Mochi, Clumpy and Ya Heading Home

HOME AT LAST!

2008-09-06T12:58:00.003-04:00

After 371 days on our Big Adventure and 14,141 miles in our car since returning from Hawai'i in April we have found our new home! It is a 2 bedroom trailer on the 240 acres of Missing Bridge Farm in Worcester Vermont about 12 miles North of Montpelier. We rent from a wonderful woman named Tarin and her son Daniel and his 10 year old daughter Flora live across the road (rt 12) in a big old farm house. We have a big meadow out front, a brook out back and across the brook another meadow and pond all backed up by a wooded mountain with miles of old logging trails. There is ample garden space and a beautiful view of mountains to our West. We are very happy.

Our new Address is:

735 Elmore Rd
Worcester VT 05682

View Larger Map

Back in Vermont

2008-09-04T10:50:00.001-04:00

We spent Sunday night at Gaelen's and left early Monday and drove the 3 hours to Plainfield Vermont to look at an apartment. It was nice, a bit small but with a nice backyard leading down to a creek with garden space. The rent is a bit high ($900/month) and it is not ready yet to move into. We spent the next couple of nights in the Groton State Forest and our days at the library, applying for jobs and looking at an $800/month apartment in Montpelier from which we can walk everywhere. The drawback...no yard and pretty urban.

We looked at a place today north of Montpelier that we really like, it's a trailer but its nestled in a beautful valley and has lots of garden space and a forested mountain in the backyard with lots of trails...We are sleeping on it, the rent is right $655/month. We ate dinner at a community potluck corn roast at the local elementary school before tenting for what may be our last night in the Groton State Forest.

Boston

2008-08-31T09:46:00.001-04:00

We arrive in Boston at katie and bob's and have dinner there before heading by subway to grammy's apartment (she is in Ohio with dad). The next day we spend 4 hours at Boston Children's Hospital while Gaelen gets his heart checked out. The report is good news, there is nothing that warrents concern at this time with his Cor Triatriatum, just yearly check ups to make sure nothing has changed. Gaelen was a great patient and the doctors were very nice and re-assuring.

Afterwards we went to the Science Museum and Katie and Maya met us there for a fun afternoon, then it was home along the Esplanade to watch the Red Sox play!

On Saturday we went back to the museum as yesterday a nice man gave us Omni Imax passes and we sat through 2 movies today, an undersea one and one about the alps. Then we went down to the fountain at the Christian Science Center where Colleen and Gaelen had a fun time getting wet! We are heading back to Gaelen's on Sunday night and then it is up to Vermont with no plans to leave for a long time; our long summer roadtrip on the verge of being over!

Ohio and Vermont

2008-08-28T21:47:00.001-04:00

We drove from Chicago to my Dad's house in Toledo arriving around sunset. Just a short stay, leaving for Vermont in the morning but i wanted to see my Dad. He is so frail and I am afraid he is dying. We sat up and watch the closing ceremony of the Olympics. He fries himself an egg and microwaves a piece of pizza. I want him to come live with us so we can cook and care for him but we don't even have a home. He gives me some winterbibs and a jacket which i stuff into the canoe. He walks to the end of the driveway waving when we pull out the next morning. We don't see patti this time, she's home late from whitewater rafting and starts school in the AM but we do see 8ball. 8ball has only one eye and last week Ambiana glued an eye on her.

We drove 14 hours to Vermont the next day setting up camp in the Green Mountains at 2:30am. It was the longest stretch since Ambiana joined us and none of us liked it. We were grumpy butts in Montpeleir where we went on Tuesday for Colleen's interview 2b a Lunch Composter. Ambiana and i went to the children's section of the local library (ambiana loves to ask the librarians where the kid's section is :) Last week we looked up some profiles on www.couchsurfing.com enquiring about a place to pitch our tent in Montpelier while looking for jobs and a home and in the library a young woman recognizes Ambiana from one of these posts and invites us to stay with them for the night. After we look at 2 not so nice places we arrive at Jason and Denise's beautiful home in Plainfield and eat dinner and spend the night.

