Horse Back Riding

Today Chloe learned about riding a horse. She was scheduled to start a camp this week, but the camp didn't have enough kids in it. We elected to have a couple of days of private lessons instead. There was another little girl there for a lesson too. They were the same age and kind of worked together on their tasks. The instructor walked her through all the steps. I loved that they had to do everything- even the unpleasant parts. She has another lesson tomorrow. The horse was named T.C. for Too Cute and he is a little guy- just the right size.

Brushing before and after riding

Going through the exercises

Even cleaning up the poop!

Slip and Slide

We went grocery shopping yesterday and acquired a Dora Slip and Slide. I know, but truthfully I thought- ah what the heck it is twelve bucks. It is not, however, exactly slip and slide weather. We seem to be having a prolonged spring more than a summer. The temperatures are an even 65- 70 degrees and often cloudy. It has been great for running lately. We have logged 5, 6 and 3 mile runs over the last few days. Only three today as I got a little wimpy. The wind was blowing and the only thing worse than pushing them is pushing them into the wind. Picture trying to run with a sail (on wheels) pushing you the other way. It is pretty draining. Today wasn't bad to make it three. The other day we made it down to the bike path only to find gale force wind from the South and I said, "Not today" and called it a wrap.

So the weather, yes the weather, has not been very summer like. But not to be deterred here they are slipping and sliding away until their toes go numb. Chloe lasts a lot longer that Alexa. In fact Chloe likes me to "sling her" down the slide- she says she is the bowling ball heading for the pins. As you can see I am- oh so attractively- in some photos so you may be wondering who took them. These pictures are taken by...ALEXA! She is very excited to be featured in today's blog. "I can't wait to see them on the Internet."

So here is our featured photographer and her debut:

Ready..aim..fire...

Spash!


Alexa prefers the bunny hop down.

Farmer's Market

Here is one of our all time favorite Saturday summer activities...walking down to the Farmer's Market at City Hall Park. I have to say it has gotten a lot bigger this year (and crowded). We grab our wagon and head on down. The girls love to pick out fruits and veggies. We come home and eat them for lunch.The bread man is a big hit with us. We love the bread man. Chloe says I could eat his bread every day.

Part of my entertainment is the walk down Church Street on a Saturday morning. Especially a warm Saturday morning like yesterday. The human sights are always...um ..well... interesting. I do love to people watch! We kept crossing paths with a guy whose shirt was stuffed in and hanging from his back pocket and his pet rat was crawling around his neck. The middle aged man driving the purple and orange Trans Am with a skull decal on the hood had a look going too. I was rather bewildered at the rather Bohemian looking woman who kept cutting to the front of the lines at all the stands to snag the free samples and move on.. it's not a buffet! I convinced myself maybe she had no other lunch.

At any rate here was our haul!

Chloe and her bread.

Alexa and the Sugar Snap Peas.

The girls ate the whole box in one sitting. They want to head back next week and get two boxes!

It's A Match!

Thank you to all the positive energy that contributed to the good news that Marty has a match donor for a kidney. It is all very powerful indeed. It appears that the donor is a friend of hers from NYC. What an amazing woman! The surgery is scheduled for August, so of course Marty is excited that she will be able to walk Chloe by September. It is such a relief to know that good things really do happen for good people! Karma, karma, karma.

I am beginning to think there is a real connection to posting things on a blog (kidneys... car repair) and things really happening.

Maybe at some point the universe can find me a decent guy. I'll be patient... clearly you have more pressing requests. You know, if you think of it. I'll consider the leering guy last night while I was painting my porch railing your attempt at humor.

Mommy Motor

More sunshine today! Yippee! This was the conversation in the jogger this morning while we covered six miles.

Alexa: Let's catch those people on the bikes and we can win the race.

Chloe: We can't catch them they are on bikes pedaling, and we only have a mommy motor.

Alexa: We could cheer for Mommy to go faster and then we could.

Chloe and Alexa: Go Mommy go (repeat at least 20 times)

A Mommy Motor. I always wondered what I would be when I grow up. Now is appears my destiny is spelled out. I have to say I am struggling the past few days with the jogger. It has always pulled to the left but now seems to do it much more prominently. It is causing me a great deal of pain in my right thumb as I push to keep us straight and out of the way of other runners/bikers. I would say I returned home and tuned it up to fix it, but lets all pause to have a good laugh over that one. Despite my sister's purchase of a new book for me to encourage my independence in home ownership:

I checked and bike joggers are not in it. I think we may be at the limit for the poor old thing weight wise. I brought this up to my fellow travelers. That perhaps it was time for them to be biking along with me, you know then we could go a lot faster. Not a big hit. I fear I might end up with one of those carts you see in Central Park being pulled around by some poor guy choking out points of interest between gasps of air.

In the mean time my sedentary friend as learned the craft of hand sewing. Here she is working on her latest creation... a cat (in case that wasn't obvious).

She is pretty good and caught on quickly. That will be excellent for when I need her to sew me pillows to rest my tendinitis affected hand on!

When the Sun Finally Comes Out in Vermont

As any one living in New England right now will tell you, it has been a rainy summer. So when the sun does actually come out, we like to jump at the opportunity for outdoor fun. Today we were invited to splash in our friend's pool. As you can see Alexa and Brady enjoyed creating a water slide and then had a lovely pool side lunch.

Yes, everyone got a little crazy in all that sunshine.

Even the dog was driven to move his usual napping location outside.

We even hit the trail for a 5 mile run. Our first in awhile since I was spoiled by a few joggerless runs while we were visiting Grammie. It showed in our dismally slow pace. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I did realize the fact that the girls combine weight almost equals 3/4 of me. To turn the stroller on a sharp turn I need to jump up and push my whole weight down on the handle bar. It is getting extremely difficult... or maybe it was just the heat today.

Waking up

Summer time is a time for sleeping in... well, it should be anyway. Woe is to you who did not have the foresight to go out and become a teacher. In my house there are three possible ways that morning will greet you.

My favorite way is when I wake up and stretch. Leisurely roll over and look at the alarm clock confirming that is indeed daytime. I then can wander my way down to the coffee maker and let it work its magic. Then take the cup of coffee out to the deck (if it isn't raining), watch the sun peek it way through the leaves on the trees at the back of the yard, admire the view, listen for the pitter patter of feet waking up.

Insert said view:

The reality is I am more likely to be waken up by one of two people. They way I am wakened depends greatly on the wake-er.

Alexa...

will shuffle her way down the hall dragging blanket behind her, stand peeking in the doorway until I say, "Come on in B." She will then climb into bed with me and snuggle up all warm and cozy.

Chloe,

Yeah- don't let that innocent look fool you. She will launch herself down the hall and jump on top of me shouting, "WAKE UP!"

Today... today was a coffee on the deck morning. Well, it would have been if it wasn't raining. Rare indeed.