Music and the Arts

We love Burlington's Southend Art Hop.  Every year, John and I get a sitter and we make Friday night Art Hop a part of our date night.  There are always food trucks, music, performers, and lots and lots of friends that we haven't seen in a while.  This year, we had a dear friend's 50th birthday to attend instead.  That was a family event with Red Hot Juba playing and super fun. 

The kids had a ball, but at 8:15pm, Hazen informed us that he was ready to go home and go to bed.  The band had just started rocking out, Cally was having a ball with old friends from preschool, and we'd just gotten into our groove.  We hadn't anticipated this, but it should not have come as a surprise given it was his first week of school and he'd been biking around the party (at Cochran's ski hill) for hours.  But when I asked if he'd be okay taking a nap in the minivan, he said, "sure"!  And just like that he went to sleep snuggling with a bunch of jackets. 

The next night, we decided to take the kids with us to art hop.  All the same venders were there, but it was much less hectic and busy.  The kids had a ball learning how to make a basket and playing pinball on a cardboard and rubber band arcade. 

The following weekend we headed down to North Adams to attend Freshgrass Music Festival again.  This time, our dear friends the Davidson's joined us.  They just moved East from Bozeman, MT and we were so excited to see them. 

It was a hot day, but the kids had so much fun at the "kids tent", listening to music, and seeing art. 

We had a great day and spent the night at Williams College Outing Club cabin.  We got there in the dark, so it was fortunate we couldn't really see how dirty it was. We had a fun breakfast at a diner where we met up with John's friend Dan Cantor.

First Day of Schol

These two are off to the races!  They are fired up and ready to learn.

Here they come Ms. Paul and Mr. Barker.   Here I come 9th and 10th graders.  We are so ready for all the adventures, fun, and challenges that this year will bring.

Right before school started, we got a surprise visit from the Meyer family.  The kids were so excited to see Kesley (a new Freshman) and Jameson (5th grader). 

 We were all set to head to Maine for a weekend of canoe camping as a family.  We reserved a spot at Mooselookmeguntic, but realized the day before we left that we had tickets to see the Avett Brothers on Sunday night at Shelburne Museum and the forecast was a 100% chance of rain on Sunday.  So, at the last minute, we changed plans and went to one of the remote canoe camping sites on Waterbury Reservoir (a short 45 minute drove from home as opposed to a 4 hour drive).   We paddled in from Cotton brook in Moscow (near Stowe) and found the most amazing camping spot.  We were later told it was the best one there.

It was a gorgeous day!  The weather warm and the reservoir was the perfect temperature. 

We awoke to rain in the morning, but were able to see a bald eagle and a heron on our canoe ride out.  We got warm and toasted and then prepared ourselves for a soaking experience at the kids first concert. John made sure we were ready for the elements and dressed appropriately.  

It was a great concert even if it was soggy!

As a parting shot...... Lobby our unsung hero who keeps our house clear of mice.  

Last week of Summer Mom

Every good summer must come to an end.  It is always so bitter sweet to see the freedom and flexibility of summer wind down, but by August the kids and I are always kind of ready for a little change.  I love my summers with the kids.  I love that I don't have to work and I get to pretend I'm a stay at home mom.  I can play the role pretty well for a little while, but I've learned that too much unstructured time can lead to conflict amongst the troops. There is always that fine line between quality time together and getting sick of each other.  I think we've done pretty well this summer.  

On the agenda for our final weeks of summer were:

A visit to ECHO:

Cally taking notes about butterflies in her notebook

checking out the butterflies

paying attention to details

 The final week of summer always means TREK for John.  He trains 50 leaders for the week leading up to the TREK trips.  This means he's super busy, but it also means that he brings the kids along to hang out with fun college kids.

costumes on for bowling night

 Hiking Mt Abe:
 My dear teaching colleague and friend, Eric Krull and I started hiking together in the summers 15 years ago.  We'd taken some breaks, but try to get out there with the kids when we can.  His girls are lovely and well matched in the hiking arena to Cal and Hazey.  After a big breakfast at their house, we set out to Lincoln Gap to hike Mt. Abe.

Ada and Cally

Exploring the summit with the Krull gals

old friends

newer friends

Very old friends!

Sadly, we returned to my car from a wonderful day of hiking with five amazing kids to find my window smashed and Eric's wallet taken.  Grumble, grumble!  They did not take my bag with my wallet in it, but they did manage to spend $400 on Eric's bank card by noon at a grocery store?!?!?!?

Get Air:

I loathe this place, but it is possibly Hazen's favorite place on earth.  He was very eager to show me the flip he learned how to do at Bumpa and Grandma's.  It helped that Ollie and Maggie were up for the adventure and it helps that it is located a mile from where my car window was getting fixed. 

Basin Harbor 

Four days after spending such a great time with my college friends, one of them wound up staying at a resort 45 minutes from my home.  So, after jumping at Get Air, the kids were thrilled to do a lot of jumping on the floats in the lake down in Ferrisburg.

Pond Time at High Meadow: 

Partial Solar Eclipse:

The kids still have a week of summer left, but I'm back at work.  They are at a great camp this week at a local elementary school and will spend some time with John, our niece Catherine, a babysitter, and friends before school begins.  They are both super fired up for school to begin. 

Family and Friends

Aunt Nif and cousin Will came up to Vermont for a visit.  We haven't had an extended spell with the Niquettes in almost a year, so they were thrilled to get ot spend some time together. We had a bunch of items on our agenda for their visit. 

stream walking at Mills River Park

Tree climbing in Shelburne Bay

Monkey kids

Hikers

Exploring caves at Smugglers Notch

Spiral art at Ben and Jerry's

sad to see a great thing die in the "Flavor Graveyard"

tourists

Playing at the Smugglers Notch Bike Park

We also swam in the 8 pools at Smugglers Notch (slid and tubed down lots of slides and jumped across lily pads), lounged and played at the pool at Top Notch, made pizzas, had a campfire, and coerced Aunt Nif into helping us stack some wood (in the rain).

I left Nif and the kids on Wednesday to visit with my dear friend from graduate school in Bethel Maine.  Her son Toby is my "fairy" god son.  They were visiting from Colorado.  We forgot to take a picture, but it was great to see Shannon, Toby, and Cassidy.

The following day, Nif drove all three kids to Connecticut and I drove to Bar Harbor Maine for another amazing visit with my college friends.  I didn't realize how much I needed this break until I had it.  I got to spend four nights and four full days laughing, cooking and eating delicious food, sleeping in, relaxing, hiking, running, and laughing more.  Friendship really is one of the most important elixirs of life.  Spending several days in a row with these old friends was magical.

Did I mention that the place we stayed at amazing house and woke up to these views of Hedge Hog Island?  I am so lucky that my parents were willing to take the kids and friends that are willing to travel far to gather.  I felt a level of peace and tranquility that I haven't achieved in a very long time.

And, the kids had an awesome time with Nif, Bumpa and Grandma.  They were kept very busy-- swimming at Wee Burn, seeing an IMAX movie, going out on a catamaran, and jumping on the trampoline.  Cally came back with a cute back to school outfit and Hazen perfected his flip on the diving board and trampoline.