In the morning we help them move their sheep then head into Montpelier to check it out. Later we drive to Gaelen's school for his meet the teacher night. He has a nice young man as his 1st grade teacher and we spend the night with Gaelen and Molly and head out to Boston when Gaelen gets home from school the next day.

Chicago and the Flower Girl

2008-08-24T21:13:00.000-04:00

We spent one night with Gramma Kris and Bill and Melissa in Palantine and had dinner with Great Grandma Shirley and Great Grampa Jack. It is always nice to see all of them. Melissa is off soon to Notre Dame for her Senior year and kris and Colleen went with Ya to a children's museum while I stayed behind to work on my resume. Then it was back to Grampy Jim's for the night and to pack!

Cousin Lindsey's Wedding!

Saturday was the big day for Cousin Lindsey and for Ambiana her little flower girl. We spent the morning with Uncle Dale and Auntie Kristy and then headed off to the church for the wedding.Ambiana was absolutely precious as she walked down the aisle with Natalie the other flower girl and it brought tears to Daddy's eyes. Imagine the bawlin' i'm a gonna do when she is married :) Ya then fell asleep and slept through the ceremony.

See why Daddy cried tears of joy.

The reception was at a fancy Westin Hotle and there were 4 other big wedding reception's going on as well. We had lots of fun with Dale and Kristy and Uncle Bruce and Grampy Jim even got out on the dance floor with Karen. Colleen had a big night (5 Long Beaches) Daddy was driving so he played it safe and kept watch over Ya when she went to sleep beneath a table. Lots of fun, home at 1am!

We were up at 8am because Ambiana got plenty of sleep and somehow we packed the car and canoe and were on the road, off to Toledo and my dad's house, by 2:30pm (3:30 EDT)!!

Toledo

2008-08-18T22:14:00.001-04:00

We drove to Toledo from Columbus on Monday after waking up in the tent in Colleen Sharkey's backyard. Patti and Dad were home when we arrived. I made a Birthday Cake with yummy chocolate fudge frosting for Patti and we had it after joining her and 25 of her senior's water aerobics class for dinner at a very entertaining japanese steak house. Ambiana got nervous with the fire but she loved the goldfish pond and fountain. Colleen and I split the salmon.

Then it was home for cake and some Olympics for me while Colleen searches online for jobs and a house. We are being called to Plainfield. We have not been there ironically in all are miles we put in visitng places but we have heard about it, met good people from there and it is just outside of Montpelier where Colleen already has a part time job she can take Ambiana with as a Lunch Composter in the East Montpelier school system. Colleen has also found a house on craigslist which sounds and looks perfect in Plainfield and we are going to go look at it Tuesday!

Meanwhile in Toledo we visited with Dad who has lost 30 pounds and is just stick and bones with no energy. He told us in Boston he expects to die in 2-5 years and we hope it is not true and that he can regain some strength. We floated the idea of him coming to live with us but Independance is such a misguided virtue sometimes that breeds such industries as healthcare, retirement and nursing homes. We would love to nurse him back to health (once we find a place.) but would he ever come???

We picked the canoe off the lawn for the first time in almost a year and strapped it to our roof and then were off to West beach and the dunes and lake Michigan to meet Ann Clancy and her girls at the beach. It was super fun, big waves and warm sun and drippy sand unfortunately the camera malfunctioned no no shot of yaya's cute sandy bum nor ours for that matter. After the pizza party and visitng with Ann and Bob we camped in Grampy Jim's backyard as his house is toxic with all the clutter and dust and mold of 20 years of negelect and began the task of selecting what we bring back to us to Vermont for the Settle Down Process before going over to Grammy Kris' in Palatine for the night.

