Father-Daughter Run

For starters, I am very proud of my dad.  At 59 years old, he ran his first 5K and I was able to run with him.  Last summer, I told my dad that if he started running, I would run a 5K with him.  It took him all Fall, Winter and Spring to get himself there, but he did it! Not only did he do it, he was no where near the end of the pack of racers, and unlike some of the college students we passed, he never once stopped to walk on the course.  While I did not set a PR today, this was by far one of the more memorable races for me.  Great job dad, I am proud of you.   

Ready for Hiking: Maybe

This past Tuesday, as we drove home from a day on the waterfront with friends, Little Man announced from the back seat that he wanted to go on an "Adventure".  When asked what that adventure was, he happily stated that he wanted to head up Camel's Hump.  While on most occasions I am willing to partake in Little Man's adventures, there were a few problems with this plan.

 1. There is still snow on Camels Hump

2. The Green Mountain Club asks hikers to partake in low lying hikes during mud season

3. It was 2:30 in the afternoon and this is an all day hike for me without Little Man in tow

4. We have not started hiking yet this season

 

So what is a mom to do?  She suggests that we go and look for tad poles at a local pond and hike around the trails there.  Adventure temporarily adverted. 

 

On Thursday we were visiting friends in Massachusetts and went for a small hike at The Fruitlands Museum.  While the two boys sought out every possible trail to make the hike longer, we finally made out way out of the woods.  After over an hour of walking around in the woods we trudged up the hill towards the fields, Little Man trudging up the hill dragging his stick, begging for a piggy back.  In my mind I am thinking we may be done with the hiking bug for a while. 

 Saturday morning, Little Man wakes up ready to go, packed his snacks, water, jacket and had his hiking boots on shortly after he woke up. 

 After checking various hiking websites for recommended mud season hikes in our area we settle for Red Rocks Park. Small hikes, great view and I know the trails because our cross-country team occasionally does hill workouts here.  I attempted to get Little Man to leave the backpack in the car because it is only a little hike, but quickly gave up.  He was determined to use his hiking backpack. 

 After climbing on every rock and tree in the park (that I would let him on), we finally managed to drag him away from the park.  Given the chance I am pretty sure we would still be hiking around in the dark.  Guess I should get all the hiking maps out and ready to go, since it looks like as soon as the mud season signs are down we will be headed up Camels Hump. 

Ladies In The Coop

This is about as interesting as they get.....but they produce really good eggs.

Hoping for Warmer Weather

We're almost there!



Odd Day

Today was the first day of Spring Break and, while it was beautiful, there were a few odd moments that highlighted the day. To start out with, we went to Shelburne Farms with friends and this was the first thing we saw.  In my mind it was a sheep, since of course they just had a "Leaping Lambs Festival" the previous week.  In my son's mind, the bell around it neck meant it was a cow.  Any one else want to take a guess? 

 After we had finished petting the lambs, chasing the chickens and driving a tractor, I decided it was time to head home so I could do some yard work.  Since gardening with a 5 year old is often an adventure, I had Little Man bring some cars out to play in the garden beds while I cleaned out the flower beds.  After about five minutes, Little Man decided he was going to adventure through the one patch of knotweed we have yet to eliminate.  Three minutes later, he had taken one of the stalks and was running around the fenced in garden bed " protecting the chickens inside." One minute after that, he was hacking down the knotweed stalks telling them he was going to destroy them.  Yep, you know those yards you drive by where there is a little boy hacking violently at a tree in the yard?  This afternoon, that was the scene in my yard.  The good news is that he managed to take out that patch of knotweed for me.  Like I said, odd day. 

Garden Party

My favorite garden store; Gardener's Supply had a "Garden Party" this past Friday.  It was wonderful; when you walk in they hand you a ticket to pick up a drink from one of the local wineries or breweries and direct you to the food tables before shopping.  Since shopping with a 5 year old is typically a very stressful experience, I headed for the wine table and picked up a cup of cider for the Little Man, then we loaded some things on a plate and began to shop.  I never realized how much of a wonderful thing having a little plate of food for Little Man could be.  Every time I stopped to look at something he would sit at the end of the cart and munch away; in fact stopping to look was encouraged.  Then when the food ran out we headed over to the more interesting part of the store; the waterfall with fish.  Even better, if you choose the register furthest to the right, there is a kids play area that kids can play in while you wait in line.  It was the best shopping trip ever!

