Heather Makes a Mess

No, it's not Halloween yet. It's just Heather making cookies.



I guess the whole point was to have fun...

...one way or another.
Stay tuned tomorrow for part two of "Heather Makes a Mess" - decorating cookies.

The Pond

Used to be, over at Drew Place, that Brian's barn was our after-school excursion. Wayne and Cole would always like us to walk up there to see the tractor or the hay wagon sitting in the barn. They'd climb up on the bulldozer that sits there and pretend to drive it around. They liked to go into the barn where he stores bales of hay and throw handfuls of it into the air. It was a good way to let off steam after being cooped up at school.

Now, here at Elijah's Place, the pond has become our every day after school destination. It's like a wild kingdom over there: frogs, tadpoles, snakes, dragonflies, slugs, snails, cat tails. In other words, every little boy's dream come true.

There are lots of frogs. None of them are safe with Wayne around.

Cole, being younger, is not as quick to catch the tricky little guys, but he enjoys trying.

Princess awaits her frog prince.

I think Wayne may become the next Jack Hanna.

Here he is, poor thing, unhappily trapped in a plastic container.
Actually it wasn't too bad for him. We let him go after a few minutes. He's safe until tomorrow.

Century

Those of us who live in New England at this time of year take for granted the crisp, clear days, the fiery foliage, the shimmering lakes. Or maybe we don't take it for granted, especially after the dismal summer we just came off of. Whether you take it for granted or not, one sure way to enjoy a September day is to ride a century bike tour. The best of them is the Northeast Kingdom Century Lakes Tour in memory of Ben and Terry Classen, presented by Orleans County Citizen Advocacy.

A century tour is a 100 mile bike ride that takes place all in one day. Yes, you ride your bike 100 miles in a day. The Northeast Kingdom Lakes Tour begins in Barton at Crystal Lake State Park.
This group of enthusiasts has been coming back year after year from Littleton, NH.


This is Frank and Debbie Daigneault. They've been doing the tour for a few years now. Frank also happens to be Wayne's soccer coach. I guess this is why soccer practice was moved from Saturday to Sunday this weekend.
OCCA provides lots of yummy baked goods and energy bars to get the riders going up those Vermont hills.

Cole samples. You know he has a sweet tooth.

Riders who are not quite ready for 100 miles, needn't be scared away. They can choose a 25, 50, or 75 mile route instead. They're all mapped out to provide a beautiful ride through the Vermont countryside and past well known lakes in the area.

We just popped in to visit Joanie and see how things were going, but Wayne insisted on bringing his bike, and rode his century right in the park and parking lot.

Here's just a handful of volunteers who make it all come together: Andre, Nicole, Joanie (the mastermind behind it all), and Cindy. There are several more rest stops along each route, manned by more volunteers providing support, mechanical help, and more energy foods.

Cindy and Joan take a moment to pose with Heather.

Joan goes all out with the decorations.

She's worked hard enough to take a break. I think this is what she plans to do in her retirement - ride around in a little red convertible.

Crystal Lake - one of the main attractions. Whichever route you choose, they all come back to Crystal Lake State Park. In the afternoon, as riders return, there is a barbecue with hot dogs, corn on the cob, salads, and I saw a table absolutely covered with pies for dessert. This year the Senior Meals group did the food.

Cole enjoys the water.

Wayne, done with his riding, finds a salamander while digging in the sand.

Like I've said before, no one throws themselves into a project like an Alexander, and for the past I-don't-know-how-many years, Joanie has thrown herself into this one. All the riders agree, the Northeast Kingdom Lakes Tour is the best. It's been a wildly successful fundraiser for Orleans County Citizen Avocacy, a group that matches volunteers from the community with individuals living with disabilities in one to one relationships.

Perron Reunion

Now that Wayne's birthday is over and the brain fog from my recent cold has lifted, let's rewind the tape a little. As I mentioned in a previous post, Grammie, Lisa, and Dan came (about a week and a half ago, now) for the Perron Reunion. The Perron Reunion is a big deal around here. I suspect that most of the town of Glover is somehow related to the Perrons, one way or another. And of course we live on Perron Hill which is about 98 percent Perrons. There can easily be around 200 people at the reunion which is held annually. They come from all over and have a terrific time celebrating their French Canadian roots and just catching up with realtives they only get to see this one time a year.


I was only there for the morning portion of the party, which was pleasantly kid oriented, and rather quiet compared to the later afternoon and evening hours. Wayne, Cole and Heather had a great time playing the kid games with Aunt Lisa.


This little tent was set up with these little musical instruments.

Lisa brushes up on her jug band skills in case she's needed for the talent show later.


Wayne and Cole make giant bubbles.

There was more construction equipment in this sand box than sand.

