Back at the Skating Pond

L-R: Ripley, Reese and Rosalie

On Sunday, although I had a million and one things to be done at home, I took Ripley and went to my brother's skating pond for some fun while the cold weather is still holding. But THIS TIME I brought along hot chocolate (the homemade kind with milk, chocolate and vanilla) and chocolate chip cookies. [Note: the Chocolate Chip Cookies were made from my own "Tollhouse Tubes" that you might purchase in the grocery store. I made a double batch of cookie dough, lined up a 'logs' of dough on plastic wrap and threw it in the freezer. This way you can have fresh cookies on the fly!]

Here's the skating pond. Isn't it great? This weekend, my brother Scott and a couple of his buddies shoveled snow off the remaining half of the pond. I don't know about the other guys, but Scott was just a wee bit sore. After skating for awhile, the kids put on their boots and went sledding down the hill onto the ice! What fun, fast sledding!

This is (if I do say so myself) an adorable shot of my niece Rosalie and her "Papa", Tanya's father, sledding.

Time for Hot Chocolate and Cookies!

Which'l give you enough energy for some 'Boot Hockey'!

Pictured: Ripley, Tanya's Dad: David aka: Papa, Reese and Scott

The Upside of Cold

The new place that my brother Scott and his wife Tanya just purchased in town has a small manmade swimming hole in the back woods. Yesterday after school, we took advantage of the cold weather and went for a skate! My brother Scott in his customary form purchased a real-deal ice tester. When they emailed a picture of their family on the ice two nights ago, we rushed over the very next day! What fun. It's a crime, truly, that so many of these joys have been robbed of children in fear of crazy law suits. Several ponds around town carry a sign out front "No Skating". In "wining", we've lost. And it's a shame.

Next time I will be sure to save time to brew some hot cocoa! When Scott and I were kids living in both Illinois and Maine where cold weather is a 'sure thing', Mom would bring along a big thermos of hot cocoa to warm us up. What a treat. Fond memories. Next time! We still have a weeks worth of cold weather in the forecast.

Benjamin and Ripley marching into the woods

Brothers skating

My nephews Spencer and Reese, brothers sliding.

What adorable boys, would you just look at Spencer's blue eyes?!

Farewell Holiday Festivities!

Yesterday was the official ending of the holiday season for us. We returned from our trip to Florida in the afternoon. Our boys raced indoors to play with the Christmas gifts they'd left behind. And we attacked the dirty dishes and general clutter that resulted in packing for a 9 day trip in an hour, the day after Christmas! There is still much to do, not the least of which is taking down the decorations. But, I am happy to be home. I've missed my friends, my home, and weekly routine.

Enjoy scrolling through some of the highlights of our past two weeks . . . .

The Christmas Eve table at our house where we had 22 people!

The Grown-Up Table

The "Big Kids" Table

L-R: Dylan, Michail, Benjamin and Orion

The "Little Kids" Table

L-R: Reese, Rosalie, Ripley (Aunt Shay), and Ian

Grown-ups: Michelle, Carl, Scott, Tanya, Spencer and David

Alex, Bill, Joan, Sandy and Victor

Christmas Day seven miles away at Scott and Tanya's new house in Rehoboth

The joy of watching someone open a gift

Reese (foreground), Spencer, Dad and Mom

Rosalie, Benjamin, Spencer, Scott, Bill, Reese

Dad and Mom

The day after Christmas, we packed up and flew to Florida. Victor's family was also visiting the sunny state, so they all came over for a day to visit and have some fun.

l-r: Victor's sisters Michelle and Maria, and me (Sandy) on board Dad's boat "Tut"

Cousins: Reese and Ripley

Sisters Maria and Michelle

Siblings: Michelle, Victor and Maria

Four cousins in a boat (and one uncle / dad)

My nephew Spencer at the beach

My nephew Reese, photogenic as always

A competitive game of foozeball

One of Grandmama's Christmas gifts was a trip to the tea room in Naples. Although Ripley's expression looks less than impressed, on our ride to the airport heading home he chose TEA as one of his favorite events. Why? Because he could eat all that he wanted. The boy drank an entire pot of strawberry tea!

l-r: Reese, Ripley and Rosalie

Spencer, Benjamin and me (Sandy)

All of us, at Tea.

Benjamin receiving a sailing lesson from Gramp.