Not only did I manage to have wonderful shopping experience, I walked away with most of the items I needed for spring gardening.  Even better, school vacation is this week, and while we are going away for the second half, I had all weekend and the first part of the week to work in the garden.  Oh, life is good. 



Rollin Irish

As some of you know I have been battling back from an injury this spring.  For the most part I was out in January and February.  Before the pain became unbearable and I broke down and headed to the physical therapist; I signed up for a half marathon.  The purpose of this was to help me not lose my running base in the winter.  It was a small half and my friend and I decided that if nothing else, our goal was to finish(and if we did not think we could make the cut off, jump in the bushes and wait for the course to clear).  Now there a few things you should know about this course; first of all, most of the people who were running it were fast and using this as a speed workout for an upcoming marathon (so much for novice runners).  Secondly, this race was classified as wicked hilly and it was by no means an understatment.  I lost count at 10 hills and the one pictured below is one of the friendlier hills on the course(I am the person in black). 

However, with a mile left to go, the boys managed to catch me with a smile on my face, despite the pain.  I finished, my time was slow, but hey I knew it would be. 

My Little Farmer

Spring

Little Man's Garden

Ducks: Week 4: Swim Lessons

Since the weather has finally warmed up enough for the ducks to swim, I decided I would put some water into the truck with them.  At first, they were extremely skittish around this new addition to their home; to the point of wanting to jump out of the truck and get as far away from it as they could. After about 30 minutes of coaxing with large amounts of lettuce, the ducks finally realized that it was the best possible addition to the bed of the truck and commenced splashing water all over the garage.  At which point Andy and Little Man arrived home......if you would like to know what happened from here read Andy's blog.

A Weekend of Good Eating and No Child

This past weekend, Andy and I attended a Family Life: Weekend to Remember.  I would highly recommend it to any married couple, it was a nice refresher course and they planned in plenty of date time over the course of the weekend.  That, and for us, it was the first time we have actually been away without Little Man, which meant we actually went out for breakfast, lunch and dinner and were actually able to enjoy it.  It was wonderful and I have every intention of sharing our culinary adventures for the weekend. 

 

To start with, Saturday Morning when we woke for breakfast, we wandered (not dragging a 5 year old) down the street to the Burlington Bay Cafe of the waterfront, less than 100 yards from our hotel.  We both enjoyed wonderful breakfast sandwiches while enjoying the view of the waterfront.  Then we sauntered back the hotel; bellies full of yummy food and were content in the knowledge that we did not settle for Dunkin Doughnuts or Starbucks like most of the other silly couples walking in.

 Since we had over an hour and a half for lunch, we wandered two blocks down the road (in the opposite direction most of the other couples went) to Big Fatty's BBQ.  Andy laughed at my order of Bacon Mac & Cheese Balls until I had him try one.  They were gooey cheesy goodness all rolled into one and I did not have to share with Little Man.  It was wonderful!

 Since "date night" started at 4:30, I convinced my wonderful and slightly reluctant husband to go for a run with me on the bike path before filling ourselves with more yummy goodness.  We have been wanting to eat at The Farm House Tap & Grill for a long time, however due to the long wait we have resisted, because who wants to deal with a long wait when you are accompanied by a five year old?  Not tonight my friends, we put our name down on the list, wandered up and down Church Street and then settled in for a wonderful locally sourced dinner.  Andy had a LaPlatte River Angus beef burger (partly because the owners of LaPlatte River live next door to us) and I had Misty Knoll Farm Chicken and Biscuits.  Both were wonderful and we realized while we were waiting that it is possible to make reservations ahead of time, which made a return trip all the more appealing. 

And then, of course there was dessert..........

 

Ducks: Week Three

Road Trip: Waterbury to Waitsfield and Back

I have come to the conclusion that Northern New England is not a place you want to be a tourist during the month of April.  Several times, I have attempted to do the 'spontaneous tourist' thing both locally and in northern New Hampshire and come up short.  Today was no exception.

