Fall at the Lake

We spent last weekend at the lake house on Lake Champlain with Grandma, Hapa, Micah, Becky, Phoebe and Fisher.  The weather was unsettled at best, but we found plenty to do despite the periodic rain showers. Saturday morning we made an outdoor fire and lounged around the lawn watching the kids run wild, and then we headed south to the Champlain Bridge where HaPa had discovered an "atlatl" championship was in progress.  If you've never heard of an atlatl, either you haven't read "Clan of the Cave Bear" recently, or you are just like the rest of us (aside from HaPa)...it's a caveman weapon consisting of a small rod of wood that you fit an arrow into and use to chuck said arrow into the air, and into the side of the nearest woolly mammoth or sabre toothed tiger.  How we know about these today (fossil record? cave drawings?) I don't know, but there appears to be a group of people out there dedicated to keeping the sport alive.  The northeast regional competition included people of all ages competing for both distance and accuracy in atlatl throwing, and we learned that there are even atlatl-specific hunting seasons in two states, Alabama and Missouri.  Of course, there were atlatls for sale, and Aiden in particular was smitten.  So was HaPa.  Two atlatls and two arrows later, we trucked back to the lake house to try them out in the nearest field.  Everyone had a go, I think, besides Haley and Fisher, and it wasn't as difficult as you might imagine.  Kind of like throwing a lethal "chuck-it" for a dog.

Saturday afternoon found us fishing in some spitting rain on the dock.  Both Haley and Phoebe had success reeling in perch after perch after perch on the Spongebob Squarepants rod, while Aiden practiced his casting  off the deep end.  When he was done practicing, Aiden turned to worm fishing too, and promptly hooked a sunfish which was promptly chomped by a northern pike.  A furious fight ensued, ending with Aiden catching only the sunfish with a ring of tooth holes in its side.  We spotted the pike about 5 minutes later lurking near the dock though, and with one cast Micah had it on a lure and landed it for Aiden to admire.  We declared it a joint effort in the end.

In celebration of HaPa's and my birthdays, we had raw Glostah oysters before dinner (at least a dozen were consumed by Aiden and the second dozen split between the rest of the oyster suckers present) and a nice baked manicotti dinner with a crazy ice cream/sorbet layer cake for dessert.  Sunday morning it was off to Shelburne Orchards for a 2 mile running race through the orchard rows.  Micah was actually the fastest guy to finish the race at only 14 minutes, but due to a technicality (he signed up for the 2 mile "walk" on accident) he didn't officially win.  He did slay the walking field, though!  Aiden, Andy and I ran together on this one and when we finished everyone had hot cider and cider donuts and picked a few bags of apples.  By this time the sun had come back out for good, but it was time to head home to do chores and get ready for a new school day on Monday.

Run, Run Racers!

 Aiden has run four or five 1 mile races in the past, starting when he was about 3 years old.  Usually these are "fun runs" before a longer race that either Andy or I am running.  Now that he's 6, Aiden wanted to try a "real" race- 5K, or 3.2 miles.  The plan was to do the "Strut in Sutton 5K" that goes around Kezar Lake... it's a running loop that Andy and I run often because it's beautiful and there is almost no traffic.  I was going to push Haley in the stroller and jog alongside Aiden (who we figured would be walking quite a bit) and Andy would run at his normal pace and take Kimball on a leash.

Well the plan didn't exactly work out as planned.  I could not keep up with that little man, especially while pushing the stroller!  He bolted out of the gates at a dead sprint for a full mile and I had to shout to Andy..."YOU get him!"  Finally he did wear down to a jog, and I did catch up to them around the finish line in time to cheer Aiden over it as the youngest finisher at that time.  His first 5K came in at 37 minutes, not too shabby... and he won a prize for his age division, which was definitely thrilling for the little man.  We've booked another race (easy peasy 2 miles) next weekend in Vermont!

Aiden eating lunch and wearing his "prize" hat that he won at the 5K.  Haley knows how to race in style!

Triple the Fun!

