I just put my children to bed at nearly 9pm, having spent the evening sitting by the fire in the garden, watching them play with the children next door, then watching them all sit in their camp chairs and try to read their books using little finger lights. It was completely peaceful to cuddle up next to a blazing warm fire, under a nearly full moon.
We spent the day clearing out the woods, raking leaves, cutting back choke cherries, and thinking about re-seeding the lawn. We borrowed Heidi's pick-up, and Mike spent the day happily chain-sawing everything that didn't move.
Ellie went to June's, Hannah and Mark played and helped me and bounced on the trampoline. At one point Hannah stretched out on the swingseat, in the sun, and read her book.
This morning Carl came home from hospital. He had open heart surgery the Monday before last, and he should have been home last weekend. But he had a few setbacks, including being moved back to ICU for a while, so it wasn't till today that he finally made it. It's good to have him home. We've visited him a few times in Maine Med, but I think he's really looking forward to having the children popping in and out, reading them books, and watching cartoons with them.
Nadja's been in hospital every day, so we hired a wonderful nanny called Tara. She's been a godsend - she turns up at 8am and focuses on the children all day until she leaves around 5.30pm. One day she brought a huge box of lego, another day she brought a face-painting book, then yesterday she brought beads for making necklaces. She's coming for another week, and then I think the children will be back to the Wallaces. We've been so lucky.
I took the girls to work last Thursday. It was fun but exhausting. I found an empty cubicle for them, and they spread their pens and paper out and 'worked'. They made friends with a colleague's daughter, and they met a few of my colleagues, and Hannah appeared in the mock trial as Little Bo Peep. Ellie was in the jury and wasn't particularly impressed.
I've been working as hard as ever. I'm now officially manager of our sales enablement site, so I'm planning how to improve it, how to manage it, and building pages for it. It's definitely improving, but it's hard work - and I still have the rest of my job to do.
Uncle Kevin has moved to Maine - I went to see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with him last night, and he's taking the children to the movies tomorrow.
We have Mark's birthday party coming up next Sunday, then his actual birthday on the Monday, plus we're trying to plan parties for the girls for next month. And we have granny and grandad coming out to visit on May 4th. So we're busy!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Diet Coke art
Did I mention the piece of art I created in the freezer the other day? I was quite proud.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Not much news
Have been terrible about updating this, but life has been very quiet.
Last weekend was sunny and not too cold, so we went to Ferry Beach for the first time. The beach is nothing to write home about, but the children had a blast building sandcastles and digging holes. Mark wet himself, so we just took his bottom half off, and hoped his top didn't flip up too much.
This weekend I've been working a lot, so Mike has been a hero taking the children out. Yesterday they did the library, piano lessons, lunch at Bruce's Burritos and errands.
Today is Maine Maple Sunday, so he made the mistake of trying to take them for breakfast at a maple farm. After they froze to death at two farms, one with about 1000 visitors, the other with no food on offer, they went to Stones Cafe instead. It's a great place for breakfast.
I spent some time with everyone this afternoon - we went to Colette and John's for a huge amount of food, some playing on the Wii, a bit of croquet (as you do) and a natter. Then it was back to work for me. I have some big meetings coming up - I'm about to throw the shit at the fan as hard as possible, so I need to be sure I've done my research properly, and informed all the people who need to be fully informed. I look forward to it all calming down a bit soon.
Carl next door has a date for his heart bypass - April 12th. He wanted to do something special with each child beforehand, so on Friday he and Hannah went to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid then went to Bugaboo Creek for dinner. Saturday morning he took Ellie to Clay Play then McDonalds. Next week he's taking Mark to the railway museum. I wonder if they really appreciate how lucky they are to have such lovely neighbours?
Last weekend was sunny and not too cold, so we went to Ferry Beach for the first time. The beach is nothing to write home about, but the children had a blast building sandcastles and digging holes. Mark wet himself, so we just took his bottom half off, and hoped his top didn't flip up too much.
This weekend I've been working a lot, so Mike has been a hero taking the children out. Yesterday they did the library, piano lessons, lunch at Bruce's Burritos and errands.
Today is Maine Maple Sunday, so he made the mistake of trying to take them for breakfast at a maple farm. After they froze to death at two farms, one with about 1000 visitors, the other with no food on offer, they went to Stones Cafe instead. It's a great place for breakfast.
