Last Hurrah in Maine!

It was the opening weekend of bird hunting season, so Elijah and I decided to head to Maine one last time, while Ed went to Wheelock. Someday my little buddy will be going to Wheelock WITH Ed, and I'll lose my traveling partner!

The weather turned out to be much more appealing than predicted, and in fact my only complaint was the mosquitoes. They actually made it difficult to hang outside for very long without a good, thick covering of DEET.

Saturday morning, waiting for Nana to arrive...

Finally! Someone to play CandyLand with!

Nana even lets Elijah win!

Drawing pictures before heading off to the zoo for the afternoon.

We had a wonderful weekend- I even

got another lobster fix (okay, TWO lobsters).

This week, our friend and colleague Mickey passed along a childrens' workbench that he made for his own children, who are now 19 and 16. It even has a real working vice. Pretty much, if it's not nailed down, it's been in the vice. This afternoon, Elijah spent some time pulverizing rotten potatoes.

Just some cute pictures from bathtime. Tonight's bath was pink and soapy :-)

Happy Autumn, everyone!

Beautiful Pre-Fall Hikes in Vermont

Two gorgeous, sunny, cool weekends here in Vermont-- perfect for hiking. Last Sunday we climbed Mount Philo.






View from the top.




















Today we checked out Five Tree Hill.






Another pretty view!
I LOVE that Elijah is learning to enjoy hiking- it's been one of my favorite pasttimes for years, and I'm so thrilled to be sharing it with him!

Hurricane, Labor Day and First Day of Preschool!!

We were spared any real damage from Hurricane Irene, and in fact didn't even lose electricity. To pass time, we decided to make sock puppets for a puppet show. It actually LOOKS more fun than it was, although it kept Elijah engaged for over 2 hours on a rainy, windy day.

Labor Day weekend, Elijah and I headed for Maine while Ed laid a new floor in our bathroom.

We got to spend some quality time with my Mom, Aunt Nancy, Uncle George, Aunt Denise and cousin Jen.

We went apple AND blueberry picking, and spent many hours just hanging out on the beach- we were blessed with 2 gorgeous, sunny and warm days!

Today was a major milestone for our family- Elijah's first day at Poker Hill School. Back in July, he did a 1-week summer camp there, and every morning was horrible. He would cry and cling and beg me not to leave him. As you can imagine, I was expecting the worst today. In fact, I wasn't going to be a part of the drop-off at all, Ed and I decided it might be easier for Elijah if I wasn't even there (he's much stronger around Ed, and much clingier to me).

But Ed developed a terrible stomach bug and ended up staying home, and I faced the task of bringing Elijah to Poker Hill myself. And aside from the fact that he wouldn't let me take any pictures of him this morning, Elijah did GREAT his first day! I (on the other hand) was a mess after leaving him!

The following pictures are all from after school (hence the dirty clothes):

















Showing off his nap space-

Cubbies-

The famous "purple door"

Happy Kiddo, Happy Mommy!

Now, if Elijah and I can only avoid contracting whatever sickness Ed is suffering through, we'll be lucky!