Stick Season

November is often referred to as "stick season".  There usually isn't enough snow to ski upon, but it's usually pretty cold and grey.  It's also hunting season, which means that you can't really hike all that safely in the woods. That said, there are a lot of great things that happen during stick season. The UVM Outing Club always hosts the Telluride Mountain Film Festival.  It's always been one of my favorite events, but it is really fun to be have the kids join us and enjoy it.  This year, Hazen was thrilled to sit with "the big kids"- Tanner, Augie, Timmy, Willem and Shae.  And seeing Dad as one of the MC's of the event is always fun.

Cal's been spending some time teaching Hazen how to write.  It's pretty cute to see them work together and to hear her encouragement.  These two have their moments of butting heads, that is for sure, but they also have beautiful moments of helping each other and being generous towards each other.  Case in point..... Cal is allowed to borrow one book from the library at school this year.  Of the six books she has taken out, three have been selected for Hazen-- a book about Superman, another one about dinosaurs, and then another about monster trucks.  Even the librarian made a point of telling us how unusual it is for a sibling to take their only book out for a sister or brother.

Uncle Jamey and family were up in Stowe the weekend that John was in the backcountry with his students in early November, so we spent some time on the bike path-- honing the bike skills before swapping out the bikes for skis. 

In other news, Cal's school hired Jon Gailmore, and artist in residence, who helped each class in the school write a song and then perform their songs for all the parents and community members. Cally's class made up and sang a pretty cute song about dogs.

Cal's also been busy creating at Poker Hill Arts, an after school arts program.  She painted this amazing moose (with the help of her teacher who sketched his outline).

Luckily, even if the gods aren't always making snow early season, the resorts are.  I did get out for a beautiful tour up Smugglers Notch for some variable manmade snow. While the snow wasn't the best, the views certainly were.

The best part about November is celebrating the birth of John!  And incredible father, husband and friend to all of us.  He can chef up and incredible meal, rewire a socket, drywall, paint and play like no other.  We are so fortunate to have him in our life.  This year, he played hooky on his special day.  He ice climbed with a friend in the morning, ski toured in the afternoon, and then was treated to a fun dinner out with the family to top it all off.

Stick season also gives us time to get chores done.  And without epic snow, we "chucked wood" as a family and rewarded our hard workers with a visit to the playground.