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?

The rest of my vacation recap with a ton of photos

Evan was not happy this morning when I woke him up to head out the door.  He's gotten to sleep in for three whole weeks and today it was back to a 6 am wake-up call.  First he had a week at another daycare, but that place didn't open up until 7:30am so I let him sleep in and when he woke up I brought him over there.  Then I was on vacation for a week so we both got to sleep in, and then my husband had to take a week off for his cataract surgery so he got to sleep in some more.  When I woke him up to change his diaper and brush his teeth (since he still nurses at night I am very diligent about brushing his teeth the second he wakes up), he kept saying "night night".  I felt badly, but hopefully he'll go back to bed at my sister's.  He's been going through a bit of separation anxiety and cries (or screams) when you drop him off - so not sure if that is conducive to falling asleep.  We'll see.

So, what else did I do on my vacation?  Besides sit home and watch TV?  Actually, there wasn't as much TV watching as I'd like because I don't like to watch TV when Evan's awake and he's awake most of the day.  I did catch up on Parenthood (it was the season finale already????), NCIS, Believe, and The Voice though.  And I got in a bunch of 19 Kids and Counting, my new Netflix obsession.  

Aside from that, I decorated a wedding cake for my co-worker.  I alluded to it yesterday.  I worked on it for about a week.  I started with molding the chocolates into seashells.  This was easy but you could only do so many at a time, so it took a while.  I ended up making way more than I needed, but I put them in goodie bags and gave them away at the shower.  I then bought "mini" Adirondack chairs and a picket fence.  The chairs turned out to be way less mini than I had envisioned.  They said "garden fairy gnomes" but I guess garden fairy gnomes are a lot bigger than I imagined.  I then had to paint the chairs and fence because they were unfinished wood color and didn't look great.  I also got little hearts that I painted and wrote the bride and groom's name on.  Then I finally got started on the cake.  If I am decorating a cake I usually buy the cake mix and then make the frosting, so that is what I did.  I made a 9x13 cake and then a heart shaped cake.  I also made 12 cupcakes because the heart pan only used half a cake mix. Then the next night I frosted it, but a bunch of gold balls around the outside and some brown sugar sand on the top.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out, just sad about the enormous chairs.

Here's the cake in all it's glory!

Not too shabby, right.  Here are the cupcakes.

They also turned out nice.  I was excited and my co-worker loved it, so that was all I wanted.  Now I am on cake hiatus for a bit...making cakes is exhausting, especially the cleanup.

The rest of the week was spent playing with Evan.  He had a ball taking things out and making a mess - like all his numbers.

And all the bowls and pots and pans.  Here is is making soup.  He even has a whisk!

But no worries, most of the time he cleans everything up!

His is obsessed with cleaning supplies these days - vacuums, brushes, brooms, wet paper towels to wipe the floor.  It would be great if this continued into his teenage years, but I am not going to hold my breath.

We also went hiking again, my favorite thing to do.  He loves it also, but he really loves hiking off the trail and walking straight into the woods.  Now that it's getting nice out I am nervous about ticks so I'm going to need to invest in some insect repellent that isn't too toxic.  Any suggestions?

Evan has recently entered the "chase me" stage and thinks it's really fun to stare me down and then take off running in the opposite direction.  It's funny when we are in the woods all by ourselves, not as funny when we are at the grocery store with a million other people.

 
He also still loves trees in all shapes and forms.  He wanted to run up to every tree and touch it (kind of a challenging goal in the woods), and was super excited to see some fallen trunks that he could sit on.

We also spent a lot of time at playgrounds.  It was a gorgeous week (so much sun and beautiful warmth - I was in heaven!!!), so I was more than happy to go outside.  I comprimised with Evan and we'd go for a run to a playground - that way I got a run in and Evan got to play on the slide.  Win win.  This was a little tot lot we came across during our run and it worked out perfectly because it was small and there was no one there.  Just how we like it.

His favorite thing is still the slide.  He just goes down over and over again and even says "weeee", which I think is too cute.

 He also found some Easter eggs in the sand volleyball court.  He had a blast filling them with sand and then dumping the sand out.  I had less fun finding sand all over his body when we got home!

And then my last day of vacation we met my sister in Philadelphia!  She was in town for a work event and we decided to drive up to see her.  It was a beautiful day and so fun to walk around and eat some delicious food.  Here we are at the Irish Memorial - for the tiny bit of Irish blood we have in our bodies.