Our Last RoadTrip of the Summer

2008-08-18T15:46:00.008-04:00

Nantasket Beach

We spent Wednesday and Thursday after the Baseball Camp in Boston. We were all s'posed to go to the beach on Wednesday but Molly lost her wallet at the game and had to run around trying to cancel credit cards and get $$$, I had a job interview in Waltham at Phase Forward and Colleen and Ambiana wanted to go to the library for an Indian dance program and when me and her got back from our respective events Molly, Gaelen and Eden had bolted back to Erving. I was sad not to get a chance to say good bye to Gaelen :( So we who were left went to the Frog Pond instead and on Thursday after going with Gamma to her rehab appointment we drove south on I-93 to Nantasket for an afternoon on the beach.

Columbus Ohio

On Friday we left around 2pm and drove into Pennsylvannia where we camped for the night and arrived in Columbus Ohio on Saturday afternoon. Colleen went to Susan's Bachelorette Party while I hung out with Mike and Colleen with Ambiana. She went to bed no problem with me, just a few tears before snores! On Sunday we went to a program at a Metro Park with Colleen and hung out that evening with at her house. Our Big Adventure is approaching the ONE YEAR mark since we left our South Hadley home. Next stop; Grampy's house in Toledo to pick up the canoe and celebrate Aunt Patti's birthday!!

Ambiana video from our last 2 Boston trips

Red Sox Youth Fantasy Camp

2008-08-12T21:33:00.007-04:00

Red Sox Youth Fantasy camp was held last week in Melrose, Massachusetts. we drove in from NOFA on Rt. 2 right to Gamma's in Copley Square where Gaelen already was with Gamma having gone to the Aquarium with John on Saturday. We all met Wally, saw the Championship Trophy and had a great time. It was 250 some kids, mostly 8 and 9 year olds and some Holy Cross and NorthEastern college players and coaches. They did an hour of drills and an hour long game in the AM and the same after lunch (pizza for Gaelen and some kind of #5 Blue juice) panless quesadilla's for Colleen, Ambiana, me and Gramma who came with us both days.

Gaelen was in the 6-7 age group and it seemed like a long t-ball practice as the emphasis is on getting the kids to throw and catch or is supposed to be. There were some kids who were way more into than most, who actually were trying to play baseball Gaelen among them. It seemed a lot of the kids were there because their parents wanted to be there as well (me included). Three kids came from Japan, one of whom was in Gaelen's group, Mom was wearing his 6 month old sister. Ambiana made lots of friends.

After lunch it was photo time with Wally and the World Series trophy which some old guy picked up off the bleacher between each group of kids having their picture taken with it and kept it covered with a cloth to keep the rain that might fall off of it. Each kid got a 5x7 group picture with Wally, all the other pictures...

...of Gaelen and Wally, of Gaelen wearing the World Series Ring and Alex Cora signing an autograph for him will cost me $15 for a 4x6. Even the one of Colleen and Ambiana too. When the photographer took it I thought cool but then he handed me his business card and I thought $$$. Funny...

...cause this guy named Chuck who was warming up the crowd the first day with his playful Melrose baseball flavor gave Gammy the #18 DAMON 2004 World Series Jersey off his back just because she told him she liked it and now she was lovin' it. Gamma had the most fun of any of us at the Camp. The 2nd day we saw Chuck in the parking lot in the rain re-directing every single car to the rain spot at the Melrose Middle School Gym.

In the Afternoon when the rain stopped we were back at the fields and SS Alex Cora showed up to sign autographs. Gaelen got the ball that he had brought signed and saw that Cora was signing and giving a picture to those kids with no object to sign ( I saw one kid give Cora a candy bar to sign ) Gaelen got back in line at my suggestion and got one of those too. I then rolled Momma up with her c-leg on her lap and positioned her where Chuck could see her and soon he was crossing over and asking "if we wanted to he could get that..." when she shouted "I WANT YOUR AUTOGRAPH!" Chuck smiles, finds a Sharpie and signs her leg as Gamma points out Terry Francona's autograph she got in Spring Training.

Soon Chuck is at the end of the line with her c-leg in hand. Cora doesn't blink, it's as if he signs c-legs all the time, he looks up, finds her and gives her a thumb up!

