Guess where we went this weekend?

Here!
Frost Valley YMCA is like a second home for Marc and I. Marc had worked there as a summer camp counselor for many years starting in '87 I think. I arrived to work "one last summer" at camp in '93 after graduating from Smith. Marc began working year round in the Environmental Education and Conferencing departments and I joined him full time in the Spring of '94. We lived there full time until Spring of '97 when we moved to Northampton just before we married. We were so excited to go back and bring the kids for the first time (well Jessica was there when she was very little, but it has been years). The kids had a great time- more later with pics of them. But it was a little harder for us. Frost Valley has changed a lot, and I think part of us understood that would be the case but there is also part that wants it to always be the way it was when we were there. Anyway here a few pictures of the place. This is the Castle. The signature building of the facility. Marc lived in a room in the basement for a long time, and for the first winter it had minimal heat- sodas exploded inside his room- ah the good old days.

This is Biscuit Creek. See that little house across water? That was my first home on the property, the Earth Hut. After spending a night there my friend Diana couldn't believe I could sleep through the night without having to pee all the time due to the sound of constantly running water- never bothered me! Not a bad view huh?

Just a little bit of the scenery.

Another of our favorite spots is High Falls, a beautiful waterfall. We were so excited to take the kids and very cocky about the right way to get there. Hmmm seems they created a new trail to High Falls a few years ago. We told the kids we were adventurers as we climbed over all the debris blocking the "old" way to High Falls.

The best part about Frost Valley? I met this guy there almost 15 years ago and the rest is history.

I have plenty of pics of the kids at the Valley and I will upload those soon.

A Mini Reunion

This past weekend was my 15th College reunion. Due to other plans I was not going to be able to attend (see next few posts). But one friend was coming in early and another agreed to come in a little early too, so we had a mini reunion at Amy's house in Noho- thanks Amy. Here we are from left to right, Laura, Sharon (aka Shelden), Amy (aka Prescott or Beav) and me (no comment on any nickname I might have acquired).

And here is Laura's adorable little girl Alex- too cute. My kids and Amy's boy were there too, but they were too busy digging in the dirt and chasing each other to smile cute for me.

Field Day

Today was Field Day at Jessica's school. Since Justin was in school too I volunteered to help. Jessica is always SO excited when I arrive at school and do things with her class. So she was over the moon that I was with her all morning. This is not the Field Day of my childhood. There is no running race, no long jump, no hurdles, no ribbons for 1st place, no tears and feelings of inadequacy- ah the good old days. This field day is relays and fun games. Dodge ball is even called Messy Room and no one gets out. Jessica had a good time and the weather ended up being beautiful.

Trike-a-Thon

Monday was Justin's Trike-a-Thon for St. Jude's at school. Every year they do a fund raiser to teach the children about helping others. The Trike a Thon was such a big hit last year that they decided to do it again this year. Now, Justin LOVES his Trike. But we have been trying to encourage him to ride Jessica's old bike instead. So we brought his trike, his bike, and both of his scooters. There were 3 different stations. The first one was an obstacle course on their bikes, they had a few obstacles including one where they have to stop at a driveway and see if the car was parked or moving. Justin did it on his bike and did very well.

The next station was an obstacle course on their feet. They had to jump through hoops...

Jump over hurdles...

And throw a Frisbee (hee hee what's wrong Karen? did you think he was going to throw it at your head?)

At the third station they need to do laps around a circle. Many of the children raised their pledges by the number of laps they accomplished. Most of the children did 15+ laps, some even did over 20. BUT after 6 laps Justin got SO TIRED, so we switched him to his scooter thinking that might be easier. After 2 more laps he was still SO TIRED...

We finally convinced him to do 2 more laps on his feet, bringing him to 10 laps!

He had a great time and talked about it all day. Now that we know he only did 10 laps, anyone interested in sponsoring him?