 

Due to the cold temperatures and wind, we did not partake in any of the outdoor activities we had planned for the day.  However, it was a bright sunny day, and right around lunch time, we ("we", two of the residents of the house were quite content to remain in said house...) decided we needed to at least go for a drive.  We let Little Man pick the direction and off we went down Route 100 on our adventure.  Now, as I previously stated, the other three seasons of the year this would have been a perfect idea.  This is the perfect ski town, with views that would be stunning in the fall and several shopping areas, swimming holes and walking paths that would have been perfect in the summer. (But it's really just a boring, blah beige, somebody light my socks on fire to relieve the boredom sort of place during mud season.) 

 

Our first stop of the day; and keeping with tradition, was this little coffee shop with a trendy emporium of funky gifts next to it.  We started by going to the emporium where we met a friendly dog named Collete and Andy found these really cool fish he wanted (unfortunately they were $300+ and just not in the current budget)(Okay, cool fish they were. Large wall hangings made of painted wood and antiqued brass. I coulda made one of my own if the owner of this blog hadn't kept me from photographing the ones in the shop to use as examples. Something about protecting the artist's living or being polite or something...)  Once we left the emporium we headed next door for some coffee.  Unfortunately, this particular spot is more of a grab and go coffee spot and the only tables are outside by the river.  It was a little less windy here, so we sat by the river until the wind kicked back up and headed for the car. 

While we were sitting and sipping on coffee, we had a wonderful river view of this particular bridge.  This bridge came into play several times during the trip, because despite the fact that we had picked up the local tourist map at the emporium, we ended up at this bridge several times during this trip.  it was like National Lampoon's Vacation except we kept ended up at the bridge instead of the Arc de Triumph.  (Again, not "we". I spent years professionally navigating for a delivery truck driven by the Chief Furniture Moving Monkey, who could develop grumpy spells of epic proportions if the directions were not perfect. {Sorry, Bro!} Today's navigator, in contrast, has been known to say things such as "turn up at the blue road" and "I think we were just here". Rookie.)

 Before we left the coffee shop, we mapped out our travel route.(There's that "we" stuff again...)  A route that looked like it would be prefect.  Once again, we found some major problems with using the local tourist map as our guide.  This short cut ended up being a muddy up hill climb to the other road.  However, I will admit the views and houses at the top were amazing and may have been worth the muddy uphill climb.  (The hundred-foot drop off to the right of the vehicle was also quite spectacular, and contributed to the amazing views. Note that the photo below was taken from the driver's seat - driver using one hand and most of his attention to snap a photo while only barely managing to control the pitching and sliding vehicle with the other. No worries, mate.)



Since most of our other trips have involved a trip to some sort of museum or science center, Little Man has come to expect the presence of one on the trip.  About every five minutes, the sleepy child in the back would perk up and ask when we were going to find a museum.  The bridge that we kept ending up at had a museum of industrial design next to it, however, Andy refused to stop at it. (Dammit, we're trying to get away from that bridge, not stop at it!)  So on the back we stopped at the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Museum.  Unfortunately the train was broken, but Little Man found a million other buttons to push and things to manipulate.  He even learned how to carry coffee beans the correct way (I prefer to carry my coffee beans in their finished state - brewed into a cup.) and when all the button pushing was done we relaxed on the sunny deck and were finally able to soak up some of the sun.  

 Oh, and did I mention that I bought chocolate for the lounge on the deck?  Wonderfully smooth chocolate from Laughing Moon Chocolates. 

Dinner

Homemade Bread-by Andy

Ground Beef-Shelburne Farms

Cranberries-Vermont Cranberry Company

Greens-Jericho Settlers Farm

Starting to Feel Like Spring

Spring must be here, the strawberry pots have been moved out of the mud room.

Ducks:Week 2

The ducks are officially 2 weeks old and as you can see, they grow fast!They are still fun to watch and I am contemplating letting them go for a swim in the tub this week. 

 While the ducks still do not enjoy being picked up, they will not hesitate to run up to a person feeding them.  It feels really weird having seven ducks eat out of your hand at once.  They will also let you pet them, though it is merely because they think they are going to get fed again.  Over all, we appear to have seven happy ducks.