Camp ends when the Camp as a whole is introduced on the field at Fenway. Molly drove in and met us and we had gotten Gamma an access seat in the same bleatcher section as Gaelen and us. Ambiana came into Fenway with me for the 1st time and after dropping gaelen off with his campmates we sat above the infield and made a video of Gaelen on the field (it will be out this fall)

When the game began it started to sprinkle and Ambiana was done & wanted to see Momma. We agreed at the end of the 1st inning we would...then Big Papi hits 2 3 run homers in the bottom half and the Sox score 10 runs. Ya is tremendous good luck becasue after she leaves Fenway the Sox blow the lead and actually trail in the bottom of the 8th until Youk sends a 3 run blast into deep monster seats in center.

Gamma's seat is right above the dugout and she told me afterwards she spent more time watching the picthers warm up...that is what is great about being at a game, checking out what you want to look at as opposed to the images TV and Radio supply. SHe watched Papelbon's warm up and strut out to the mound in the 9th. I had joined her by then, Molly and Gaelen and Eden having departed, and got a kick out of the rockin' bleacher mayhem as the Dropkick Murphys accompany Pap to the mound. It was sweet. He gave up a run but got 3 outs and the Red Sox won 19-17.

Back 2 Vermont + NOFA

2008-08-10T20:27:00.007-04:00

We went back to Vermont to continue our search for a place to live...it is gonna come down to where I find a job...I have applied for many positions and have an interview on Wednesday in Waltham for a position in Montpelier which would be sweet as all 3 of us like it there.

We spent a wet weekend in the Green Mountains and found another beautiful waterfall..

...and spent a few days in Johnson checking out a place we could maybe stay in September while looking for jobs and a home.

NOFA

We left Vermont for the NOFA conference at UMass where Colleen and I took wonderful workshops pertaining to our CSA (Community Suppported Agriculture) dream and Ambiana got to see and feel bunnies and sheeps and ducks and geese plus dance dance dance in the evenings. We camped out right on Campus and met lots of nice folk. We are way excited to be back in Vermont at the end of the month for GOOD after this week in Boston and next week in Ohio and Chicago for Lindsey's wedding.

Family

2008-07-30T20:24:00.003-04:00

Tony was his usual self:)

Susanna is back to her fun lovin happy self. Massage school has done wonders for her and she volunteered at falcon Ridge giving massages to the volunteers. She also massaged the family several times. She had Azriella put down last month which was really hard for her but at the same time it releases her to move to the next stage in her life...it was to go live with Tony in Colorado but since Tony has divorced the famliy that may not happen anymore. I had a real fun time hanging out with her and am glad to see her doing so well.

Ben made the most of his time at Falcon Ridge staying up all night playing music and drums.

Katie and Patti I have seen alot of these past 2 years. Katie is a super momma to Maya and Patti is a wonderful auntie to Maya, Ambiana and Gaelen. It is so nice to be around both of them as they really understand the meaning of family.

BOSTON

2008-07-29T20:32:00.000-04:00

We spent 3 days in Boston as most of my family was there. My Dad arrived on Sunday evening and he and Tony got hotel rooms at 140 Clarendon Ave where everyone stayed while Colleen, Ambiana and I stayed with Katie, Bob and Maya in Jamaica Plain. We rode the subway in to spend the day with them on Monday, Ambiana and Maya sharing a seat and looking out the window.

We spent the morning at hte Frog Pond splashing in the water, then hit the ducks for a sit behind Mama Duck and there was a swanboat ride.

Ben originally scheduled to leave on Monday got bumped and ended up staying till Wednesday.

Katie had everyone over for a cookout on Tuesday and invited Kristie, Betsy and Jack for the afternoon as well, that's his naked butt at the head of the table

Falcon Ridge Folk Festival

2008-07-28T16:19:00.000-04:00

We arrived back at the Falcon Ridge Folk Fest on Tuesday after Gaelen's party to a night full of rain. It let up on Wednesday when we worked our security shift. You can see how tough it was in the picture of Ya and Momy working away. The rain came back Wednesday night right when Gamma, Ben, Susanna, Katie and Maya, Molly, Eden and Gaelen arrived.

