Fun, Fun, Fun...

Gail and I went out for dinner and a movie last night, while Ben had a date with Staci, Ben's all-time favorite babysitter. They colored and threw water-balloons and watched movies and ran around and had a great time. We had a great dinner at Anthony's, our favorite fancy-eating-place in the North Country. We also went to "28 Weeks Later", a sequel to one of the 5 best zombie movies ever made!!!

I have included a trailer for the movie below, feel free to skip it if gratuitous violence and mind-bending frights are not your thing...



This morning, we woke up to some Mother's Day fun...lots of cards and some cool presents for Mom...


There was also some wreckage from last night's balloon masacre with Ben and Staci...I noticed these while walking Maggie...


A picture of some Mom's Day booty...


This is a low-quality digital picture of an old-fashioned printed picture of Zeke and Cedar, right after we brought Cedar home...Zeke died this week...he was a very good boy, and we loved him a lot...


Here's a picture of one of Ben's projects from his date with Staci..."It's a balloon guy with eyes" is how he explained it to me, and you can't argue with that...


Ben and I made french toast for Mom, he had a great time helping to make it, but decided that he doesn't really like the end product...no matter, Gail and I do...


Ben and Maggie had a good time playing on the floor while Gail and I finished our breakfasts...


Maggie got tired after a while, but kept on playing, albeit at a slower, less frenzied pace...


After the play session, she staggered away...and fell asleep in her water bowl...this is not staged or photoshopped...she can, and does, fall asleep anywhere...I suspect that the more awkward the position is, the more sleep-karma/credit she gets...


Gail went to the Paul Smiths College graduation after the french-toast-a-palooza, and Ben and I went over to the playground at Petrova Elementary School in Saranac Lake...he was working a whole "Indiana Jones" thing there this morning...hopping around, dodging acid and boulders and dinosaurs while he "rescued treasure"...


He also showed himself to be quite a swinger...he loves to feel the wind in his hair, kick and pump, and get swinging high enough to dance on the threshold of scaring himself...


It's a beautiful day, and we may go back out again for some geocaching this afternoon...

Gail's Summer Office!

Gail has spent a big chunk of the last 2 days working for PSC and on her Doctoral work at our home...outside...the wireless connectivity extends out here with sufficient efficiency to allow her to watch an episode of "Jericho" every now and then in addition to submitting her work and checking email...I ran an extension cord out to make sure that her battery keeps fully charged...an Adirondack chair and fancy desk (made from a 5 gallon bucket of ice-melting stuff) round out the office-furniture...the hose is hooked up to provide a water fountain for her and her officemates...



The best feature is, of course, the hot and cold running (mostly sleeping) dogs...Cedar patrols the perimeter, while Maggie and Zeke stay close for frequent meetings and treats...


I love teaching in Lake Placid, but this looks pretty great!!!

2 Weekends...

We went into NYC and CT 2 weekends ago, and to CT this weekend...lotsa travel...I have some pictures to share...I'll be brief...



We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Ben for the first time...we were heavy into the Egypt section...Ben loves mummies, and I love the layout of the Temple of Dendur...


My Grandma, Ben's Great-Grandmother, turned 97 on the 24th, after the museum, we visited with Grandma to wish her a happy birthday...


The next morning, we took Ben up to Grand Central Station to meet Muz...they took the train (a first for Ben) out to CT while Gail and I hung out in the city!!!


We walked them down onto the train...


And saw them off...


This weekend, Ben and I headed down to CT and visited with muz and fuz...


And Maggie, who ended up coming home with us at the end of the weekend...she's a sweety!!!


We visited the beach on Cream Hill Lake, Ben stripped down to his shorts and noodled around in the water for a while with Maggie...


Muz made a great picnic for all of us, plus some friends from down the road...Ben really enjoyed the biggest tiny tomato in the world...


After lunch, we went up the hill to let Ben jump on his first trampoline...just to make it extra special, we found one of the old-fashioned kinds without all of those ridiculous safety features that run rampant in this over-protective age...he had a great time...


We watered and turned the compost, and Ben watered me!


On the drive home, Maggie took a nap on Ben's lap...take a moment to appreciate my ability to take a stellar photo over my shoulder while driving in excess of 90 mph (I kid...)


We got home, and set up her crate, but she was much too tense to calm down enough to check it out...again, I kid...



