New England Fall & a visit from Clay, Jen, and baby Navy!

 Viv was SO excited to discover our very first eggs after months of feeding, watering, and caring for our chickens. Wahoo! With our remaining 4 chickens, we usually get 3 eggs/day. Amazingly, they are all hens (yea!). We have found that sometimes they prefer to lay outside of the coup, so we have to look around the house. It can be like an Easter egg hunt year 'round.

 We attended an annual fundraising event in our small town. It was a charming event held near a white church with homemade stew, old-time games, and booth shopping. Even though it was chilly outside, Olivia was willing to dunk her head and get an apple prize!

Here is our "Ba-gok Cottage". We moved it closer to the house, under the "Climbing Tree" (where my monkey girls practically live) so that we could plug in a heat lamp for them during the winter. 

Viv is in the chess club at school. We decided to teach the girls how to play checkers as well so that Ruby could play something similar as well. They love board games. Right now their favorites are Battleship, Chess/Checkers, Clue (Carnival kids edition), and the Lady Bug Game.

Sweet Noma with bits of seaweed on her face. She LOVES seaweed. It is so fun to watch her eat it. She inhales it.

Adam went away on a business trip, so we decided to have a fun girl sleepover in my bed. It was so fun. I didn't sleep much, but it was a great memory.

 We have more leaves here than we ever before. There are just so many trees. We barely have to rake at all to make a huge pile. The girls are loving it! Especially when there is a gentle wind and a few leaves are continuously falling as they play. It's a magical wonderland. I love driving around right now. The canopy over the roads, the amazing colors, the crisp air, I'm in love. I'd always heard about New England falls, and now I know what all the fuss is about. One difference between the fall in UT and the fall in CT is the length. In Logan there was a window of a couple of weeks where the leaves peaked, but here, the window lasts a couple of months.
By the way, I am now trained to be paranoid about ticks when I see my kids playing in leaves (or when I see anyone laying on the ground or anything like that, even if it's in a movie), but happily, the chickens must be doing their part by eating the ticks, because we haven't seen them in a while. I just can't let my guard down.

This is the view from our driveway. Beautiful Autumn.

While Adam was still out of town, I tok the girls to Topstone Park. There is a beach, a playground, hiking trails, etc. Oh, and tether ball. So fun.

This picture is mostly just for me so that I don't forget the view of Mark Twain Lane from the bus stop where I pick the girls up every day.

Noma is our backyard. 

 Here is Ru feeding the cows at the Stew Lenard's grocery store. They also have chickens, goats, lambs, turkeys, and ducks that you can feed, just across the parking lot from the store. So cool.

The girls are playing with puppets at FAO Schwarts in NYC. We decided to go there and spend the day with Clay, Jen, and Navy before they left again for UT. We also went to Skyline Park, which was amazing. 

 FAO Swartz has over-sized candy. Here are just two examples. The girls are in heaven, and I'm disturbed. Yikes.

We were sooo happy to have Clay, Jen, and Navy come visit. It was our first time meeting their beautiful baby. She is too cute for words. We were all taken by her. My girls practically smothered her with love. We all went on a little walk in the "Enchanted Forest"with them, even though it was drizzly outside and we had to dodge a few giant puddles. The fall colors were still amazing, and we had a great time.

Ru in kindergarten; Viv in grade 2

Well, it's official. School finally started. It was a much anticipated event for the girls. I was so excited for them, although I wasn't thrilled to loose Ruby to all-day kindergarten. Oh well. She is so happy! I have been stressed out about how to get back into a smooth routine. Who is a genius at this? Any ideas? 

Below Olivia is holding up two fingers to represent grade 2, and Ru is showing a K for kindergarten in sign language.

 This is Mrs. Rohr, Ruby's teacher, reading to the class on the first day (open-house).

 Sonoma was feeling jealous about the whole school thing. She insisted on wearing Ru's backpack for a while.

 Here are Viv and Ru in the "climbing tree" by the side of our house. The love climbing that tree.

 Viv, Ru, and our 10 year old neighbor Gunnar are playing on the tramp. I love the woods in the background.

 Gunnar has a pool with a zip line that we like to use from time to time. They are such nice neighbors!

