Good times

We have to confess- our recent exposure? infection? experience? with a little social network called Facebook has taken a toll on our blog postings. Its a funny monster Facebook -it is more immediate than blog posting and easier to compose and keep up with than email- and a great tool for keeping tabs on disparate groups of friends- but can also be an enormous time suck. We promise not to completely abandon this format--

The boys are doing great- Willy is becoming his own unique character; we have a blast trying to find different ways to encourage him/ get him to laugh- I am constantly amazed at how basically different siblings can be. James has luckily become very good at keeping himself occupied and amused for the most part during this period when Willy needs a lot of attention and guidance. They ocassionally will even play really well together, but there is a lot of refereeing.  I should keep a list of the funny things that James will come up with, but it all goes so fast. One night he told us that he was stressed out- pressed, he replied that he was confused and didn't know how things worked! Repressing the urge to say 'join the club' - I assured him that he was doing fine and he would have plenty of time to figure it all out. While Willy is developing language and motor skills, James has really progressed in his ability to imagine things and make up his own stories. 

Here, he is pretending to be sick on the couch and was 'acting' fussy--

The big event in the last week was the snow fall- a foot and a half in tow days! We tried to bring the boys out in it but after spending a half hour getting them ready, they lasted about 10 minutes before they were cold and wet. We will update our gear and try again but especially Willy is still a little young to appreciate the potential fun of 4 foot drifts of snow.


Kat on a mission to replace the suet in our birdfeeders that hang off the hammock-


My frame and ad in the front yard (sans rafters)- this has actually worked pretty well- I have had three people come by and talk about little buildings they want in the spring- we'll see- 





James' off broadway song and dance pre-bedtime- 

We made a good effort to bring the boys into NYC on a frigid weekend in December.  Lets just say we learned a lot. The temps were in the teens and it was very windy; we did see the tree at Macys and St. Patricks and had a great pizza but that was all we could manage- even with the weather there was a line of 200 outside FAO Schwartz. 

We did get a chance to visit with Laurens, Rick, Andy, Ann Clark and little baby Stella- 

Stella is a great smiler-
James with cousin Brendan outside St. Patricks-

James totally lit up when we got our tree home and pulled out the lights and decorations. You forget how wondrous these simple little tradtions are but the look on his face brought it all back home--

November

Greetings folks, this is a quick one, just an opportunity to share some photos... of the timber frame Mike is building in our front yard, of our daytrip to NYC and of Maine

Andrew and Mike laying out the frame

Willy desperately wanting to join them

Mike will have to tell you what this is

the beginnings of the 'small' frame-- small if you're 6'8", I guess

Willy in NYC, thinking about the merry go round

greeting cousin Stella

Rick, Stella, and James
tell me this is not a cute baby!

In Maine on a walk

James chillin'
The Maine coast
Willy is wondering why he has to hold the camera

The Samoset Golf Course

Mighty in Maine

Weee're back.
This is what James said every time we exited from the elevator into the lobby of the Samoset Resort.


Mike was given a scholarship to attend the Timber Framers Guild Conference, so we packed up the car and headed to Maine on Thursday, returning Sunday. As we entered the Resort area I saw a guy in casual clothes with a beard-moustache combination getting out of his car. I said "look honey, I think he must be with the Guild", to which Mike replied-- "this conference is going to be nothing but fleece and facial hair". And boy was he right. I think James and Will were the only unadorned menfolk. And menfolk is the word. Let me put it this way-- when the Guild publishes a calendar, I will be first in line. We met lots of nice people who do all sorts of interesting work in sustainable building or craftsmanship. We were both able to take in a lecture or two, and learn a lot.

Maine is gorgeous. Every bend in the road presents one LLBean-worthy cover shot after another. We do have some photos... but they are decidedly less beautiful than what I describe. The Samoset is a large-scale seaside resort which was encapsulated in a foggy cloud for nearly our entire stay. It was not cold, it was a humid but temperate fog... but it did not lend itself to photo making. We will download a few of our shots soon.

I worked to entertain the boys in hotel-land. Hmmmm. It was interesting. Most of the activities the hotel is known for were just not available in Fall/Winter. I can say that we were thrilled to find that the Samoset has closets big enough to host a pak-n-play, which means Willy had his own room, and was able to keep to a somewhat normal nap schedule. To entertain James from time to time I streamed this program called "Mighty Machines" on my laptop. Its basically footage of trucks and you know, machines, doing things. Oh, with goofy voice-overs. This show has a contagious theme song that is still coasting through my brain. They also had a playroom, which was a godsend-- activities and toys galore. We also managed to hike around the golf course paths, and collect rocks on the shore. There was a lighthouse, but at the end of a long 'path' made of huge slabs of stone. It was not really stroller-worthy, so we only checked it out a little. Will and James were the stars of the show-- many folks enjoyed seeing them and were glad we brought them. That was nice. We felt they were a little young for the scene, but still it was good to have support.

Our quick tour would not be complete without telling you about lobster. Yes it is everywhere, and yes it is glorious. The hotel had lobster rolls (a sort of lobster salad sandwich), lobster bisque, and extraordinary chowder. The food was part of a package deal, and the hotel did not serve steamed lobster... so on our way out of town we stopped at a hole in the wall called-- I am not kidding-- BULLWINKLE'S--- and sat down to enjoy the last three lobsters in the house. I had one, at the exorbitant price of $10, while Mike had 2 for $15. It was unbelievable. Fresh, delicious, and inexpensive.

