I'm Baaaaack

Apparently, the kids miss seeing themselves on the blog, so I've been badgered into brushing off the dust and mothballs...

Here's some of what we've been up to for the past two months.


The kids went back to school on Tuesday, September 2, and not a moment too soon. Well, actually, it turns out that summer is about two weeks too long... but that's another story.



As usual, we went apple picking in September.



This year, Casey plays on the travel soccer team. Here he is before his first game (with his pal Sky) in his new team uniform.



Every September, on the Saturday closest to 9-11, hikers from all over New England scale the 48 peaks of New Hampshire that are 4,000+ feet high and fly the American flag. The boy scout troop that Beau now belongs to (he crossed over from cub scouts to boy scouts last spring) typically climbs one of the peaks. This year, they climbed Mt. Hale. Here is Beau holding up the Stars and Stripes.



Over the summer, in addition to outgrowing his jeans, Beau outgrew his bike. Since he's now riding his bike to school every day, finding a "new" bike for him became our September project. After weeks of trolling the ads on craigslist, we finally found a great bike for a great price.



Casey's ice hockey team played in a tournament over Columbus Day weekend. They came in third. See that hair plastered to his head? That's from sweat! I love hockey because it makes the kids work hard. (And tires them out.) Oh, and Casey -- who plays defense -- scored three goals over the course of the tournament.

And here's a small video of Casey's goals at the tournament in Nashua. He's number 16 in maroon.

Also on Columbus Day weekend, while raking leaves, Casey and I found two Brown Snakes. (Yes, they are "brown" but they are also called "Brown Snakes.") We kept them for two nights so that Casey could show them to his classmates, then we released them back into our yard so they could find appropriate places to hibernate.



Beau wants me to tell you that on Columbus Day weekend he was at MassJam -- once-every-five-years, state-wide boy scout event. Yes, he's now old enough to leave us for whole weekends at a time.

The Regulars v The Patriots: With Water Guns

On Saturday, we packed up our water guns and extra "ammo" and headed into Boston for a great big water gun battle . We were all assigned to the Red Team (British Regulars). Here are the troops ready to march to the rendezvous point.

(Casey, Tyler, Beau, Mathias)

Once assembled, the Regulars and the Patriots met in battle of wet mayhem:





I think it was Beau's dream come true.



Not sure who "won" the skirmish, but we all had fun



and finished with ice cream.

My New Best Friend

First weekend after school let out in June we went camping and returned home with mounds of wet, muddy laundry, only to discover the washing machine was kaput. (Yes, the fourth major appliance since February to go belly up!)

This morning at 7:15 am, my new best friend arrived:



It was the Consumer Reports "Best Buy" pick for a front loader (ie works well, not too expensive).

So far, so good: four loads of laundry down; a lifetime to go.

Back to Walden Pond

Yesterday was early release (from school), so we went back to Walden Pond. Here are my handsome, water-loving guys.

Ta-da!

As many of you know, long ago in February, my oven quit working. Before I could even seriously shop for a new one, the dishwasher gave up too. Fair enough. The appliances were 20 years old. Since we had to get a new oven and dishwasher, we decided we should also get a new, energy-efficient (and better looking) refrigerator. Plus, since we had to pull out the old oven and dishwasher anyway, it seemed like a good time to replace the tatty, self-stick vinyl tile floor.

After months of deliberating (to say the least), we finally settled on a floor material. Then after even more deliberation, we settled on a color. (Well, with the help of Mom, I settled on a color... Britt had his doubts.) With the floor finally chosen, we could commit to new appliances.

The gods aligned. And on Monday, the plumber came to disconnect the old oven. Tuesday morning, the floor guy came to install our new floor. Shortly after the floor guy left, the new appliances were delivered. Today, the plumber returned and installed the new oven and dishwasher.

Behold: our once again functional kitchen with spanking new white appliances and a lovely (and seamless!) purple passion Marmoleum floor:





Now it's apparent that the kitchen needs new countertops...

Heat Wave in Boston -- First Trip to Walden Pond

This week, Boston is having a heat wave: Sat., Sun., Mon., and Tues. temperatures were in the 90s. We survived the weekend (even played some baseball), but Monday afternoon, the kids and I drove out of town and made the first trip this season to Walden Pond where we swam and sat lakeside for 4 hours before heading back to the city, which by then had cooled off enough to be tolerable.

It was one of our best trips to Walden Pond in a long time -- just me and my own kids ... no extra friends or neighbors. The kids were happy to be cool and wet, they played together, and they each built a sand castle, which they destroyed before leaving. I didn't have the camera with me, so I only have photos that I took with my phone; if I ever figure out to download those photos, I can post them.

We survived yesterday afternoon with a trip the local library, where we enjoyed the a/c.

Today, thankfully, the weather has turned a cool, pleasant 80-something.

Blue Belt for Beau

Tonight, Beau performed his karate moves at the end-of-school-year performance. And he qualified for his blue belt.