Williams Lake

 

 We hit the road to experience peak folliage all over again at our friend's place on Williams Lake in Rosendale, NY.  Tim and Sophia hosted us to an absolutely lovely weekend.  Their son Beckett is a year older than Cal and Iris is 2 1/2.  

Tim is working on developing an eco-friendly resort on the lake and it's 800 acres.  We explored the old limestone caves, fished, saw red ephs, went to a farm, and just played a lot.

Chebegue Island, ME

I can't think of a better reason to drive down to Portland after school on a Friday and schlep our kids and gear on an hour long ferry ride (which left the dock at 9:30pm) to Chebegue Island in Maine.  Our dear friend, Alex turned 50!

Hazen was fired up on the late ferry, but Cally slept the whole way.

We spent some quality time combing the beach:

 

And swinging with an incredible backdrop:

Playing croquet

And taking a beautiful boat trip back to Portland:

The kids were pooped as we drove back to Vermont on Sunday afternoon:

September.... It's a wrap!

I think things are finally getting back to "normal after a rocky start to the academic year.  Hazen has been healthy, and more importantly, happy.  Cally is well into the groove of school, making friends, and really growing up right before our eyes.  John and I have been able to go to work, catch up on sleep, and get a get into a sort of groove again.

We've take a lot of afternoon hikes with the kids:

Haircuts:

 Seeing a friendship blossom by the day

 The Harvest Market...... Which involved Mom running a 5K race, Cally walking in her first parade, and John volunteering as one of the best face painters that the Poker Hill tent has ever seen!

And one of the best parts of this past weekend, was stacking wood as a family.  Six years ago, on one of my first dates with John, he somehow convinced me to stack a cord of wood with him for fun.  It actually was kind of fun.  I'd never lived in a place where wood was the primary source of heat and sort of liked the feeling of working to make a house a home.  Over the years, stacking wood has become more of a chore or something to check off our family "to do" list.  We'd try to squeeze it in when the kids napped or with headlamps on after they went to bed.  But yesterday, John and I got our wood stacking attire on and Cally put on her "wood chucking" boots (thanks, Claire) because she insisted on helping us.  At 3 1/2 years old, Cally really did help us.  She found logs that were small enough for Hazen to "chuck" into the cart, she sang songs, and both of the kids really did make stacking wood fun again.

We also went on a lovely hike up Eagle Mountain in Milton with the family of John's student, Avi, who passed away in March.  I can't even imagine the loss that they feel, but they embraced our family and we had a lovely day together. 
 

Nana and Grandpa's Impromptu Visit

It was a Tuesday night when it sunk in for John that he was going to be home solo with the kids on Saturday and Sunday.  Having not seen his parents for several months, he gave them a call and asked if they'd be interested in visiting for the weekend.  They hardly hesitated and didn't even need to confer, they were in!  While they may not be the fastest to get out of  the house in the morning, they are amazing in their willingness to jump up and visit (especially when they know they can be of help).  

A trip to the apple orchard was a must:

 

They also treated John and me to a rare mountain bike together, dinner out with Cousin Chris, and lots of snuggles and reading.  And on Monday morning, Cal was so proud to show them her school! 

 

So while Cal and Hazen hung out with their grandparents, making smores by the fire (in our new firepit), reading tons of stories, and showing off their new found interests, I was able to spend a few days camping with these lovely ladies.  Even though Cal can give me a hard time for going away, I think she actually gets how wonderful these gals our.  All I need to do is show her the alpaca blanket that many of them knit for her before she was born and she seems to understand..........

Tunbridge Fair

We made it to the Tunbridge Fair!  Having missed all the other fairs in the area and skipped this particular fair last year, we were excited to get back there!  As you can see, Cally was thrilled to get on a pony again, but Hazen wasn't all that into it.  He opted to hang out with his special Auntie, Cara, instead of sitting on a moving beast of burden...

Both of the kids got to enjoy a few spins on the carousel:

We even got to ride the Ferris Wheel with Uncle Scotty and Aunt Cynthia:

And Cal was finally big enough to go on the small people rides all by herself.  She loved the mini roller coaster:

 

  The real fun was seeing all the animals....... Hazen loved watching the 4H kids show their sheep:

And Cal was pretty into the maple cotton candy:

Highlights have been a visit to the Tunbridge Worlds Fair: