All's FAIR at the BIG E!

On Saturday, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall day and go up to Massachusetts for the Big E Fair, the state fair event for all six of the New England states.  It was a gorgeous, blue-sky day, and the air was crisp and cool.  We made the quick drive up and spent the day enjoying the shows, rides, and of course, the food.  There seem to be endless choices of things to do at the fair, there is definitely something for everyone.  So, we attended a juggling show, visited the animal exhibits, enjoyed the midway rides and attractions, and ate some yummy food, including Ben&Jerry's ice cream and corn dogs.  The boys had so much fun, and it was a great family day!  Check out the photos below -- and let me just say that the high-speed, big zoom camera was just awesome and capturing the pix of the Motocross event -- I took tons of pictures and found that much to my surprise, watching an event like that was lots of fun!

Did you know that Bugaboo could twirl 2 hula-hoops at once?  And check out his style!

Gotta have a corn dog!

Bugaboo certainly had fun in the crazy fun house!

Peanut waiting for the swing ride to take off

Ready to ride the tiny race car!

Just looking cute :)

One of Peanut's favorite things -- the Mass State Police Humvee!

Posing with Tractor Mac, the title character of some cute books by Billy Steers

Bugaboo needed a turn with Tractor Mac, too

The super-cool Lego statue at the fair, located in the CT building

Isn't this horse beautiful?

The very gifted juggler.....

and his hula-hooping wife ---- that's 25 hoops on her!

I just love these cows -- so cute and fluffy!

Motocross action!

These guys were "throwin' down" some crazy tricks!

We loved the excitement of the Motocross competition!

Snapshot Update

Ok -- today, I'm finally uploading a few snapshots from the spring and summer, and even a few back-to-school photos.  I'm so happy that in my long break from blogging, Blogger has improved their photo uploading, sizing, and editing, making it so much easier!  So now that it only takes a couple of minutes, I'm going to get back on track with more regular updates.  And, now that the kids are both in school all day, I have a little more free time to write and post photos about what our little family foursome is up to!  So, take a look, and enjoy our spring-summer-school retrospective..... and notice how Peanut's tooth situation has changed over the last few months!

Boys Brigade Pinewood Derby -- isn't that an awesome looking car?

Art night at school -- check out Bugaboo's awesome little bird house collage!

This is Bugaboo ZIPPING thru the trees at Winding Trails this spring! 

Last day of school, in June 2011

Baseball!  Great fun with wonderful coaches and cute teammates!

Bugaboo's 6th birthday dinner, complete with a sombrero!

Fun days at the beach with our best buddies!

Peach Picking at Lyman Orchards -- so delicious!

My big first grader!

My amazing second grader!

Brownies on the patio after a successful first day of school

Here's Bugaboo, in a BOX, in the garage -- so creative and fun

Homemade pizza night -- daddy and Peanut hard at work

Peanut with his cello, just starting lessons at school and LOVING it!

The World's Tallest Sandcastle!

The World's Tallest Sandcastle is under construction now, at Winding Trails in Farmington CT. I took the boys last week to help move sand, and they had a blast! There is nothing quite like climbing huge piles of sand, filling buckets, and then dumping them out! Since I was encouraging them to get all sandy and dirty, they were loving it! We saw some friends there, too, so that made the day even more fun. We will definitely plan to help again, and can't wait to see the finished castle!

Bugaboo's Dance Moves

A Last Look at Winter.....

I really and truly thought that I would be more of an actual *blogger*, not just a seasonal, random, photo-taking and posting kind of hobby-blogger. But sadly, I'm not. I love the process of selecting photos, thinking of clever things to write, and recapping our days, but I just haven't figured out how to carve out time to actually get it done without leaving some child or chore completely neglected. Today, though, I'm home with a child who is sick with bronchitis, and he's watching a movie on TV. Daddy and Peanut are off to Rhode Island for a Taekwondo tournament, and I'm anxiously awaiting updates from the event. So, I find myself with few minutes to spare, and photos to upload, so here goes!

