A Big Deal, More Vermont, Too Many Photos, and a Very Long Post

I am so glad today is today and not yesterday.  Yesterday was NOT a good day.  I'm not going to go into many details but I can tell you one thing.  At 8pm I was at the Apple Store at the mall because someone's iPhone dropped and needed to be replaced.  Not good.  We have a lot of other things we could have spent $200 on.  Oh well - the guy who helped me kept saying he was so surprised at how great of a mood I was in and how he doesn't normally deal with people who have such a good sense of humer about a broken iPhone.  So, at least there's that.

Today is a big deal for me. 

Today is the first day I'm not pumping at work since I returned to work after baby (December 2012).  I have been pumping for over a year and a half.  When I first returned to work I pumped four times (7:30am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm), then after Evan turned a year I went down to three times, then when he was 15 months I went down to two times, and then when he turned 18 months I went down to once.  Now, it's 0.  I'm still nursing him at night and stuff, but he's just not drinking any milk during the day with my sister so I just send it and she sends it back.  Or he takes the smallest sip and then refuses anymore, so she has to throw it out.  I feel like it's pointless to keep pumping for no reason.  So, today I decided I wouldn't pump anymore at work.  I have some milk in the freezer if need be, but won't be adding anymore.  I'm kind of sad and nervous about the whole thing, but in reality, it will be fine.  It does make me a bit nervous that he doesn't drink any milk all day, but hopefully it's not too big a deal.  And maybe he gets enough at night.
 

And now, back to Vermont (where I wish I could go back to rather than sitting on this bus)!

Although we had a busy weekend with lots of fun activities, we also spent a lot of time just playing.  Especially Evan.  He loved having a big outside area to play and being able to play in the driveway and ride his little tractor (on loan from Cousin Lucas) wherever he wanted.  At home he has to stay on the sidewalk, which to him, is very constrictive.  He wants to ride all over the street, of course.  Here, in Vermont, he can!!

Not sure why he's not smiling, but I promise he was having a great time!  And notice his outfit - his pajama pants and a sweatshirt that was supposed to be for this winter...since I forgot appropriate clothes for the cooler weather. 

Here he is zooming along.  And he'd turn that stirring wheel like there was no tomorrow, although it didn't have any affect on the direction of the tractor.

My parents have a really long driveway so Evan had a blast riding his tractor up the hill and then coasting back down.  Mishka (the dog) had a great time just sitting there.  She's 10 years old and is developing some hip problems so doesn't run around like she used to.  We love her to pieces though!

Up the hill my parents have a big field where they are taking care of some friend's cows.  They are Low Line Australian Angus Cattle.  Or something like that.  I'm not a cow expert or anything.

Evan loved going to look at the cows (and the neighbor's horses).  Cows attract a lot of flies though, so that was not fun.  We didn't get too close.  Plus, that is an electric fence, so we sure didn't want to risk getting a nice electric shock.

When we weren't outside playing around, we were inside playing around.  Evan had so much fun with my mom (Mimi) and Dad (Papa).  Mimi was so much more attentive than I am!

Complete and utter attention is the best way to a child's heart!! 

Same with rocking cows.

He was a bit of a daredevil with this rocking cow - he'd rock so far back that I was afraid he'd tip over.  He never did though, thank goodness.  This cow is on loan from the neighbors.

Feeding the doggies treats was fun too.

Look at how well-behaved Mishka is!  My parents have another dog too, Kuma, who is the same breed but bigger.  He's a little more hyper, but still well-behaved.  Mishka is the angel dog though - I've never met a sweeter dog.

Our big activity for Saturday was our bike ride!!  This year we trekked our bikes all the way up to Vermont (I may have looked at the bikes a million times on the ride up because I was terrified that they were going to somehow fall off the car) so I was determined to ride them.  My parents live close to a rail-to-trail path and I was excited to ride our bikes on that (since you already saw the road - no way was I riding bikes on that road I went running on!).  My aunt and uncle just moved to Vermont and their new house is right off the same trail - so we decided to ride to their house.

My mom didn't have a bike, so she drove to my aunt's house, but the rest of us biked there.  It was SO FUN.  I loved it!.  Even if I had a Schwinn Jaguar Cruiser (6 speed bike) and Ivan had a very crappy Target mountain bike...and my Dad had a very nice Cannondale.  He went faster than any of us.  Evan was thrilled because he loves bike rides.  And he fell asleep.