Light Assignment

This week's light assignment. Jessica agreed to let me take ONE picture, when she heard my shutter click twice I heard about it. Clearly I need to go recruit some older more cooperative kids for future assignments, volunteers?

Playdate Palooza

Justin is obsessed with playdates. All day every day he wants to have a friend over or he wants to go to a friends house. I try to accomodate as much as possible but there is no way to satisfy him. Take Thursday for example. Justin and I picked up his friend Luke on our way home from the grocery store at 1:20pm. When Jessica came home she requested her friend Sara come over. While waiting for Sara, Jessica, Luke and Justin had a great time playing a game where she was Princess Leia, Justin was Luke Skywalker and Luke was Indiana Jones- much fun was had. Upon Sara's arrival her little sister Carly was very sad and wanted to stay too- who wouldn't? The more the merrier! That is how I ended up with 5 punks (as the pioneer woman would say) in my backyard for a few hours.

I didn't mind and it has always been my "vision" of what should happen. But of course in this time kids don't just run free in a neighborhood anymore. Anyway when Luke's mom arrived to pick him up at 4:30, Luke wasn't even out of the driveway before Justin came out to ask if he could have a playdate with another friend. A loner he is not.

Decided to add on one more pic of Justin. He was actually not cooperating with a photo I wanted to take, but he was still kinda cute.

Mother's Day Part Two

No pictures for this part. Was awoken at 8:30am from a DEEP sleep. Jessica had it in her head that they were going to bring me breakfast in bed. Now, Marc knows how to make scrambled eggs, he can toast a piece of bread, he can even pour cereal in a bowl. Does any of this show up in my breakfast at 8:30 am? Noooooo the kids bring me a Bison Burger, grapes and chips. I wish we did have a picture of the look on my face I can only imagine. I choked down a bite of the burger, Marc finished it. Justin happily crunched on the chips.

Jessica was very excited to share her gift with me. It was all I could do to get her to wait from Friday when she brought it home until Sunday. It was a laminated poem type of thing. On the top is says My Mother: (and she wrote) I love her she is very nice. At the bottom the letters of the word Mother are lined up on the left and she wrote something for each letter:

M y Mom is the best
O ver and over she cares for me
T ogether we love her
H ow I love my mom
E very day she is nice
R eally nice

After church I headed off with Becky, Robin and Dee to see "13" at the Goodspeed at Chester. The entire cast was aged 13 or 14 and so was the orchestra. It was very fun. Some of the performers had amazing voices in their awkward 13 year old bodies. Pretty sure the audience was padded with their very enthusiastic family. We enjoyed it very much and then went on to a yummy meal at Sage's. I had a great day with great friends. Hope everyone else had a good Mommy's day too.

Mother's Day Part One

Justin's school does a special program on the Friday before Mother's Day. All the moms arrive around 11:00. The kids sung a few special Mother's Day songs. Here's one, sung to the tune of BINGO: I know a very special [girl, friend, unclear he sings it differently every time] and Mommy is her name-o M-O-M-M-Y, M-O-M-M-Y, M-O-M-M-Y and Mommy is her name-o. They also show a video of each child "cooking" a special food for their mommy.

After the entertainment portion we head upstairs for our special meal prepared by the children.

Here is the card that Justin made for me.

Here is the placemat with the menu printed for the "Butterfliesand Flowers Luncheon". Butterfly Sandwich, Pocket of Flowers Fruit, Sunflower Squiggle, Raspberry Ice Tea and Delicious Dirt.
the beautiful meal (Justin ate the chips).

Mmmmm delicious dirt.

Better Late than Never

The following pictures are from January. I had been trying to get digital copies from Dee, but well that is not easy. Anyway, for Christmas this year Dee gave Justin a day of baking at her house. She gave him cookie cutters, cookie sheets and an apron and hat. Much to her delight he wore the apron and hat the entire time. They had a good time and look how proud he is of his creations.




Thanks Dee!

