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

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.

Camping 101

The truth is, this girl has not slept in the woods for about 11 years. i know, that is a long time. Not since the great girls camp out of 1999. Some of you readers are die hard campers i am sure...got it all down to a science...but i have to be honest, it scares me a little! I don't really take to it naturally. Let's start with the bugs. Oh my goodness, there were so many bugs.

See what this little brother has in his hands...a creepy millipede. He sure looks like he is about to get up to no good with it. Surprise, she did not seem to mind! it might have ruined his fun a little.

As the sun was going down, Daddy thought it was time to make a campfire. SO out came the axe. Yup, that is a real axe he is holding. It is nearly as tall as he is. Chris really enjoyed getting to show him how to do all these outdoor things.

Avery even had a go with the axe. She approached it with some hesitation but i think she had fun trying.

We had hot dogs on the BBQ...there was another lesson in this for Mitchell...how to make fire with charcoal...hmmm, that was two lessons in making fire for a 5 year old, in one day. this might not be good!

Now for those of you who do not know my husband...he is a techie genius!!! He loves his technology and gadgets so if you look close in the bottom left of this above picture you can see he does not go far without it. That is a portable solar panel he brought along to charge his i phone.

We were all good until bedtime when this tent became a den of tears for one little girl, terrified that there would be a bear. Whose little brother was not helping at all. Every time she would rationalize to herself how there was not going to be a bear he would come up with a reason to tell her why she was wrong about that...then the final zinger...as all the lights were out and everyone was tucked in he says quietly, "right, there won't be bears, but there might be snakes!". Thank goodness she did not hear him.

Somebody Had a Birthday!

My sweet baby turned 8 this weekend. I ask myself this same question every year, but where did the years go? How is she this big already?

We had a lovely party...my parents and our friends came over for dinner, cake and gifts!!! The menu was chosen by the birthday girl...meatloaf, ginger glazed baby carrots and stuffing. Yum!!!

I love this girl!! look she is almost as tall as me. Again, how is this happening? :o) She is changing so much and growing into a such a confident, beautiful, smart and independent girl.

These were not our only festivities....we let her pick what she wanted to do for her birthday and she chose a trip to NYC. Complete with a trip to the American Girls store, FAO Schwarz, a carriage ride in central park, dinner at the restaurant of her choice, Ellen's Stardust Diner. Needless to say we were all beat by the time we got home, but we sure had fun.

she got a new camera for her birthday so she was the one who took city pictures...so i will be loading her shots and letting her guest blog so that she can tell you all about her birthday in her own words.

Mostly Wordless???

I almost forgot the best part of the week...all the snow pictures. Most people head for warm weather during spring break but this little family tries to find what snow is left. Here is a few of the best shots from the ski trip.

Springtime Fun

As if we did not do enough on our vacation...we also took a day and headed to the zoo.

The weather was beautiful and the animals were so active and fun to watch...don't let this guy fool you right before we took the picture he was walking around, standing at the edge of his enclosure just staring at us.

We spent lots of time watching these two grizzlies....Avery kept saying that she did not like the bears but she enjoyed it just as much as me. Silly girl!

And then it was back to home where Avery, if allowed, will spend all day in the woods. Collecting moss, and rocks or building fairy houses. The weather was so great these last few days that Mitchell even got a little farmer's tan.

I have been struggling with sewing lately....lack of motivation and inspiration i guess. But i can feel it coming back slowly. Don't give up on me yet.

Where Did My Shoes Take Me?

Super wordy...so sorry...but there is no other way to tell this other than the long version. i am finding that my big night out was so amazing that it is hard to tell the story here...simply because you can not hear me SCREAMING with delight or see me JUMPING up and down because i was and am so excited!!!!! IT WAS AMAZING!!! Every part of it. Ask my sister(if you know her)...the story is pretty animated...so try to imagine. She pointed out that there should be some caps and exclamation points!!!!
As part of my Christmas presents Chris bought us tickets to see the Swell Season. Some might know who i am talking about you, some maybe not....but if you fall into that second group you really should go have a listen. They are amazing...and see the film Once, they are in that too!

We headed into the city, thank you Kate for watching the kids when i know that you would rather have been where we were!!! Cause it was AWESOME!!! sorry...back to the story. It is nice to go to the city with the kids but so great to go without....no wrangling busy children....i did not have to carry any bags because the husbands pockets worked just fine. We had a nice dinner within throwing distance of Radio City. While we were eating Chris wondered aloud if i thought they would busking on the street(background..Glen Hansard the lead musician started as a street busker and that is the premise of the movie). I said "surely not, not when they have a venue like radio city to play in".

SO after dinner we decided to walk around before the show and enjoy the city. As we were walking it occurred to me...lets see where these shoes take me!!! Certainly you have heard of Rockefeller Center...the shoes and i stood right on the very spot that the tree stood. I pretended i was a tree. :o)
Chris thought it would be fun to get a shot of the shoe with Radio City in the background. I laughed. He said "get your foot up in the air"...i said, "my foot does not go in the air". But i hugged a tree and stuck it up there!!! He knelt in the street to get the shot. I am sure everyone around was grumbling about the ridiculous tourists!! oh well. Then as we walked around the block there was this crowd and then i heard this music and all the cameras in the air, i smacked chris (lovingly of course) and said, "NO! no way!!"... cause yup that is them, playing on the street right outside the concert hall.


LOOK how close we were...i was standing around to the right in this picture about 2 to 3 rows back from them...2-3 rows. i was star struck!!! That is Glen with the guitar and Marketa Irglova standing beside him. There were people walking up and asking what was going on...i met this nice lady who turned said to me that this was the perfect NY moment. i agreed wholeheartedly. it was really amazing. After they played a few songs they turned and started walking in the direction we all had to go. SO what did we do, we followed. It was like a impromptu parade. The Sousa phone was tooting and the guitar was playing and we kept following.


There were people climbing light poles to get a better view. it was amazing. As we were walking/marching away with our swell season parade, i walked right over the spot where they had been standing. I had to take a moment. Star struck i tell you....then told chris to QUICK take a picture!!! take one of these shoes standing on the very spot Glen Hansard stood (click for a quick article on one aspect of tuesday's concert). Here they are.... standing where he played and sang and was amazing.....(see me swooning!)



As we were heading in i squealed with total joy...."I don't even have to go to the concert now"...i told chris, "that was enough for me". i stood 10 feet away. This was shaping up to be a amazing night. The picture does not do our seats justice. it was better than it looks....the i phone was all we had for picture taking. The concert itself was awesome, amazing, enthralling, outstanding, moving. It was a emotional experience. I was getting a little teary...i know i am a dork but i can not help it. A couple times the music was so amazing i caught myself closing my eyes and really loving it and then i was like "dummy open your eyes...you can do that at home...this guy is right in front of you for real!"

The concert started at 8 and ended around 11:30. It just went on and on. in a good way of course. He was funny and told stories and wanted the crowd to sing along. it was amazing. have i mentioned that already. There were multiple encores because we could not get enough. I was said when it was over. I had such a great time. Dinner and a concert in the city with my hubby...brand new shoes that went to amazing places...how could it have been bad?

Someone was sleepy on the way home...it was late....and he had to get up very early the next morning so he took a wee nap on the train!!! Super cute, wonderful husband. Thank you thank you thank you for taking me out and having a great date night with me. I love you!!! Here is one of the songs from the concert...i was there..in that room...singing along....amazing!