There was a lull in the rain at 10pm and we got their tents up in 15 minutes. Colleen and I worked our shifts early and by the time the rain ended on Thursday we were done.

Friday the 25th was Gamma's 70th and Gaelen's 7th Birthday and we celebrated with a birthday breakfast. Gaelen's happy face when we told him of his Red Sox Baseball camp gift was priceless.

We spent some time at a nearby quarry swimming and found this to put our faces in.

We had a blast at the festival all being together. Momma and Susanna went in to Boston on the 25th for a Red Sox game and they came back on Saturday with Patti and Tony, they got into a fender bender on the freeway and arrived in a rental car. We spent Saturday night in the dance tent Contra-ing away.

Mud was the primary element at the festival which was cut short on Sunday when a vicious storm with hail and lightening and gale force winds blew through knocking down several large tents and cutting off power. I had to drag my mother to shelter from the pummeling hail. It was pretty intense. We made it out by 3pm and all headed into Boston to spend the early part of the week. Traffic was horrible and the 2.5 hour ride turned into a 5 hour one

Gaelen & South Hadley

2008-07-22T20:14:00.002-04:00

On our way to Falcon Ridge Folk Fest we stopped in to visit Gaelen and Molly. While we were there Gaelen lost his 6th tooth and 1st upper one!

Molly also threw Gaelen an early birthday party as we will be at Falcon Ridge for his birthday and invited 3 of his friends over; Luke, Jakob and Colby, for play, pizza and Cake. It was fun to see Gaelen play with his friends.

Before the party we visited our old home in South Hadley and saw Donna and Kieth and Guy and Heather. We also visited the riverfront. It was nice to see our neighbors but we are glad we don't live here anymore. The riverside is littered once again, all traces of our clean up and paths in the woods are gone.

More Vermont

2008-07-18T20:10:00.001-04:00

After leaving Teleion Holon Farm we drove north and checked out Burlington and Montepelier. We camped for 5 nights along dirt roads, here is our dinner the 1st night!

We love all the clear running streams in Vermont...

...and the waterfalls like this one north of Stowe. We just had to get naked and swim in this one!

We stopped in Waterbury and visited the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory, we skipped the tour and spent our $$$ on Ice CREAM!!! We went to a contra dance in Montepelier and realy enjoyed it. I like Montepelie and Colleen likes Bristol while Ambiana likes Middlebury. It all depends on where I find a job as Colleen can work anywhere. We are off now to the Falcon Ridge Folk Fest for my mom's 70th birthday and Gaelen's 7th, all the kids but Chuck are coming and then we are off to Boston for a few days before coming back to Vermont to look for work.

SolarFest 2008

2008-07-15T12:31:00.007-04:00

We spent the weekend at SolarFest in Tinmouth Vermont. Both Colleen and I volunteered for our pass and besides good work received a t-shirt and 2 meals a day! Colleen worked in the volunteer kitchen while i was a roving A/V tech making sure the presenters laptops syched up with the projectors and that the mics worked. Ambiana just hung out in the Kid Korner all weekend and rocked out to the good music!

There were lots of good workshops on all things solar and sustainable. We got some good ideas about what kind of house we'd like to build once we find land and we met some really nice people. Vermont is a really interesting place, I though Alaska was the coolest place on earth but may now have to re-consider. Community is really big here as is uniqueness and sustainability plus there are beautiful mountains and clear cold streams to swim in!

Teleion Holon Farm Again!

We ran into our friends from Teleion Holon Farm at the Festival, Kat and Theo and some new WWOOFers! Ya rocked out with them to BonePony a rockin' band from Nashville.