We went for a wagon ride. The guy in the white shirt driving seemed to have a thick Vermont accent. I was thinking to myself, " Wow, this guy is a real old Vermont farmer so he must know what he's doing with these horses." At one point during the ride, he half turned to us and said, "It's easy to drive 'em, 'cuz they're both named Frank." As it turns out, he's actually the principal at Lake Region High School and has only lived in Vermont for a couple of years after moving here from Indiana. His name is John Harper. He claims to know Peter and Tyler very well, although Peter denies it.

This is Lisa, Wayne, and Cole during the wagon ride. She's laughing at me because I accidentally called her "Heather."

Lisa and I were fascinated by Joe's old family method of cooking a turkey. He had injected herbs and spices right into the turkey meat. Then he placed the turkey on one of those big, heavey duty sheets of foil and coverd it with one of those metal buckets you see in the picture. He covers and surrounds the bucket with hot coals. I cant' remember how many pounds of charcoal he said he has to use for each turkey. Do you remember, Lisa? I'm pretty sure he said the turkey cooks in like an hour and fifteen minutes. It smelled amazing.

Settling in for a long afternoon of fraternizing.

This is just a pretty flower that I took a picture of at the Perron reunion.
I, not being an official Perron myself, only stuck around for the morning portion of the party. By 12:30 Heather was getting ornery and there was no sign of lunch being ready so I took her home for lunch and nap, but there were many funny stories of the afternoon and evening. You'll all have to chime in with your comments, those of you who were there.

Gifts

Wayne had a great birthday. He took cupcakes to school to share with his class. He was tickled with all the phone calls with Happy Birthday songs and messages. He received cards and money and gifts galore. He was King for a day!

Here are some of the gift highlights:


A Batman action figure.

Some buggy pajamas.


Remote control race cars.


A race car in action. What I haven't gotten a picture of yet is the metal detector (a kids one, but pretty good) and an underwater viewing scope for all that frog and tadpole hunting he likes to do, and a stamp collecting album.

Thanks everyone for all your calls, cards, and gifts. He had a great day.

Batman Birthday

Settle in. This is a long one.

Martha, Lisa, and Dan came for a visit in honor of the annual Perron family reunion. Yes, I have lots of pictures of that, but that's a blog for another day.

Today is about a Batman Birthday.

Tomorrow, September 8, Wayne turns 7. Hard to believe it's been seven years since I woke up one morning with what I thought was a bad case of gas pains. By noontime that day, when my "gas pains" hadn't subsided, it started to dawn on me that even though it was two weeks before my due date, what I was feeling might acutally be labor pains. This being my first child, I wasn't sure what labor pains should feel like, and it wasn't nearly as intense as I'd heard people describe. I sheepishly called the hospital and the nice and immensely patient nurses there said to come on in and they'd check me out. I did, thinking that they'd surely send me home and I'd be in for at least another two weeks of carrying this active baby around, who kept kicking me in the ribs. When the midwife checked to see if I was dilated, she announced, surprised even hersefl that I was already 8 cm dilated. Four hours later, Wayne Richard Alexander came into the world, and life has never been the same since.

I wanted to get a picture of the birthday boy with Grammie before they left this morning.



Preparations for the Batman birthday started yesterday. We were planning a treasure hunt as one of our activites, and since Lizzy and Peter stopped by, we put Lizzy to work turning this treasure chest into a homemade Batman treasure chest.

The finished product, filled with goodies. Wes was in charge of the treasure hunt. He made up a series of clues and hid them around the house which eventually led the kids to the treasure.

I had made the cake a while ago, kept it in the freezer, so all I had to do was frost and decorate it. You can order or buy those images to put on it.
As they left this morning, Lisa, Dan, and Grammie tied balloons to the mailbox so party invitees would be able to locate us.


When the kids arrived there was lots of playing with the toys in the basement.


Wayne had requested hotdogs and corn on the cob for his birthday lunch. There was also chips, grapes, and lemonade and apple cider to drink.


Many thanks to Joanie who came to help.


The Batman tablescape.

After lunch there was a rousing game of tag outside. This is Haley on the left. She's in 6th grade and lives up the road a ways. There's Asom on the right. He's one of Wayne's first grade classmates.


The Pys. Ed. teacher in Wes came out as he rounded the kids up for outdoor games.

Luckily Cole's friend Fintan was able to come. It was great to have someone his age around.


Asom's strategy in the game of tag was to hop on Wayne's bike and outrun everyone.

Another classmate of Wayne's, Ben. Look at him go.


Dante and Fintan use some weapons as their defense in tag.


Time for cake.


Some Batman masks from the treasure hunt. Asom...

Dante.


Last activity of the day, the pinata. We used Wayne's Halloween batman mask as the blindfold. I covered the eye holes on the inside with a napkin. Kind of creepy looking, but no one seemed to mind.

Sam, Wayne's calssmate takes a good swing.


Fintan gives it a whack.


Dante swings hard.


The crowd cheers and jeers.

Ben means business.


Asom gives it a big smack and opens it up.


They all rush in for the kill.

What a day. It was pretty wild around here from 12:00 to 3:00. Batman himself would have fled back to Gotham city. All the kids had a great time. I'm glad it all went well.