And this is my favorite picture - the tulips are out in full bloom and if there aren't any deer around to eat them, they looks so beautiful!  

Ok - that is enough of my recap!!  Back to regular scheduled programming in my next post - whatever that is.  Thanks for reading and sorry I was AWOL for so long!!!

Back to Work, Kinda

** I wrote this post last Tuesday but never got a chance to put it on the blog - so I'm taking you back in time so you can read it!**

Yesterday I headed back to work after a nice, long staycation.  I wrote a blog post on the bus but fell asleep while writing it and then it was deleted.  And I was jammed pack at work so I didn't have a single second to rewrite it.  So here I am, Tuesday, and hubs and I are at the doctor's so I thought I would try again.  Today is the day hubs gets his cataract surgery.  He is super nervous.  He had a serious eye injury about 15 years ago in Honduras and so now his eye is filled with scar tissue [update: eye surgery went very well - nothing to worry about at all!!].  So,  I came back from vacation for one day and now I'm off again.  Except I have a ton of work to do still, so I will try and put a few more hours in tonight.  I also have to make a wedding cake for my coworker.  I started a few days ago making chocolate candies to use as decoration.

I also made some with chocolate that are white and brown.  Today I'll make a few more with yellow and white.  And I'll bake the cake today and make the frosting maybe.  Then tomorrow I can decorate it.  It's not going to be too amazing because I have to take it on the bus and I am not taking a three-tiered cake on a bus.  I'll try my best though.  I bought mini Adironack chairs to put on the top (they are having their honeymoon in Hawaii), but they turned out to be less mini than I prefer...so I guess the cake will be mostly chairs! [Update: the cake turned out great - I'll show you pics in another blog post!]

So, are you wondering what we did while on vacation?  We didn't actually go anywhere, we just stayed home.  My sister was on vacation and daycare was closed, so I stayed home and played with Evan (well, the first week I worked from home and brought him to another daycare).  We had a good time.  Vacation started with a fun Easter weekend.  I went to see my nun-friend and we spent Good Friday and Easter Sunday together.  It was so nice seeing her.  Evan and I also dyed Easter eggs.

Ok, so maybe I did all the dying and Evan tried to stick his hands in all the cups.  Of course.  I started with 8 eggs but the hubs ate one before I had a chance to tell him that they were for Easter.

I also used brown eggs instead of white.  We always buy certified humane eggs and they are always brown...so brown eggs we had.  Evan didn't really care much. 

On Easter Sunday we went to church and Panera with my nun-friend and then Evan came home and took a nap.  While he was napping I hid the eggs and his Easter basket and when he woke up we had an Easter egg hunt.  Evan actually loved looking for eggs.  He totally got into it and understood what was going on.  It was so fun! 

 

He saw this Easter egg right away and it was so funny.  At first he couldn't figure out why there was something blue in his shoe!

Then when he saw this on by the TV he started catching on and understood that he was supposed to be looking for them and that there were many more.

Our neighbor gave him an Easter basket so we used it for him to collect eggs.  He liked throwing them in the basket, which resulted in cracked eggs (the hardboiled ones) and opened eggs (the plastic ones). 

 When the first egg split open, he realized there was candy inside (his blue eggs just had yogurt bites in them - the candy was for MEEEE!).  So, he then got distracted and started eating all the yogurt bites instead of looking for more eggs.

He finally located all of them though - and he only broke three or four.

I then hid his official Easter basket and he had to go find that.  That had his presents in it, rather than just candy.  I hid it in our closet and he eventually found it with some prodding.

This was his little basket from the Easter bunny, which contained some gifts from us and then some from my mom.  He had a nice little basket full of stuff!

We got him some bath letters - he was really excited about these and so was I.  I'd actually had them for over a month but was waiting until Easter rolled around before I gave them to him.  His favorite thing to do is dump them out!

He was really excited about his baskets!

We also bought him the Jesus Storybook Bible.  It is a bit too old for him now, but I think he'll love it when he's a little older.  The pictures are beautiful and the stories are fun and engaging.

I got him this car that I thought would be fun for him to play with, but really he just gets frustrated that that green ball thing doesn't come out.  He is always trying to pull it out and asking for help, but it doesn't come out at all.  So, it's not really his favorite toy.

My mom got him a puzzle and a few coloring books.  He loves to scribble in the books and is getting pretty good at putting the puzzles together. 

I think he had a pretty exciting Easter!  

By the end of the day he was completely worn out!  

I know this is probably the latest Easter recap out there, but I still wanted to share it with you!