A new park

Yesterday was another warm, spring-like day. The boys and I went to a park in town that was new to us. There is no playground there, but an historical house and outbuildings, as well as several miles of well laid out trails through woods and marshes. The boys were very excited to go hiking and exploring.

There were lots of wooden bridges over water and marshes/wetlands. Here we are heading out over a very long bridge that took us over some marshland. The boys loved going over the bridges and were fascinated by the marshes. By the end of the day I finally convinced Miles that they were called marshes and not martians.

Miles did quite a bit of running through the trails:

Not Quincy:

Here we are on a dock that juts out over wetlands that are part of the local river:

We came upon these benches and the boys felt they needed to rest:

Finally time to break for a picnic lunch:

On a little island:
All in all a great morning. I didn't look at the trail maps until we came back for lunch, and it turns out we hiked about 2 miles total. No wonder they were so worn out! But they loved and can't wait to go back.

Miles's book of feelings

Miles did this at school the other day. He did all the writing and drawing on his own, he was especially proud of the last page.

A taste of spring

Yesterday the weather was beautiful! In the 60s, sunny and dry. And we are supposed to have weather like this off and on all week, yay! I just know I'm going to get spoiled and be rather unhappy when colder weather returns. So yesterday the kids and I took advantage of the warm day and went to the playground and zoo. We were there for several hours, and they still cried when it was time to leave.

A little rock climbing:
Quincy climbing the rope ladder:

Watching the otters play in the zoo:

Back to the playground:

A couple of worn out boys taking a rest in the middle of the playground:

Ahh, I love warm weather!

Christmas tree

The boys love their Christmas tree, and often have trouble remembering not to touch and play with the ornaments.

My boys and their laptops

My Dad recently gave the boys an old laptop of his. There is no internet, but the boys are excited to have their very own real computer. Miles likes to get on and practice typing.

Earlier in the week Miles was on the computer, Quincy asked to see, so a chair was pulled up next to Miles's chair. I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back, this is what I saw:
My two boys, working on their computers side by side.

Two nights ago Miles decided he wanted to be just like Dad:

First snow day of the season!

We had our first real snowfall of the season yesterday - the first snow that stuck to the ground. So, of course, the schools let out early yesterday and closed today. The kids were impatient to get out and play in the snow, here is Miles looking longingly at the snow outside:

So a bit after 8am this morning we were digging out the snow pants and boots and gearing up for snow. I do believe it took us more than 20 minutes to get everyone ready to got out, but once we were out, we all had loads of fun. Miles started making snowballs as soon as his feet hit the snow:

And Quincy was his first victim:

Here Miles is getting ready to hit an unsuspecting Mike from behind:
Miles making a snow angel:Miles very proud of his snow angel:
Quincy practicing driving in the snow (not much of anything keeps him out of that car if we are in the backyard.):

And a little sled pulling in the backyard:

Trip to NH

We went to NH to visit and join family for Thanksgiving. I know, it has been several weeks since Thanksgiving and this post is fairly late, but hey, better late than never, right?! Anyway, we had a great visit with everyone and a wonderful Thanksgiving day with lots of my Aunts, Uncles & cousins.

Our first stop on our visit was at my parents house, where the boys had fun raking leaves into a big pile to play in. Well, Quincy worked hard raking while Miles played:
But Quincy did most of the playing in the leaves once they were in a big pile:
Then it was on to my brother's house, where the kids got to visit with their cousins, here's Quincy just hanging with Tyler watching him play video games:
And later on in the weekend more family and cousins came to visit, here is Quincy & Maddie riding Jordan:
One highlight of the visit was the afternoon that we went to a secret Santa party. It was on a farm, we took a horse drawn hayride into the middle of the woods where the party was. Here we are on the hayride, a (rare) family pic:

And across from us here is Maddie and Dawn having fun together:
At the Santa party the kids got to meet Santa (in his farm clothes):
And they got to meet several other holiday characters, such as Rudolph, Frosty the snowman, the Gingerbread boy, and the Grinch:
My two boys were a bit apprehensive of just about everyone at the party, they didn't talk to any of them, but eventually they did let them get close and play a bit:(Miles hid behind that cup the entire time the Grinch was touching him!)

And to top it all off, they a pony ride:

We had a wonderful visit with everyone. the boys (and us) were very sad to leave and are still asking when we are going to NH again.