Summer fun

My efforts to keep summer at a slow and relaxed pace always seem to be a lost cause. We've had lots of fun, though, meeting up with friends and exploring mountain tops. Here are some of the highlights.

A view of Mt. Pisgah in VT, not far from our alma mater, Lyndon State College. It was July 4th and was raining at the cog. I was desperate to find sunshine so we headed north, and found the golden rays!Our little outdoorsmen. They did such a fabulous job keeping up and climbing higher. This is not such an easy hike at over 3.5 miles, and they totally ROCKED (no pun intended)!

At one of the overlooks to Lake Willoughby.

This speck in the sky is a hawk that flew up from a ledge below us, and circled around us. Watching it fly up from below was dizzying.

Not pictured is our old girl, Dizzy. She is with us, just tethered to me. A little height phobia had me paranoid about everyone being so close to a ledge...ugh!

Our visit with Tiffany was filled with lots of play and exploration. We always meet in New London. Colby-Sawyer College has a great little playground and it's an easy walk to town and Peter Christian's Pub for lunch. Recently the town created a fund raising event. These Gnus were sponsored by area establishments and decorated/painted, etc. by local artists, including Tomie Depaola, the famous children's author and illustrator. The gnus will be auctioned off later this year. Tiff and the boys are with Tomie's gnu.

At the entrance to the pub, with its gorgeous garden.

The Colby-Sawyer gnu, done by the students in the art dept.

Gotcha, Tiff...she was busy snapping photos of the boys, and seemed so comfortable and particularly bright (as in happy and joyful) that I couldn't resist.

CPG burned off the lunch and HUGE sundaes running around the front lawn of the college, after he rode his bike all the way back there from the pub. He had such a blast.The playground has a pirate ship and great jungle gym slide. The boys could play there all day and never get bored.

Hope your summer days are filled with laughter and outdoor air!

Ciao

Springtime

We're now into the middle of spring...with the blooms, green leaves, and black flies! We still manage to get outside and put up with the annoying creatures. Today, we went for a walk and found this visitor upon our return.

This is the smallest box turtle I've ever seen...she was on her way to the pond so we decided to give her a lift to the back yard and the swamp.

Baseball and soccer are in full swing. CCG really loves being on a team and having new "friends". CPG will be old enough next year to participate, but he manages to find lots of things to do to keep him occupied and entertained in the meantime.

Last night was our first LTG gang book club meeting. We read Eat, Love, Pray By Elizabeth Gilbert and for the kids, Strega Nona, by Tomie DePaola. We all loved the books, but there wasn't much discussion about them as we spend most of our time catching up with each other's lives. We didn't pick the next book, we didn't decide on a regular get-together time, we didn't do a scrap book page~it was fabulous. We just talked and laughed and ate delicious, homemade Indonesian foods. I made Balinese Indonesian Satay Chicken and Pacari (pineapples and Coconut curry). Of course, with 4 yr olds, these foods wouldn't fly so spaghetti was made so they could all be Big Anthony!

Everyone seemed to have a great time. The kids played well together. Miss GM had some therapy with Lido and giggled with delight. In the end, we parted ways with sleepy eyes and smiling faces (at least most of us did) Miss KH had a difficult time leaving her prince and friends. Until next time, happy reading and eating.

Ciao,

sc