I spent some time with everyone this afternoon - we went to Colette and John's for a huge amount of food, some playing on the Wii, a bit of croquet (as you do) and a natter. Then it was back to work for me. I have some big meetings coming up - I'm about to throw the shit at the fan as hard as possible, so I need to be sure I've done my research properly, and informed all the people who need to be fully informed. I look forward to it all calming down a bit soon.
Carl next door has a date for his heart bypass - April 12th. He wanted to do something special with each child beforehand, so on Friday he and Hannah went to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid then went to Bugaboo Creek for dinner. Saturday morning he took Ellie to Clay Play then McDonalds. Next week he's taking Mark to the railway museum. I wonder if they really appreciate how lucky they are to have such lovely neighbours?
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Ellie's allergies
Ellie and I just got back from her latest allergy testing appointment. She was tested for environmental allergies for the first time. The sheet says she was tested for...
Dust mite
Cat
Dog
Cockroach (yum!)
Grass
Ragweed, goldenrod, cocklebur, English plantain, Mugwort (that really exists?)
Oak pollen
Elm pollen
Box elder pollen
Birch pollen
Maple pollen
White pine pollen
Shagbark Hickory pollen
Beech pollen
Willow pollen
Mould
Rabbit
She was also retested for...
Peanut
Brazilnut
Cashew
Hazelnut
Pecan, walnut
Her back looked like this...
...and she wasn't happy at all.
She tested positive to basically everything Mike and I are allergic to - dust, cat, various tree pollens, grass pollen. But not mould or any weeds, so I suppose we should be grateful for that.
So we're now going to work on reducing dust in the house. Mike's allergic to dust mites so we do quite a few things right but there's a few more things to do. Get some air conditioning units in so that we can keep windows closed at night in summer. And Ellie has a nasal spray to try.
Her peanut and brazil nut reactions were less than last time, and the doctor suggested that we do blood tests to check those. Might they be improving? I daren't even hope...
She was so good. It took well over an hour to do all the skin tests, then she had three vials of blood drawn. She sat on my lap, and I distracted her with photos on my phone while the needle went in. She only squeaked once. I was amazed!
So now she's eating two lollipops and watching her favourite Barbie movie, and I'm about to restart work.
Not such good news for Carl. His triple bypass is now going to be a quintuple bypass. The operation is on April 12th. The good news is that his heart isn't damaged - he hasn't had a heart attack. He just needs new plumbing, as Nadja puts it.
Dust mite
Cat
Dog
Cockroach (yum!)
Grass
Ragweed, goldenrod, cocklebur, English plantain, Mugwort (that really exists?)
Oak pollen
Elm pollen
Box elder pollen
Birch pollen
Maple pollen
White pine pollen
Shagbark Hickory pollen
Beech pollen
Willow pollen
Mould
Rabbit
She was also retested for...
Peanut
Brazilnut
Cashew
Hazelnut
Pecan, walnut
Her back looked like this...
...and she wasn't happy at all.
She tested positive to basically everything Mike and I are allergic to - dust, cat, various tree pollens, grass pollen. But not mould or any weeds, so I suppose we should be grateful for that.
So we're now going to work on reducing dust in the house. Mike's allergic to dust mites so we do quite a few things right but there's a few more things to do. Get some air conditioning units in so that we can keep windows closed at night in summer. And Ellie has a nasal spray to try.
Her peanut and brazil nut reactions were less than last time, and the doctor suggested that we do blood tests to check those. Might they be improving? I daren't even hope...
She was so good. It took well over an hour to do all the skin tests, then she had three vials of blood drawn. She sat on my lap, and I distracted her with photos on my phone while the needle went in. She only squeaked once. I was amazed!
So now she's eating two lollipops and watching her favourite Barbie movie, and I'm about to restart work.
Not such good news for Carl. His triple bypass is now going to be a quintuple bypass. The operation is on April 12th. The good news is that his heart isn't damaged - he hasn't had a heart attack. He just needs new plumbing, as Nadja puts it.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
From skiing to lounging round in the sun
Since we got back from Florida we seem to have all the weather that it's possible to get.
First we had a sunny weekend where we explored Kettle Cove, and spent a fair amount of time just recovering from being on holiday.