After the Festival we headed back to Teleion Holon Farm to spend a couple of days with Bonnie, Oliver, Guv, Talula and Kat and the rest of the WWOOFers. We slept in our tent and were kept awake both nights by the inarticulate growing of some strange terrifying beast. Colleen thinks it is the farms new dog, other opinions range from bobcat to werewolf, whatever it was it sounded SCARY We helped out for two days doing everything from weeding to organizing and some website work. It is insanely fun to be a part of this busy farm! Sadly we leave again today to head north on our continuing "Find-A-Home-in-Vermont" roadtrip tour but we are happy to know we already have good friends in Vermont!

Ambiana rocks it OUT!!!

Vermont

2008-07-10T14:22:00.008-04:00

We are currently in Vermont camping around the state checking it out looking for a place to settle. So far we LOVE Vermont!!! The first day we ended up in a town called bristol and while filling up on water at the local health food store we encquired about a place to camp and we directed to a sweet spot by the new Haven River just upstream from this sweet waterfall and swimming hole!

We spent 2 nights there while moseing around the surrounding countryside and welcomed each day with a swim in the crystal clear waters (you can see Daddy-Moch approaching the falls in this picture!)

We did a nice hike the 2nd day to Sunset Ledge where we had great views! We drove South the next two days camping in National Forest Campgrounds where it is FREE to camp.

This is a picture of our 2nd NF Campgound just outside of the town of Mt. Tabor. We are off now to Solarfest for the weekend where we are volunteering and hoping to learn all about sustainable building, living and farming!

Camping in the Adirondacks

2008-07-06T14:08:00.003-04:00

On our way to the Adirondacks we stopped in the see the Scahills as usual; our third visit in 6 weeks! We love them and their home!!!

We drove up into the Adirondacks on the 4th and met up with Debbie, Aaron and Dudley at brown Tract Pond Campground!

We had a nice campsite and spent 2 days relaxing in the woods and enjoying each other's company!

Ambiana and Dudley both have grown so much since they first met and amazingly they both have the same hairstyle!!!

Summer Roadtrip I : 2Columbus

2008-07-03T22:42:00.004-04:00

From Chicago our next stop was Columbus Ohio to drop Gaelen off at his Grandma's and to visit Colleen and Mike. We camped again in their backyard and on Tuesday night we went to Cooper Stadium to see the Clippers play the Mudhens.

Ambiana loved the Seal!

It was 2 for 1 ticket night plus Cap night (we all got Detroit Tiger hats) plus $1 pizza slice night. Colleen and Mike joined us and we had a blast. The Clippers won 9-7. Toledo staged a 9th inning rally with a 3 run homer but fell short

Join us for the 7th inning stretch!

We spent Wednesday night with Grammy Nancy and papa Al at their home in Pickerington. They were very gracious, feeding us and sending us off on Thursday with some goodies. Gaelen is to spend between 2 days and 2 weeks with them before heading back to Massachusetts in time for his 7th birthday and we are off to NY and the Scahills on our way to join Debbie and Aaron in the Adirondacks for a weekend of camping!

Summer Roadtrip I : 2Chicago

2008-06-29T13:38:00.001-04:00

Colleen and Ambiana spent the days at the babywearing conference while Gaelen and I stayed in Palatine. We went downtown to meet them on Friday and took the train to Millineum Park...

...where Colleen and Gaelen frolicked in the face spittin fountian while Ambiana and I cheered them on. We also wandered a bit through the Taste of Chicago and the 10,000 people who were also there.

Both Gaelen and Ambiana liked the Bean which is a big mirrored...well "bean" that you can walk around and under.

Check out this sweet video I came across on YouTube, you can see "the bean" in it among other amazing places this dancing man has been.

We throughly enjoyed our time with Colleen's Mom and her family. Her sister Melissa was home for the summer (unfortunately no pic :() and we had some great whiffle ball games with her and Bill. Jack and Shirley stopped in to see us on our last night there and it was great to see them. On Sunday Colleen went to Lindsey's bridal shower while Gaelen and I went to see WALL-E which was good but not great but it was great to see my first movie since November of 2006!

Summer Roadtrip I : 2theMidWest

2008-06-26T12:06:00.004-04:00

Toledo

We spent a nice relaxing weekend in Toledo with Grampy Charlie and Auntie Patti watching Red Sox games, running in the woods of the Metro Park and playing a 2 on 2 game of baseball!