His head bobbed around like a little bobble head because of the big helmet he wore (the helmet fit, it is just kind of heavy when he's sleeping)!  It was adorable.  And that water bottle spilled all over him so he was soaking wet.  He didn't seem to mind though.

The trail was nice and flat (my kind of bike ride) and beautiful.

Parts were shaded in the forest and others went through corn fields. 

The weather was perfect though - not too hot or cold.  And not windy, which is my worst weather condition.  I was in the front for a while - leading the boys along.

But on the way back the boys left me in the dust.

I think it was because my bike was for "cruising" and not for actually riding.  At least that's my excuse.  And bike riding uses different muscles than running does...and the few muscles that are the same were tired from my 6 and 4 mile run that morning and the day before.

When we got to my aunt's we hung out for a while (and Ivan mowed their lawn because that's the kind of thing he does) and got to take a tour.  It was beautiful!  I am so happy they moved to VT and we can now see them every time we go up to visit my parents.  We usually saw them anyway because they used to drive over from NH, but now it's even better.  And my aunt had Pretzal M&Ms - she knows the way to my heart!

After our bike ride we headed to Ivan's favorite Chinese buffet.  It's not really that great but it's all-you-can-eat for $5.25.  So, you can't beat that price - especially when you eat as much as Ivan.  We have to go at least once every time we go - sometimes we go two or three times.  He's addicted.

When we got home, Evan wanted to try out my bike.

He has a few years before he'll be ready!  I'm thinking of maybe getting him a balance bike for his bday?  Anyone ever buy one of those?  Thoughts?  Advice?

Ok - another long, long post!  I'll finish up our last day Vermont recap tomorrow.

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Who else was sad when they stopped pumping?  Anyone?

Chinese buffets - yay or nay??

Vermont Vacation

So, I took the weekend off from blogging and work, and the family and I decided to head up to Vermont for the 4th of July.  I was so excited because normally we only go to Vermont for Christmas and sugar season (March), and although those are fun times - summer is fun too.  So, I was really happy that my husband decided to take a weekend off during the summer (his busy time at work) and head up there.

Every time we make the drive to Vermont we leave earlier and earlier.  This time we decided we'd head out at 4am.  My husband wanted to leave at 3am but I convinced him that 4am was much better.  And actually, it turned out to be a great time to leave.  It would have been better if I had gone to sleep before midnight, but three hours of sleep with a nice cup of coffee did the trick.  Why was I up until midnight??  Oh, because we were fixing our bikes at the last minute.  We were determined to bring our bikes to VT since we now have a bike rack and we were finally going in the summer (not much biking in the middle of winter).  Except Ivan's bike was a bit broken.  However, my friend Allyson (she is a cyclo-cross super star and knows everything there is to know about bikes) came over and helped him fix it - it just took over two hours.  And she didn't get a chance to come over until 9pm.  So, although we got the bikes fixed - we were a little late getting to bed.

An early start is always good though.  Because a lot of this happens.

Evan is getting a bit older though, and he doesn't sleep the entire way anymore.  He slept until around 7:30am and was content for a few more hours.  We probably stopped around 9am for breakfast and to stretch our legs.  We are all about stopping on road trips.  I know plenty of people pack a lot of snacks and just go and go until they get to their destination - but no, we stop and stop until we get to our destination.  We actually used to stop a lot more but now we don't like to stop unless Evan is awake so it usually ends up only being twice.  And notice how close I am to him?  Yup - after he woke up the first time I sat in the back and played and read with him until he fell asleep again.  Now that we don't have the doggie (sad face), there is more space in the back.  Not a ton, but a bit more.

The scenery to Vermont is so much prettier in the summer (it's pretty in the fall too).

The winter is usually just brown unless there has been some snow and then it's pretty.  This past Christmas it was snowing like crazy and the roads were a mess so we couldn't concentrate on the scenery - we took pictures of the snow freezing to our windshield instead.

We arrived in Vermont around 3:15pm.  Not too bad!  It's so much better arriving earlier because it felt like we still had so much of the day left.  We used to arrive around 7pm or 8pm and then we'd turn around and go to bed and the entire day would have been spent in the car.  I am definitely a fan of the early morning departure time.

As you can tell, the weather wasn't amazing.  It was nice and hot the day we arrived but then the next day (4th of July) was cold.  Actually it was freezing.  I wasn't very prepared and only brought shorts and short sleeves for Evan (and one pair of pants for me) - so we were a bit cold that first day (it warmed up after that).  Luckily we didn't have much planned - just a family BBQ (with my awesome aunt who now lives just 8 miles from my parents!!).

