For my dad

And anyone else who likes pictures of a cute baby!

The beautiful quilt Kai is laying on is a family handmade, family passed down heirloom I have been blessed to inherit.  After my grandfather's death this summer, my parents found tons (probably literally!) of family pictures from the past 100+ years.  Apparently in the midst of that photographic history are several pictures of my grandpap, his sister and maybe some other relatives as babies laying on beautiful family handmade quilts.  Here's to carrying on that tradition that includes 2 of my favorite things in the whole world: hand sewn fabric goodness and people I love! 

peace

First picnic of the year!

I know that Spring began about 6 weeks ago or so but you wouldn't have known it around here.  Less than a week ago we awoke to this disheartening sight:

However, today we were blessed with this.  Spring literally came all in one day today.  We had thunderstorms this morning with some pretty serious downpours, then the sun came out and BAM! the grass turned green.  I mean literally today the grass changed color.  Yea, my grass has superpowers.  I know, pretty cool.
 

Then while we were eating, we had the pleasure of a visit from an old friend.  We haven't seem Mr. Rose-Breasted Gross Beak since last year.  It was great to catch up.  He joined us for dinner, though he preferred mixed seeds to the chicken, pita chips with hummus and veggie sticks we were eating.

And later, we spotted a new friend in the yard.  A little shy, she was.  Didn't quite catch her name.  Maybe next time.

And the neighborhood trouble-makers are back in town, Mr. & Mrs. Cowbird.  Always looking for someone else's nest to pawn off their eggs on.  At least they keep things interesting around here and sing a pretty tune.

For a week filled with tantrums, allergies, colds, and the stomach flu, this was a really nice end to the day.  How is your Spring shaping up?

peace

You have got to be kidding me!

Another x?@2*! snow day!! 

We are at about 5 snow days which in itself isn't so bad but add at least as many days with delays and probably over double that in days home from school because of being sick and I am about to slaughter this winter!!!  I know that spring is coming because the birds are noisier, the temperature is not in the negative numbers and I have even seen grass (not here but in valley type places).  But right now I would really like to take Punxsutawney Phil, shove him face first in the snow and ask, "Is this what an early spring looks like?  Really?"

Ok, I am done now.  I just needed to vent on the blogfront rather than on the homefront.  To another day filled with fighting over legos, cabin fever, and trying not to mastermind plans to kidnap a groundhog...

peace 

Acadia...

We had such a wonderful, restful, active, enjoyable family vacation to Acadia National Park.  We arrived and departed on subsequent Sundays so we had 2 traveling days and 6 whole days of recreation!  And we certainly had both recreation at the beach, in the woods, exploring towns and museums and a re-creation of ourselves, our relationship connections and our family.  Running a 6 month intensive on site residential youth program can be draining (understatement) and this vacation fed us for sure.  We tented (on gravel and next to our car but still) which was great and when we were evicted from our camp grounds because of Hurricane Earl we enjoyed two nights in a motel with beds, a free hot shower and fans.  I mean, who knew it was going to 90+ degrees in Maine at the end of August/beginning of September!  I think we ran out of shorts on day four.  But  the dirty laundry, the other people in the campground who used their car's headlights as flashlights (what the?), the lack of creamer for our coffee, the bloody nose while horsing around in the town square and the cheap motel didn't matter compared with the only sandy ocean-front beach on Mt Desert island,

fishing and cooking dinner at the pristine quiet Bubble Pond,

hiking through a mystical forest of dwarfed fir, spruce, and lichen braving the harsh northern coastal weather,

climbing through a talus field with our kids (who now know what talus is) to get to the perfect fishing spot,

watching hurricane churned waves crash on a granite rock coast,

walking across a sand bar connecting one island to another only at low tide,

inspecting tidal pools while watching seagulls crack mussels open on rocks,

geeking (yes, geeking, kids included) at the Wild Gardens of Acadia where trees, ferns, and other flora native to the area are labeled and arranged by  environment type (yes, we are aware of how nerdy that is),

and more...

peace

A birthday party!

Abigail had her first friend birthday party this year and all in all it was a success (despite the sad face on the above snowman!).  Our original idea was to have a snow party having her friends bring their snow gear and go sledding, play a snowball game and a snow treasure hunt with a treasure chest of goodies buried in the snow.  
The weather, however, had different plans.  With a forecast for air temps to top out at 5 degree plus the wind chill...well, let's just say we decided to move our party indoors.  Ah, New England... 
But the snow theme didn't end just because we moved indoors.  I mean, a January birthday girl just has to use the season she has been given, you know?  So we had an igloo birthday cake, cut out snowflakes, played pin-the-clothes-on-the-snowman, and finally had a treasure hunt with clues hidden inside "snowballs" (ie wadded up pieces of white paper) all over the house.  We wrote a clue to the hiding place of the treasure on the back of a 24 piece puzzle and then hid 2 pieces in each snowball.  Once all the snowballs were found (note to self - keep track of where you hide all the "snowballs" in case some are not found:-), the kids then had to put the puzzle together, read the clue, and figure out where the treasure was "buried". 

Let's see if you can figure it out too!  The clue read:
To find the treasure...
Open the door for goodies galore,
Take a peek inside to a place
That tumbles your clothes warm & dry.
Leave your guess in the commments section and see if you are smater than a kindergartener!

peace