Fall Fun with Grandmommy & Granddaddy

This is what we see these days when we pull out of our driveway:

So when Grandmommy & Granddaddy Gong came from California for a 2-week visit, there was lots of Fall fun to be had! Like baking:

And choosing Halloween costumes:

It's going to be a double-princess year!

And pumpkin picking:

The grand finale was the corn maze. And you know how you heap expectations upon events? You imagine that the corn maze will be a time of family harmony and laughter and hugs, something they’ll always remember with nostalgia? Well, it was fun, particularly playing in the corn box and taking a hay wagon ride before the corn maze. But the corn maze was huge, and what these pictures don’t show is how three tired, hungry, and bathroom-needing girls had to be carried out of the corn maze just minutes after we started it.

The hay ride (actually MUCH more fun than this picture indicates!)

They’ll remember that the corn maze was fun. Erick and I will remember that just because an experience doesn’t meet the parents’ expectations doesn’t mean that it was a failure. And that often, the best moments are those that you don’t plan at all.

Keeping the Doctor Away….

Apple picking has been a family tradition since before we were even a family. It dates to the time, over a decade ago, when I went apple picking with friends in upstate New York and then mailed a box of some of the apples we’d harvested to my new friend Erick Gong, then toiling away at a Connecticut hedge fund. Since then, I can’t think of a year when we’ve missed apple picking. Usually, it’s at least a half-day outing and requires a long drive to some country place.

But this year, with Grandmommy and Granddaddy Gong visiting Vermont from California for the first time, we drove about 5 minutes up the road to the Happy Valley Orchard.

The harvest was plentiful:

But the workers were willing…

…the workers were dedicated…

…and the workers were HUNGRY!

Even Georgia, a recent convert to the world of solid foods, got in on the action:

As if the apples weren’t enough, Happy Valley also had honey sticks for sale, which the girls enjoyed as a reward for their labor.

AND, just when you thought it couldn’t get any better than this, there was a TREEHOUSE!

A treehouse that you could climb up and up…

…And pose for goofy pictures with your Daddy…

… and then look out and see this:

And it probably doesn’t get any better than this!

A Shameless Pitch

I promise I won’t use the blog to do this often, BUT…

On Sunday, October 2, Fiona and I are going to be participating in the 2.2-mile Addison County CROP Hunger Walk, which will raise awareness and funds for international relief and development, as well as local hunger-fighting agencies right here in Vermont. As you’ll recall, this has been a particularly difficult year for much of Vermont, with record rain- and snowfall that has resulted in widespread flooding on numerous occasions. We’re very excited for this opportunity to support our new community!

Please join us on this journey, ending hunger one step at a time. We’d be thrilled with any amount you might want to contribute on our behalf. In a huge sacrificial act, Fiona will be skipping her afternoon nap and donating all of her spare change! If you’re interested in supporting us or learning more, just click this link here.

Progress…

…on a couple of fronts at our house this week.

OPERATION: NEW ROOF

Today we can see the front of our house for the first time in 2 weeks! The scaffolding and tarps that have covered it while the roofers tore off and reinstalled the roof on the front portion came down, and here is how our new roof looks thus far:

It’s about 1/3 finished, so we’re bracing for another 2+ weeks of overhead pounding. But we’re thrilled with both the look and the fact that it’ll keep us dry all winter. Here’s a look at the new vs. old roof. As Fiona said this morning, “Daddy, why isn’t there grass growing out of the new roof?” ‘Nuff said.

OPERATION: TODDLERHOOD

At 6 months old, Georgia is already working on keeping up with her older sisters.

On Getting a New Roof

Not a day goes by that we are not grateful for this house.

That said, homeownership already feels like either a tragic or comic (depending on the day) series of ripping away band-aids to reveal ugly scabs underneath.

Like our roof. As previously mentioned, we need to have a new roof put on before winter (i.e. within the next month). Yesterday, the roofers came to set up, so our house now looks like this:

And the yard now looks like this:

This morning, they started ripping off the old shingles. Within minutes, there was a knock on the door, and our first bit of bad news. Turns out when the previous owners built this house, they went the cheap route and decided against anchoring the shingles in plywood. Instead, they laid boards across the insulation and nailed the shingles to those boards. The good news is that this explains the evidence of past leaks. The bad news: this means that we have to go through the more time-intensive and expensive process of first covering the roof in new plywood before the new shingles can be put on.