That morning I headed out and did a six mile run.  It was nothing short of a miracle because I pretty much always slack on running when I'm on vacation.  I was motivated by the cooler weather though, so I headed out.  The scenery is amazing, but the running isn't.  This is the road my parents live off of (kind off, they live off a dirt road off a road that is off this road) - beautiful right.  And this road isn't too bad - not a lot of cars.

However, after you turn off this road, the next road is a small highway (although it sounds far, this road is only 1 mile from my parents' house).  And the speed limit is 40mph.

And cars FLY by you.  And do you see a shoulder?  Any space to jump when a car is coming at you???  Just down the hill into the ditch.  Let me give you a closer look.  The road.  Someone's property.  Not much else.

But every once in a while I wasn't dodging cars and could look and see beautiful things like this.

And barns like this.  I mean, how pretty is that!

And you could see the road forever.  This is where I ran - all the way down this road.  Notice that the speed limit changes to 50 on that road, but there was a tiny, tiny shoulder that you can kind of see.

And lots of cows.

So, it was worth risking my life.  I guess.  I sure wouldn't take Evan in his jogging stroller though.  I guess if I lived there I would have to drive to a better place to run if I had to take him.  Or I'd run with him on the smaller road and just keep going back and forth.

Ok - that is all I'll leave you with for now.  I'll recap the rest of the trip next time.  The bus was delayed this morning by an entire hour because a restaurant caught on fire on the side of the highway and the road had to be shut down - but it didn't give me enough time to write about the entire trip so I'll save that for later.

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How was your 4th?

When you go for a run - do you just go out your front door or do you drive somewhere?

Christmas Vacation Part II (and lots of photos)

Before I get started I just have to mention that it is 3 degrees out and with the wind chill it feels like -14 degrees.  I thought I was going to freeze waiting for the bus at 6am but Ivan nicely waited at the bus stop so I could stay in the warm car.  I was very appreciative.

Now, back to pretending I am still on vacation and enjoying life in Vermont.

You would think that a nice storm was adventure enough and that the rest of the trip would be smooth sailing...but you would be wrong.  This year my younger sister and her family came up for Christmas and my older sister stayed in Texas.  Usually it is the other way around, but we had fun my my younger sister and her family...although we missed my older sister and her boyfriend.  

The babies eating breakfast - they are only 3 months apart

Due to the large amount of ice on the trees, they were getting heavy and many branches were breaking and trees were falling.  It you went outside you could actually hear sporadic crashing in the woods.  Unfortunately, one or two trees looked like they were going to fall right on the house in the direction of the guest bedroom!  And they weren't little trees.  My Dad called some tree people to come cut it down but they couldn't come until the next morning.  The tree looked so precarious that my sister and family ended up sleeping in my parents' room and my parents slept on a mattress in the living room.  Ivan, Evan, and I were fine because we always sleep in the basement because it's much easier down there with Dolce.  So we were safe from falling trees.  Luckily no trees fell and the tree guys came on Christmas Eve and cut them both down (they were each 88ft tall!!) for a hefty price.  

What an adventure!

Then it was Christmas!  

My parents' tree - it is so pretty, I love it.  They've had the same
tree for 23 years or something.

We have a Christmas tradition were Christmas morning we wait until everyone is awake and then we munch on Panetone (an Italian fruit bread) and open presents.  My Dad is responsible for handing out the presents and we open them one at a time.  I know it seems slow and arduous but I love it.  That way you can thank the person who gave it to you, see what other people got, and watch people open your present.  Plus it prolongs the gift opening session.

Getting ready to open presents Christmas morning

This year Ivan and I didn't buy anyone presents.  We sent out an email in advance so people would know and wouldn't think we had forgotten.  We just didn't have the money after moving and putting down our deposit and everything.  That put a small damper on the holidays because we love gift giving and we had great ideas for people's gifts this year.  And there is something extra special about buying Christmas gifts during the holiday.  Plus, people still bought us stuff and then we felt bad opening things from people we didn't buy anything for.  Such is life though and we'll just have to make it up next year.

I got some great gifts like a Barnes and Nible gift card, new clothes, a Peace Corps calendar, a teapot, tea, Christmas ornaments, a necklace, a big blanket, a cookbook, a microwave popcorn maker, new sheets.  I loved everything.  

Evan looking at the tree...before Santa came.