Watching TV later, Maggie and Cedar were snuggling up with Gail on the couch, enjoying "Brothers and Sisters", each of them enjoying their new brother or sister...


2 great weekends, but I wouldn't say no to a weekend at home next weekend...plus "28 Weeks Later" (a potentially great zombie movie!!!) is coming out on the 11th...maybe a babysitter...

Another Super Sunday...no bowl...

Ben and I got to work on the FEGHA Project again early this morning, attaching doorknobs, looking for homesites, and affixing the doors once suitable sites had been found (Remember:Location, Location, Location).


I like taking delayed-action pictures, so below you will find a gratuitous "team-effort" shot, although we did work well as a team on this project...


What you may not know is that placing a Fairy Door is the easy part in inviting the magical creatures to come and live with you...luckily, the hard part is taken care of by the Fairy, Elf, or Gnome Family that comes to live with you (much like with Habitat for Humanity, where people have to help build their future home)...once the door is in place, the enchanted beasties build the home behind it, and will live there forever...

One of the FEGHA Homes will be located within Gail's hot-tub (all of us can use it, but I'd be lying if I called it "ours")...


Another one will be built into a beautiful white pine near the rabbit and quail barn (pay no attention to the fancy composter of pallets behind the tree, I'll fix that when this year's quail herd/pod/posse arrives)...


The last door that we placed today went on the side of a huge rock in our driveway that Ben loves (he picked this and the other FEGHA homesites)...we discussed it, and hope that a gnome family comes to this one, as they are better suited to the hard work of excavating a home out of a glacial erratic...


After the Fairy Door project was taken care of, Ben played on the computer for awhile, he is all about the Orisinal and Poisson Rouge edu-websites these days, favoring them above the Noggin or the Nick jr. sites he typically enjoys...I like these sites...they are fun and interactive and learning oriented, rather than the passive entertainment that TV tends to offer...


We had a picnic lunch out of the deck...bologna sandwiches all around before heading out for the afternoon...


I headed out to hide a couple more geocaches for an upcoming CITO (Cache-In, Trash-Out) event that our local group holds every year to clean up as a way of giving back around Earth Day...between hiding the new caches, we stopped off at 2 of Ben's favorite playgrounds...he had, of course, a great time...


I like the picture above because it turned out very interesting-looking and captured Ben's "playground happy" perfectly (I'm praising Gail here, not myself, she took the playground pics)...I like the picture below because it shows one of the cool things that Ben does in every playground that we visit...he gives most elements a "run-through" (not all, some intimidate him, and he promises to do those "next time"...), and then tries them out in a way that wouldn't occur to me...just to see if it's also fun...


While I went out to place the last of 4 geocaches that I hid this weekend, Gail and Ben went to our meeting place, the playground in Gabriels, to wile away the time until I arrived there...he had fun...


I mention geocaching and GPS frquently in this blog, you can find out about geocaching by following the link at the beginning of this sentence, and I found a great little video explaining GPS technology, which I am attaching at the end of this blog entry (just below)...click to play the short video...

Spring Sprung...Finally!!!

Mom and Ben went to the playground in Saranac Lake this morning while I wrote some IEPs at home...it's amazing to see the difference in Ben's coordination and bravery increase each time he goes to the playground...


He ran all over the place, climbed up, slid down, and had a fun time...


We had a major snowstorm on Monday, and it got up into the 60s by Friday...today was in the 70s...


Ben loves playing on the slides, both up and down...he also has a blast on the balance elements...


At home, we worked to transplant some seedlings that Gail and Ben had planted while I was out West into some larger containers...peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, beets, herbs, radishes, and lettuce...we're still about 6 weeks from frost-free, so they'll live inside for the time-being


Ben and I then did some contract work for the FEGHA (Fairy, Elf, & Gnome Housing Authority), making doors for future homes for the magical creatures who live in our woods, and all over this part of the world...I'm not entirely sure why, but Ben was happiest working in the warm and snowy afternoon in a t-shirt, boots and Power-Rangers underwear...Ben is seen below waving off the camera, as our work for the FEGHA is done on a confidential basis...


We had a fun time painting the doors to the Fairy-Houses, and will post follow-up blog entries as the occupants move in...


Another glorious day in the best place in the world!!!