Our winter months were very snowy and cold, but we were able to embrace the winter and enjoy skiing, including a long weekend to Vermont to ski at Okemo. The boys have done great with lessons, and really love skiing. Marc has done really well, too, even though he had not skied in at least 10 years. Now for me, skiing was more of a challenge. First of all, I'm scared -- of falling, of going too fast, of the ski lift, of other skiers and snowboarders -- you get the picture. I'm just not that athletic, but because all my boys love it, I decided to take lessons and do my best. Thank goodness for Hank and Marty and Tom, 3 instructors at Okemo who were so patient and kind, and strong enough to haul me up when I fell down again. After two days on the beginner slope, I was actually doing okay. I could use the "magic carpet" (conveyor belt for people on skis) to get up the hill, then ski ever-so-slowly down, mostly without falling. The one big snafoo was that I had boots that were not *quite* right, and they bruised my shins and big toe to the point that now, 2 months later, my toenail is still black. Next year I'll try again, though, with better boots and a little more confidence that I can do it. Here's just one photo of the boys, getting ready to hit the slopes:

Our next adventure was a long weekend trip to the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. We were there for three nights with my mother, brother, and sister and her family, so a total of 11 of us all together in a very lovely 4-bedroom cottage. It was a wonderful weekend together, given to us as a Christmas gift from my mom. What a great gift to have our family together, especially since we all live so far away from one another. We enjoyed delicious meals, swimming, bowling, exploring, and just enjoying being together to catch up. It is truly a beautiful resort, and we loved every minute of it!

This is the famous Spring House, where people would come to "take the waters" for their healing properties

Do you see Bugaboo? He's pretending to be a mannequin in the Ralph Lauren window -- perhaps the only time ever that he's stood still for more than 5 seconds!

Here's Peanut, all dressed for dinner -- he loved wearing his jacket and tie every night for dinner!

A rare photo of me with the boys -- Cheese!

In March, Peanut competed in his first Taekwondo tournament. What an experience! He competed in board breaking, forms, and sparring. In board breaking, Peanut had 4 boards to break using a variety of techniques, and he did great, earning a SILVER medal! In forms, Peanut had to memorize and perform a whole series of moves, kicks, turns, etc. It requires concentration and confidence, and I could tell he was nervous, but he did his best and earned a BRONZE medal! Then, in sparring, Peanut had to spar against one of his teammates, kicking and striking to earn points. Sparring is very difficult and fast paced, but Peanut did well and earned another BRONZE medal. We were thrilled with his performance, and he was so proud to have earned 3 medals during his first competition.

Peanut getting ready for his board breaking event

Peanut with his master and teammates -- Great job, guys!

Sweaty and tired, but so proud of his medals

Posing at home, trying to look tough

Finally, just a few other photos from recent weeks:

Um, that's me, making my birthday dinner, to enjoy with my good friend Kelly and my boys. I'm really a goof :)

Here's Peanut, sans front tooth -- he really looks like a big boy now!

Well, that's the update for now. I hope to make this more of a regular thing, especially with spring coming, baseball starting, and more events on the calendar to capture on film and share with you!

Snow Days

So, it's winter in New England, and that means SNOW! In fact, January was the snowiest month ever in the history of Connecticut. We have more snow than we know what to do with, and it's so deep that the boys really can't even play in it!

Here's what that means for a family of four:

• 5 days off from school, so lots of extra time to play and read and cuddle together
• Daddy working from home, and sneaking in play time with the boys
• Numerous cancelled church and sports activities (leaving the boys with a little *too* much energy and nowhere to use it up!)
• Countless calories consumed after baking treats, like banana bread, pumpkin muffins, brownies, etc.
• Several big pots of chili and slow cooker suppers; plus 2 chicken pot pies, made from scratch
• Looking for foot prints in the snow, and finding some that indicate we have a deer living nearby
• Hours playing dress-up and posing for lots of photos
• Trips to the grocery store, which involve navigating a parking lot that has piles of snow at least 10 feet tall, then getting in to the store only to find that the bread and milk aisles are nearly bare. On the plus side, the store is the one place you can get to, so a great opportunity to see all of your friends, who also are suffering from cabin fever and are more than happy to stand and chat in the cereal aisle
• At least 4 trips to the ski shop, and the discovery that the boys *love* skiing, and are quite good at it! With their prompting, I'm now the proud owner of ski pants and a decent jacket so I can learn to ski too!
• Cups of hot cocoa, with marshmallows, to warm up on these super-cold days
• Brothers having a "sleep-over", sharing a bed and snoozing together

As much as the snow is a bother, it really has been nice to slow down and reconnect as a family on these snowy days. When snowed in together, we've found new things to do, games to play, and recipes to try out. The snow has given us the freedom to do things at a more leisurely pace, and that has been a real treat for all of us.

But, I'm still ready for spring!