Evan got lots of fun gifts too.  We gave him a wooden train and a piggy bank (we had purchased the two items before we spent all our money on moving).  He also received some clothes, some ornaments, some little cars, books, a hammer type toy, a puzzle, some bath toys, and other things I can't remember this early in the morning.

Ivan was most excited about a gift certificate to his favorite Chinese Buffet.  The gift certificate was for $60.00 and the buffet only costs $5.95 a person.  Super cheap, right!!  So he went twice and treated the entire family one time.  He still has almost $20 left for when we return.  That man loves his Chinese buffets.  He also got a Honduran soccer scarf, new socks, clothes, and some other things I can't remember because I wasn't able to pay attention while I was opening mine and Evan's gifts.

The rest of the trip involved lots of time hanging out with Evan and my sister's girls, chatting with my mom, sledding in the woods, hanging out at my Aunt's house, and drinking lots of tea.  

Evan had a great time playing with kitchen items!

Evan dancing in his Christmas outfit.

Getting ready to go sledding!

Playing with Mimi on the kitchen floor (we spent a lot of time in the kitchen).

Evan in his snow outfit - coat, snow pants, snow boots, and all!

The trees were still frozen days later - this is the view from
the living room window.

Evan loved taking every item out of the drawers and playing with them all over the kitchen floor.

Playing in the little rocking boat my parents had - so cute!

Cousins happily playing in the kitchen - check out the doll stuck in the basketball hoop!

An attempt at a cousin photo in front of the tree - complete failure!

Hanging out with Papa (ignore the opened pantry in the back)

The weekend before we left we headed into Burlington to go to the Echo Center, which is a lake aquarium geared toward kids.  Evan loved looking at the fish, playing in the water, and playing in the kids room which had a boat and a little slide.

He could have stayed here forever!

Looking at snakes.

I had to take a photo of Evan in his shirt next to the Caution Wet Floor sign - that shirt is so special beause
my friend made it for me because I have that same tattoo.

It was a fun place.  Afterwards we headed to dinner at the Skinny Pancake where my Dad's second cousin works and enjoyed yummy crepes.  They were really delicious.  

And that my friend is my recap! 

The only other adventure we had was coming home from an attempted trip to Burlington (we turned around because it was snowing too much and we passed three accidents in an hour) we went to drive down the street my parents' house is on, only to find out that an electric pole had fallen and there were downed wires all over the street.  We called the electrical company and headed to Chinese Buffet to wait while the wires were removed.  It turned out that they were cable wires instead and we could just drive over them.  Which is what we ended up doing the rest of the time because the cable company never came out to fix them.  Luckily they weren't the cable lines to my parents' house so we still had TV and internet. 

We had an uneventful drive home and came home to find our house ransacked.  Oh wait, no, it wasn't ransacked.  We left it looking like a disaster because we hadn't had time to unpack anything.  I spent the rest of the week trying to get things organized and figure out how we were going to fit everything in our new place.

I'm still working on that.

I sure miss vacation. I really miss sleeping in until 8am and not having to commute into the city everyday.  And getting home so late.  But at least I don't have class this semester, so that's a big positive.

And as far as my half marathon training goes - it isn't going anywhere.  I had all these plans to run in Vermont and half my suitcase was filled with running clothes - and then the ice storm came and the ice never went away.  I was too nervous about slipping and spraining an ankle so I didn't go.  Plus, there are no sidewalks where my parents live and I have to run on road that have a speed limit of 50mph but no shoulder - with a snow-packed street it just didn't seem like a smart idea.  Of course not training for my half marathon doesn't seem so smart either!

How's the weather where you are?  Are you suffering from the Polar Vortex too???  Have you ever run a race with little to no training???

Our Christmas Vacation, Part I

Hello!  Merry Christmas!!!  Happy New Year!!  It has been too long since we've chatted.  I didn't mean to be away so long but I just never got around to posting while I was on vacation.  I had a lot of things to share but nothing so important it couldn't wait.  And now it's 6am and I am on the bus again, back to work, like vacation never happened.  I am hoping I am refreshed for the new year and motivated to get a lot of work done and all that.  We'll see what happens when I get to the office...that motivation often disappears!

We had such a fun holiday.  Honestly, it would have been difficult to not have fun though.  We really needed some time away from reality and work and the move and unpacking and all that jazz.  By the end of the month it was starting to wear us down and we just wanted to be finished with it all.  I took my Chem final without studying (and luckily got a B, not a high B but I still kept my A in the class so who cares), we moved, started to slowly unpack (which we are still doing), and packed up our suitcases for Vermont.

