Summ, Summ, Summertime....

I can't believe how fast July is flying by! Cranky bought fireworks a week before the 4th of July and he and the kids were lighting them off all week. In this picture, Mary and Raymond are throwing "pop-its" at each other:


Cranky is the master of the fireworks:


Bob likes sparklers, but decided to touch one that had burned out and managed to burn his fingers a little. I don't think he's too keen on them anymore...


Much to Cranky's chagrin, our town held it's "4th of July" parade on July 6th. (So it can be on a weekend. Cranky's hometown, Bristol RI, holds the mother of all 4th of July parades, and always on the proper day.) Sunapee's parade is very small and the kids like grabbing the candy that is thrown.

Bob didn't like the loud sirens when the firetrucks went by:


Afterwards, there are games for the kids and this year there was one of these bouncy things. That's Raymond in the blue shorts:


Raymond also likes the pie eating contest:


In other news...Cranky has been working hard on the front porch. The deck is done, now for the roof, steps, and railings. It's coming along very well!


Raymond is very excited about getting a bigger dirt bike. It's a Yamaha PW 80. Here he is test riding it when we brought it home:


WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!

Watching him ride makes me smile. He's an excellent driver and has a great time. (Sometimes we can hear him singing.)

This weekend Cranky and I are taking off by ourselves. My mother is watching the kids and we are going hiking for a couple of days!

Can you believe summer is half over?!

Oh no! I have MBS...

Multiple Bike Syndrome, that is...

I've been busy this spring -- flying, watching baseball, and riding motorcycles. Last month I went to the NH licensing bureau to get my motorcycle permit and was surprised to hear a new law requires a written test. I took the pamphlet to Burger King, studied it, and 1/2 hour later returned to take the test. I passed no problem! Then I had to practice the course used for the driving test. It involves weaving through cones, rapid stops, sharp turns and avoiding an obstacle. It's only administered on Friday mornings and it was rather chilly at the time. Being impatient, I took the test 8 days after getting my permit. I passed, and even had a better score than Cranky! Now I have my motorcycle endorsement. Ahhhh.

While I was doing this with my KLR 250, Cranky found himself a wicked nice 2003 KLR 650, the big version of my bike. Here he is, ready for a ride (in the chilly weather)


Here's the "his and hers" bikes:


Meanwhile, Raymond has been tearing up the yard on his dirtbike.





Unfortunately, the rain has returned and he hasn't been able to ride lately. We can't wait for the yard to dry out!

Watching Raymond made Cranky and I want dirtbikes also. We can take Raymond out on the trails near here if we have registered (for off-road) dirtbikes. So...

We bought these two bikes from a guy in Concord. They are Yamahas, a TTR-125 for me and a TTR-225 for Cranky:


The day we brought the TTRs home, we needed to re-arrange the garage to fit everything in. We backed out the bikes and I took a picture of the "line-up":

And just when it looked like we were all done, I found a 2002 KLR 650 that matches my 2001 KLR 250:



When I go riding with Cranky, my little 250 is maxed out when we're on the open road. (I can get it up to 70 mph, which might be all I need, but we hope to load up the bikes and go camping with them and I wanted a bigger KLR.) I haven't gotten to ride my new one yet, because we need to "lower" it a bit so I can get my feet on the ground when stopped. Cranky says I need to sell the 250, but I am not in any rush to part with it. It's a fun bike that's been very good to me.

In non-motorized news:

Bob is excited that we have put the training wheels back on Raymond's old bike so he can ride it. He has never been a big fan of actually PEDDLING a bike, so we are working on that. In this picture, he is totally psyched that he is riding with his big brother:

He's really concentrating on the peddling here:


Mary thinks we are crazy with the motorcycles ("They're so boring!") But she did model her new mustard yellow Chuck Taylors:


And last but not least...Since I haven't been blogging much lately, I haven't even mentioned how much I enjoyed my first trip to Dublin. I had 2 days to enjoy it, but didn't take many pictures (okay, like only 5 or so). The other first officer on the trip brought his wife and we had a blast together. I love a good Guinness, but Smithwick's was top on my list this time!

