Kitchen Renovations!

So this is what our kitchen looks like currently. We're in the middle of renovating the cabinets and countertops (much needed as some of the cabinets were literally falling apart), and the whole house is in disarray because of it. You don't realize how much STUFF is actually stored in your kitchen cabinets until you have to take it all out and find some temporary place for it to live for awhile. We'll be 2 weeks (at least) without a working kitchen since we have to wait until after the cabinets are all installed to get the counters measured and cut. So for now we are washing dishes in the bathtub and eating a lot of take-out. (Yes, there is take-out in Vermont, it's just 15 miles down the road!). We'll post "before" and "after" shots when the kitchen is all done!

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After we demolished the kitchen this weekend, we did find time to go for a walk at Red Rocks Park in Burlington. The spring wildflowers are just starting to go crazy here, and Red Rocks is one of the best places to see them. We saw Trout Lily, Meadow-Rue, Spring Beauty, Wood Violet, and Red and White Trilliums. But the most spectacular was the Dutchman Breeches, which was in full bloom and carpeting the ground in some areas. It was a really foggy day, with a fine misty rain coming down...reminded me of Vancouver as we were walking around under all the hemlocks. Lake Champlain had some really cool layers of fog resting on its surface. Oh, and of course, we also saw two new birds for the year: Pine Warbler and Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. Aiden slept through the misty walk bundled up under fleece blankets in his stroller; luckily for us, nature wasn't bothering him that day.

Maple Article and Close of Sugar Season 2007

This past weekend we helped close out the sugaring season by taking down all the sap buckets and removing all the taps. After a slow start, the season rallied towards the end with our delayed start to Spring, and Mom and Dad made it to within a few gallons of their target production for 2007. Check out this article that ran on the Houston (TX) Chronicle website a few days ago...

http://blogs.chron.com/cookstour/archives/2007/04/postcard_from_v.html#more

...my parents' next door neighbor has a sister who works for the paper, so she submitted this article and photos about Timber Hill to her sister. We think Aiden is famous now for being on TWO blogs! Here's another shot of the little bugger...
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Outdoor adventures

Well I haven't posted anything in awhile, mostly because we haven't been inside in awhile. It's finally warmed up here after what felt like an eternity of cold, snowy and raw weather... so we have been out as much as possible after work and on weekends. Aiden has been out with us, but we don't think he has decided whether he likes "nature" yet. After 7 months of largely being indoors, he's kind of partial to 68 degrees, diffuse lighting, and no wind. Too bad there's only about 1 day a year in VT that fits that description unless you're in the house. We'll win him over eventually I'm sure. Thus far, we have come up with 3 ways to schlep him around outside: the stroller (operated by either me or Andy, though Daddy is the crazier driver), a baby backpack (generally on Andy since it doesn't fit my frame as well), or the sling (generally on me, Andy says this is a feminine mode of baby transport- i dont know why he doesn't want to look & feel like a Masi tribeswoman). Aiden shows no preference for either mode, except that he gets "fussa" as we call it, after about an hour in any one of these contraptions. So we have to try and take our "nature" in hour-long chunks.

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This weekend we went up to Swanton, near the Canadian border, to go hiking at Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge. As it turned out it was more like wading than hiking. The river and swamps were flooded, and most of the trails looked like small lakes. We decided to hike anyway though, since the bird activity was good (lots of ducks and even a few Rusty Blackbirds!) and there were choruses of Spring Peepers, Green Frogs, and Northern Leopard Frogs, each in their separate areas along the trail. We even saw a large Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle (a threatened species). Aiden was a good sport considering that either his stroller was up past the tires in water, or else he was perched semi-precariously in his backpack watching Daddy gingerly wade through the muck (see below). He didn't look nervous at all. He completely trusts his parents (so far).

Lets see... what else? We're still on hold for ear tubes, and in the meantime we're on to ear infection #6. Aiden is starting to like (though like is really too strong a word) mushed baby food. Cheerios are also fun but don't make the mouth very consistently. And so far no crawling, just scootching backwards on the tummy like a deranged inchworm. Life is good!

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Aiden in a milk coma

April (SNOW) Showers Bring... Grandma Chris!

Grandma Chris arrived just in time for the start of winter! Oh wait, aren't we supposed to be beginning some other season...? Apparently mother nature did not get the memo, because this is the scene we woke up to the day after Grandma Chris arrived to take Aiden for some spring strolls...

In the end, it worked out fine that we had snow showers and freezing temps for five straight days, since poor little Aiden has been in no mood to go out anyhow. Early in the week he developed yet another daycare cold/cough/snotty nose and we pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that by the time the week was out he' d have another ear infection.

We are at least getting good at recognizing the particular signs that Aiden seems to display once his ears start to hurt: namely, unconsolable crying without warning. Both the grandmas (and grandpa Dean) were watching him this particular time, and by the time they screeched into the doctor's office parking lot to meet me, Grandma Chris was covered in baby barf, snot, and the telltale pink stains of cherry infant tylenol. Doctor Nelson declared Aiden the proud recipient of a DOUBLE infection this time, poor little guy. Numbers 4 and 5 in the past 4 months. We're being referred to a specialist now to talk about ear tubes.

After getting Aiden on antibiotics, the rest of Grandma's visit went pretty smoothly... Aiden cheered up and we had a nice Easter dinner with Grandma Chris, Grandma & Grandpa Dean and cousin Allison. The highlights were dark-chocolate dipped oreos and hot cross buns for dessert, and Aiden winning the traditional Kulis egg-cracking competition.

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Little Bunny Poo-Poo says

"Happy Easter Everyone!"

What goes on at Turkey Lane "daycare"...

See for yourself...

Spring? Is that you?

OK, so last weekend was a nice tease of spring up here in Vermont. We had sunshine, and (relatively) warm temperatures too. On Saturday things were slow to warm up though..we actually attempted to go birding, which we haven't had a chance to do since our February trip to Florida, so we packed up Aiden for a stroll along the Colchester Railroad Causeway. There were lots of good ducks and geese (Hooded and Common Mergansers, Ring-necked Ducks, Mallards, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, American Wigeon and Canada Geese) but MAN! The wind was COLD! It had to be about a 15 to 20 degree wind chill coming off of the iced-over section of Lake Champlain, and we had to create a "boy in the bubble" using some plastic stroller attachment that we had no idea how to use. Aiden could stand it only about a half hour, so we had to call it quits early. That's what we get for going birding at 9AM in March in Vermont.




The afternoon was much nicer- it warmed up until it was mild enough to sit outside on the porch without a winter jacket and have the first margarita of the season. Plus we grilled dinner outside twice and did yardwork all day Sunday! Amazing! We decided that the first time in the spring that you eat charcoal grilled food after having none all winter is as close to heaven as you can get. (the margaritas probably had something to do with that decision too...)