Yet again we woke up on the Friday before Christmas super early and were on the road close to 5:30am...me, hubs, Evan, and Dolce.  It was squishy like always but we survived another ten hour car ride.

The dog and Evan get lots of very close time together.  Evan pulls out Dolce's fur and Dolce eats Evan's snacks.  I think it's a fair trade.

Once we hit Albany the drive got a bit interesting.  The temperatures started dropping and it started raining...and freezing.  Literally the rain froze on our windshield almost faster that we could clear it.

That stuff in the upper right corner is pure ice.  It was crazy!  Ivan was driving and he did a great job...while I took pictures.  We were still able to make decent time and arrived at my parent's house close to 4pm.  Not too shabby.  And even though it was a bit treacherous, it was a very pretty snow-filled trip.

If you can believe it, the picture above is Lake Champlain, frozen over and covered with snow.  It was weird looking at it and knowing it was a lake, but seeing no water.

The rest of our trip went similar to the car ride: snow-filled, treacherous, lots of people and animals, yet still filled with the people you love and lots of fun times together that make it special.  Our first adventure was a terrible ice storm (figures, since we battled ice on our drive up).  Literally everything was frozen -the streets, our cars, the trees, the snow.

It looked beautiful though.

The snow was frozen right onto the trees, which I thought was the prettiest thing ever.  It made the trees look like they had fresh snow on them for days.  However, you know what else freezes during a nice storm?  Power lines!  And it rural-ish Vermont, when you have no power, you also have no heat and no water.  Not fun...especially since a nice storm usually means cold temperatures.  I was happy that power was restored about four hours later...not too much suffering.  It would have been three weeks before we got power back in Maryland!

Ok, I feel like this is getting long and I still have so much to share so I think I'll end it now and continue tomorrow.  Don't stay away too long though - the adventures continue!!

Happy Monday!!

Vermont in the Fall

 I have to start this off with a miracle.  Last night I went to bed at 9:30!!!!  Can you believe it???  It was a happy miracle.  I didn't make myself a lunch and sent Evan this morning with disposable diapers, but it was glorious.

I haven't been around because I took a short trip up to Vermont to visit my parents and aunt and uncle.  And dogs too, if you want to get technical.  It was a random trip because we don't usually head up north in the fall, actually this was my first trip to New England for fall foillage since. I lived in New Hampshire over 20 years ago.  The drive was spectacular, after we got off the New Jersey turnpike.

I love the drive up there because once you hit New York, it's all through the mountains and little towns. Our car was cramped with our stuff, myself, my husband, the baby, and the dog.  It makes for little space and lots of dog hair.  It looks like hubs is sleeping in our photo, but I promise you he was not.

Notice how jammed Dolce is to the side of the car?  I think it had something to do with the amount of dog fur Evan had in his hands...if Dolce got too close Evan pulled his hair out.  I don't think Dolce enjoyed the trip as much as the rest of us did.  I drove the first shift and Ivan drove the second.  This worked well because I got to enjoy the view.

And look at the pretty leaves.

And Lake Champlain.

Then we spent the weekend with my parents, and my aunt and uncle who are living with them for now (they are in the process of moving to Vermont and already sold their house but are looking for the perfect Vermont house).  It was great.  Evan really loved it because he always had someone to play with him and entertain him the entire weekend.  And my mom and aunt had a bunch of new toys that he got to play with too.  We took a lot of walks in the woods and fed the neighbor's horses...Evan's favorite.  My parents have a lot of land and it's beautiful to walk around (minus the ticks). 

Here's their driveway, with the beautiful changing leaves.

This is the side of the he house, where the den and sunroom look off.

And some apple trees.  They have red and green apple trees...we eat some and give some to the horses...and leave some for the deer.

Evan loved being outside and looking at everything, and so did Dolce.

Dolce did not enjoy sharing his space, attention, and food with the other dogs though (my parents have two dogs).

Evan just really loved playing with everyone, and I liked the occasional break to catch my breath.  It was nice having a few extra eyes and lots of extra energy!

Evan learned a lot of new skills while we were there.  As you can see, he learned how to ride his little cow and he also learned to go up and down three stairs by himself.  It was quite a feat.  He also finally learned to sign "more" which was super exciting for me.  

I took some more photos on my camera so I will post them when I upload them.  We had so much fun and Evan was an angel in the car.  He slept and played the entire time and hardly ever cried.  It was a relief!  Especially because we head up at least once a year and have a few more long car rides planned in the near future.