Blueberries and Crystal

It's not often, anymore, that I get to spend an afternoon with all 3 kids at once. Today we went to Blueberry Meadows and picked tons of blueberries and then stopped at Crystal Lake for a picnic and swim.  They don't like to have their picture taken tho.

I see lots of blueberry desserts in our near future!

Northeast Kingdom Running Camp

Cole has just returned from a week at Lyndon State College, where he attended the Northeast Kingdom Running Camp. His track and field coach, Frank Daigneault arranged for Cole to attend the camp on scholarship!

  

Cole said they stuck to a rigid schedule, which included 2 runs per day (one of them being very early in the morning) guest speakers including Olympians, yoga, pool, and weight training activities, all the food they could eat, a dance one evening, and performances in the Alexander Twilight Theatre. On one of the days, called Lake Day, they had a 7 mile run around Willoughby Lake and spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach.

Morning run.  (Cole sent me these photos from the NKRC facebook page.) 

 In the afternoons, they would take a bus to different locations in the area to run back roads and trails.

 The afternoon runs always ended in a cold creek soak.

 Approximately 300 runners attended the camp this week. Cole was one of only 3 Vermonters at this session. In the evenings, the counselors and coaches would put on skits in the theater. On the last night, there was an awards ceremony called "the Paper Plate Awards."

 Cole won the award for "lack of forethought" which seems very fitting . 

 He won it because he always forgot to bring his swimming trunks for the afternoon run creek soaks.

 Also, on one evening in the theatre, Frank Daigneault and former Glover School phys. ed. teacher Peter Auclair (who both work at LSCin the summer), had Cole come up on stage where they gave him a "care" package including a LSC t-shirt and a mechanical sock mokey that danced and played music - apparently Cole was forced to do a little dance onstage with the sock monkey to a cheering crowd.  I was shown a video clip on a phone belonging to one of the counselors.  If I am ever able to get a hold of it, I will post it here.

 On the very last morning of camp, all 300 or so campers woke up early for a 6:00am "Graduation Run" up Burke Mountain. Below, Cole crosses the finish line.

 Some snapshots of Cole with new friends.

Catching Up on the Summer

After our week at Stuart and Emily's camp, and on Estelle and Lena's first full day in Vermont, we (Cole, Heather, Estelle, Lena, and myself) went to the Echo Lake Color Run.

 Before the race, nice white shirts - provided with the registration fee. The sun glasses are also provided to protect your eyes from the colored powder.

 Aimee, Tyler, Caroline, and Grant arrived. Aimee ran in the race.  At the start of the race, everyone gets a handful of colored powder to throw in the air.

 At the finish line, Heather comes across with one shoe on and one show off due to a blister. I didn't get pictures of Cole and Estelle because they crossed the finish before I did.

 Lena gets some finish line color.

 There was a raffle drawing for prizes after the race. Both Estelle and Lena had their names drawn. Estelle chose the swimming mask and snorkel...

 ...and Lena chose a gift certificate to Subway.

 After the race, some fun with Caroline and Grant.

 Back at the house that afternoon, Julie, Estelle, and Lena help us move the young hens into the coup with the old hens. Lena's face is still color stained.

Fourth of July

 Watching the parade in Barton. Ernest and Cecile joined us.

 Back to Joanie's for the traditional barbecue.

 On another weekend, Cole's summer track team had a meet at UVM. Cole was tickled that Martha and Chris came to watch him run.

 He has become quite a show-off.

 Somehow, this particular race didn't seem fair.

 It was the relay.

 Glover Day!  Cole and the 8th grade crew sell ducks for the duck race down the river. There is also a bake sale. They are already raising money for their class trip (probably to Boston, but that is not the official decision yet) Lena's duck won first place - $100. Lucky Girl! She shared her winnings with Joanie, who bought the ticket for her.

 Wayne has been working at the River's Edge Farm Stand, which also has the Copper Plate food truck. He had to rush off to work after running the 5k. He came in 2nd place overall for the 5k. The 5k race has been named The Slab City Run.

 Jacob was not far behind.

 Cole ran the longer 5.5 mile race and came in 2nd place overall. He is 13 years old.

 Estelle and Heather ran the 5k. (Yellow bibs = 5k race, white bibs = 5.5 mile race)

 Matt and Christie made a strong showing. Sorry, Christie caught me off guard and I did not get a photo.

 Paul and Martha lookin' good.

 The Bread and Puppet pink elephant.

 Afterwards, back to the house for some food and fun.

 Nice to have Christie's parents join us from New Zealand.

 There was a big wiffle ball game.

 Asa played the fiddle.

And that pretty much brings us up to date!