Then we had an incredibly rainy and windy week where trees fell down all around us, including one round the corner on Hillside, bringing down live cables galore.
The rain in Maine turned out to be snow in the mountains, so then I got to spend a Sunday with Hannah at Sunday River, skiing in 14 inches of fresh snow. Hannah went from snowplough turns to skiing parallel in six hours. I realised that 168cm long skis are too long for me.
Then this weekend it's 50F, all the snow has melted, and we've been back on the beach. Yesterday we took the children to Winslow Park to ride their bikes, explore the rocks and play in the park. Today we explored the ruins at Fort William then ate at El Rayo Taquiero (mmmm fish taco). We've put the net back up around the trampoline, and we're even thinking about gardening.
Other memorable parts of the last few weeks (according to my Facebook status updates - does anyone else use Facebook instead of a diary?):
Mark looked gorgeous in a blue silk bridesmaid's dress, and said "Daddy you wettened me."
We had Mary, Philip, Jack and Sam over for dinner - and Hannah and Jack are obviously really quite keen on each other.
There was a burglary in the bank next to Ellie's school, resulting in the school being locked down for the afternoon.
The girls are thoroughly enjoying gymnastics on Wednesdays after school, and we're all enjoying going out for dinner at Uno afterwards, especially when they bring out the cocktails.
After all the trees came down they decided to close school for the day. School had power. Everyone (except a few people on Cousins Island) could get to it. But they closed it anyway. Meanwhile the flooding was so bad the Presumpscot River flooded right over the trail next to my office - but everyone got to work anyway, even if they had to try several routes to get round the floods.
I worked out how to watch TV on the computer while lying in the bath.
First we had a sunny weekend where we explored Kettle Cove, and spent a fair amount of time just recovering from being on holiday.
Then we had an incredibly rainy and windy week where trees fell down all around us, including one round the corner on Hillside, bringing down live cables galore.
The rain in Maine turned out to be snow in the mountains, so then I got to spend a Sunday with Hannah at Sunday River, skiing in 14 inches of fresh snow. Hannah went from snowplough turns to skiing parallel in six hours. I realised that 168cm long skis are too long for me.
Then this weekend it's 50F, all the snow has melted, and we've been back on the beach. Yesterday we took the children to Winslow Park to ride their bikes, explore the rocks and play in the park. Today we explored the ruins at Fort William then ate at El Rayo Taquiero (mmmm fish taco). We've put the net back up around the trampoline, and we're even thinking about gardening.
Other memorable parts of the last few weeks (according to my Facebook status updates - does anyone else use Facebook instead of a diary?):
Mark looked gorgeous in a blue silk bridesmaid's dress, and said "Daddy you wettened me."
We had Mary, Philip, Jack and Sam over for dinner - and Hannah and Jack are obviously really quite keen on each other.
There was a burglary in the bank next to Ellie's school, resulting in the school being locked down for the afternoon.
The girls are thoroughly enjoying gymnastics on Wednesdays after school, and we're all enjoying going out for dinner at Uno afterwards, especially when they bring out the cocktails.
After all the trees came down they decided to close school for the day. School had power. Everyone (except a few people on Cousins Island) could get to it. But they closed it anyway. Meanwhile the flooding was so bad the Presumpscot River flooded right over the trail next to my office - but everyone got to work anyway, even if they had to try several routes to get round the floods.
I worked out how to watch TV on the computer while lying in the bath.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A week on Anna Maria Island
We're back from our week on Anna Maria Island in Florida. It wasn't warm, but the kids swam every minute they possibly could anyway, and somehow I got sunburnt.
Spent a lot of time just relaxing, exploring Sarasota's various attractions, watching the Winter Olympics, watching the children swimming, and occasionally venturing into the hot tub.
Will post more pictures when less tired.
Got back to the house to find beautifully refinished floorboards, and a lot of cleaning that had been done by Veronica. I occasionally find patches of dust and realise how bad it must have looked when she arrived. Don't think I'll do any more floor refinishing in a while.
Back to work today. Knackered...
Spent a lot of time just relaxing, exploring Sarasota's various attractions, watching the Winter Olympics, watching the children swimming, and occasionally venturing into the hot tub.
Will post more pictures when less tired.
Got back to the house to find beautifully refinished floorboards, and a lot of cleaning that had been done by Veronica. I occasionally find patches of dust and realise how bad it must have looked when she arrived. Don't think I'll do any more floor refinishing in a while.