We will be back.

Thomas Time

James had a great time on his first Halloween. We saw a great train costume at the parade we went to last weekend and copied it to make this Thomas out of a diaper box, paper and a bunch of duct tape.

Robots. Dinos. Leaves.

Busy few weeks as usual... here is a rapid update

We went to the Mom's and More Halloween parade yesterday, which included free goodies at Whole Foods Market and trick or treating within the downtown section of West Hartford. Nice stores. Great candy. It was Saturday morning, so we kept it short-- after all James does not know that anyone is supposed to get more than a handful of candy, and we did not want a huge amount.
Our guys were robots-- mom's easy last-minute cardboard box costume idea. We were just about the only folks in a home-made costume. That is a bummer, but I have to say I was a little envious of the ease and comfort of those 1-piece suits as our guys struggled around in their cardboard. The plan for the BIG day is to make a Thomas costume for James (Willy will be Sir Topham Hatt)-- this is what Mike told the boys they can be... so we will see how that works out. People thought our guys were variously a computer or a telephone. Most people got it, though. The clear winners of the day were a pair of twins who went as Sarah Palin and "Sarah Palin's body guard". Very cute.




The leaves continue to change-- here are just some views from around our house... it has been a stunning fall.


We went today to Dinosaur State Park-- where dinosaurs left gigantic footprints in a muddy lake bottom millions of years ago. They were baked in the sun then filled with sediment slowly over time. A backhoe operator found them in the 1960's and so they turned this area into a state park. There is a large dome with a simple but cool exhibit, and then miles of walking trails. We spent a few hours traipsing about-- it was a fun time. The indoor section had one large model dinosaur and some sound effects that sound like roaring-- James saw the big dinosaur, heard the roar, and ran back into the other room. It took a while to convince him it was not real.

Willy's first shiner... and harbingers of Fall

Things continue to be insanely busy here. All good, but very hectic. We are all settling in. James' school is great, Will is staying with a wonderful lady on Mondays and Wednesdays, Mike is expecting a busy few months of timber-framing and Kat is trying to keep her head above water. 

In lieu of any good verbal updates, here are some photos of our Fall. 

The leaves beginning to change around our house

Willy is a climber. We catch him scaling the baby gate, STANDING on his zebra/rocking horse, and generally tempting fate at every turn. Despite round-the-clock surveillance, he took a header off the sofa on Saturday. By the end of the day we could see that his first black eye was on the horizon. Sure enough, when he woke up this morning he looked like something out of the glam-rock era. I almost put on a ton of eyeliner just to commiserate. In true Maier fashion, we share photos of it with you now. 

St Alban's School Fall Festival: the scarecrow wedding, needle in a haystack, and arts and crafts photos below. You could make your own scarecrow. I almost did it just to score a really cool belt in the "dress your scarecrow" pile-- but since we don't really have a cornfield, we passed. There was a jazz band, hayride, arts and crafts, and pony rides. James and I waited in line for about 15 minutes before he decided he didn't really want to ride the pony. Maybe next year. 

Piece of property we've been thinking about-- 8.85 acres with this old barn on it, but plenty of room to build. Priced low in this market. We are of course nowhere near ready to buy. At minimum we'd want to be finished with the Dutch house, and our lease here is until July. Still we went to take a look. Our realtor literally laughs ALOUD whenever we meet her at a house-- I think we are not her typical family. She is very sweet and sent us the website for a local environmental fair. She has us pegged. She assures us that this place, which has been on and off the market since 2005, is not going ANYWHERE. The barn is a converted flat-- a 2 Bedroom apartment. We love the grain silo, and Mike says he could build a house from the timber on site. Can't beat that. 

Hiking in Penwood State Park

The view from Talcott state park as the leaves begin to change-- this was a few weeks ago

PJ's, Pajamas, Jammies, Jim Jams-- fun no matter what you call them...

I'm a beautiful butterfly!

We are enjoying the fall changes here in Ct; leaves are beginning to turn around us and though it has been a little rainy and humid during the days you can feel the coolness coming on. We are in a geese flight path and every afternoon James tries to catch sight of them through the trees as they honk southward. James is doing really well at his school, he comes home singing songs and telling us about his new friends- he is way into the alphabet at the moment and is just getting how to sound out the letters and can even recognize his name. There are more break downs at home these days, but his teachers assure me he is golden at school and that its normal for that to happen after the long day playing. Will has been getting some covert ninja training somewhere, today he scaled the baby gate and then made it up our footboard onto the bed; you have never seen anyone so proud! 

Kat has been applying for grants and teaching her classes and trying to keep up with a sometimes hairaising political season as she teaches American politics. Check out this cool resource if you haven't for some in depth stats/analysis. You can also go here for Mike's latest timberframing adventure.

Now for some gratuitous nudity-

Thanks to Aunt Julie for the bouncy zebra, theres nothing like a gallop after a nice bath!

James had a cocoon/butterfly game he was playing one day with the collapsible laundry hamper- very imaginitive: 

Hoody Willy

Over the hedge-