Rocky Mountain High

I have been off enjoying the summer and hope that all of you have too! Not sure I am ready to get back to regular blogging but thought I would do a check-in if anyone is fact still reading.
We started our summer vacation off with a trip to Colorado to see Dom's sister Lisa and her husband Chuck. We were also able to see some good friends, the Child family, who live near Lisa and Chuck.
I of course took hundreds of pictures because it is just so beautiful out there. Here are a few highlights.

This was sunset, actually past sunset at Red Rocks.


Here is Kenzie checking out a dinosaur at Dinosaur Ridge.

Here Dom getting bit by a dinosaur as the girls look on.

We got to spend a whole day and two evenings with the Child family. They showed us Garden of the Gods and Cave of the Winds. Watching the girls play you would never guess that they only get to see each other a few times a year.

Dom climbing an enourmous tree. It then took him awhile to figure out how to get down...

We took a train ride through the Royal Gorge on Father's day an saw the tallest suspension bridge in the world!

We didn actually go on the bridge. It was too darn hot and the general consensus was that no one actually wanted to cross it.

An Elk in the Rocky Mountain National Forest.

More Elk.

The Continental Divide.

School is Out!

The girls are officially out of school for the summer. I am super proud of them as they continue to show how smart they are. Becca made honors all year and came home with 5 achievement awards. Kenzie did very well also with an outstanding report card and a great little memory book that her teacher put together.

It's just a matter of time before we are on our way to visit family and friends in Colorado! Let the summer fun begin!!!

Mostly Moths

We get a bunch of moths hanging out on the farmer's porch every morning. The girls enjoy checking them out, especially Kenzie who is on a current insect kick. These two were especially large and fun to look at.

I love luna moths because I think they are so pretty!

Lady Slippers

I think I may have posted about this before but Lady Slippers are my favorite wild flower. I feel very blessed to have many growing in the woods right along the backyard. Here are some of the pictures I took recently.

During the month of June there is a lupine festival in northern NH. Lupines are probably my second favorite. We went to the festival two years ago and I have wanted to go back ever since but we haven't made it back yet and the outlook isn't looking too good for this year. There is a chance we might make it up there this Sunday, but I am not holding my breath. The festival is three weeks long, which seems like plenty of time, but the weather and other obligations always get in the way. Oh well, there's always next year!

I did buy some seeds while we were there and I finally planted some this year. Maybe this time next year we'll have some of our own lupines in the backyard to go with the lady slippers.

Little Scientist

Mackenzie has become quite the little scientist lately. She is always looking for something to do and she wants to be learning something in the process, so video games and TV don't really keep her attention for long. So I picked up some science experiment books for kids. She went through and marked all the ones she wanted to do-(which was just about all of them). And several times a week when she comes to me and says"I'm bored" I tell her to go pick an experiment. Luckily most of the experiments involve household items. The one she chose yesterday was the floating grape, which she learned about density.

It involved mixing sugar with water to get a grape to float. After laying out all the materials I let her do it all by herself then just asked her some basic questions and made sure she understood what was going on. After completing her experiment she wrote her findings down in a notebook.

The first cup is just plain water and the grape sank. The second cup has water with some sugar mixed in and the grape floats at the surface. The third cup is filled with sugar and water mixture and then just regular water poured on top. Don't stir! This causes the grape to float on top of the heavier sugar water!

The book we have been using is The Everything Kids Science Experiments Book by Tom Robinson in case anyone has any budding scientists!

New Glasses

Becca got some new glasses! They look super cute on her!

Odiorne

I chaperoned a field trip with Kenzie's class to Odiorne and the Sea Science Center. It was lots of fun, though the weather was a concern. Luckily the rain held off and we a had a great day. The kids got to explore tidepools, pick up critters in the indoor touch tank, see a big blue lobster and have a picnic lunch outside.

Nature Explorers

We enjoyed a peaceful spring break from school. No big plans, just some relaxing. We did get outside to explore many times and had several nature encounters. We got to observe a porcupine dining in the backyard-luckily we noticed him before letting the dog out!
On one of several excursions into the woods we discovered a vernal pool with a bunch of frogs eggs in it.It's a little hard to tell but that cloudy mass in the center of the picture are the frogs eggs. We've gone back a couple of times to check to see if they've hatched into tadpoles but not yet!

On a fishing trip Dom and Kenzie found this little guy and put him into the turtle relocation program as he was sunning himself in the middle of the road. They brought him home so the girls could observe him for awhile then we let him free into woods near the house.

He tried to make a run for it off the kitchen counter before Becca grabbed him. He was nice enough to stick his head out for a picture before we brought him back outside.

We also came across a ribbon snake and found a birds nest. Lots of neat stuff. Further exploring may be on hold for a little while as blackfly season is upon us and you can barely go outside without getting eaten alive!

Easter part 2

We spent Easter in Gloucester and were blessed with another beautiful day, more yummy food and lots of goodies for the girls. I think we have enough candy to last us until next Easter!! I didn't take many picture on Easter Sunday but did get to capture a few pictures.

Here is Kenzie and Nonna swinging at a little park down the street.

