Growing boys

Its been too long since we posted any news; everything is going well here and we are settling in surprisingly quick- I think we have been looking forward to being where we both have work that we love for so long that we have sort of imagined a lot of the transitions and it makes this most recent of many moves much less disorienting than normal.
The boys are growing so fast- Will is now walking about 70% of the time he wants to get somewhere and his personality is really emerging. James is putting it all together much more than he was a month ago and constantly surprises us with his clever little commentary; its hard to remember sometimes that he will only be three in two weeks.
Connecticut is surprisingly green and rural- we didn't have a clear picture exactly before we came but it has been nice trying to figure out where the local good spots are- there are lots of state parks nearby and farms and roadside veggie stands, and the whole state is surprisingly forested. There are lots of beautiful old homes for sale- though we are still waiting to find a buyer for the place in the Netherlands ,we are already scheming about restoring an old farmhouse or finding decent land and building a new timberframe.

Here Will enjoys the swing we finally put up- that we bought for James 2 years ago...

This is the view from Talcott Mt. about 10 min from our house in Bloomfield- its supposed to be tremendous for the fall colours and on a clear day you can see north to New Hampshire.


Katharine taking her turn pushing Willy up the hill- the whole state is lots of rocky hills-


Before I found work with another framer, I bought this 400 board feet of white pine to make a garden shed with; I'm still going to cut the frame when I have the time- I was just psyched I could fit half of it in the minivan at a time. The timbers were cut by Moore's Sawmill which is about 4 miles from our house.

All the boys resting on our hike-

Willy is really cruising since we shot these, but they at least show how big he has gotten-

Update

Mike is gainfully employed! After two weeks of interviews Mike has found the perfect job. He will surely write many a post about it soon. He was offered a couple of jobs, but held out to work for someone who is truly doing timber framing projects. He spent the day with the crew yesterday and left early this AM to start his first day. HOORAY! There is a barn raising on the immediate horizon and then they are doing a project at Yale. Will keep you posted...

LONG LONG OVERDUE

Before we left Charleston, our dear and talented friend Dorthe took some family portraits of us at the Angel Oak on John's Island, South Carolina. It is an old and beloved tree-- really something to see.

Here are just a few of the shots,

Got to photoshop this little blond girl out...

Well, we continue to settle in to our new place. Enjoying the surroundings and learning about the community. The people have been SO nice to us-- we really like it here.

Our house

So, we like the rental house- much bigger than our place in Chas and close to Kat's work and school/daycare for the boys. Huge backyard, though I wish some of it was in the front as we face a pretty busy, two lane road.





Thanks Cole, Mathew and Kevin for the Rescue Guys!





Willy has been taking a couple of steps every day- pretty exciting to watch.

Swing lessons

We have been trying to convince James to 'pump' on the swing so we don't have to stand behind him and push the whole time- but it took cousin Leslie to get the lesson across. We had a great, if short, visit to Pequannock NJ and saw Leslie, Jack, Jim, and Ann and Mad, Cole, Mathew, and Kevin.

Transit photos

Brendan and the boys had a great time together and for a baby and two 3 year olds did a fair job of playing together and sharing.

Everybody's moving

When we showed up in the Netherlands five years ago, we spent the first week in Enschede at a campground. We had a rental car and a tent and it rained pretty much the whole time. The dogs were in their crates with tarps and garbage bags over them and we made the best of it in my little two person tent. The manager of the campground became an instant and lasting friend of ours- his name is Ron van Keeken and he was that rare citizen that grew up immersed in two cultures. He was born in eastern Canada to Dutch immigrant parents and moved back over himself when he was 18 in the early 70s so he had a working knowledge of American and Dutch culture and language. Ron had been a welder but took the camping ground gig to slow down a little and enjoy the 'country'. By the end of the week he had found an empty trailer for us to stay in and we began th first of many long conversations about the world and pretty much everything in it. One of his most entertaining theories that stuck with me was the 'mover' theory. That is, all we are, all we all really are, is movers. Whatever your job, whatever you do, you are just really moving things around into different arrangements be it information or bricks or jelly donuts or laundry- we are all movers.
Some more than others, I always argued.
We are almost done with finding a place for the last box here at our new digs in CT. Not to say that everything has a proper home, but moving really does help purge your life of the non-essential. We purged when we came back in December, when we moved to Charleston and again before we left and we still had more stuff when we got here that we looked at and said- I'm not moving that again.
Our journey up was all in all pretty successful, though we have learned by now that all moves have a few snags. The overnight drive to PA was tiring but the boys did sleep almost the whole time and the traffic really was nil. Things became a little blurry with lack of sleep after that but we had an awesome time with the Odenthals in Downingtown and saw Brad Maier's lacrosse match and spent a night in Pequannock NJ with the Jim Maiers and Bill Maiers. James was astounded by the number of cousins and now says whenever he hears a name - 'My cousin Jack?' 'You mean my cousin Mathew?'
We really look forward to living so close to such a big group of relatives.
When we got to the new house the landlord was still painting and putting on the front door and had a bunch of furniture to move, which was a little deflating. It all worked out eventually though and we were so excited to finally be where we had planned for so long we just sort of ploughed through that and the tired kids (and parents). W e had a little wait while our truck was slowly making its way up and there were lots of calls back and forth with the transit depots. It finally arrived 36 hours after we planned and there was no ramp to unload it. They finally got us a ramp and we went box by box and piece by piece for tha last three days until it was finally emptied this afternoon.
Will post photos soon but have to go make some dinner now as it is getting late.

More brief updates

Well-- there will be quite a story to tell when we move in and have a chance to post. We have had many fun days and enjoyable times making our way up to Connecticut. James is so overwhelmed with family that he doesn't know what to think. I am sure he will be disappointed when its just us for the next weeks.
We do not yet have internet at home-- I am giving this update from the neighborhood starbucks. We don't have internet because our modem is in the van-- which they now tell me may be here before the weekend. With the 4th of July holiday that means today or tomorrow, and I've already been assured it will not be today.
That is difficult-- we are fine with sparse livin', but would really like a matress right about now. We will go and purchase some useful goods today at our old favorite-- Target. In a way it is useful that the truck is late, as the home owner has left MANY items inside the house. It is mostly packed away, boxed up and ready to go, but we were truly deflated when we walked up, peeked in the windows, and saw someone else's stuff crowding the house. We had a slight miscommunication about our arrival day-- I told him the 2nd, but knowing our lease began on July 1st I never imagined his stuff would still be inside.
You will surely get a long post on this later.
All this stress and strain, but we do love the house. A HUGE yard for kids and dogs to run, a beautiful spacious deck, great rooms downstairs and small bedrooms upstairs. We like the small bedroom thing, so we are really pleased with it all in all.
More details coming... hope to be online by tomorrow...
Kat