Back to work today. Knackered...
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Nashua NH
We're on holiday! We've made it as far as Nashua NH, where we're staying in a Hampton Inn that Mike helped build. It's very nice and it has free internet, so it gets my vote.
We're due to leave here at 6am - which coincidentally is when the snow is due to start. We're supposed to take off for Florida at 8.15am, and luckily we've booked direct flights there.
DC, which had 30 inches of snow at the weekend, is due to get 16 inches of snow tomorrow, and NY has already told all schools tomorrow to close because of the blizzards they're due to get.
And we have had no snow in weeks. It's bizarre.
Anyway. Hopefully see you in Florida tomorrow evening.
We're due to leave here at 6am - which coincidentally is when the snow is due to start. We're supposed to take off for Florida at 8.15am, and luckily we've booked direct flights there.
DC, which had 30 inches of snow at the weekend, is due to get 16 inches of snow tomorrow, and NY has already told all schools tomorrow to close because of the blizzards they're due to get.
And we have had no snow in weeks. It's bizarre.
Anyway. Hopefully see you in Florida tomorrow evening.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Overheard In Portland: Difficult Questions
Overheard In Portland: Difficult Questions
I just found this blog and particularly liked this post...
I just found this blog and particularly liked this post...
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Good news bad news
$35 million grant will allow Amtrak to expand train service to Brunswick | Portland Press Herald
The good news is they're rebuilding the passenger train service from Portland to Brunswick, going through Yarmouth.
The bad news is it won't actually stop in Yarmouth.
Oh well. Who needs public transport anyway?
The good news is they're rebuilding the passenger train service from Portland to Brunswick, going through Yarmouth.
The bad news is it won't actually stop in Yarmouth.
Oh well. Who needs public transport anyway?
Monday, January 25, 2010
Skiing with Hannah
I spent last Saturday afternoon skiing with my big girl. She went off on the 7.15am bus to Mt Abram and had her morning lesson, then I appeared while she was finishing her lunch, and we hit the slopes together.
She's full of confidence and believes she can do anything, which for me is terrifying. We started with a blue run - quite a difficult one - and I had plenty of moments where I didn't think she was going to be able to stop.
On the lift back up we had a chat about how you have to ski better when the slope is steeper. So then we did a different blue - The Snake - and this time she did the whole thing totally in control. She's still doing snowploughs and snowplough turns, but she was able to do some quite difficult runs by taking them slowly and making sure she was in charge the whole way. Then we'd get to the wide flatter bits, and she was off. Third run she disappeared off ahead of me, and I had to speed up to catch up.
We both loved it! But my thighs were very sore by the end, despite the half-time beer. I clearly need to do more exercise... you know, like more than just going skiing every other Saturday.
So having had 18 inches of snow last week, then a beautiful weekend for skiing, today it has rained and rained and rained. It's 8C right now, which is unheard of for Maine in winter. The snow is melting, the wind is blowing the rain horizontally, there's fog everywhere. I had a horrible drive home through it.
This evening I decided to actually do some exercise, so I headed out in the foul weather, only to find the YMCA had a power cut. Hmmph.
She's full of confidence and believes she can do anything, which for me is terrifying. We started with a blue run - quite a difficult one - and I had plenty of moments where I didn't think she was going to be able to stop.
On the lift back up we had a chat about how you have to ski better when the slope is steeper. So then we did a different blue - The Snake - and this time she did the whole thing totally in control. She's still doing snowploughs and snowplough turns, but she was able to do some quite difficult runs by taking them slowly and making sure she was in charge the whole way. Then we'd get to the wide flatter bits, and she was off. Third run she disappeared off ahead of me, and I had to speed up to catch up.
We both loved it! But my thighs were very sore by the end, despite the half-time beer. I clearly need to do more exercise... you know, like more than just going skiing every other Saturday.
So having had 18 inches of snow last week, then a beautiful weekend for skiing, today it has rained and rained and rained. It's 8C right now, which is unheard of for Maine in winter. The snow is melting, the wind is blowing the rain horizontally, there's fog everywhere. I had a horrible drive home through it.
