Christmas, etc

The holiday season has passed. Whew!! Now we hunker down in the upstate New York winter. Olivia is taking skating and skiing lessons, and continuing her swimming lessons, so she has plenty of physical stuff to stave off the cabin fever.

Winter's here

Well, the weather gods have declared winter in full effect. We had about 8" of snow a few days ago. "Ol' Bessie" the snow blower got a good workout, as did Tom, horsing it around.

Building up to Christmas - Olivia's getting more excited by the day. The outside lights are up, the inside decorating is done, and the shopping is just about done. (We like shopping on line)!

But our main present to ourselves is a camp on Sacandaga Lake, about an hour north of us. Everything is finally coming together, and we're hoping to close before Christmas. Then begins the "fun" of gutting and renovating the little cabin. We'd like the makeover to be done by spring, so we can use the place this summer. Our kayaks and Tom's sailboat will have a permanent home now, and will be most likely joined by a small powerboat, since the property includes a nice dock and lakefront area. We'll post our progress.

Meanwhile, Happy Holidays to all!

Fall 2009

So it's almost Thanksgiving! Since last post, we've been busy buttoning everything up for winter. The generator got a shakedown run last week, when we had a power outtage for a few hours. It was definitely worth the investment to have the fridge and water heater stay on, as well as the heating system and some lights. C'mon, ice storms - make my day!

Olivia was a black cat for Halloween. Daddy painted a kitty face on her. Not really professional, but you get the idea - She went to the neighborhood parade given by the Fire Department, and then trick or treating. (These days, it's only "treating" - When we were kids, seems we had as many "tricks" as treats)! Anyway, we're just finishing up the mountain of candy loot she scored. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd be happy not to see chocolate for a while!

Our little girl is going to be seven in a few days. Seems impossible! She had her party last Saturday. It was at the bowling alley, believe it or not. It actually was a pretty clever idea, since keeping 14 little girls all more or less in one place and occupied for two hours can be a challenge, not to mention the "collateral damage" to the house, if you are crazy enough to have the party at home. It worked out well. There was pizza, cake, balloons and everyone had a great time. It was amusing to see the little peanuts trying to heft and fling the ball down the alley. Then again, a couple of them broke 100, which is better than I can do at times. LOL!

Andrea and Olivia are taking piano lessons. After looking at several "real" pianos, we decided to get a nice digital one. It looks somewhat like a piece of furniture, but isn't as big and heavy as an acoustic piano. By this time next year, the two girls in the house will have assumed the mantle of "musician" from Tom, who is happily "retired" from playing music.

Summer wrap-up

Labor Day has come and gone already. Olivia's getting ready for first grade, which starts tomorrow. We had an orientation day last week, and she met her new teacher, and her classmates. Quite a few from last year. All the supplies are bought, an she's really eager to get back to school.

Our week at Lake George was great. Swimming, sunning, kayaking and we rented an 18' bowrider for a day, to cruise around the lake. Tom also got in some good sailing with his new "Sea-Skimmer" car-toppable sailboat. Olivia was thrilled to host her two cousins and aunt (Andrea's sister Cindy) for an overnite visit. We had a barbeque with them and "Mimi and Poppy".

We also hiked up to the top of Prospect Mountain, for a spectacular scenic overlook.Of course, now our search for our own camp has been kicked up a notch!

While we were at camp, we had all our downstairs floors refinished. Now we're pretty much done with home improvements. (He says, not all too confidently)!

The lawn continues to grow relentlessly, so Tom can replace his cardio workout with mowing about every other day. Looking forward to that one week period between mowing and snow blowing (LOL)!

For the grand finale of summer, we went up to Jiminy Peak Ski resort on Sunday. We rode the alpine slides (numerous times) and the mountain coaster, and Olivia did the bungee trampoline and spider climb. Andrea bagged the summit on the rock climbing wall on her first attempt! Pretty spectacular!

We stopped at the pretty village of Williamstown (home of Williams College) on the way back, and had dinner in a nice Indian restaurant.

Halloween is next!

Flowers

As per the last post, the wet, cool Spring really helped the flowers - Here are some pix of our gardens.

OK, that was a fast Spring!

Where does the time go? It's July already! The fireworks were fun, although the hordes of people created a traffic nightmare. It was worth it, though. Olivia marched in the parade with her Daisy Troop (Pre-Brownie Girl Scouts). See pictures.

Olivia finished up Kindergarten, and is now happily doing the first of two summer camps. She had her dance recital, and has decided she likes dance and will do it next season too. Of course, trying to be a 6 1/2 year old teenager, she wants to take hip-hop dancing - we'll see... Pictures are attached.

We've now pretty much finished all the work we wanted to do on the house. The last remaining items have been done: hardwood floors in the guest bedrooms, and in Olivia's room, re-doing the guest bath, and painting the entire interior. This was after re-doing the kitchen, master bedroom and bath, office and living room. Whew! We also put in a generator, so when the inevitable storm takes out the power, we won't have to worry. Now we hope we'll be staying here for a long time, to enjoy it all!

The cool and wet weather has been not so good for outdoor acivities, but really great for the plants. Everything is literally going wild! Flowers everywhere!

We sold our canoe, and replaced it with two kayaks. We took them out for the first time, and paddled for an hour around Round Lake, which is a few miles up the road. Really nice, and we plan to go to some larger lakes, and maybe the Mohawk/Hudson River, and take them with us to Lake George in August as well. Some more pix attached.

Now maybe it will finally warm up, and Summer can begin in earnest!

Next up, a visit to our friends in CT, and then a trip to Long Island to see Bryan, Michele and Dylan, and meet Tom's new grandson Logan Thomas Keller! We'll probably go to the beach when we're down there, as well. Should be fun!

Winter winding down

Some miscellaneous pics and notes:

We took Olivia skiing - at first she was quite reluctant (after the initial slipping and falling), but eventually got into it, and finally said she loved it. As with most things physical, she seems to be a natural, and she had a lot of solo runs, racing down the bunny slope. (Dad still had to help her on the rope tow).

We had another tubing session, which was as enjoyable as the first.

Olivia finally lost her other front tooth, which had been flapping around for what seemed like months. Now she looks like a completely "official" gap-toothed six-year old!

TK went to LI to visit Bryan, Michelle and Dylan, at Dylan's first B-day party. Fun was had by all, and Tom saw a lot of old friends and relations. Although the drive was 4.5 hours each way, it was well worth it.

We sold our Toyota Corolla and our Miata, and replaced both with a BMW 325Ci convertible. Looking forward to top-down family rides, as the weather warms. (Couldn't fit three of us in the Miata)! Also, now we are back to two cars and a two car garage. No more windshield ice scraping, thankfully!

Chef Tom continues to enjoy whipping up gourmet(?) meals. For Valentine's Day, it was a heart shaped carrot cake.

We're all looking forward to spring, as we hear robins and bluebirds, and see the bulbs beginning to push up.