everyone was very proud. 
Alden and Sophia have known each other since daycare in Boothbay... 2009. They go to different schools now and live about 45 minutes away. Alden and Sophia are really sweet to each other so we try and have them get together at least once a month. 
We had a fabulous day, showing off the assets of chateau Gilg. The walk by the river to see the beaver dam, the neighbors llamas and our beehive were some of the highlights.
We all made pizza together, and all-in-all the social gathering took about six hours. The best part was that the kids did not have a single conflict in all that time! They played soooo well together. Everyone was very proud. 
February 6, 2012
Oh Canada
Kerstin had meetings and a conference to attend in Fredericton, NB this past weekend for work and he invited Alden and me to tag along. It was my first trip to New Brunswick and Alden's first international adventure. It was also our first family trip that didn't involve visiting other family. A vacation just for the hell of it! What a concept.
The music festival we attended was called Shivering Songs, which was a folk, singer-songwriter showcase for Canadian talent (and one guy from Maine). Kerstin feels that was a real shame and hopes that they will work with him in the future to bring more Mainers to the event. If you click the link above, you can listen to a few of the artists from the festival. The music was really good and we discovered lots of artists that we really liked. We recommend giving a listen to Joe Grass, Postdata, Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon guy), David Myles and Olympic Symphonium, who organized the whole event. Great music! Unfortunately I couldn't attend many of the concerts because they ran too long for Alden's attention span or ran late into the night, but we did get to go to one concert at a cafe with Alden and we really enjoyed it. Kerstin will speak more about the music in his post.
When Kerstin had meetings to attend, Alden and I explored Fredericton, which is like a cute and charming version of Lewiston/Auburn. It was similar in size and scope and had a pivotal relationship to a river, but unlike Lewiston and Auburn, it had lots of class and culture with many fine shops and great restaurants and art. Alden and I got to check out the art gallery (pictured above), which he really enjoyed.
It was really bitterly cold up there, but we still insisted on walking everywhere because that's just what you do in the city. The nice thing was that the downtown was rather compact, so it never took more than 15 minutes to get anywhere. If you didn't have to walk at a 4-year old's pace, it would probably be more like 10 minutes from one end of town to the other. Very reasonable.
On Sunday, to close the festival, there was a big ole brunch with two bluegrass bands who entertained us all. There were several hundred people in attendance, many with kids who ran around and periodically danced to the music down by the stage. Alden met a little boy only 18 months old who was also named Alden and took a shine to him immediately. I spend a good portion of the brunch chasing after the two Aldens (along with his Grandmother, who I also got to know rather well). Everyone was so friendly and wonderful. Canada rocks!
Breakfast Poutines!!
I posted this picture for Aaron. He knows why....
The music festival we attended was called Shivering Songs, which was a folk, singer-songwriter showcase for Canadian talent (and one guy from Maine). Kerstin feels that was a real shame and hopes that they will work with him in the future to bring more Mainers to the event. If you click the link above, you can listen to a few of the artists from the festival. The music was really good and we discovered lots of artists that we really liked. We recommend giving a listen to Joe Grass, Postdata, Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon guy), David Myles and Olympic Symphonium, who organized the whole event. Great music! Unfortunately I couldn't attend many of the concerts because they ran too long for Alden's attention span or ran late into the night, but we did get to go to one concert at a cafe with Alden and we really enjoyed it. Kerstin will speak more about the music in his post.
When Kerstin had meetings to attend, Alden and I explored Fredericton, which is like a cute and charming version of Lewiston/Auburn. It was similar in size and scope and had a pivotal relationship to a river, but unlike Lewiston and Auburn, it had lots of class and culture with many fine shops and great restaurants and art. Alden and I got to check out the art gallery (pictured above), which he really enjoyed.
It was really bitterly cold up there, but we still insisted on walking everywhere because that's just what you do in the city. The nice thing was that the downtown was rather compact, so it never took more than 15 minutes to get anywhere. If you didn't have to walk at a 4-year old's pace, it would probably be more like 10 minutes from one end of town to the other. Very reasonable.
On Sunday, to close the festival, there was a big ole brunch with two bluegrass bands who entertained us all. There were several hundred people in attendance, many with kids who ran around and periodically danced to the music down by the stage. Alden met a little boy only 18 months old who was also named Alden and took a shine to him immediately. I spend a good portion of the brunch chasing after the two Aldens (along with his Grandmother, who I also got to know rather well). Everyone was so friendly and wonderful. Canada rocks!
Breakfast Poutines!!
I posted this picture for Aaron. He knows why....
February 4, 2012
Welcome Baby Ada
Aaron and Liz welcomed baby Ada Ruth into the world today. Mom and baby are doing great. Hooray for Ada!!
January 21, 2012
Alden 2nd Birthday
We have been celebrating the birthday of Mr. Alden for almost a week.
Starting with the party last weekend and trickling forward with gifts and packages and working our way through the cake. Thanks to everyone for the good wishes and awesome toys.
Some of his favorite thing include a book of fake tattoos
The game of bird bingo
and a puzzle that is a map of the US. We use it as a play environment for his small toys. There is a mean alligator that won't let anyone else come to Florida... fun stuff.
January 15, 2012
Alden's Birthday Party
We celebrated Alden's birthday a few days early this year since his actual birthday falls on a Wednesday. We held it at the Children's Museum in Portland, which is probably Alden's favorite place in the whole world. His good friends Sophia and Evelyn were there, but also a few new friends from his preschool this time, Henry and Ariana.
They had a blast!! It was probably the most excited and overstimulated that we've seen Alden, but he was happy and excited to see his friends and played for about 3 frenetic hours, stopping only briefly for cake and ice cream.
The museum has a little party room in the lower level where you are supposed to gather, eat cake and ice cream and open presents. The room is rented out in 2 hour increments and theoretically you can party in here for the whole duration. However, the excitement over the museum was so great that the kids didn't really have it in them to finish their cake and ice cream before lure of the museum got too much to bear and they all cleared out. I'd venture that they spent a maximum of 15 minutes in here total. I don't really know therefore if they even liked the train cake I made. But it was a nice, quiet place for parents to catch their breath and grab a bite of fruit salad or a quick chit chat with another adult. 
It was the best birthday party yet and a huge success. Hooray for the Children's Museum!!
January 12, 2012
Float / Play Exhibit
I am in this exhibit till the end of the month."Float/Play, a highly unique and whimsical interactive installation of video, art and soundscape, has opened in UMA's Danforth Gallery and runs until January 30th.
An electronic arts collaboration of UMA faculty and students, Float/Play features the works of Susan Bickford, Kerstin Gilg, Robert Rainey and Clay Waits in an arrangement that playfully transforms the viewer's experience in time and space.
The exhibition, which consists of seven unique projects providing a carefully choreographed journey through a complex web of interactions, includes: a 25-foot interactive projection screen activated by an electronic fishing pole interface creating virtual ripples along the "pond" surface; a whimsical 25x25 foot submerged lake-bottom manifested in ink; and three 10-foot floating beach balls displaying projected images including the viewer's face translated into graphic zeros and ones..."
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