This evening I decided to actually do some exercise, so I headed out in the foul weather, only to find the YMCA had a power cut. Hmmph.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
At last some proper snow
It's not just the British who get the weather forecast wrong. Yesterday we were due for 2-4 inches of snow. We woke up at 7am, looked out the window, and we already had 6 inches. Another 6 inches fell during the morning, then it stopped early afternoon, and sat there looking all pretty.
I did the sensible thing: worked from home. It was Martin Luther King Day, so the children were off school, so that saved them a snow day.
A guy came to service the boiler - he arrived about an hour and a half late, having first had to shovel his driveway, then had a very slow 20 mile drive, then had been unable to find our house because the number on the mailbox gets hidden by snow in the winter. He was lucky to arrive just after our drive had been ploughed, otherwise I'm not convinced he would have made the final few yards. He walked in and said "Hello" in an Essex accent, which was a surprise.
Later the electrician turned up and fitted an exterior light - he drove the van up, propped the ladder against it, and worked up there in a foot of snow. Mainers eh? I'll never be a proper Mainer - I refuse to get up at 5am without good reason, I don't jog in snow, and I think the sensible thing to do when there's a foot of snow on the ground is sit at home in front of the fire.
Anyway, after all that excitement we got another 4 inches of snow today, which seemed like a bit of a dusting really. School was open. I drove to work and - not really thinking straight - parked in the outside lot instead of under cover. Paid the price later when I had to brush a fair amount of snow off the car, then it took me quite a while to get home.
We had dinner with Kevin at 233 Grill. Hannah told him some terrible jokes and sang some rude songs to him. I'm so proud of my children.
So now we have some proper snow on the ground, and it's starting to feel like winter. Time to go to Florida soon!
I did the sensible thing: worked from home. It was Martin Luther King Day, so the children were off school, so that saved them a snow day.
A guy came to service the boiler - he arrived about an hour and a half late, having first had to shovel his driveway, then had a very slow 20 mile drive, then had been unable to find our house because the number on the mailbox gets hidden by snow in the winter. He was lucky to arrive just after our drive had been ploughed, otherwise I'm not convinced he would have made the final few yards. He walked in and said "Hello" in an Essex accent, which was a surprise.
Later the electrician turned up and fitted an exterior light - he drove the van up, propped the ladder against it, and worked up there in a foot of snow. Mainers eh? I'll never be a proper Mainer - I refuse to get up at 5am without good reason, I don't jog in snow, and I think the sensible thing to do when there's a foot of snow on the ground is sit at home in front of the fire.
Anyway, after all that excitement we got another 4 inches of snow today, which seemed like a bit of a dusting really. School was open. I drove to work and - not really thinking straight - parked in the outside lot instead of under cover. Paid the price later when I had to brush a fair amount of snow off the car, then it took me quite a while to get home.
We had dinner with Kevin at 233 Grill. Hannah told him some terrible jokes and sang some rude songs to him. I'm so proud of my children.
So now we have some proper snow on the ground, and it's starting to feel like winter. Time to go to Florida soon!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The new woodstove in action
Who needs a TV? (Thanks to Colette for that one)
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb
I can't quite believe how much heat a stove like this generates. We went for one of the smaller stoves in the range, but the house is still roasting within about an hour of lighting it.
I'm especially happy with how much heat goes upstairs - the upstairs of our house is usually woefully cold due to short baseboards and a 22 year old boiler, and we don't really want to do lots of work on the heating system.
Tonight Hannah went to bed complaining that her bedroom was too hot...
Stove in place and ready for lighting
Ready to go
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb
Last Wednesday a couple of nice blokes turned up, installed a stove, ran the pipe up through the girls' room, punched a hole in the roof, and stuck a chimney up there.
It wasn't that much of a surprise, having spent ages choosing which stove we wanted, then handed over $5000 for the stove, hearth, venting materials and installation. But we still didn't actually have any wood ready to burn in it, or fireplace tools. We're a bit rubbish like that.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
First ski trip of 2010
Despite the coooooooold temperatures we headed to Mt Abram yesterday for our first ski trip of this year. Hannah is signed up to go for four Saturdays on a Community Services trip, and I just wanted to get us all onto the slopes.
It was cold but great fun. Mark, Ellie and Mike all ended up with a private ski lesson each - Ellie was sobbing that she didn't want to ski so her instructor took pity and gave her a one-on-one lesson. By the end she was doing snowplough turns quite happily.