Happy Birthday Bob!

Bob turned 4 today. He requested a cake with frosting and mini-marshmallows. He's a boy who knows what he wants.



He takes blowing out the candles very seriously.



Raymond picked out these cool trucks for him:


Overall a good day for the little guy!

Almost Enough Snow

We FINALLY got a little more snow last Friday. Yesterday Cranky and I took out our snowmobiles, joining Raymond's in the front yard:


Father and son sleds:


Here's Raymond having a good time:


Bob also did a little riding. Here he is heading outside:


Bob rode his snowmobile a short distance, but decided he would rather ride with me.

While the kids were in school and Cranky was at work, I went for a ride out on the trails. They were in somewhat bad condition, but I got to HAUL ASS across the pond near our house. I also cruised down to the lake, but it was very windy, resulting in drifting snow and bare ice spots, which is not all that fun. Especially when the temperature is -9 F with the wind chill factor.

In other news: Mary and I went to Atlanta this weekend to bring our guest dog, Toby, back home. Everyone was sad to see him go, but he was so happy to see his family again! We had a nice visit with our friends and got home in plenty of time for the Super Bowl...

This afternoon, Mary and I had a cooking lesson at King Arthur's Flour Company in Norwich Vermont. We made stromboli and apple crisp, as well as a tasty salad to bring home for dinner. The class was a Christmas gift from Cranky. We both had a fun time.

Busy, busy, busy! Now if I could just find a good snow dance...

Peace and Cookies

Cranky and Mary made a peace wreath for the house. It's not as big as the controversial one in Colorado, but I think it came out great!

Here it is all lit up tonight:

I thought I'd add a picture of the reindeer hanging out in front of the house also.




In other news...I made the Italian cookies today. Here they are before I baked them:

And here are some of them after the kids frosted them. Bob was mixing the red and green frosting, so his are the purple cookies. He was also demanding blue sprinkles. *


My friend Lynn came over to have some of my fancy boxed Sangria (see post below). She brought the munchies and her daughter frosted cookies with my kids. Overall a festive afternoon!



* He didn't get them.

Saturday Night?

I made Christmas cookies earlier tonight, but now Cranky and I are watching a Muhammed Ali documentary and drinking this box, yes box, of Sangria I bought in Madrid last weekend. It's pretty tasty actually. Best $1.25 I spent all week! We also had some chips and guacomole.

Are we getting old or WHAT?

Looks like we have Mad TV and Saturday Night Live up next. Can you stand the excitement?

I almost didn't get the picture before Cranky took a swig...

Pies = Thanksgiving & Cookies = Christmas

When I was a kid, my family spent Thanksgiving with our friends, the Mells. They lived in Massachusetts and we spent the entire weekend at their house. We ate, drank, watched football and had a great time. My mother was in charge of bringing the pies, and boy did she bring pies! They are a big part of Thanksgiving for me now too, although I only make a couple, unless we have company. The other tradition I've taken from my childhood is making fried dough Thanksgiving morning. My mother never made it at home, so it was a big treat to eat it at the Mell's house. You wouldn't believe how much Bob ate this year!

Christmas, however is a time for cookies. My mother made lots of great cookies, including "snowballs", which were my father's favorite, made from his mother's recipe. I haven't made them yet -- my mother still sends them to me. I might this year if I find time. So far I've made a few batches of Tollhouse cookies, including a new type this year made with chocolate mint swirled chips. Not bad!

But my all-time favorite cookies are wreath cookies. They are made with corn flakes, marshmallows, butter, vanilla and food coloring. Wicked easy, but very sticky! My mother thought these cookies were ugly and refused to make them, so I had to make them myself. I still use the recipe card that I wrote out when I was like maybe 12 years old. (It's funny to see my "kid" handwriting.)

Here's the batch I made tonight:

The last type of cookie I will need to make this week (before I go fly 9 out of the 10 days before Christmas day) is Italian cookies. When I Cranky and I were first married, his Grammy (who died last month) gave me this recipe. My kids love making these. They are a twisted cookie that we decorate with green and red icing. They will have a special significance this year...

