In Memorium

Yesterday, February 6th, my beloved Hunter passed away at the age of 11. He was so much more than "just a dog" - he was a devoted companion and a true credit to his species. He was sweet, loyal, goofy, the friendliest guard dog, squirrel-chaser extrodinaire, and beloved family member.

Now, in spite of two young children, our house is too quiet, the couch too empty.

Hunter, we love you and miss you. You will not be forgotten.

Heavy hearted

(I'm writing this purely for catharsis so feel free to skip past this one if you want.)

Our dear friends and former neighbors are taking the final step in their move to Kentucky. They stopped by tonight to say their goodbyes and, in their wake, leave a gaping hole behind.

Although Mark moved several months ago to take a wonderful job in Kentucky, we were fortunate enough to have Helen stay on a few more months. Unfortunately for us, she missed Mark too much to stay up north without him and has decided to move down now instead of waiting until June. Also unfortunately for us, they are taking our honorary niece and babysitter, Lauren, with them.

We have been so lucky to have these people as our friends and neighbors for the better part of the last 16 years. Really, how many people can say they are so blessed to have their neighbors be such close friends? As Mark recently put it, it's as if we're losing siblings and not just friends - so very true.

So, I'm sitting here crying and missing them already and trying to work it out in writing.

It's not working.

A special Christmas-time cache

Last weekend we went out caching (nothing new) and found a truly cool cache: Christmas Tree Cache 3. There's something magical about finding a Christmas tree in the woods complete with decorations!

So, Happy Holidays from our family to yours. We hope you have a magical holiday, wherever you find it.

An unexpected visitor

We had a new visitor to our backyard today.

I've checked my Peterson's Guide several times and still can't exactly figure it out. At first I thought it might be a Northern Harrier but the head doesn't have enough white. Then I thought maybe it could be a Broad-Winged Hawk. (What you can't see is the brown and white stripes on the tail...otherwise I might have thought it was a Red-Tailed Hawk which is very common around here.)

I give up.

Whatever it was, it scared the daylights out of the sparrows, finches, juncos and chipmunks that usually empty my feeders daily.

What made this the most fun was how excited Chance and Maia were when they saw it, and how proud they were to come get me and show it to me. They knew they had a rare find!

Very cool, indeed.


Addendum: I've checked with a few people, including the wonderful & knowledgable folks at our local Tinker Park, and they confirm it was a Broad-Winged Hawk. Finally, the mystery is solved!

Anniversary

Last Saturday was our 6th anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's only been six years since we've known each other for 20, but the official count is just six. The good news is that Sean's decided to renew my lease, so I got that going for me (which is nice).

Honestly, I count myself incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful husband and father of our children. I don't know how he manages to do it all and make it look effortless, but that's just him.

On a much less serious note, we celebrated the occasion by going out to Tastings. I've never been too interested in going there because, well, it's Wegmans fercryin'outloud! Why spend all that money on a dinner out and go to Wegmans?! Well, I take it all back. We had a fantastic dinner - the food was amazing, the wine wonderful and the service was great, too. It ranks up there with our favorites: Rooney's, Rio, Sienna Grill, etc.

So, all in all, another year celebrated and the promise and excitement of many more to come.

I love you, Sean. Thank you.

Pumpkin time

We went to Gro-Moore again this year for our annual pumpkin quest. There weren't the usual billion-and-one to choose from (bad year for pumpkins, I guess) but it still wasn't easy. Chance & Maia had lots of fun trying to pick just one...there's always a better pumpkin wherever you turn.

New Beginnings - Part 2

Maia Starts School

A little over a week after Chance started school it was Maia's turn - she just couldn't wait to go to school. She had so much fun her first day she was practically bouncing off the walls. No hesitating at the door, no tears...heck, no looking back!

She's off and running and should be ready for college in another month or so. :)

New beginnings - Part 1

Chance starts school

It's hard to believe that my little guy is actually starting Kindergarten. Wow, where'd that go?

His teacher wisely recommended sending along a "friend" for the first day so Puff got to go too. It was a good thing since his smile faded the moment the bus pulled up at the driveway.

Oh boy.

The good news is that Chance came bounding off the bus all smiles and chattering up a storm about his first day at school. *whew*

It's been nearly a full month since he started and he's still excited about school and loving it. It's just amazing to see his enthusiasm and it makes us happy that his initial trepidation is nothing but a distant memory for him.

Maia's Birthday

Our little girl is 3!

We just had a small party to celebrate Maia's 3rd birthday - I'm not doing the kid chaos yet with her for another year or two. Just her family and her honorary aunts and uncles for now.

She had a great time and got lots of wonderful presents (it was a sea of pink). She wanted a Hello Kitty party and so it was a day chock-full of Hello Kitty stuff, too.