Mark spent half his lesson just getting the feel of skis, then after his lesson was up he and I spent some time just going up the magic carpet and down the slope. He's getting very confident and gaining a little understanding that snowploughing slows you down. His snowplough involves turning left though...
Mike was on skis for the first time in about a century, but had a fabulous time. And I just went up and down the lift a few times and enjoyed it.
Meanwhile Hannah had a challenging day and survived it. It sounds like it was total chaos when they got off their bus, and she ended up in tears because she had no idea where to go or what to do. An older girl took care of her, and got her to the rental place, then to her lesson. After lunch Hannah ended up skiing totally unaccompanied, which I'm still somewhat in shock about, but she just got on with it. She was pleased as punch with herself.
We met up with her just before her bus was due to leave, and asked her if she'd like to go on the bus or come with us - she said she'd like to go on the bus with her friends. I was proud of her all over again.
Today we all ache... and not only because when we woke up it was -20C. Had a very lazy day.
It was cold but great fun. Mark, Ellie and Mike all ended up with a private ski lesson each - Ellie was sobbing that she didn't want to ski so her instructor took pity and gave her a one-on-one lesson. By the end she was doing snowplough turns quite happily.
Mark spent half his lesson just getting the feel of skis, then after his lesson was up he and I spent some time just going up the magic carpet and down the slope. He's getting very confident and gaining a little understanding that snowploughing slows you down. His snowplough involves turning left though...
Mike was on skis for the first time in about a century, but had a fabulous time. And I just went up and down the lift a few times and enjoyed it.
Meanwhile Hannah had a challenging day and survived it. It sounds like it was total chaos when they got off their bus, and she ended up in tears because she had no idea where to go or what to do. An older girl took care of her, and got her to the rental place, then to her lesson. After lunch Hannah ended up skiing totally unaccompanied, which I'm still somewhat in shock about, but she just got on with it. She was pleased as punch with herself.
We met up with her just before her bus was due to leave, and asked her if she'd like to go on the bus or come with us - she said she'd like to go on the bus with her friends. I was proud of her all over again.
Today we all ache... and not only because when we woke up it was -20C. Had a very lazy day.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Clearing snow off the skating pond
Clearing snow off the skating pond
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb
This did make me laugh - a tractor on the ice-skating pond. The same day a tractor was clearing the Deering Oaks pond in Portland and went through the ice.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=306962&ac=PHnws
Cross country skiing
With a fresh 8+ inches of snow on the ground, today was the perfect day to try out cross country skiing for the first time. Pineland has loads of groomed trails plus gear to rent, and a great coffee shop for afterwards.
Hannah was at Max's so we only had Ellie and Mark to encourage to do 'slidey walking', pick up every time they fell over, and chat with on our way round the trails.
None of us were particularly good at it, but it was fun!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Goodbye 2009, hello 2010
2009... what happened? We had another incredibly snowy winter, and I'm not quite sure how we survived it. I think the snow came in at about 9 feet in the end, including one spectacular storm where Yarmouth got 22 inches in one day.
While we waited for the snow to disappear we spent a lovely February week with Mike's mum in Anna Maria Island in Florida, including a quick trip to Disney in Orlando. It was so good we're doing it again this year. The best bit was that they had two huge snowstorms while we were away, but we missed them both.
Mike continued working at Olympia, and I got a full time job at Unum in March, as a Knowledge Management Consultant. When I work out what it means I'll let you know. We're all still feeling a bit shell-shocked by it. The children spend a lot of time with our wonderful neighbours. Mark tried full days at nursery but didn't like it, so he went back to 3 mornings a week at the local co-op, and the rest of the time hanging out with his buddies next door.
Hannah went into 3rd grade and Ellie into 1st grade - so they both have new teachers and are both very happy. Ellie is now doing full days at school and is coping beautifully.
Mum and Mike came to visit in April, and we had a trip to North Conway together in the roasting temperatures - took a train trip, played mini-golf, walked around a lake and spotted bear footprints, and hung out in Portland.
In May my uncle Keith committed suicide, after battling depression for a long time. I went over to the UK for his funeral, and caught up with many Werbs, some of whom I'd never met, and some I hadn't seen in more than 30 years. It was sad but in a way very lovely.
