Our Insta-Vacation

hi!! i am back!

We had a great vacation to Maine and Boston...filled with all kinds of fun.

We drove a lot, there were quilt shops to see, and sewing to be done in the car....we met up with old friends and made new ones...

We hunted sea glass on the local beach...ate at very colorful local food joints...visited with relatives...checked out those lobsters before they became dinner.

And so much more.
(Sorry that the picture is small. If you want to see it a little better i think all you have to do is click on it) 




Leslie

Giddyup!!

Both of my niece's ride horses...it is also a dream of both Avery and Mitchell's. Avery enjoys the horses and Mitchell would like to be a cowboy! These past couple weeks during cousin camp life had to go on so the girls continued to have lessons. We of course went along and enjoyed something new. Along with horses there were frogs and tractors(Mitch rode on) and beetles and butterflies and best of all a dog. He would just sit with her in the dirt, hug her once in awhile and talk to her like she totally understood him. So sweet.



After this weeks lesson the instructor said it was fine for the kids to get on one of the ponies and give it a try, likely due to Mitchell's charm and persuasiveness when he asked...despite that i told him it was not polite to ask, he should wait until it is offered. Oh well, someday that lesson will soak in.

Love that dimple!!! He looked a little unsure, but this was just after he looked at me and said that he felt like a real cowboy. This was his first time on a horse and there was not a minute of hesitation.

And Avery...this girl has been wanting to be on a horse since the last time she was on one about 4 years ago. She is so strangely calm around a huge horse when sometimes a small dog unnerves her. How does that work? While she was there i know that she was watching closely to everything her cousin did to get the horse all ready to ride, soaking it all in, in her glory. I loved this shot of her!

Vision of our Days

We have been enjoying cousin camp!!! There has been tie dye, which makes the prettiest laundry you have ever seen. There was night swimming on the 4th of July. Ice popes that were very festive. The kids did a fashion show...very silly. And we had a game night. Didn't Avery looks thrilled with bingo?! If you want to see some fun pictures of our 4th go check them out at my sister's blog, here. There are also a few more cousin camp pictures here.

Mitchell's Take on Things

Honestly this should be a weekly installment, an ongoing post of sorts, because this kid says some really funny stuff. Today they all center around his impression of our trip to a modern art museum called the DIA. Yesterday was free day for the local community, so we decided to go and check it out.

Let me tell you what Mitchell thought.

Mitch, as we walk in, looks around..."this is not art!". We tried shushing him.
...as we are standing looking at the scrap metal sculpture..."i am taller than that piece of garbage"
..."it doesn't even look like sculptures"
...as we walk into a room of all white canvas, "no art, no art, no art"
..."mmm, boring"

Now understand that this is coming from a kid who's introduction to 'art' is largely influenced by his first introductions at the National Gallery in DC and the Met in NYC. So, please don't be offended all you modern art lovers(Natalie). We found lots of things there to appreciate that were really impressive, there were just a few too many that made us say, "huh?!?". All in all we had a nice visit...Avery really loved it actually. There was even a point when all three, Chris Avery and Mitch, were kneeling on the floor looking at an art piece and i said to them, "even if you don't always understand modern art there is something to discover about it".

Perfect Picking Day

We had the most amazing weather on Monday....high 60's with a breeze....amazing!! So we took full advantage and took the kids strawberry picking. We love to do it but the weather is usually hot and humid and no fun at all.


Mitchell had to get the whining and complaining out of his system a little...so he sat down in the middle of the field and took a moment. He was quickly feeling all better.


Isn't the view amazing. The farm is right on the top of a hill overlooking the Hudson river valley.

It is possible that more berries went in mouths than in baskets!!!! i caught him red handed, literally(below)!!!

Look at them! They are like little ruby red gems. I have plans for these guys...shortcake, jam, smoothies. I will share some of the results later.

His hands were just as they should be after picking all those warm, sweet, juicy berries. I love all those little wrinkles and despite him being 5 they still look like little little person hands to me. The rest of us were just the same color...i even had stained finger nails.

Wildlife

There has been quite a lot of wildlife in our last few days. We saw all of these guys above just in one afternoon. We had lots of fun at a local farm and lake. There were so many silly animals at the farm, including a dog the size of a horse...yet i somehow managed not to get a shot of him. There were tiny baby bunnies lining the road to the lake....baby birds(bottom middle left)running in the grass...big giant bees in the flowers. Pretty stuff!

Then there was this little guy. Doesn't he look angry? If i were him i would be too. He is just a little baby, and i think if he survives the night in our yard we are going to try to take him to the local wildlife center. He was hand raised and fed by a neighbor and then released in the last few days. Today he turned up in our yard....hungry and lonely. He is obviously used to people. He cheeped and peeped and then would stand in your hand. uh oh! Avery brought out some of our fishing worms for him, he was very grateful and knew just what to do.