It’s naptime now, and I just went outside to look at the product of 2-days’ work: a very tiny area of bare roof, covered by a protective material because it’s probably going to rain tomorrow (thus delaying the process even further). And what you don’t see is that plywood is being ordered right now, which will almost double our expected expenses. Heavy heart…..

Until I noticed what was written on the underlayment.

See that? It says “Grace.” Turns out that’s a brand of roofing underlayment, and I don’t know how they arrived at calling it “Grace,” but how perfect. Because that’s what we’re going to need to get through these next weeks of pounding and mess and probably more tough decisions. In fact, that’s what I’m going to need to get through life, right? So maybe I’ll skip the shingles all together and just go out every day and look up at the roof for my reminder: Grace.

Looking Back

Labor Day Weekend. Our first summer in Vermont is officially over. It’s been winding down for a while, but now the leaves are starting to change color, the corn is taller than most people, last week Fiona started preschool, and next week Middlebury College’s academic year will begin.

Fiona leaving for her first day of preschool.

The Gong sisters pick up Fiona (who, in typical Fiona fashion, has changed clothes) from her first day of preschool.

So, on this Labor Day weekend, I am taking a moment to list our favorite memories from this special first summer in our new home.

Fiona yelling “Gross, cows!” whenever we smell that bovine aroma (which is often).
Georgia busting out with huge belly laughs and beginning to roll over. And sleeping through the night!
Swimming at Lake Dunmore.
Ice cream at Sama’s and the Kampersville Deli (“Ganilla” for Campbell, whatever disgusting novelty flavor catches Fiona’s fancy, including Bubble Gum, Cotton Candy, and Play Doh).
Calamine lotion on mosquito bites.
Full moon over shadowy mountains.
Owls calling at night.
Dappled sunlight through the backyard trees.
Fresh maple syrup on pancakes
Soccer on Friday mornings.
Picnics and naked children in the wading pool.
Long drives along country roads (“Cows out Campbell’s window!”)
Cams turning 2 years old, talking even MORE, and cracking us all up with her wacky humor.
Mona Rogers at the East Middlebury library.
Festival on the Green (with cousins!).
Learning how to paint a room.
Having our own dishwasher, washer, and dryer! AND more than 1 bathroom!
Visits from family. We love family.
Fiona making “A Vermont Announcement!”
Dancing to “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” in the sun room.
Sisters sleeping together.
Berry picking at Champlain Orchards and Lower Notch Berry Farm.
U2 in Montreal on our 9th anniversary.
Erick’s new talent for homemade iced coffee.
The car shopping carts at Hannaford’s grocery store.
Popsicles on the deck on hot afternoons.
Playing with the toys & eating greasy food at the A&W picnic area
Standing on the bridge looking down on Otter Creek Falls.
Itsy Bitsy Yoga at the library.
Peonies & hydrangeas in the yard.
Lunch at the taco truck in town.
Dinner at American Flatbread.
Sunday mornings at First Baptist Church.
Healthy checkups at Rainbow Pediatrics.
Neighbors stopping by to greet us.
Catching (& releasing) bullfrogs in the creek at the Bridge School.
Fiona catching a newt in our yard with her bare hands.
Campbell sitting atop a picnic table eating fresh snap peas.
Crocs for the whole family!
Throwing pennies in the fountain on the town green.
Chocolate milk fresh from Monument Farms Dairy.
Meeting Erick on campus for lunch at The Grill.
Milking cows and feeding baby goats at Shelburne Farms.
Running around the yard, climbing the rocks, and playing in the little cottage with new friends.
The nice people at Middlebury Bagel who frost the donuts with fresh chocolate icing for our girls.
Cruising Lake Champlain.
Playing in the children’s room at the Sheldon Museum, and the garden outside.
Visiting the new foal (Trinity) at the Morgan Horse Farm.
Pony rides at the Addison County Fair & Field Days.
Listening to the Disney Princess cd (especially the Pocahontas & Mulan songs) over and over and over….
Family flashlight tag during power outages.
Hiking with the girls in Moosalamoo Recreation Area (Campbell charging ahead shouting – unsuccessfully – “Here moose! Here moose!”)
Realizing that, after only 3 months, whenever you leave the house you WILL see someone you know. You really will.

