Assorted Fun

We had a busy week last week with visits from friends and family. On Friday Jason and Julie, our old friends from Vermont Law School, came over for dinner with their 2 boys Colin (2.5) and Bryce (4 mos). Aiden and Colin bonded over trains and tools, while we all had a nice meal and reminisced about South Royalton, VT. Seems the most vivid memories include breakfast at Eaton's SugarHouse, wednesday wings and #9 at the Crossroads, and feet and feet and feet of snow. But then again, I didn't actually do the law part, so I didn't even have to block that out. Jay and Julie and the boys then headed over to VLS for reunion weekend, while Andy and I were each stuck working parts of Saturday.

Aiden and Colin

Julie and Bryce

But, later on Saturday, HaPa and Grandma came over to spend some time with us and their favorite 3 year old. We hit Spring Ledge Farm for an heirloom tomato tasting including 40 varieties of red, yellow, green, striped, cherry and/or husked tomatoes. It was wonderful to actually sample all those varieties that we peruse each winter in the seed catalogs - of course the catalog descriptions all make them sound scrumptious - and learn what we really prefer in a tomato! Our favorites included Golden Milano, Striped German, Yellow Brandywine, Green Zebra, and Sungold cherry tomatoes. Aiden was a big fan of the husk cherries (a.k.a. Cape Gooseberries) and I had to keep him from husking and swallowing them all up before anyone else could taste them.

Then we were off for a little dragonhunting at Philbrick-Cricenti Bog and Low Plain. Dragonflies are scarce this time of year, except for the large and impressive Darner family. Darners are like the B-52 Bombers of the insect world. They're huge and colorful and really fun to catch, so it doesn't matter that there's not much else to find. As always, we put each captured dragon on Aiden's finger to release it, and he loves it when they stay awhile and recover so he can get a really good look and study them. Darners are especially good for this! We're discovering that dragonhunting is actually a lot more interactive for Aiden than birdwatching, and though our big year list is suffering, we are still having a lot of fun.

Cotton Grass at PC Bog

Aiden with a Canada Darner

Larch in the bog

Bog coolness

Spider web at Low Plain