We knew we were in trouble when Fluffy Muffy(we kind of named him/her) decided to join us for dinner at the picnic table. At first he peeped at us from a distance then before we knew it he was sitting in Mitchel's chair with him....then in Avery's....and then he hopped right up onto my shoulder. He thinks he is a parrot! We could not keep him away...every time we moved him he came right back. I hope he makes it through the night so we can take him to someone that knows what they are doing.

Winter Vacation

This weekend we went with Chris on a skiing trip to the Adirondack mountains with some of his ski patrolers. It was a really nice getaway for everyone. There was marshmallow roasting over a open fire at the lodge...snow...yummy food...a nice hotel...goofy big kids to hang out with...sledding...skiing...and a lot of lodge momming!

We stayed in Lake George where they were having a winter carnival this weekend. The kids saw this Ice castle and throne and wanted a chance to be the ice king and queen!!!

They skiied at three different mountains over the weekend, West...Gore...and Hickory. For the kids i think the very best part was the tubing at West. I on the other hand have never been so cold. Standing in the shade and on the snow for two hours nearly turned me into a icicle. But the kids had a blast. So much fun that we went back on Sunday morning for another go before we headed back south to home. The mosaic was necessary because there were far too many fun pictures to choose just one or two...just click on it to make the pictures bigger.

Chris was getting his snowboard fix where some of "us" were staying at Hickory. My baby looks good!!! He loves the snow...i used to tell him that if i shook his head i could see snow in his eyes...like a snow globe.

Just Me and My Little Man

Today Mitch and I spent the day together....just me and him. I don't think that has ever happened. I guess that is a result of being the second child. Big sister is usually around. Today she was with my sister having a outing of her own.
I did not want to just stay home and do something boring like watch tv so we packed up, put on out comfy shoes and warm clothes and headed for the local zoo. this little turtle was one of my favorites. He was only about the size of a saucer.
Mitch seemed to know more about snakes than i knew he knew. He got the name of every one right, and i know he was not cheating and reading the signs because he can't read!

In some pictures i caught him off guard and in others he was absolutely posing. Love this kid. He has such a large sense of humor. SO large sometimes it can fill a whole room.

We had such a nice time together. It was a real treat to have one on one time....we missed Avery though.

**stay tuned i have a crafty post coming up. i promise!**

Halloween Fun

Here are my kiddo's in all their halloween glory. Bad picture since we had to do them inside. It was pretty rainy. Mitchell was Ham from the recent movie, Space Chimps and Avery was a 50's girl...is their a name for this? She saw this outfit at the store and loved it. She looked so adorable.

Since it was a rainy and cold morning saturday I thought, why not start the fun with a batch of my mom's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Warm things up a little. I had never made them before...but i will again. They were so yummy.

Chris helped the kids make a plan and then walked them through the steps to carve their own pumpkins this year. Cause i don't know about anyone else but we always ended up doing it. This time the kids did a great job...daddy did help but not too much. Look how hard Mitch is concentrating. He has the thinking tongue out. :o)

Avery was working really hard scraping out the junk on the inside. SHe thought it was "totally" gross and wanted to have no part of it. Mitch on the other hand thought that was the coolest and grossest part of the whole thing. He revelled in every second of squishing it through his fingers. You can see by Avery's face what she tought of it all.

He Had a Birthday!

Birthday's are not a big deal to my husband...to him it is just another day. I used to try to make a bigger deal out of it, but i have learned that i should just go with what he wants. It is easier that way. This year he surprised me with an idea for something he would like to do. He wanted to go and visit the Orange County Choppers showroom nearby.
Isn't he cute? We surprisingly enjoyed ourselves. We brought along friends and all of our kids and aside from reminding the kids, constantly, not to touch the motorcycles, we had fun. Things went well.

Mitchell was working out his tough face...he was thrilled about the firefighter motorcycle. The tribute wall to 9-11 was really cool...covered in patches from various fire stations around the country, and surrounded by several fire helmets.

Chris tried on some new gear, and settled on none but he had fun...this was what he wanted for his birthday, so we made it happen. The show on TLC is a little much sometimes but the motorcycles were really fun to see. I love Avery's serious face while wearing Chris' motorcycle jacket.

So, sweet husband...it has been 10 years together this week(we met days after his 23rd birthday). Like you said tonight...can you believe that in a blink of an eye 10 years have passed? They have been a great 10 years. I love you more with every passing day. You are a wonderful husband and partner. You are truly the best. You do more for me and the kids than i could ever ask for. There is no one more perfect than you. Happy Birthday, love. Here is to another wonderful 10 years