It’s been an amazing summer — better than we could have ever imagined! It’s incredible that exactly 3 months ago we were boarding a plane in San Francisco to follow our belongings to Vermont, when now we feel so completely at home. We are so thankful every day for our girls, for our family, for this house, for being able to live in this beautiful place, for all the wonderful people we’ve met since moving here. And we look forward to many more summers like this one…if we can survive our first Vermont winter!

We’re All Fine

Just a quick note to thank all of you who’ve inquired about our well-being following Hurricane Irene. Our family came through the storm almost embarrassingly fine – no loss of power, no flooding. Just 24 hours of steady rain, some branches down in the yard, and a huge family game of flashlight tag (in anticipation of losing our power). Here we are in the aftermath:

(I have NO idea why Fiona is posing like that with the broom, or where she even LEARNED to pose like that!)

Of course, the rest of the state was not as fortunate, and some of the photos of the devastation from other parts of Vermont have left me breathless. I’ve heard a few rumblings about initiatives to help those most affected, and will post anything interesting that I learn about here.

I Read the News Today (Oh Boy)….

When you begin your adult life in New York City (as we did) and then move to progressively smaller towns (as we have), it’s funny to see how one’s view of public safety changes, as does one’s concept of what qualifies as news.

To put it another way, how our lives have changed in recent months can be neatly illustrated by our subscription to the Addison County Independent.

We subscribed to the Independent, our local bi-weekly newspaper, on a tip from another professor’s wife. She recommended it because it includes an extensive community calendar of events in each issue. I must say that, thus far, I’ve mostly been overwhelmed by how many weekly pig roasts/ham suppers/chicken barbeques are being put on by various associations in the vicinity, but we have found some great events. (Like the Bristol “Truck Touch,” when the town next-door parked a schoolbus, police car, fire engine, and ambulance on the town green for a Saturday morning and opened them up to kids. Brilliant!)

Middlebury is a swingin' place! These swings are right on campus.

But more than the events, it’s the news that’s been eye-opening. In the midst of horrible world events, crazy financial markets, and the end of J-Lo’s marriage, last Monday’s Independent featured front-page stories like “Musician follows her dreams,” and “Deadline nearing for dairy deal.” Then there are the editorials! The same edition included editorials titled “Helpful neighbors make Vt. great,” and — to quote the great Dave Barry, I am NOT making this up, “Postal service does a great job delivering mail.” Not to mention the “Pet of the Week,” who happened to be a miniature donkey named Gepetto.

I kept looking, and found some alarming news on page 6: “Brief Thursday power outage affects 2,400 in Middlebury.” We hadn’t been affected, but it sounded serious, so I kept reading: “Many Middlebury residents and businesses went without power for about three minutes on Thursday around 12:30 PM.” Did you catch that? A three minute power outage (cause still unknown at press time) received two columns of print space!

Which leads me to the topic of public safety. Oddly, as I’ve moved to smaller places, I generally have felt less safe. It makes no sense at all; we were in New York City during 9/11 (while we were – mercifully – not directly affected, it was certainly an anxious time). But when we moved to Berkeley, I never quite got over living on the ground floor without a doorman. And Berkeley was arguably less safe than post-Guiliani NYC; during our time there, Erick’s bike was stolen from our garage, and then the bike he borrowed to replace that bike was stolen. There were gang-related shootings just blocks away. Oh, and then there was the Sunday morning we found a hole in our windshield, the cause of which was revealed when we located the bullet next to Fiona’s carseat. (For a minute I thought it was roving gangs of rival economists putting a hit out on Erick, but the police decided it was someone in our neighborhood firing their gun in the air. Which made me feel MUCH better!).

Despite all of this, I didn’t necessarily feel safer moving to small town Vermont. While we can see our neighbor’s houses through the trees, we’re still further from people than we’ve ever been. And at night here, it is DARK. I mean, darker than I’ve ever seen; there’s not a streetlight within miles of our house. Not only that, but due to sightings by our neighbors, we’ve had to have that talk with our girls. You know, that talk? Yup, the “what to do if a bear shows up in our yard” talk….

Tough gals eating their ice cream at Sama's. Hey, you never know when somebody here might grab your creemee.

But reading the Police Logs in the Independent is starting to make me feel that we might actually be safe here. From the Vergennes (a nearby town) Police Log (again, I am not making this up):
“On Aug. 1 gave directions to a motorist on Main Street; On Aug. 2 were asked to find a woman, but learned she had moved to New Haven…On Aug. 2 found a camper door open at Denecker Chevrolet and told a business representative.”

