Adding to my happiness

On top of me getting a job the following thing are making me extremely happy lately:
1. Nora has outgrown her allergy to almonds and probably cashews - we're testing those next. This will enable several vegan dishes that I want to try.
2. And we can now drink Almond Breeze milk. My new addiction.
3. Which is especially good with TJ's new Maple Leaf Cookies
4. Oh, yeah, it's Maple Syrup season!
5. And the Sugar Shack is also serving breakfast
6. Speaking of local farms: I just signed up for my CSA - Red Fire Farms
7. It's March. And while, I don't really think this New England winter is over, I have hopes that the worst of it is.
8. I bought some plants, that I have so far, not managed to kill.
9. Chicopee Public Library continues to be a fabulous and helpful place.
10. We had a really terrific visit to NYC last week. Eventually I will get around to posting pictures.

Altogether I'm in a better place than I have been for the past several months. Now lets hope it holds.

New England Explorations

While my parents were here last week, we did some exploring of the area - finally driving north of Amherst (we still haven't made it to Vermont) and down into Rhode Island and Connecticut. In Massachusetts, we went to Shelborne Falls and Deerfield. Deerfield is an early settlement and a battleground in the King Phillip war which I knew nothing about until we visited. Many of the houses in Deerfield are restored to their colonial appearance; you can tour them or just walk around town and take in the early America vibe. We chose the latter since we had been touring both the Eric Carle museum and the Emily Dickenson house the days before and Nora was about in revolt (as was Dad, who enjoys historical sites, but isn't too fond of being part of a guided tour). Deerfield was lovely, especially the little meadow walk/nature path that finishes out right next to a very old cemetery. However, Shelborne Falls was a real jewel. It's in the Berkshires and while a very small town, has a thriving artist community and a really lovely floral bridge (this is much less touristy than the write up made it sound).

Over the weekend, we headed south. RI was the final state for my dad to visit so he can say he's been in all 48 of the contiguous USA, so it was fun to cross it off the list for him. And of course, Rhode Island has lots of beaches - a big draw for Jason, Nora, my mom, and I. Dad is not so much on the beach, but he does like state parks, so when both combined, we were all happy. We finished off this two day jaunt with a stop in Mystic, CT, which was very touristy and yet still felt relaxing and fun.

Old tombstone in Deerfield (1731?)

This is in front of some fancy smancy prep school where all the boys were blazers and Bermuda shorts. I liked the tree.

Our first day at the beach was really warm and lovely, but there were advisories up warning us out of the water, so we just built sand castles. Nora found an abandoned hole dug by another 4 year old to sit in.


This was later that day at a state park just south of Newport, RI. The kites were so magnificent, we had to pull over. The beach was much rockier and the waves rougher here, since we were facing the Atlantic instead of the bay.
We spent a long time checking out this big octopus kite, Nora ran right for it when we got to the park, and then she and some other kids ran in and out of its tentacles; it really was amazing.

Foray Into Boston

This weekend, we went to see Kendra in Boston and check out the New England Aquarium. It was great to see K again and meet her dog Ripley and cats, Eli and Lottie. As you might imagine the cats stayed mostly hidden and Ripley stole the show. After riding the train into downtown, Nora decided that living with Kendra and Ripley might be preferable to staying with her boring parents who just open boxes all day and won't get her a dog.

We had a wonderful time exploring Jamaica Plain (Kendra's neighborhood), riding the train, learning about the Big Dig, tramping around Faneiul Hall, and most of all the aquarium. Nora's favorite part was the sharks and my favorite part was the hands-on tidal pool area where we could touch the starfish and sea urchins.




Thanks Kendra!

Return to the Blog

Two months and one cross country move later, I return to my blog. If you are on facebook, you've probably already seen these, but I thought I'd share Pancake Day here, too, since it was such a wonderful morning. Nora had literally been dreaming of Jason making pancakes so she decided that he would become the pancake chef, and he did. His first batch was pretty great and I'm looking forward to future pancake days. Part of Nora's decree included wearing these Daughter and Daddy matching Steak and Shake hats. It's Nora's favorite restaurant, but really, there's not much for Jason there.




This is the pantry, or what Nora calls the Little Kitchen, and right now it' s my favorite part of the house. That could have something to do with there being no boxes there.

Jason's reptilian like pattern on his arm is from Nora playing tattoo parlor. We've tried to discourage this since it is difficult to wash off (Crayola lies about the washable nature of their washable crayons).



We are settling in okay. Nora is having the hardest time, since we just want to unpack boxes and run to Ikea and do other boring things. She's seen a lot of TV the past couple of weeks. We have tried to get across the street to the park everyday (we didn't make it today) or out someplace at least. Unfortunately, the Dinosaur Footprints park was not as exciting as we hyped it to be. Fossilized dino footprints aren't that obvious to the untrained eye and there was no dinosaur recreation which would have made her happy. I think we've got to spend a day this week, doing everything she wants to do to balance it out. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh have I mentioned that it's been hot here this week? 90+ degrees. And we have no AC.