a week

Friday

My mom was given the day off from work and decided we should go out on their boat.  It was a beautiful day after a long run of rainy days and although the lake was a little rough, it was a great day to be out on it.  Dick drove to a bay where Zeke went "water sledding" for awhile.  Then we drove to Basin Harbor and docked the boat.  We visited Dolly where she works in the gift shop there and got creemees at the Harbor Store.

Saturday

Mom and Dick were stuck with us again.  We left about 6:30 a.m. and made the drive to North Conway, NH,  for a Day Out with Thomas.  The activities were geared toward younger kids, so Ryley and Zeke weren't that impressed, but Quin absolutely loved it.  All of the kids enjoyed the train ride.  We made a stop at the LLBean outlet and made it home before dark.

Sunday

I went for a run in the morning and then jumped in the pool to cool off.  I love having a pool!  We went to church and then headed to Springfield, VT, for little Kien's 2nd birthday.  We spent the rest of the day there and got home late.

Monday

Our pool had turned green when we were gone on Sunday and didn't look very inviting when I woke up.  I decided to hit the beach instead, but wasn't sure I wanted to go alone with 6 kids.  Thankfully, Christa was able to join me and help with crowd management.

Tuesday

The pool looked much better after treatment.  It was hot again and we spent quite a bit of the day in the pool.  Since we were home for the day, I was able to work on potty training with the little guy.  The lesson of the day was how to take his undies off himself.

(No pics today; this was last week)

Wednesday

Home again.  With no extra kids, we were able to get a bunch of housework done.  Quin doesn't like the pool (because "it's wet") so the big kids and I hung out in the pool during his nap.  Major potty training success as he pooped on the potty twice (once, with me sending him to the potty, and once, completely on his own!).

Thursday

No pictures today.  Pretty much a repeat of yesterday.  I'm loving these relaxing days at home.  Things will get a little busier tomorrow, and we have a fun weekend planned!

The Fresh Air Fund!

Last Monday, we parked in a church parking lot and waited for a bus full of kids from New York City to arrive.  We were excited to meet a little 6 year old boy named Yeral.  We hoped he'd fit in well with our family and that he wouldn't be too homesick.  When he got off the bus, one of the FAF volunteers immediately took a picture of our "family."  We grabbed his duffel bag, got him settled in the van, and headed home.

The rest of the week flew by.

He got along extremely well with Zeke and also loved Quin and Ryley.  He was happy to go places with both JD and me.  He especially loved swimming and playing with the animals.  He made friends with every dog we encountered.  He had one afternoon of homesickness, but otherwise was very happy go lucky.

We did a couple day trips that were free thanks to the businesses that support the Fresh Air Fund.  Thank you Shelburne Farms and Sugarbush Resort!

Our week with Yeral:

Yesterday, we had to say goodbye.  He wanted to wear the same clothes he came in.  We went back to the church parking lot and waited for the bus to arrive.  When the bus came, we gave him big hugs and promised to stay in touch.  He was a great addition to our family and we hope he'll be able to come back next summer!

If you are interested in hosting a child from NYC for a week or more, check out fresh air.org.
You'll be changing a life and the lives of your own family members too!

Summer!

I thought that with school ending for the summer, that I'd have more time.  I would blog, and clean my house, and organize my closets, and finish a gazillion projects that are in all stages of completion.

I do have more time, but I feel as busy as ever; it's just a different kind of busy.

We've camped with friends, put up a swimming pool, gone to a horse show, ran a race, gotten rid of a lot of junk, done some reading, taken an online class, done some baby sitting, gone to riding lessons, gone swimming, gone to Nantucket (Zeke), and are now hosting a child from NYC through the Fresh Air Fund.

I planned to do a bunch of posts, but that probably won't happen, so here are pics from our summer so far:

Ryley showed at a local 4-H show.

Her project horse is Willow, Aunt Lisi's Clydesdale cross.

She's a huge horse, and Ry did a great job handling her!

We finally got our pool set up and had to have water hauled in.

We had left home to go camping and had to come home to meet the water guy.

(We have a well that holds about 4% of what we needed to fill the pool.)

I didn't do a very good job taking photos during our 4 day camping experience.

It rained A LOT.

Most photos I did take were of these cuties.

We came home to a full pool.

The kids have been in it every day.

I only go in when it's hot out, which hasn't happened much.