You get the idea. (I love the image of the Vergennes police force checking doors at local car dealerships).

Now, Middlebury is a larger town than Vergennes, so the Middlebury Police Log is a little more down & dirty. In the past week, police:

“Received a report of some boys throwing food onto cars in the Fire & Ice parking lot. Police said the boys ultimately cleaned up the debris and apologized to restaurant officials;

Received a report that someone had stolen 40 compact discs — all containing Christian music — from a vehicle parked off North Pleasant Street;

Told a visiting cyclist that he could not sleep overnight on the town green. Police said the man had set up a hammock between two trees on the green.”

So if you visit us here in M-town, don’t say we didn’t warn you. Keep an eye out for flying food, lock up your Amy Grant cds, and leave your hammock at home. But bring your bear spray.

We brave the mean streets of Middlebury....

Work and Play

Although it’s still summer here in Vermont, we are starting to prepare for winter. It’s been a while since we’ve lived with the drama of four distinct seasons; while I always felt that there were seasons in Northern California, they were subtle and caused few dramatic variations in either wardrobe or lifestyle. Not so in Vermont. The nights are getting cooler, the odd leaf in our yard has already turned red or yellow, and we hear that snow can begin as early as late October. Here are some of the things we’re doing to ready ourselves for the imminent onset of winter:

*Getting a new roof. Although we bought this house understanding that we’d need a new roof in the next 5 years, it quickly became clear that we needed one immediately if we wanted to be spared some serious water leaks once the snow starts. (One roofer who looked at our situation told us that, short of a new roof, our best bet for surviving the winter were plastic tarps).

*Getting a generator. We’ve lost power a couple of times this summer due to heavy thunderstorms. Because we’re far enough outside of town, we’re not on the town water system; our water is pumped up from our own well, and we have our own septic tank. This means that no power = no water. Okay for short periods of time during the summer, but not okay in the middle of winter with three small children.

*Finishing Phase 1 of our painting projects. In fact, this is an activity that we supervised as opposed to participated in; Nana and Boom were just here for a week painting our bedroom as an early birthday gift. This involved some serious carpet-ripping and tearing off wallpaper, but the results are amazing. To give you an idea, here is the original bedroom with dark blue wallpaper and blue wall-to-wall carpet:

And here is our bedroom today:

*Thinking about re-graveling our driveway….

*Stockpiling firewood. Thankfully we’ve got a rugged junior lumberjack to help with that.

*Buying these at Junebug, an amazing local children’s clothing resale store:

*Fattening ourselves up on freshly-baked brownies.

We’ve been busy. But it’s not all work and no play around here. There are afternoon snacks out on the deck….

The girls had a blast at the Addison County Fair and Field Days….

Success! All tired out at the end of the day.

And we enjoyed an idyllic boat trip around Lake Champlain with Nana and Boom:

Sisters check out the huge lake pre-cruise.

Campbell kept calling for "Champ," the mythical monster of Lake Champlain. He didn't show...this time.

We’ll be sad to see summer come to an end, but we’re looking forward to Fall — we hear it’s spectacular up here.

So if you’re thinking of visiting us, don’t delay! The snow is coming….

Summertime….

As we roll into August, it’s starting to feel like we’re on the back side of summer here in Vermont. The weather has been more reasonable for the past week, Erick’s been going into his office every day to prepare for the start of school, the summer programs that have kept us going to Ilsley Library multiple times each week have ended, and tomorrow Fiona will visit the preschool that she’ll be attending in September. But we’re continuing to enjoy as many summer activities as we can cram in.

Exhibit A: Raspberry picking with Nana and Boom at Champlain Orchards.

The result of our labor, which resulted in delicious raspberry-topped French Toast and two Raspberry Buckles:

Last week I also took the girls blueberry picking at Lower Notch Berry Farm, which yielded 3 pounds of delicious blueberries. But because I was alone with the 3 girls, I somehow neglected to get pictures of that outing!

Living in the woods definitely has its benefits during the summer, in that our house remains pretty comfortable even when it’s sizzling in town. But we did suffer from the Great East Coast Heat Wave of 2011, which sent temperatures up into the 90s. What to do with no air conditioning? Lots of time in the wading pool, popsicles on the back deck, and summer haircuts from “Mom’s Backyard Salon!”