Windows & Doors

Today it was so warm when I got home that I threw open

all of our windows and doors to air out 

our house which has been shut up tight for months now.

It was wonderful to feel the breeze blowing through...

I can't wait for summer!

And, no, that is not a wreath still hanging on our door,

that would be absurd...

it must be your imagination.

Back in BOB

Today a special surprise arrived in the mail for Orin:

a new BOB stroller!

I didn't write about our BOB tragedy last fall

(keeping with the tradition of trying to 

only post about positive things),

but someone competing for the 

"most thoughtless act in the world" trophy

(assuming there is one)

stole our BOB stroller from a trailhead when we were

on a family hike.

All winter long we have missed our BOB,

but because it has been so cold, 

we have been driving more and walking less.

Now that spring is in the air,

we decided that we needed to replace our stolen stroller

so that Orin will have available transportation 

to and from beaches, ponds, and bogs,

and so we will have something to stack 

blankets, coolers, sand buckets, shovels, etc.

in for all the events of summer.

(Honestly, we use the stoller more for this purpose,

Orin mostly likes to run non-stop)

So, just in time for our trip to North Carolina in 2 weeks,

our new BOB arrived.

And now, we are off on our first stroll.

A Complete Lack of Self-Control

Did we need more herbs and veggies

to plant this year?

Probably not.

But here they are!

I think that raises the number of varieties to 50 something,

but who's counting, right?

A Weekend of Explosives

 Last weekend we headed to my father's house for the yearly

gingerbread house party.

Normally, the gingerbread houses are made one day

and destroyed weeks later, but this year -in the name of efficiency-,

it was decided that they would be made and destroyed the same night.

The theme for this year's houses: FEMA trailers.

The destruction method: Blow up via fireworks.

 Here is a close-up of Orin's masterpiece.

He certainly won the award for "most candy used"

(Not all of the candy made it to the house, of course,

please note the rather large lump in his cheek and the

"is anyone watching this??!!" look on his face)

 My sister Sarah, her husband Clay, and their son Dylan

were there for the festivities

which marks the first time Casey

has gotten to hang out with his New Hampshire in-laws

and the first time the cousins have met as well.

 

 My brother, having just returned from a tour in Afghanistan,

was also in attendance, as were my step brothers Nate and Josh.

 Put simply, there were a lot of people there with a keen interest 

in pyrotechnics... it was bound to be an unusual evening. 

I am not going to bother to go into the full details of the night.

Let me just say that there was a point where I was 

watching Clay try to rig a roman candle 

on a birdhouse so that it would 

go off and ignite a FEMA trailer

that Nate was dousing with some form of cheap liquor

(while diverting a good deal for consumption)

as Dylan ran around the porch with sparklers.

  

In the morning, all that was left was a patch of charred dirt

and maybe, for some of the participants, a massive headache.

The next day the party toned down a bit with the arrival of

Auntie Robbi and her three children.

Orin, Alden, and Kato had a blast as usual

and posed unexpectedly for this adorable picture.

(Sorry for the lack of color, taking pictures

into the sun with a cheap camera is a bad idea...

black and white was the only way to save it)

 After everyone else left,

we had a little quiet time that we used to go on a hike

through Hopkins Forest. 

The sugar maple sap was running fast

and had nearly filled the collection pails for maple syrup.

Here, Orin and Casey are heading out to check

one of the pails

(you can just see it to the right of Casey's elbow)

It was a fantastic weekend.

Hope yours was great too!

In the Air...

Spring is in the air!

To be more specific, robins are in the air.

Swarms of robins coming back from their over-wintering grounds

 cholk-full of succulent purple berries

are filling the oak trees right over my car.

And those nice succulent berries,

after being transformed by the robins into unbelievably sticky

purple globs, are painting my car polka-dot, free of charge.

What nice robins!

Maybe they will stop by your house next.

If they do, I advise moving your car to treeless parking. 

Not that polka-dot isn't totally "in" or anything...

First Plantings

Orin and I planted the first of our seeds today:

4 different types of peppers,

St. Johns Wart, and two types of onions.

They are the first ones to go in because they need the longest

to get ready for the big leagues.

8 weeks in the incubator before they make their debut in the sun!

Valentine's Mayhem

Today Orin made Valentines for his friends and family

(plan on them arriving a bit late, being that tomorrow is V-day)

The whole process could best be described as mayhem:

3 different types of glitter glue,

countless sizes and shapes of tiny-weeny hearts and stars,

14 markers, 2 packs of sparkle stickers,

and no self control.

My dining room may never recover.

February 8

First one up.

Spring is on the way!

Blue Man Group

 If you have never found yourself in a small theater

lit up by strobe lights and 4 ten ft diameter glowing beach balls,

listening to a techno backbeat while precussionists

bang on drums covered with paint

(and of course the paint is splattering everywhere),

while yanking rolls of a toilet paper-like substance 

off reels attached to the walls as fast as you can

and laughing your butt off,

then you have never been to see Blue Man Group.

I suggest you fix that situation sooner rather than later.

You won't regret it.

Orin sure didn't.

Here he is after the show introducing his Blue Man 

to one of the real blue men.

Amazing stuff.

The First Hockey Game

Today we went to a hockey game at Philips Academy,

the high school my mother works for.

As it turns out, it was Casey's first hockey game ever.
Needless to say, the sport just got another fan. 

Garden Time!

Ok, this is an official announcement to all of you

who only check this blog for cute pictures of Orin:

The blog is switching gears now.

It's not that there won't be pictures of Orin,

there will still be an almost nauseating number of those,

it is just that from here on out begins the chronicles of

our suburban mini farm!

Yes, that's right, we are going to take our blah bunch

of lawn and reinvent it.

Although we truly begun our farming adventures last year

with the raising of our chicken coop and our herb plantings

in the front yard, I thought that now would be a better time

to start the farm blog because this marks the beginning of

our first full growing season. 

What is "this" you ask?...

The arrival of our seeds!

Today we received what will likely only be the first batch

of seeds from Seed Savers Exchange

an awesome organization that supplies their customers

with rare types of heirloom seeds.

Feel free to fall in love with them at

http://www.seedsavers.org/

The arrival of our seeds happened to coincide with

a beautiful January weekend (high 40's and sunny)

so Casey and I whipped up the first of many raised beds

that will collectively make up our MegaGarden.

It all starts here!

And, for those of you needing an Orin picture,

thanks for waiting patiently...

here is our first crop in full bloom:

First Skating Video

Today I took Orin to the rink for his first skating lesson.

Orin is beyond excited to start playing hockey

next year, but I told him in order to join the team

he had to know how to skate.

He got going right away, see for yourself:

Soccer Drill Video

I can't get over how cute Orin's indoor soccer league is.

Here is a small sample for you: 

(Orin is on the left wearing a blue and red shirt)