Photography Playdate

Went over to Michelle's house today for a Photography Playdate. We talked all things camera while Justin and Luke talked all things Star Wars- a great deal. At the end I got Luke to pose for me quickly to try again to get this week's light assignment. Thanks Luke!

Playdate with Lauren

Lauren came over for a playdate on Tuesday. Lately the weather has been beautiful so I keep kicking my kids outside. As Justin and Lauren get out of the car I say, "ok, go play in the backyard and I will bring your lunch outside". There is an audible groan from Lauren (it seems outside play is not her first choice). Justin, in his most sympathic voice says, "Sorry Lauren, beautiful day, beautiful day sorry" and then walked into the backyard. Totally made me laugh. After much negotiating they did eventually get to come in to play.

Now, this brings me to my pet peeve. There are many toys/ costume/ and other things around our house that might be deemed "girl" items or "boy" items. We have always said we don't have boy and girl toys in our house everyone can play with anything. Which brings me to these pictures...

Please note the "fierce" look they both gave me. Also notice the batman sword sticking in his skirt waistband. So what is my pet peeve you ask? Ok I will tell you. Why is it such a taboo for a boy to play with these items? Why is it that someone upon seeing the above picture probably thought "gasp! wonder what Marc thinks of his SON in a skirt??". [um for the record Marc was home and he found it as amusing and harmless as I did]. Why is it this scandalous thing when Justin goes into school with fingernail polish on his hand? Now, please name for me ONE item that would have the same reaction if Jessica picked it up or put it on? I am waiting.... anything yet?... no you can't come up with it. Ok, I am stepping off my soapbox.

One more cute one of Lauren in the Belle dress, which she puts on every time she comes over, playing with the Star Wars guys. She is a good sport because I am almost certain she has no idea about Star Wars.

One from my light assignment

Working with this week's assignment, this is my first attempt.

Mother Daughter Tea

Jessica and I went to the Girl Scout Mother Daughter Tea yesterday. A chance to dress up, spend some time together and get out of the house during our Open House. We had to take pictures of us in all our cuteness of course. I did get some of Jessica standing and posing but these two just tickle me.


We asked Daddy to take a few of both of us together.

Daddy got a little silly...
We had a good time. They had a raffle at the tea with all sorts of prizes. Jessica really hoping to win some Webkinz- so was every other child in attendence. I had to tell her many times that she might not win. Well she won 2 prizes. A complete set of McDonalds toys (yeah like I needed more of those in the house) and she also won a big bag of scrapbook supplies. She was very excited. She is already talking about going again next year and winning the webkinz.

Not so willing model

Had a bonus assignment for my Light Workshop. Tried to work with Justin. What do you think? Does he look like he enjoys having his picture taken?

Observations on selling our house

This is the longest my house has maintained this level of cleanliness. We have had a showing every day for 5 straight days. I have become one of "those" moms. Every morning I go upstairs to grab clothes for Justin. I open the windows, pull up the shades, make their beds and pick up their floors. I have never been that mom. Jessica said to me on Friday night, "Mom why do you do this to my bed everyday?"

The stager suggested we have a bowl of fruit on the kitchen table. Fine, whatever. Guess what? My kids now grab fruit on their way by, they never did when it was in the fridge. I have had to refill this bowl many times. Love having a fruit bowl (of course there was never any room on any counter before).

The Dining Room is pristine beautiful. So, the kids are eating at the kitchen table- they think that is so funny. Guess what? I DO have an eat in kitchen, we just never did before.

Justin said last weekend, "can we just move already?". I know buddy, we feel the same way. It has been hard since we have been preparing and talking about it since September.

We are on the market!

The house went on the market on Monday. We had our first showing last night, pretty sure they aren't buying, they only stayed 15 minutes or so. Our open house is on Sunday. Now everyone send your good wishes our way that a) our house sells and b) we find a new house to move into- fingers crossed! If you would like to see our house listing click here.