East or West, Home Is Best

One of Chad’s and my recent efforts to combat the craziness of life is to reserve more regular times to get away together, just the two of us. Unlike our Newport getaway in January, this past weekend our destination was more modest – we stayed home while the kids had a wildly-anticipated sleepover with friends Gabriel and Madeline.

As nice as it is to go somewhere exotic (or even merely novel), there’s something amazing about being the only two people in the house. It was so calming, so serene. Given the clear skies, we didn’t stay home long, taking off to a local Nature Conservancy preserve for what turned out to be a great hike. I hadn’t been there since a much-needed escape one Sunday afternoon just weeks after we moved here, and it was Chad’s first time on this particular trail.

In spite of my early opinions of the lingering bare branches of New England's forests, March is a wonderful time to hike in the Northeast. You can spot buds and flowers appearing on trees and shrubs while still enjoying the open forest and skies that will soon be closed in by a dense canopy of leaves. Our nearly three-mile loop took us across centuries-old stone fences and along the edge of the cove, where we looked out over a little island. It was fantastic to hike together on our own again – it had been a long time.

Chad had finished up our taxes the night before our getaway, and upon discovering the stimulus had afforded us a larger-than-anticipated refund we decided it was our patriotic duty to spend some of it. So after the hike we were off to a well-earned meal at a favorite local Indian place. Other highlights of our getaway included watching Becoming Jane, which provided some perspective on Jane Austen’s works (which we tend to watch over and over) and making breakfast together.

Meanwhile the kids were whooping it up, building Lego creations, playing dress-up, eating pizza, watching movies, and running around outside. We returned to pick them up feeling amazingly refreshed. And unlike most of the time when we break up a playdate, they were actually happy to see us!

Lately Arwen has expressed dissatisfaction with the kiddy pool she bought last summer. First she started scheming for a larger model for the back yard. Then last week she announced that she wanted an indoor pool. Well, today she got her wish. Thanks to record-breaking rains, the trickle that has inhabited our basement for the past couple of weeks turned into a full-blown flood this morning.

When it became apparent that our sump pump couldn’t keep up with the inflow, Chad flew to Home Depot where he managed to pick up one of the last available pumps in the area. Once all the furniture was propped up even higher than it had been and the water level finally started dropping, we sat down to the serious business of making paper boats and soon had a multi-colored flotilla plus Gavin’s aircraft carrier sailing the high seas. Fortunately, at this writing the previous six inches of water is down to a more comfortable two or three with decreasing rain in the forecast. Here’s hoping for a drier tomorrow!

For the past week we’d been talking up our trip to the Hebron Maple Festival. Having read descriptive accounts of late-winter sugaring in Miracles on Maple Hill and Little House in the Big Woods, we were set see the real thing up close and personal. We were also looking forward to the dozens of related activities sponsored by this town of about 8500 established in 1708.

Saturday dawned wet, wet, wet and continued that way. After nearly an hour’s drive mostly on scenic back roads we made our way into Hebron. (You can get there faster if you take the right exit off 395 – I’ll let you guess who was driving.) While it’s a small town, we’d heard accounts of traffic jams on this historic weekend, but as we drove in there was . . . nothing. One glance at the big signs at the main intersection of town gave it away – the festival had been postponed due to forecasted heavy rains. Aargh!!

Fortunately, the Wenzel family sugar shack was open for business, and Ron was more than happy to show us around. He gave us a close-up look at one of the pails we’d seen hanging on the sugar maples, then took us out to the shack where he boils down nearly 50 gallons of sap to yield a gallon of Grade A maple syrup. The equipment and accompanying stacks of firewood were intriguing, as was Ron’s syrup delivery solution. After a mishap involving several barrels of syrup coming around a corner on an icy day a few years ago, he rigged up a hose that transports the syrup from the shack right to his garage. Pretty impressive!

. . . and the used book sale at the local library. What a find! We walked out with 28 children’s classics for $7.00, plus a few extras on the cheap. On our way out of town we made up for the missed festival lunch fare at Wendy’s, which had the kids in seventh heaven. Back home, we broke in our new Game of Life in front of our first fire in the wood stove (our last photo of the basement not completely under water). A great family day!

Sunday we celebrated our eleventh annual Pi Day with our favorite cocoa pie. Chad and I, being the math geeks we are, get a kick out of the fact that we got engaged on March 14, long associated with the famous irrational number. At least it’s an excuse to eat pie.

This last video is in honor of Mr. Popper’s Penguins, our latest bedtime read:

For you locals wanting to check out the maple festival - it's this coming weekend (March 20 & 21). Details are here.

Can it be March already? It seems just yesterday the groundhog saw his shadow, and we’re now less than three weeks from the official kickoff of spring. The way we know it’s March around here is by the return of Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Gavin’s class Cat in the Hat breakfast last year initiated our own annual observance, which meant a simple green eggs and ham breakfast this morning. Now that’s a tradition I can handle!

Speaking of birthdays, our friend Ben celebrated his 40^th last week. Naturally, we had to drop by to get in some of our own heckling (not too much – mind you – with my own coming up in a couple of years). Gavin and Gabe had their usual Lego fest while the rest of us hung out. It was a great time.

Saturday I played chauffeur to five women from our church congregation on an outing to the LDS temple in Boston. We had a great time visiting on the way up and back, enjoyed the sanctity of the temple, and had some great Thai food before heading home. We’ll have to do it again sometime!

Sunday afternoon we attended a preparation meeting for Gavin’s baptism, which is coming up in August when he turns eight. Last night’s Family Home Evening was dedicated to Jesus' example in being baptized. It’s so rewarding for Chad and me to see Gavin’s faith and commitment to the gospel growing at an early age.

This afternoon I came home to find a big package on the front porch. As soon as both kids were home we dug in to find goodies for all. My prize was a 1972 pressure canner handed down from an old family friend. Chad scored a box of his favorite Hot Tamales. The trail mix soon became a vehicle for Arwen's artwork. But the big treat was my mom’s full Little House on the Prairie series. Gavin read the first three pages of Little House in the Big Woods aloud before bed. I wish I had a picture of the smile that lit up his face when he read about Jack the brindle bulldog, whose passing he cried over several months ago in one of the later books.

Tonight in particular has me hoping for March to go out like a lamb. The rain of the past few weeks (we’ve had more than we ever saw in Seattle!) has just started seeping into our basement. After the shop vac stopped working, I was lugging it up the stairs when the canister broke loose and spewed a mixture of water and wood shavings all over the basement stairs and carpet. Hmm . . . try to scrub it out now, or wait till it’s dry and see if it will vacuum up? I opted for the latter option.

Hope your week is sunny, dry, and free of shop vac mishaps!