Vacation

Ahhh...vacation. That word alone just relaxes me and brings my blood pressure down several points. The only down-side is there just aren't enough of them.

We spent a fabulous week up in Orillia, Ontario at a place called Fern Resort. It's an all-inclusive family-oriented resort on the shores of Lake Couchiching. It was a full week of being pampered and fed like royalty!

Just do me one favor: Pleeeeease don't say "Oh, it's like the place in Dirty Dancing!" [shudder] Think of it more like taking a cruise that stays in the same spot.

The kids have so much fun and we do as well. The days are just packed. Each day there's a sheet full of activities for the kids and adults and you can be as busy or as lazy as you like (the hammocks are very comfy). It was heavenly.

We took so many pictures there's no way to post them all here or even narrow it down to just a few. So I'm just going to link to the online photo album.

Catching up...again

I have a lot of catching up to do. Not like that's anything new.

Three big things I need to post about are our vacation to Fern, Maia's birthday and Chance's first day at school. All of which deserve nice big juicy posts of their own. All of which require a tad more time than I seem to have these days.

Stay tuned!

Butterflies

This year I've been working on my butterfly garden. I have a planned area and a wildflower garden, both of which feature flowers that are supposed to attract butterflies (and maybe hummingbirds). So far I haven't had a lot of traffic (that I've seen, at least) but the occasional Monarch makes an appearance...giving me just enough hope that I keep looking.

A week or two ago I saw a Hummingbird Moth (odd duck of a thing) but didn't run to get my camera. Today, however, I was quick enough to get several pictures of a Giant Swallowtail butterfly. Unlike the Monarchs, it wasn't terribly shy and even got fairly close to me while I snapped away.

By the way, I'm not a great photographer and my subject isn't a patient critter so please excuse any blurriness. Maybe after Sean gets me that new 10x optical zoom camera my photos will improve. (hint, hint)

Wrapping up soccer

Last night was the Parent-Child game at Chance's soccer league. I was looking forward to it but with a little apprehension since I've never really played soccer. Little did I know that it really doesn't matter. We all had so much fun playing with the kids and they with us. Chance was so pleased with himself because he personally blocked three of my goal attempts. Another year or two and he won't let me live it down.

A Little Ham To Go With That Cheese?

A local cacher by the name of Chilehead has several signature items he leaves in caches. His bandana has become one of Maia's favorite things. This is the latest off the Paris runway...look for it in the fall collections.

Coping with a Thunderstorm 101: Headphones are your friend

Cheap Excuses

Where does the time go? Honestly, every time I say that I hear my father's voice in my head. I remember hearing him say that so often when I was a kid and thinking he was nuts - time didn't fly, it CRAWLED! Well, unless it was summer...but that's different.

Anyway, more than a month has passed since my last update and I have no idea where that time went. Maybe it's evaporated at the parks or at the soccer games (if anyone calls me a "Soccer Mom" I promise I'll hurt you) or maybe it's been while we cache. Who knows.

I'm going to catch up in pictures just because it's easier than trying to sound witty on a rainy day. (It's pouring buckets...again.)

The end of June we spent one Friday up at Hamlin Beach Park (along our "North Coast")....

Birthday Party Recap

Wow. We had a record turnout for the party this year...unbelievable! Or, maybe it just felt that way because people came and stayed longer and there were lots of kids running around. Whatever the case, it was a loooooong day!

I want to thank all the people who stopped in and helped us celebrate our birthday (for those of you playing at home, Sean and I have the same birthday...cool, huh?) and made it a rather memorable one (and you know who you are.) ;) For those of you who couldn't make it, well..., we'll be doing it again next year so there's always another chance.

Birthday Parties for Dummies

So, did you get your invitation? Excellent!

I have to confess that there isn't anything here that isn't on the invite...I just needed a URL to put on it to keep true to the "Dummies" format. So shoot me.

However, since you're here already you may as well sign in and let us know if you're coming or not (don't want to have to run out to Weggies for more food halfway through the party, ya know.)

Thanks for stopping by and take a minute to check out the kids' pictures, too!

A Day Out with Thomas

We were invited to join our friends Don and Joan and their little guy, Jack, for a Day Out with Thomas this past Friday. Luck was with us and the weather was beautiful in spite of the weather man's predictions.

At first, Chance wasn't as thrilled as we hoped he would be, but he finally let his guard down and had a good time. It's amazing how quickly he moved through this "phase" though - it seemed as though he was soooo into Thomas for so long and then, just this year, he was done. He still loves trains and is fascinated by them but he no longer plays with his wooden trains or oohs and ahhhs over Thomas and Friends.

Luckily, Maia is now starting to get into it a bit so maybe there's some life left in those wooden train sets after all.

Just because they're cute

It's my blog, I can brag if I want to...brag if I want to....