Spooky Snowstorm

Mr. Farmer (of the Farmer's Almanac) predicted a snowy season for New England this year with the first snow starting at the early date of the Thanksgiving holiday. Well, he got that wrong. Perhaps we'll have a snowy season and we definitely had an early start, but his holiday approximation was wrong. We got our first snowstorm before Halloween!

It broke all kinds of snow fall records for this time of year (since we normally have no snow) and also other records - for power outages in the region. Wet, heavy snow mixed with trees that are still full of leaves is apparently not a great mix. Branches were breaking everywhere, trees were falling and many of them were hitting power lines. A lot of this region was in the dark (and many still) and we weren't spared.

Saturday, we were out running errands as we seem to do every Saturday. By mid afternoon, the rain was turning to snow and by the time we stopped to pick up some dinner, slush was covering all of the pavement. Sometime around midnight, the power went out at our house. Given that we were sleeping, not having lights was not that big of a deal. However, the freezing temperatures outside supporting the snowfall did not make the loss of heat all that desirable. Our previous home's heat and hot water wasn't dependent on electricity plus we never seemed to lose power in storms, so this was a turn of events for our new locale. No worries though. We could survive without power for a while!

Thankfully, we have do have a gas fireplace and that worked without any electrical nudging. We kept that burning and it managed to keep the house from getting too frigid. We reported our outage (which somehow seemed unnecessary since the whole neighborhood looked to be out) and decided to enjoy the snow. Dylan was itching to get outside from the moment he woke up and saw the snow outside. So, after Mike ran down to the bagel shop to grab us some breakfast (they had power!), we bundled up in our snow gear (well, I bundled up in Mike's snow gear since nothing I have will fit my current girth) and headed out to play.

First, Dylan had to experiment with stomping in the snow. I guess he liked the sound and feel of it and also liked seeing the footprints he made. Then, he spent some time using his water proof gloves to "chop chop" the snow on the stairs and retaining wall. Good fun.

Then we headed to the back yard. We thought we might have some limbs down and, upon closer inspection, we had a pretty big chunk of a tree downed by the edge of the yard. One more thing to add to our "to get" list - a chainsaw!

Our front yard has a pretty nice slope and we suspected it could be a good place for a little sledding. Mike grabbed our sledding discs and made us a path.

Then he tried to convince Dylan to take a turn with him. Dylan was pretty happy just playing in the snow and didn't have much interest but we forced him to do it anyway.


Wee!



Making Snowballs



Heading Back Up the Hill



Then I convinced him to take a turn with me!



Shoving Both of Us on That Disc Was No Easy Feat

He was a good sport and went down with us a few times but he seemed pretty neutral about the whole experience so happily went back to making snowballs and putting them on the sleds. Hey, whatever floats his boat, I guess. Mike and I took several turns and had a great time sledding!

Then it was time for some clean up. The lovely birch trees in our yard just looked sad. They were completely bent over from the weight of the snow. Mike got the wet heavy snow off of them so that they could slowly return to their standing position.

Then it was time to shovel. It being so early in the season, our snow blower hasn't been prepped so we just went at it the old fashion way. Mike, obviously, didn't expect me to to anything but I figured this would likely be the only storm I could help with in any way. So, grabbed a shovel and pushed some snow around.

All of that sledding and shoveling pooped us all out. After a couple of hours playing in the snow, we headed in, got out of our snow gear and we all had a nice afternoon nap. When we got up, we decided to take a little trip to the mall. There was power there and we needed to make a return. We grabbed lunch at the food court, did our shopping and went home. Still no power.

Sometime around 7, when the house was pitch black and finding things to do was getting difficult, the novelty of not having power started to wear off. Looking at the status of outages from our electric company, we were preparing to be without power for at least another day or so. Dylan was put to bed in his warmest jammies with an extra blanket. Mike and I assembled some of the pieces we'd bought at Ikea on Saturday by lantern\candlelight. That was interesting. Sometime around 10, I decided to call it a day. I grabbed a lantern and was on the stairs to go up to bed when VOILA the lights came back on! As the days have ticked by and still many are without power, we are definitely fared better than some from the storm.

Follow the Leader\A Hiker is Born

Sunday, 2 weekends ago, when my friend Rachel was visiting from Austin, we wanted to enjoy the great fall outdoors. So, I looked up a reservation that's fairly close to the house and Rachel, Dylan and I headed out for a hike while Mike was doing his usual Sunday morning soccer.

As I'd never been to this location, I wasn't really sure what we would find. Given my temperamental sciatic, occasional numb toes, and large pregnant belly that all combine to keep me from doing as much as I would like...plus the fact that I would likely be carrying Dylan for some or all of the trip, who knew how long this trip would last. Being the adventurous gals we are, Rachel and I set off with the long list of uncertainties to see what we could find.

