Recipes

Ethan was furiously scribbling down recipes on a little notepad he found today. Every so often he'd say 'No, this no good' then scribble through it and start over on a new sheet of paper.

Woodstock Ag Fair

We had fun looking at the animals and going on the hayride at the Celebrating Agriculture Fair today.

Last days of summer

Fairvue Farm

Its always fun to see the calves when we stop to get our milk! Buy Local.

Newport!

Today was a beautiful sunny day, and most importantly, the surf report was good. As in knee to waist high glassy sets. I don't want them much bigger than that! Anyways, thanks to a few good friends, I was able to surf for 2 hours while they kept on eye on Ethan at the beach. I have some pics from my phone of Ethan and I with the surfboard, but I can't find which folder they're in. (Nate can you help me with this?)

I picked up a board at Island Surf and Sport, where they gave me a real(fiberglass) board instead of the beginner(foam) board. Sweet! A guy in the back was putting a fresh coat of wax on it. I noticed he was missing one forearm. Maybe he was born like that and sharks had nothing to do with it. Speaking of sharks, I'm really glad I went surfing at Newport, and not the Cape, which had 12 Great Whites spotted and shut down numerous beaches this weekend.

Anyways, since it'd been 2 years and 11 months since I went surfing last time, and 12 months since the time before that, I was hoping I'd remember how to stand up. So I spent the first 30 minutes just pushing off into the whitewater and practicing popping up. Once I was doing that on a regular basis, I took the board and paddled out past the break zone to try both catching waves and standing up. I'm happy to say it came back and I was soon getting up on every wave I was able to catch. Note to self, when I think I have the wave, do a few more quick paddles, then stand up.

I had such a great time out there. I love being in the water, even just sitting on the board watching for sets. I even love when I'm all done and the salt from the ocean dries on my skin and makes my hair crunchy. I forgot how loud the roar of the wave is as it's about to crest and you're paddling hard and you feel the energy as the wave takes the board and carries it and you're hoping you can stand up and ride it in or you're going to die. Well, wipe out at the very least. It was all I could do to finally go back in, see how Ethan was doing, and let Lona's husband, Nathan, try the board. He hadn't surfed and wanted to give it a try, so we split the cost of renting the board.

Anyways I walk back down to the end of the beach where people were surfing to watch him for a few minutes. He takes the board and paddles out, then turns and starts paddling back to shore trying to catch a wave. He gets it and gets to his knees! Way to go! I give him a thumb's up. Then he heads back out, and soon finds another wave to try to catch. Which he does. Then he stands up. For a few seconds before he falls into the water. When he surfaces our eyes meet, and for a split second I debate whether to give him another thumb's up or the finger. I'm happy to say, the thumb's up won. Barely.

OK so it wasn't till the second time I tried surfing that I stood up. The first time was on Cape Cod with Kurt. I think there was a tropical storm or some leftovers from a hurricane offshore, but I'm not usually deterred when I set my mind on something. Here we are at the beach checking out the (angry)waves. I think Kurt is saying its probably not a good day to learn.

Here I am pointing out a seal. Hey look at that seal! Isn't that what sharks mistake surfers for?

Notice the waves in the background going in all directions...

At this point a lifeguard buzzed over on a fourwheeler and directed us down the shore to a sand bar where the waves might be smaller.
Here I am out on the sandbar, looking at the third wave behind me. I might have been thinking some bad words about now.

Waiting for a wave...

Proof I got to my knees...

Finished for the day, and happy to be alive.

Bronx Zoo

This morning Ethan and I headed down with the Elliots for a much anticipated day trip to the Bronx Zoo. We were oh so grateful for a map of CT which allowed us to cleverly bypass delays on I-91 and for the DVD player installed in the van!

The first hint of trouble came several blocks from the zoo entrance, when we noticed huge trees uprooted and knocked down in the medians. Wow, looks like they had a big storm, we said. Wonder when that happened? Arriving at the ticket booth we discovered that the storm, packing 80 MPH winds, had come through the night before, and several parts of the zoo were closed from the damage. Basically, any exhibit featuring cool big animals, was closed. Except for the American Bison.

This is one of many downed trees in the African Plains exhibit...

So what did we see? Birds. Lots of birds. I didn't mind this, cuz hey-I work for whatbird! Except, a three year old boy has no interest in staying close by while his mom takes pictures of birds. Next time I go to this Zoo, I go alone. Here are some birds...





And here are some more birds...




The most fun Ethan had was playing in the bamboo and playing with some cones and caution tape with Anna.


Here are some pics of all the kids together...



It was, in the words of one of the Elliot boys, the dumbest zoo ever. However, being surrounded by New Yorkers did clue me in on the newest fashion trend: underwear with big bold letters across the butt, spelling out some word, then you layer see-through white pants or capris over them. What do you think? I bet I could pick up some Hot n Righteous undies at Seriouslysoblessed.com!

Beach Buddies

Ethan and Annie are quite a pair at the beach. Here they have found an abandoned castle, complete with moat and resident hermit crabs, and they are gleefully setting about playing with it and readying it for eventual demolition.