 We were invited to hang out with our friends, the Bonatos (Lorenzo, Marabella, and Franchesca).

 Below are Viv and Ru on the tires at the local YMCA.

 Now that school is in session, Sonoma and I have a lot of time together. I quickly became aware of how much I depended on the older girls to entertain her during the day. Now it is all on me. Here are a few pics of our golden time together. I'll never get enough of her insane cuteness!

Adam? Adam who? ...Poor Adam has sort of been MIA for the past month or so. He is in the depths of a work hole that will hopefully spit him out at some point so that he can return to the world of normal family life and regular working hours (what are those???).

"Funny Uncle Wade" and the Mystic Aquarium

My girls have it in their heads that all of their uncles are funny. When we told them that Uncle Wade was coming out to visit (for work), they were soooooo excited to see "Funny Uncle Wade"! I told him about his reputation at our house, and he did a great job living up to the name. He didn't have them in stitches with his relentless funniness, but he did have fun with his nieces, and they soaked it up! Here he is playing a rousing game of "Clue" with them.

 This is Wade, telling the girls a bedtime story... but mostly, it's Ru smiling at the camera :)

 Viv got facepaints from Grandma and Grandpa Morse. They painted each others faces for hours and days...

On the one Saturday that Wade was with us, we headed two hours away to the Mystic Aquarium. It was a great experience for all of us. Wade helped the girls get a canary on a stick to hold. They loved it!

 Jellyfish are always my favorite animals to see. They are so beautiful and dangerous. I love them.

 Here are my couch monkeys. Hilarious, as always. Sonoma has since defiled this couch after finding a permanent marker. Good thing it was a free couch from the local recycling center. Easy come easy go. I just wish I could say the same thing about the wood paneled, custom made walls that she defiled. Somehow I don't thing our landlords will find her artistic expression to be acceptably placed.

Anyone have any ideas about how to fix the wall? Yeah... we are in trouble. All markers are heretofore off limits at our house.

"Dangie" in Meredith, New Hampshire

Just before the start of the school year, I had the opportunity to put the girls in the car and make the five hour drive up to a little - seriously little - town called Meredith, New Hampshire to visit my cousin Angie and her husband, Dan (hence "Dangie"). It was wonderful to reconnect with Angie! It had been so long since we had seen or even really spoken to each other. Turns out, she's still awesome. It also turns out that Meredith is a gorgeous resort town. It reminded me a little bit of Bear Lake. It is on Lake Winnipesaukee (you may remember it from the film, "What about Bob?"). We were only there for a few days, but it was lovely! Here are a few pics:

 We went to the beach and the first thing that Ruby did was hug the sand. Towels are for wimps!

 A perfect stranger came and asked to take a picture of cute Noma in her hat. Can say that I blame her.

 Angie and Ruby swimming together in Lake Winnipesaukee.

 Here are the girls, Angie, and her sweet little dog Mona. Noma was mostly scared of the dog, but tried to be cool about it all. Careful examination of this photo will reveal that Sonoma has strategically put Olivia between herself and the dog, and wouldn't take her eyes off of her for the picture... but for all you know, she is cool with the situation. Well played, Sonoma.

 Meredith, NH is also home to the largest arcade in the world. Yes, that is correct. It is called Funspot (the spot for fun). It has all of the old school arcades that you can imagine from Frogger to Packman, Donkey Kong to Ghostbusters, Tron to Stargate, and thousands more. It is Ca - Razy! I highly recommend it as one of the best places on Earth to "people watch" - seriously fascinating. If you haven't seen the movie, "King of Kong", you should, to get an idea of what I'm talking about. It was filmed here (in part) during one of the "Annual International Classic Video Game Tournaments" that they host.

 Funspot doesn't stop at arcade games. They have something for everyone. My kids loved the bumper cars, and other awesome games they had available for wee ones.

 What is this ride? Don't know, but it goes in a slow circle, and it lights up. Golden.

 Adam said this photo would be perfect for an album cover. Any takers?

 Here is Noma on the beach after we got ice cream on our last day in Meredith.

Thanks for letting us come invade your home, Angie! We love you!