We finally met the Deegan triplets this past week!  They are only a month old and just over 5 lbs each now, but they are all home and doing very well.  I'm not sure if Dan and Paulette are feeling "very well" at this point, but they are definitely hanging in there and getting used to an insane routine.  The babes need to be fed on a staggered schedule so that they don't all decide to get grumpy and hungry at the same time.  But that means that once you finish feeding the third one, there's only about a half hour to an hour to go before the first one needs to eat again.  In that window, Dan and Paulette have to shower, clean up, walk Munson, eat something themselves, and, oh yeah, sleep.  Nice, huh?  Having had only singletons, we have absolutely no relevant advice to give them about this situation.

 Carter, Noah, Daniel

Andy feeding Carter

Grandma and Daniel

While we were visiting, we tried our best to be useful.  Andy did mow the lawn for Dan, and Paulette was able to sneak out and get some errands done.  But with our kids running around too, I'm not sure if we were more stressor or stress-reliever.  It was wonderful to hold and feed these little beings though, each one already developing his own personality.  We already can't wait to see them at Christmas time, when they'll be 5 months old.

triplet stroller

We also attended Whitney and Will's wedding in NYC last weekend.  Despite a tornado warning and a threatening line of severe thunderstorms, the outdoor ceremony in Central Park was beautiful and everyone stayed totally dry.  No one visited Oz, either, thankfully.  It was great to hang out with the Colgate gang again too, lots of great conversations and dancing.  I'm feeling spoiled with 3 Colgate gatherings this summer alone!  Can't wait til Becky and Aly's non-matrimonial clambake, next summer, right guys?!

Ed and Lisa

Wedding on Summit Rock

Colgate girls at reception

School Daze

Aiden started first grade at Newport Montessori School this week.  It's a big adjustment for everyone.  Aiden has to adjust to a real school schedule and real school lessons and homework, and Andy and I have to adjust to a 30 minute commute to get him there.  Thankfully we're working with a group of other parents, so we're down to about 3-4 drives per week, but everyone has to get up earlier and out the door earlier than we ever have before, including little miss Haley.  I'm sure we'll get used to the extra-tight schedule, but for now I feel like we're constantly in a panic that we've forgotten to bring something or do something or drop someone off somewhere.  The important thing, though, is that both kids are really enjoying their respective schools already, and are happy to be dropped off each morning.  As long as that lasts, we'll figure out the rest!

Haley on her first day at Windy Hill

Aiden's first day of Newport Montessori

The Honeybadger Sails Again!

We managed to pick another perfect day on Lake Sunapee for the second sailing of the season on the "Honeybadger" (as we've affectionately re-named the particular pontoon boat we like to rent).  If possible, this day was even sweeter than the one we had in June.  For one thing, everyone came decked out in our newly minted tie-dye shirts created at Aiden's birthday party two days earlier.  And, we discovered the sandbar.  Ok, some of us already knew that the sandbar (a shallow area where boaters who don't actually own land on the lake can moor and wade/play around in the sand like they own a giant beach) existed, but we'd never taken advantage of it before.  Ths sandbar was hopping with boats on Labor Day, but everyone was relaxing and in a great mood and I think some of the other boaters got a kick out of our launching of big rubber balls with a giant slingshot. Definitely entertaining.  The kids LOVED it...they could touch, take off their lifejackets and play around.... and for the adults I think it was a little bit of the Caribbean in NH.  Shallow blue water, drinks in hand...you know.

Groovy Crew

The Honeybadger

the Sandbar

We also couldn't resist stops at Sunapee State Park Beach (for the bathroom and playground) and Sunapee Harbor (for Marzelli's gelato and candy).  And we also took the kids tubing for the first time.  What a riot!  Aiden wanted to go first, and even though he was a little nervous at first, by the time we pulled him in about 10 minutes later he was begging to go again.  After Molly and Ben both had turns (Finn was having none of it), the three kids went through the rotation again and this time they maxed out the Honeybadger's engine... at 15 mph!  To the kids it felt like a rocket bouncing up over all those wakes, I'm sure.  It was a perfect way to wrap up the "unofficial" end of summer, with school starting the following day.  I still hope that in reality we'll have some additional summery weekend days to enjoy before cold weather sets in, but if not, no one can say we didn't squeeze all the juice out of the summer we did have!