I asked Dylan if he wanted to walk or ride and he chose walk. And walk he did! In fact, he did a great job of leading the way for most of the trip. He apparently has his father's trail navigation sense and stayed on the main trail very well (I tend to easily veer off onto side trails somehow) and was cautious when he needed to be cautious. For example, he was coming up to a part of the trail that went over a waterway and had a pretty big pothole. He realized it was a place to wait and stopped, grabbed my hand when I came up by him and crossed with me. Smart boy!

Our Leader

Dylan called this a broken tree.

The only good map was at the start of the trail by the parking area and I had only studied it as far as the railroad tracks as it didn't appear to have a crossing over on the trail we were taking. But, once we got to the tracks, we saw another trail a short way down and decided to take it. When reading about this reservation, I knew there was a good look out somewhere and instinct was telling me this was the way to go.

After we crossed the tracks, the trail headed up. Dylan was ready for a ride after a few minutes of that steep(ish) grade, so I popped him in the back pack. Pretty soon thereafter, there was a trail split off to the right that looked like flatter land, so we went that way for a break. Low and behold, after a very short distance, we were treated to this beautiful lookout:

See that strip of green land on the left? Well, we also got a bit of an air show as that's part of the field where folks go to fly their huge model airplanes on the weekends. Pretty cool!

Rachel and Dylan Watching the Planes

Me and Dylan in the Same Spot

With that great reward, we knew we couldn't top the view and I didn't want to get further from the car, so we headed back. Dylan had walked quite a ways and was happy to be carried for a while at this point.

Carrying Two Kids!

Self Portrait

Going For the Camera

Having Fun with My Cute Boy

A little ways down the path, the gals needed a pit stop (I can't go long without one anymore). So, Dylan got out of the pack, gave us our privacy and then we were ready to finish the trip. But, he was ready to walk again. I wish I had clocked our trip with my gps or even paid closer attention to the trip time because Dylan walked some serious mileage that day but I can only make a really rough guess as to how much. I think he probably walked at least a mile to a mile and a half....and with legs the size of his, that was a whole lotta ground! By next spring, he might be ready to tackle the mountains with us. I'm so proud of my little hiker.

Fall Harvest

This post was supposed to go up Friday. It was a long week though and this preggo promptly forgot to finish it up that night. Saturday, we spent all day running errands and then Sunday we spent a day by the gas fireplace during our freak October snowstorm that knocked out our power for 24 hours. So, Happy Halloween all! We're going to knock on some neighbor's doors tonight and gather some candy....if any of them are "open for business"....a lot of towns around here have "cancelled" trick or treating (now, really, how can you cancel that??) due to the widespread power outages and fallen limbs that are making conditions in some areas a bit treacherous. Wish us luck!

As I mentioned in a previous post, last weekend (technically 2 weekends ago now) we finally took a break from full devotion to moving\getting settled activities to host a guest. My friend, Rachel, from Austin came for a fall New England experience. So, we did our best to provide. Saturday, we got up and ready and headed out to Lookout Farm, just a town or two over from us, for some good old fashion apple picking!

We got there, bought our tickets, then loaded the "train" to be taken out to where the apple picking was best. 

Cheesy Smile - Ready to Ride

Self Portrait

The trees here are smaller than ones you usually see at other orchards (our guide on the train ride explained to us why but baby brain is causing that info not to currently come to mind) so all apples were in reaching distance to pick.

Close Inspection

Rachel - Going in for a Pick

Dylan Running Down the Row (He had more fun doing that than picking.)

Dylan Picking
Once we got him to stop running and try picking, he enjoyed it...for a few apples.

Apples Galore!

Me and My Boy

While we picked, we ate of course. There is absolutely nothing more tasty than an apple straight from the tree. Yummy!

In order to traverse the property, you had to take the train. Where we were picking apples, we had to stop back at the "front gate" before we could take the train to the children's play area and petting zoo. We took full advantage of our layover.

Petting the One Eared Donkey

YeeHaw!

After taking these pictures, Mike was approached to take a photo of a couple next to the barn and the pumpkins. I followed Dylan inside the barn to where Rachel was buying some apple donuts. Yum! When I came back out, Mike announced that I had missed it.....he was actually taking pictures of a proposal! Yay! Congratulations and hugs were made to the couple of strangers that had just experienced a memorable event and then we hopped the train to our next stop - the petting zoo and play area!

Pat-Patting the Sheep

Climbing Goats

Petting the Donkey's Ass (Sorry, couldn't resist that!)

Cute Buffalo!

Climbing the Ropes (Though, he didn't get much further than this.)

Shawnee the Pony!

Yeehaw!

I think we were talking about how this was just like Woody and Bullseye!

Then it was back to board the train to get back to the car. All the paved areas for the train were covered in these lovely grape vines.

Yet Another Self Portrait - This Time with Hydration

Back at the barn, Dylan couldn't leave without saying goodbye to his old pal, the plastic pig.

It was a good morning. We went back to the house and rested for a while. Then Rachel delighted us with her culinary skills and a taste of Texas - Tex Mex for dinner! Always a treat to get the real thing in these parts. So from enjoying the taste of New England to the taste of Texas, we had happy tummies that day.