Here is Becca who is a true New Englander. She was complaining that it was too hot! Too hot in April in New Hampshire, we're lucky there isn't still snow on the ground!

And here is Becca getting comfort from her dad because she was mad at me for taking her picture. What a mean mom I am.

Easter part 1

We started out Easter festivities today with a visit to Grammy & Grampy's house. We had the most beautiful weather with temps around 80 which highly unusual for Easter in these parts.

The girls got to hunt for plastic goodie filled eggs outside and chocolate eggs inside. And truth be told I think Boomer found all the eggs before the girls did, but he was a good dog and didn't run away with any!

Hangin' with my PEEPs

I Crack Myself Up

Egg-cellent!

It just wouldn't be Easter if we didn't color some eggs. It also wouldn't be an easter project if I didn't take too many pictures. We did the traditional bright colored ones and then tried some tie-dye ones. The tie-dye ones looked cool but were really messy and the girls just did one each before deciding they would really rather do the bright colors. The faces really add character don't you think?

Waterfront

When I say I want waterfront property this isn't what I mean. (Those boards in the lower right is the kids swingset.)


I was picturing a beautiful lake or pond. NOT the woods next to my house flooding because of massive amounts of rain and melting snow The pictures really don't capture the full effect, mostly because I refused to leave the shelter of the porch. You can't tell from the pictures it is pouring rain and windy and cold. Normally in the spring there is a little vernal stream that runs through here maybe six inches wide. As you can see it is a wee bit more water than that right now.


And here is my goofy dog who doesn't seem to care that it is windy, rainy and cold as long as he can lie right down and chew on a bone. Gross story to go along with that bone he is chewing on. It is part of a deer leg that mysteriously showed up in our driveway earlier this week. And when I say deer leg I mean hoof, skin, fur all still attached. And It really isn't a mystery, I think the dog found it in the woods somewhere and brought it home to snack on. We disposed of the leg but he found this smaller piece that he's been chewing on and as long as he doesn't bring it in the house I really don't care.


I'd like to walk out back to the big river and see how high that is but did I mention it's cold, rainy and windy out and I don't think it would be very much fun.

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

I got a chance to Volunteer in Mackenzie's classroom this morning for a fun activity. They read the book If You Give a Pig a Pancake and then they got to make pancakes. But not just any pancakes, they were green pancakes in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day.

The class had been working hard all week doing testing, and this was such a fun way to end the week. The even made cute little piggy masks. The class was also saying good-bye to one of their classmates who is moving away. This is my favorite little piggy!!

Bag Lady

I have this thing for bags. Not purses but bags. And nothing fancy, schmancy or designer. Some of them are freebies from magazine orders. Some I have just picked up here or there. None were very expensive but they all serve a purpose. I have so many in fact my husband has started making fun of me. In fact the other day he asked if I have a bag of bags. And yes, in fact, I do have a bag of bags. My bag of bags are the ones I take to the grocery store with me and obviously they are much easier to carry if they are all in one bag.
Then I have a big waterproof bag for the beach or boat to fit towels, sunscreen, change of clothes etc.
I have two bags for the kids to pack stuff in when they have sleepovers.
I have a bag for the kids to pack stuff in when we go visit someone just for the day.
I have four camera bags all in different sizes depending on how much camera stuff I want to bring with me.
I have a bag for all my knitting stuff.
I have a bag I use as a purse.
I have a bag for my ice skates, who sadly have not seen the light of day in years.
Then I have several more bags 'just in case', cause you never know when you might need a bag.

I have never thought of it as an usual amount of bags, but maybe it is???
Here is one of my camera bags.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I have a Banana Bread recipe that I got from a good friend. It is a favorite of Rebecca's.
Last week I decided to switch it up a bit and added 3/4 of a cup of mini chocolate chips and poured the batter into muffin tins. Making them the same but different and also another big hit with everyone. So I thought I would share the recipe.

Esme's Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 smashed bananas
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda

preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan with butter or cooking spray.
Cream butter and sugar. Add bananas. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in flour and baking soda.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 mins. or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Now if you want to make the muffins add 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips and pour into muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Now this would make a good muffin recipe without the chocolate chips but who doesn't like chocolate chips?

Wacky Winter Weather

About two weeks ago we had some crazy weather that included snow, rain, flooding and hurricane force winds. The winds were the worst part uprooting trees, bringing down power lines and blocking roads. We got lucky and only lost electricity for about 16 hours and with a generator it wasn't really all that bad. There wasn't any damage to any trees around the house. There are several branches down but nothing to cause any trouble. A trek out to the river and we found a tree blocking the trail as well as several more branches. We'll have plenty of clean-up to do once the snow melts!



Here is a picture of the girls on Valentine's day sitting on an ice jam on the river.

And here is the same spot two weeks later after some warm weather and rain!



The river is usually just a trickle over these rocks, actually you can't really see most of the rocks.
These are the same rock that are in the blog title for comparison!

Here is an almost perfectly rectangular piece of ice that washed up on the shore of the river. It shows just how thick the ice was at one point.