Lastly, the ladies favorite afternoon past time:

Playing 'Take Two', however, typically this would include a glass of wine, but we were being particularly 'good' on this occasion.

l-r: Me (Sandy), Mom, Tanya and Rosalie (who was feeling like a photo)

Grandmama and Rosalie snuggling after a full day of fun.

Blessings to all and a happy and healthy 2010!!

Sandcastle Contest

Every year where my parents live down in Florida they hold a sandcastle building contest.

It is a family event, but when it comes down to details, the 'grown-ups' are the ones who get it done.

In the end, I think it's the adults who have the most fun.

We chose a pirate theme ... with skull and cross bones ...

and treasure chest.

Good clean fun.

Where to begin?

It was a lovely summer. We have been away all summer, removed from wifi, facebook, cable t.v. (we receive one network channel and one PBS channel via rabbit ears), shopping, highways, schedules and the rat-race. June and July were rainy, as in record breaking rainy. But finally when August rolled around, the sun decided to come out and we made the most of it. Here are some highlights to get you (and me) back up to speed:

Our Beautiful Summertime Seaside Town

Blowing Bubbles Late into the Night

Chatting by the Bonfire . . . Spontaneous Evenings

Life Long Friends Going For a Sail

Teaching the Small Ones

A Handsome Boy Embracing his Boyhood

Friends on a Rock

Wine after a day's Festivities

(and lessons on the decision to stick your tongue out at the camera)

Beauty

Good Clean (wet) Fun

Sailing School End of Season Cookout

Badly Behaving Bees . . . but that's another L O N G story for another day.

The Month in Review

Family:

Every Tuesday night is "Family Night". At my parent's condo there is a kid-friendly event and buffet dinner. It's a low maintainence evening that gives us all the chance to spend time together and if the weather is nice, catch a swim in the pool before hand. It has become a tradition to take a picture of all of the grandchildren sitting together on the couch. It's quite a production -- getting all of those kids to smile at the same time. I should video all of the adult shinanigans we go through and post it on You Tube for a good laugh.

Reese, Ripley, Rosalie, Benjamin and Spencer

An impromptu back massage chain. I think Mom is enjoying hers the most.

The Beach:

We are blessed to have a tiny "bungalow" a short walk away from the beach where we stay all summer long.

The best part of our summer is when friends come to visit and enjoy the outdoors along with us.

Isn't it lovely?

Ripley and Ian

Michail and Benjamin

Victor and Sandy

Victor

Sandy and Michelle

The traditional ending to a wonderful summer evening with friends . . . The Roasting of Marshmallows.

Our Friends Vivian and Jacob rented a little place close by for several days . . . It was wonderful to have dear friends around town to "play with".

It is a photograph like this that keeps me at home. I love that my children have time in the summer to read, relax and play -- unstructured, creative.

The Fourth of July

Cousins:

Ripley and Rosalie

Road Race:

Benjamin, Ripley and I ran in the local Road Race.

The kids ran the "Fun Run" and I ran the 4.8 miler.

Here I am with some of my running buddies.

Courtnee, Susan, Chris, Vivian and Sandy

The Garden:

It has not been a banner year for gardening. We have had record rainfall for both June and July. July's record was blown away by 2 inches. We just haven't had a lot of hot sun.

I was however, able to harvest a bunch of carrots!

I harvested the balance of my garlic, braided it and allowed it to cure hanging up in the garage.

It tastes great! Success!

The Bees:

Although I don't have recent photos of my bees, I'll give you the brief low-down.

My right hive is thriving. In spite of the weather. I have a full box of honey on top of my right hive, it's busy and packed full of happy honey bees.

My left hive is not so happy. I put some sugar water on last week to give them an extra boost, because up here a lot of people have had to feed them all summer so far. They are starving. I have my faithful bee friend Diane coming over to take a look at this hive. I want to be sure the queen is in there and laying well enough. I'm concerned that the pattern of eggs being laid was poor -- but I certainly can't profess to be an expert at this point! Fewer bees, less progress building out comb in the honey super, and a lot less activity in front of the hive. Stay tuned!

Regrets:

Sorry for being out of touch. Where we stay in the summer (I visit our Rehoboth home once a week and race around like a mad woman trying to get things done) we have only our cell phones, no cable, no internet, and only one t.v. station through old fashioned rabbit ears. The good news is, we are all doing a lot of reading! I've just finished: The Reader, Sarah's Key, Empire Falls and The Help. Our book club picked a 'light read' for August -- so I've just started Twilight albeit a bit half-heartedly. It's quite the rage, so there must be something to reading about vampires . . . right?