Boy on the Loose!

Watching Pender make his first crawls across his bedroom floor brought joy and sadness for me. What a wonderful privilege to watch all of his precious "firsts," but it also made me sad that this was the last time I'd have the honor of watching my child's first moments in motion. I found myself crying and laughing at the same time but managed to pick up the camera and film a little. He has already proven that we haven't yet baby-proofed the house as thoroughly as we'd thought - tonight he pulled over Nate's (cold) cup of coffee that was left sitting on the floor for a moment. Goodness - now we're really running to keep up with two!

Veterans Day Pancakes

Pre-school: Day 1

I took the day off to drop off Miss M at her first day of pre-school. Fearless as always, she didn't hesitate when I told her I wasn't accompanying her to the room. As she strolled down the hall with her new classmates, the last 3.5 years seemed awfully brief....

A Smattering of Sky Scenes

Strange summer: almost no rain but great clouds, thunder, and even a rainbow. I haven't seen our creek run dry before! I wonder if the beavers are starting to panic....

Finishing the 4000-footers

After ~20 years of pecking away at NH's 4000-footers, it came down to an overcast July weekend, the Carter-Moriah Range, and my soon-to-be-married brother. We parked at the 19-Mile Brook trailhead and started our loop down Rte. 16. By crossing through Camp Dodge we picked up the Imp trail partway up. A couple hours of climbing brought us past this (bear-clawed?) tree to the ridge near North Carter. With the goal of camping at Imp Shelter, we then scrambled down one of those ridiculously steep stretches of White-Mountain "trail," irritating my I-T band (as diagnosed by Geoff) in the process. By the time we dropped our packs at Imp and began the climb up Moriah (#46), the clouds actually showed signs of breaking up. Our run up the exposed ridge was complemented by emerging views north to the Pilots, west to the Presidentials and east to the Evans Notch area--not bad! Returning to Imp completed our 10-mile day. After an exquisite dinner of pasta, sundried tomatoes, green peppers and canned chicken, we turned in.


The morning brought wisps of mist to the campsite and thickening clouds to the ridge, and our first climb took us back up the ridiculous trail to North Carter. As we ascended into the clouds it occurred to us that a shuttle could have taken us to an easier trailhead and obviated the need for re-treading this trail. Oh well.




Once we made it up, the rest of the day was mostly downhill. The ridge run took us to unremarkable Middle Carter (#47) and then, with a small drop and climb, up to South Carter (#48)! Not many views along this stretch, so it was nice to have the clear weather on Moriah the day before. Dropping down to Zeta Pass and 19-Mile Brook took us back to the car to finish our 9-mile second day. It also irritated Geoff's I-T band! A fair amount of limping on the way out, but a successful end to the 4000-footers.



Thanks Geoff!

Tickling the Keys

On one of her trips to Buffalo, Mom discovered a piano that was just yearning to travel east to NH. As it seemed a perfect size for our place, she found some movers heading in that direction and convinced them to take it along. It arrived in one piece, was installed successfully, and now fits perfectly in our back room. It needs a tuning after its travels, but it is a fantastic addition--thanks Mom!

Here Myrick demonstrates that she doesn't need any lessons, just a chance to pick out the tune to the ABC song!

Myrick's First Haircut

While in SC, we decided with Dad's okay, that it was time for her first haircut. In truth, Myrick's do was a mullet, just the way it grew in. But it was a beautiful, blond mullet with baby curls at the ends. My biggest fear was that by cutting it, the curls would be gone permanently. It was a good cut done by pros who cut only small people's hair, and Myrick did great. While it is still adorable, I miss the curls. I almost cried, but walking out with a baggie of her hair was a small consolation. It's hard to let go and watch my baby girl become my little girl.

Cousin Camp: Day 5

Pretty mellow day recovering from the biggie the day before. The boys went off to the mall to run around and stay cool while we girls (plus Pender) headed off for our own errands, one of them being Myrick's very first haircut (more on that in a separate post).

This was our last day of camp, and I think we were all pretty well pooped (see pitiful kids in photo at left). Chris and the boys drove home the next day, and the kids and I left the day after that. As they pulled out of the driveway Myrick was yelling, "Come back Maddox and Nixon, come back!" Oh, my heart.

I'm sure we left behind plenty of chores for Akie and Poppy to do to restore order to their home. We're already talking about next year. Sounds like we might have a "destination" camp at the beach.

Thanks, Akie and Poppy, for an awesome Cousin Camp! You helped the kids begin building a bank of summer memories this year.

