So Thankful!

Thanksgiving is a time to be with family and feel gratitude for what we have.  This year, we weren't able to make the extended family thing work out.  Because we would be traveling so far for the Christmas holidays, we decided to stay close to home.  We had hoped we'd be able to resurrect the "Friendsgiving" that we had shared with local friends in years past, but folks were headed in different directions.  So, a few weeks before the day, I reserved a hut. It's a brand new hut that is part of the Vermont Hut System and it looked perfect. 

We rented the cabin for two night.  The first night being John's birthday.  So we celebrated him with a special birthday breakfast:

Then we cooked a chicken, prepped some stuffing, and packed up the pie and other food we were going to make at the cabin. We had a full van!

It took us a lot longer to get to the cabin than we thought it would!  It was dumping and roads were not great.  So, we arrived at the parking area just as the sun was setting.  Fortunately, the cabin is only 1/3 of a mile in, so we were able to find it pretty easily.  It took us a few trips, but we made it!

The cabin was more perfect than we thought it would be.  Cozy and warm!  

 Even Zephy loved it!

We spent Thanksgiving eating a great breakfast and then exploring the area and role playing "Little House on the Prairie".  The kids did art project and even.

The sun came out and the conditions were perfect for building a snow quinzee.  It involved making a big pile of snow and then waiting for it to settle.

While we waited for the snow to settle, we gave and received massages, and  drew on the frosty door

After several hours, we got to burrow out the quinzee:

Everyone worked hard and we finally had a real snow structure:

Next was the feast!  The kids did some decorating:

And even got sort of "dressed up":

The meal was amazing.  With only a propane cook top and a wood burning stove, we did it!  Chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, and gravy.

And the best part was not being totally "stuffed" after the feast.  I feel like we ate so much more reasonably.  The kids were really fired up to have dessert in the quinzee.  In fact, Hazey wanted to sleep out there, but it was single digits below zero so we convinced him to sleep in the cozy hut.  However, we did eat pecan pie out there:

And we wrapped up the day with another night ski.

Friday morning, we headed out so that we could ski at Smuggs on some of the great new snow.

And it was totally worth it:

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad about not having extended family or friends to feast with and spend time with on Thanksgiving.  However, we made some of the most amazing memories for our little family.  We stripped away all the "stuff" that gets in the way of our life and spent time doing what we love.  I felt so connected to us as a unit. It will forever go down in history as one of the most intimate and special Thanksgivings.  And, to think it was John's birthday, too!  I love us!

Snowvember

This makes me so happy-  ski touring with my husband, kids and dog  This is something I only dreamed of doing 10 years ago.  I have to pinch myself!  I am beyond proud of these two.  It's not easy to move uphill with heavy boots, downhill skis, and touring inserts, but they are doing it!

I'm not sure they love it as much as me on the uphill, but they love the skiing fresh powder on the way down:

And they look like such pros:

In other news, we celebrated an early birthday for Johnny with Scott, Cynthia, Tom and Cara:

Cynthia made a delicious carrot cake:

There was lots of love for John.  It's always fun to have an excuse to gather and celebrate with the godparents:

And, the zip line is just as fun in the cold weather with our friend, Dean:

We also made it to Casey's Hill for some sledding with Dean.  So fun to have so much snow to play upon:

November Part 2

November can be one of my least favorite months..... Usually marked by drab, grey days-- sort of the shoulder season between mountain biking in the fall and skiing in the winter.  Alas, this year we are calling it: Snowvember because of the consistent and early snow.

Our friend Thompson spent the weekend with us.  Her parents were in Paris, so we offered to hang out with her for a weekend.  And the weekend started by heading into Burlington to see a production of Annie by a local theater production.  It is the play that Cally had tried out for in August, so it was a little bittersweet to see it all happen on the big stage.  We all agreed it was a really fun show, but that all the girls had a lot more experience than Cal.

We fun zone at Smuggs.  John took Zephy for a ski while the kids played hard! There was only a bit of confusion with shoes.( they only let us go in the go-zone if we were wearing sneakers, luckily 2 of the 4 kids were wearing them and we switched on and off.)

I was able to get up for a skin and ski adventure up Stowe with some of my lady friends on Sunday.  Followed by some spa time.  Not a bad way to spend a snowy November day!

November Part 1

November can be pretty grey and gloomy, but this year proved to be pretty different.  John hosted the Telluride Mountain Film Festival and we had a big contingent of kiddos enjoying the event. 

The kids participated in my "buy back" program for Halloween Candy and we decided to spend the rainy Saturday visiting Vermont's first Target store.  

We also went to a party for 5 five year olds and Hazey had some fun playing with the adults:

On Sunday, we went on a hike to Libby's Lookout.  We arrived at the lookout to find a fire still burning!  A fun surprise. 

 

I love hiking with these two!  There is never a dull moment with them.  Their curiosity and enthusiasm are so much fun to witness.  I hope they never stop exploring, playing, and asking great questions.

Halloween

We love our Halloween tradition!  In the past, I've gotten really stressed out about costumes-- wanting to be that mom that makes her children's costumes and not buying a box store model, but never having enough time to really be that mom.  

This year, the kids absolutely blew our minds.  They each came up with their own idea months ago.  We got some ideas online, but they each really put the costumes together on their own.  

Cally made the wrist guards, belt, and headband for her costume.  When the blue skirt with stars did not arrive on time, she crafted her own shorts out of jeans and sparkle duct tape.  A string of LED lights helped make her lasso of truth look alive.  And when I balked at the idea of buying red boots, she came up with her own creative alternative.

Hazey did most of his costume on his own, as well.  Cally helped with the headpiece and John helped with some cutting.  I purchased the lights, but he made it all come to life.

And then John decided to purchase a Kermit the Frog costume while we were in Canada the other weekend.  So I was the only one without a costume this year.

We also managed to hit our favorite "Pumpkin Glow" on Ciley Hill in Jericho the night before Halloween:

Hazey decided to wear his costume both night.  We figured it was safe to have those lights on with all the cars that frequent the glow.

We had a bit of a pumpkin tragedy this year.  John helped Hazey carve a Boston Red Socks pumpkin.  Then he carved an elephant for Cally..... but the elephant pumpkin had a fall on the night of our party.  So Hazey scooped out a new pumpkin for Cally, and John carved a spider in the half hour we had before heading out to trick-or-treak.

We were lucky enough to be invited to ride the hay trailer on Bolger Hill again this year.  The Dowd's invite a bunch of families and the kids have a ball:

One of the flaws in Hazen's costume design was that he could not unwrap and/or put candy into his mouth, because of the placement of his arm holes.  

We ended the night with a trip around the Jericho Center.  The library was giving out books, the fire department was giving out flashing lights, and lots of the neighbors gave out generous amounts of candy.

In the end, the kids got lots of candy.  I offered them 25 cents for every piece that they were willing to give up.  Cally gave me 38 pieces and Hazen gave me 50.  My high school students are going to be psyched!