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

Last night it started to snow. It had been a little warm yesterday, so it started out as big, mushy flakes, but as it cooled off, the snow began accumulating. Our guest dog, Toby, seems to like the snow. He is a southern (WAAAAYYY southern, as in Brisbane Australia) dog and we were wondering what he would think of the snow. Cranky took his picture out in it last night:

Do you see how well-trained he is? He's sitting in the snow, posing.

This morning I let him outside and he didn't want to come in right away. I guess he likes it!

Last night was also "decorate the tree" night. The kids put the ornaments on the tree without bickering and nothing was broken!

Bob primarily decorated this part of the tree. How many ornaments can you put on one branch?


Here's the finished product, complete with a couple "presents" under it:


With all 3 kids under it:


I was having a hard time getting a picture of Mary with her eyes open, but here is the third picture of a series of three. Success!


This morning Mary grumbled as I told her she needed to wear boots and gloves (with fingers) to go out to the bus stop. She suggested her brother might want to shovel a path down the driveway so the boots wouldn't be necessary. Yah right! She wore her combat boots with her jeans tucked in the top ("I don't want my pants to get wet!") and followed Raymond's tracks out to the road. She's not as thrilled with the snow as the rest of us.

Skunk 1, Sally 0

I got home last night from a 6-day work trip. I woke up this morning better rested and ready to start my day. I came downstairs with the boys shortly after 6 am and let Sally outside. I heard her bark, which was unusual so I turned on the outside lights to see what was going on. While looking for her, I was suddenly overcome with skunk smell! You've GOT to be kidding me! I called Sally in to the mudroom and wiped off her face and in particular, her right eye. She was squinting with that eye and I'm assuming she took a direct hit there.

I can't believe how quickly that smell traveled throughout the house, despite containing her in the mudroom. I opened the garage door for fresh air and now that smells too. Cranky woke up and said he could smell it right away, all the way upstairs. By that time I was spraying Febreze on her, hoping to neutralize some of the smell. (I read online that it helps. It didn't.)

This is not how I wanted to start my morning. I hadn't even poured my cup of coffee yet! I got the kids out to the bus stop at 7:15 and gave Sally a bath. I read that hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and a little dish soap is a good way to clean skunk spray. Sally hates getting a bath so I had her hitched to a fence post. She actually put up with it better than she normally does. I don't think she liked the smell much either so she even cooperated when I was scrubbing her face.

Here she is looking humble after being scrubbed:





Tomorrow I am flying to Atlanta to pick up a friend's dog. Toby will be staying with us for 2 months while his family is in Australia. When he meets Sally on Sunday I hope he doesn't think, "Girl, you need to wash now and then!"

Columbus Day Weekend

It was a busy weekend. We started off in Rhode Island at Great-Grammy's funeral. It was a sad event but she was 90 years old and we know she is now at peace. She was a remarkable and lively woman until very recently and it was difficult to see her in declining health. Here is a picture of her with Mary and Raymond taken last winter at Christmas time.

And having a very deep conversation with Bob:

Cranky and the kids cleaned up nice for the funeral though.

I rounded out the holiday weekend on a happier note. Today I ran in the Tufts 10K race in Boston. It was a beautiful sunny day, maybe a little too warm! I went with my friend Lynn (below, with me before the race) and her sister-in-law, Penny. It was the 30th running of the race and is one of the largest all-women races in the country. We drove to Cambridge early this morning and took the "T" to Boston Common. We had time to pick up our numbers and browse the sponsor booths, where we picked up a lot of goodies. Then we were ready to run!


Here is a picture I took while at the starting line. This is the line of people in front of me.


Here is the group behind me:


I started with the 8 minute/mile pace group. The first mile of the race was slow and crowded. There were a lot of people running slowly that were supposed to start in the back. I used a lot of energy getting past them and lost a lot of time despite the effort. Oh well. I was mostly there for the experience. I'm out of shape so I just wanted to run a good race and have FUN!

My time was 52:39, and I turned out to be 690 overall. There were around 7000 that started the race, but I only saw 6043 names on the results list. I wish I had done better -- maybe next year...