Cousin Camp: Day 4

This was, I think, my favorite activity of Cousin Camp. When Chris and I still lived in Greenville, we made frequent trips to our downtown library. It was a three story building with this fantastic, huge rotating globe in the center of it. And although the cool globe is no longer there and the building no longer houses the library (a new one has been built), the space has been turned into the Children's Museum... and it was the best ever! I cannot say enough about this place! The kids had a fantastic time and were just pooped by the end of our two hours there. There were three full floors of hands-on exhibits and there was no way we could've gotten to everything. Which means... we'll have to go back again, and again, and again in visits to come. And while there was so much to see and do, my favorite moment of the trip was completely unexpected. One of the memorable parts of that building when it was still just our library years ago, was that around the globe in the center of the library was basically one long curved bench that wrapped around the entire room for sitting on and reading. Chris and I both have good memories of standing on them and walking the circumference of the room. At one point in our visit to the museum, I look up to see Chris holding the hand of one of his boys while he walks the circumference along what used to be the benches we walked on. Chris and I looked at each other with big smiles - what a great moment!

After much needed naps, the Carters came over with their granddaughters, Alley and Suzie for a little evening playdate in the splash pool. It was just so hot during the day that playtime after the sun was beginning to set was the best time for running around the yard.

Great day - tired and happy kids!

Cousin Camp: Day 3

Day 3 was jam-packed with lots of photos, hence the need for the slideshow. Our morning was spent playing in the driveway with sidewalk chalk and strolling Pender. Sandbox time and picking flowers in Akie's garden with her rounded out the afternoon. You might notice in the photos that although Pender had a slow start here at Cousin Camp, he's really starting to get involved in playtime and is even enjoying the garden!

After nap, Kayley and Gail came over and off we headed to downtown G'ville. Chris and I kept saying how much our town has changed - none of this was around when we lived there. I guess it has been 18 years since I lived there, but it seems hard to believe that much time has passed. There has been a lot of development along the Reedy River, and this is where we spent an hour before dinner - at the splash pad letting the kids cool off and run around. They had a fantastic time, and it impressed me that Greenville isn't just catering to young adults with a great restaurant/bar/music scene, but also to young families with so much to do in the area (more on that later). A lot of the photos came from snapping the kids as they splashed in the shooting water! We had dinner at Barley's Taproom, a great pizza joint right around the corner. Pen was a trooper through it all - what a long and eventful day!

Cousin Camp: Day 2

Short on photos for day 2 due to the professional photos done in the morning. The boys still don't like having their picture taken, but we managed to get one with all of us in it. None of the adults were dressed or ready for the occasion so I think it turned out pretty well! The other picture is of Akie singing "All Around the Mulberry Bush" and dancing with the kiddos. Long day - glad we all made it through no matter how ungracefully!

Third Annual Cousin Camp, 2010: Day 1

For those who don't know the back story, Cousin Camp was officially begun in 2007, the year my parents became grandparents of 3 all in the same year! Myrick was born in March in New Hampshire, and Maddox and Nixon followed six months later in October in Florida. Since it seems unlikely that we'll ever live in the same state (although we are getting closer!) we needed to have a time during the year that could be dedicated to the new cousins, thus the birth of Cousin Camp. This is the 3rd year that we've gathered them together and now with the addition of Pender! It also seems like this is the first year that we can actually "do" stuff. Akie is the director of Cousin Camp and the creator of the menu and the schedule, and boy, has she packed it in this year! Day one was held around the house creating our tee-shirts and washing the car - a nice mellow start.

All done - time to play!

Poppy the supervisor

Maddox detailing the front bumper

Nixon helps out

Washing Akie's car

Pender taking it all in

Cooling off in the SC heat

Maddox playing in the tent/tunnel in the living room

Handprints in puffy paint!

Making our camp tee-shirts

SC Visit 2010

Putting those swim lessons to use!

Helping Akie water her lawn

Playing with my feet

Bro and Sis

Old friends :)

Joanne, Zachary, and John come for a play-date

Beky and Gabby visit us!

Kaylie and Myrick in the splash pool

Three Years of Kitchen Work

While we all love stained-wood decor (Em in particular), the kitchen we found in the house when we moved in just couldn't stay. It had places to go, things to do. The faux bronze-brick backsplash, as much as it added that certain je ne sais quoi to the room's atmosphere, needed to leave. And the enigmatic column--was it simply a display case? was it load bearing? did it house the disco ball?

With considerable assistance from our parents, we slowly began to tame all that polished wood. First Paula helped out with a generous coat of paint. Then we discovered a granite countertop in the barn that only needed a 6-ft cabinet to go with it, which Dad built. Next followed more cabinets from Dad that we managed to hang (which surprisingly haven't fallen yet!), a few more family painting days and we were a little bit closer.

And then the column came down and the island was removed. Fortunately it wasn't load bearing, but unfortunately there was nothing but sub-flooring underneath it. Dad's new island required some plywood underneath, and it was almost finished. Last touch went in yesterday--tiling the remaining footprint! I added some grout today for good measure, and we've got ourselves a totally new kitchen.

Much thanks to our indefatigable parents!