Indiana Dunes

We stopped between Toledo and Chicago at the Indiana Dunes national Lakeshore to spend the afternoon at Colleen's favorite beach: West Beach. It was beautiful; big dunes, a nice sandy beach and some waves to play in!

Ann Clancy and her 3 daughters, Brianna, Shannon and Colleen plus a friend joined us for a swell time in the sea and sand.

We took a hike through the dunes and the kids enjoyed running down them though climbing back up was a chore. We had so much fun at the beach that we declared that we would stop here every time we came back to Chicago and have the Clancy's meet us there. After the beach we went back to the Clancy's home for a pizza party. Ambiana fell asleep on the way and spent the whole party asleep outside in the car while Gaelen and I caught the last 2 innings of the Red Sox/Diamondback game.

Monkeyback Movie

Chicago

We are in Chicago for a week for a babywearing Conference. While Colleen worked at the registration table Ambiana and Gaelen and me went to the Nature Museum.

We are staying with Gramma Kris and Grampy Bill and after dinner we took Ya on her trike to the Park.

Summer Roadtrip I : 2Niagara Falls :)

2008-06-21T13:43:00.004-04:00

We left the Webster around noon and drove along Lake Ontario to Niagara Falls. We had not been here in 2 years and it was Gaelen's first time!

Two years ago!

We decided to ride the Maid of the Mists to get a close up look at the falls. Since I last rode this boat (with my ex-lovie Denise way back in 1992) they have replaced the raincoats with these disposable/recyclable plastic thingies. We though they would make a great picture!

The Falls are really beautiful when seen from below in a boat. We had dramatic weather with big dark cumulus clouds and bright sunshine!

Gaelen's favorite part was when we were wrapped in the embrace of the Horseshoe Falls soaked by the mist, deafened by the roar and and exhilerated with the whole experience.

Colleen wasn't so sure how Ambiana would like the ride but at the end she said she loved it and that her favorite part was "getting wet!"

After getting off the boat we climbed the steps beside the American Falls for further soaking and views!

There was a gift shop/daredevil museum near where we parked the car and I popped in as it was free and was delighted to find lots of photos, newspaper article, and videos of the many attempts, successful and unsuccesful to go over the falls. There were also several actual contraptions used in the attempts. The top is the jet ski from the 1995 fatal attempt while the middle and bottom photo were both used in successfull attempts. The middle one held 2 people and the bottom one held a 22 year old wanna be stuntman. The most horrific account was a newspaper article complete with pictures of a 28 year old man from Tennesee who went over the Horseshoe Falls in a kayak. His body has never been found.

We cooked mashed potatoe pasta beside the car and then took a slow route out of NY to avoid tolls before rejoinging I-90 in pennsylvani and motoring on through Cleveland and arriving in Toledo at Grampa Charlie's at 11:30pm.

Summer Roadtrip I : 2Webster

2008-06-19T21:57:00.008-04:00

Baseball Hall of Fame

After leaving the Farm we spent a day in Erving with Molly so she could have some time with Gaelen before we took him with us to Chicago and then to his grandma's in Ohio. In all she will not see him for most likely a month, the first BIG separation for both of them. We left Erving at 9am and our first stop was Cooperstown NY and the Baseball Hall of Fame. I have never been there and thought Gaelen would like to see it as well. Here he is with the Babe!

I posed with Yaz's plaque for momma

Gaelen and Ted Williams
The Moch and the Red Sox Locker
Gaelen and memorabilia from Yaz's last game.

The bat Jacoby used to get 4 hits in Game 3
of the '07 World Series.

Visiting the Scahills

We arrived at the Scahill's in time for dinner. Jan had arranged for Tim's son Mack's who is Gaelen's age to be there so they could meet! Here are the kids eating Italian Ice for dessert!

We had a wonderful night and morning with the Scahill's enjoying breakfast and some backyard baseball and sun on the porch.