This picture gets more than three sentences!  My colleague (and Zeke's teacher), Nancy, told me months ago that she was going to run her first 5k this summer.  It took place in her town and Zeke and I joined her.  Zeke did great!  He finished in about 27 minutes and was only 2 seconds away from being third in his age group.  The kids who beat him were 4-5 years older than him.  I did okay, about 31 minutes.  Next goal:  under 30!  We're running again on the 4th of July.

It's been raining here a lot.

Places are getting flooded.

We get outside whenever the rain stops for a minute or two.

JD's grandmother lives down by the lake and has a nice pool.

We went to visit her on Sunday, and Zeke was happy to have a cousin there to play with.

Quin loves that Memere always has jelly beans!

We have a little visitor this week from NYC.  Y is 6 and has been a great little guy so far.  Many local attractions give passes to Fresh Air Fund families, so I decided to take advantage of one and go to Shelburne Farms today.  Along with my three kids and Y, I also had the two DV boys who I'm watching a few days a week this summer.  The kids were all well behaved and had a lot of fun.

These two were obsessed with picking up the chickens.

I keep telling them that these photos will be shown at their wedding :)

Ian's mom and I were prego together, so we have lots of pictures of them through the years.

And another.

Zeke's first 5k!

A really late post about May's 5k:

A week before the 5k, we put in a run of 3.5 miles, and we were ready to run the Shoreham Apple Blossom Derby (considered a 5k, but actually closer to 3.5 miles).  During the week, we planned to get another run in, but Ryley got sick and we had to change our plans.  Plans changed even more when I got sick and woke up on race day with a fever and headache.  I couldn't walk without pain, let alone run, so bummed as I was, I sent JD and the kids to the run and I went back to bed.  Zeke still wanted to run, and it turned out to be great for him that I wasn't there.  He ran alone for most of the race and beat my time from last year by 6 minutes!  He came in 10th overall (there were about 50 people running the 5k) and had a time of 28 minutes.  I was so proud of him!  He loved it and is eager to run more.

Comparing numbers with schoolmates.

Finishing strong!

Myrtle Beach, May, and more

And it's May!  It's been in the high 70s the last three days and absolutely beautiful.

A little back-blogging:

I celebrated my birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I finally decided to get a smart phone after resisting a data plan for years.  Thanks JD!  I bought myself a Silhouette Cameo after saving my "spend money" for a few months.  I haven't taken it out of the box yet as I know I won't get anything else done if I do!  JD and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, The Black Sheep, and dinner was on my brother Jason thanks to Christmas gift certificates.  It was a lovely day :)

Two days later, we packed up the minivan and drove 16 hours to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The drive went well and we settled into our home away from home for a week.  We had a double condo unit with our friends, Jeff and Julia, and their five kids.  The weather was cool for the first couple of days but warmed up enough to spend the day at the beach getting roasted enjoying the sun.

Our first stop on the way down was at Cabela's in Hamburg, PA.

We entertained Quin with trains,

lollipops, and more.

It was incredibly windy at the beach on Sunday,

but Emily, Troy, and Zeke still went in the water.

Broadway at the Beach was a fun shopping area.

We even bought the kids a taste of home.

These fish were gross, just begging for food.

We went to Ripley's Aquarium.  

It was smaller than expected, but the fish were cool.

The shark tunnel was my favorite part.

Buddies.

Nemo and Dory!

Quin loved the indoor pool at the resort.

And I recommend Puddle Jumpers life jackets!

The lazy river was fun, but a little cool for me.

Quin took Jordyn for a ride at the playground.

Our first beach day came when the temps were higher.

The kids made a huge castle in this tide pool.

They enjoyed the boogie boards that we brought from home.

They tried to save their fortress from the incoming tide.  And failed.

This was our view the day we (Julia and I) finally took a morning walk on the beach.

We hit Target a couple of times.

No Target in Vermont :(

This kid was awesome the whole way home :)

We did a little mini-golfing, the bigger kids went to a NASCAR Speedpark, and some went to an amusement park on the Boardwalk.  We went shopping, ate too much ice cream, the moms got pedicures, and we ate out and ate in.  It was a great trip and I'll probably go back sometime!

Back to the present:

We've been going non-stop since we got home.  JD has been going to work early and staying late.  The kids have had baseball or softball almost every night this week.  I'm trying to get this post done before we head off to another game tonight.

May has a 5k in store for Zeke and I, lots of crazy busyness as we finish the school year, and projects that I hope to finish.  Happy May, and HAPPY FRIDAY!!! to all.