It was Jan's 65th Birthday as well as the Summer Solstice and we gave her summer birthday hugs. WEBSTER and the SCAHILL's ROCK! I can't tell you how much we enjoy these stopovers in Webster and we will miss them vary much if the Scahill's relocate permanently to their new winter home in South Carolina!

Teleion Holon Community Farm

2008-06-17T21:54:00.003-04:00

Here is the Teleion Holon Crew; Bonnie and Talula, fellow WWOOFers Kat, Alicia and Asa, Ya and Ma, Gaelen, Oliver & Guv and the Moch!

Ambiana helps Daddy-Moch bend wire for holding the ropes which hold up the tomatoes in the hoop house. The Teleion veggies are grown in 3 different locations and we spent time at 2 of the 3 fields.

Colleen goes to town with a hoe!

Gaelen got a taste of the farming life! He spent a week with us at the farm. Here he is holding down the irrigation hose as Oliver, Moch and John lay down plastic over the bed to keep weeds from growing.

The kitchen at the Teleion house was the community center. Here we are labeling the containers for the HooMoos Humus that the farm sells at local farmer's markets!

It was not all work, here the kids and Bonnie enjoy the cooling effect of a small bubbling creek!

We also enjoyed a 4.6 round trip family hike to the Lye Brook Falls.

It was a great 10 days at Teleion Holon Farm. We did not want to leave. Bonnie, Oliver and their kids are great folk and we look forward to being friends with them for years to come. We are already planning a return visit to the Farm after our Chicago Roadtrip!

Off to Vermont

2008-06-09T21:41:00.003-04:00

We spent 3 days in Erving with Molly, Gaelen and Eden. We went to Gaelen's baseball game...

...went down to the Miller River bridge for sunset...

...and some frolicking in the water...

and to Colleen's former co-worker Wendy'd daughter Hannah's birthday party at a gymnastic center where Ambiana showed off her form...

...and we all ate birthday pizza and cake. Then it was off to Vermont to WWOOF @ Telion Holon Community Farm!

1st day WWOOFing in Vermont!

We spent our first day with Bonnie, Oliver, Talula and Guv at Emerald Lake. We showed up the night before at the tail end of a hoop house raising potluck and since they had worked so hard the day before and it was so freakin' hot it was decided that Monday would be an easy day so off to the lake we went for some swimmin' :)

Back from Texas

2008-06-06T21:35:00.003-04:00

We spent our last few days in Texas taking it easy in the Steiber's fun backyard. Ambiana loved the hammock...

...while Elyse and Colleen enjoyed a game of Poolyball. Elyse got her butt whipped by both Colleen and Moch and Moch whipped Colleen to take the 1st Poolyball title. Papa Mark declined to compete...maybe next time :)

Ronda has some cuddle time with Ya in the hammock as the dogs stand by :)

Back in Boston

We had a chance to visit with Katie and Maya when we arrived back in Boston but it was all to brief as we headed back to Erving for Gaelen's end-of-the-year school picnic.

RED SOX vs. MARINERS

Eden's Dad John got some tickets for the Red Sox game on Friday and I tagged along for the ride just to be in the Fenway Aura. I watched the game on TV at a nearby pub and as the Sox were getting killed 6-0 by the 6th I decided to take a stroll around the outside of the park.

To my great surprise I came across a bar on Landsdown St, open to the public, under the centerfiled bleachers with a view out onto the field through one of the garage style doors in centerfield. It's called the Bleacher Bar. I was amazed and spent 2 innings here watching the game from this unique perspective. Because of the grate it wasn't easy to make out what was going on in the infield but still it was pretty awesome!

They have some neat artifacts inside such as this flagpole and the centerfield distance that were blocked off from public view when the park was renovated way back when.

At the end of the 8th I went back outside and tried my old trick of swimming against the current of fans leaving early and got in to see the final inning with Gaelen and John. They had moved from their original seats but thanks to cell phones I found them easily enough. Even though the Sox lost 8-0 it was still a lot of fun!!!