In August Bobby, Alistair and the children visited for the two hottest weeks of the year. I had the entire fortnight off. We went to the pool and various lakes (including our new favourite, Outlet Beach at New Gloucester), then the second week we rented two cottages up at Embden Lake. We spent a week jumping off the raft, canoeing, and watching the children learn to swim.
Then later in the year mum came back to visit with granny - who is now 87 and as a result didn't have to give her fingerprints at immigration. We had a nice peaceful time together.
Mark is now confident at swimming in deep water - Ellie's not quite there yet. Ellie is learning to read, and Mark is getting to recognise a lot of letters and all numbers. Hannah took some standardised school test and her marks were something like 99.4th centile for the country - she was very pleased, because she'd really hated doing the tests.
Did anything else happen? I'm sure it did, but that feels like most of it.
The last day of 2009 was snowy, and somewhat memorable. I did a morning at work, then left after lunch and saw several crashed cars/trucks on the way home - I-295 south ended up closed because of a car on fire. John and Colette borrowed our 4WD so they could pick up family who'd written off their car in a shunt on the Mass Pike while on their way to Maine. We decided despite the weather that we would go to the New Year 5.30pm ice hockey game - and I'm very glad we did, it was great fun. Especially the fireworks at the end. It's a great way to finish the year.
Now it's 2010, and it's still snowing. We had a lovely day at John and Colette's today, and I'm sure I've already gained a couple of pounds this year! Tonight we're due some snow, tomorrow we're due even more, and tomorrow night they're talking about 10-20 inches. We will see...
I suspect the supermarket will be packed tomorrow, and we'll be in there with the best of them stocking up.
While we waited for the snow to disappear we spent a lovely February week with Mike's mum in Anna Maria Island in Florida, including a quick trip to Disney in Orlando. It was so good we're doing it again this year. The best bit was that they had two huge snowstorms while we were away, but we missed them both.
Mike continued working at Olympia, and I got a full time job at Unum in March, as a Knowledge Management Consultant. When I work out what it means I'll let you know. We're all still feeling a bit shell-shocked by it. The children spend a lot of time with our wonderful neighbours. Mark tried full days at nursery but didn't like it, so he went back to 3 mornings a week at the local co-op, and the rest of the time hanging out with his buddies next door.
Hannah went into 3rd grade and Ellie into 1st grade - so they both have new teachers and are both very happy. Ellie is now doing full days at school and is coping beautifully.
Mum and Mike came to visit in April, and we had a trip to North Conway together in the roasting temperatures - took a train trip, played mini-golf, walked around a lake and spotted bear footprints, and hung out in Portland.
In May my uncle Keith committed suicide, after battling depression for a long time. I went over to the UK for his funeral, and caught up with many Werbs, some of whom I'd never met, and some I hadn't seen in more than 30 years. It was sad but in a way very lovely.
In August Bobby, Alistair and the children visited for the two hottest weeks of the year. I had the entire fortnight off. We went to the pool and various lakes (including our new favourite, Outlet Beach at New Gloucester), then the second week we rented two cottages up at Embden Lake. We spent a week jumping off the raft, canoeing, and watching the children learn to swim.
Then later in the year mum came back to visit with granny - who is now 87 and as a result didn't have to give her fingerprints at immigration. We had a nice peaceful time together.
Mark is now confident at swimming in deep water - Ellie's not quite there yet. Ellie is learning to read, and Mark is getting to recognise a lot of letters and all numbers. Hannah took some standardised school test and her marks were something like 99.4th centile for the country - she was very pleased, because she'd really hated doing the tests.
Did anything else happen? I'm sure it did, but that feels like most of it.
The last day of 2009 was snowy, and somewhat memorable. I did a morning at work, then left after lunch and saw several crashed cars/trucks on the way home - I-295 south ended up closed because of a car on fire. John and Colette borrowed our 4WD so they could pick up family who'd written off their car in a shunt on the Mass Pike while on their way to Maine. We decided despite the weather that we would go to the New Year 5.30pm ice hockey game - and I'm very glad we did, it was great fun. Especially the fireworks at the end. It's a great way to finish the year.
Now it's 2010, and it's still snowing. We had a lovely day at John and Colette's today, and I'm sure I've already gained a couple of pounds this year! Tonight we're due some snow, tomorrow we're due even more, and tomorrow night they're talking about 10-20 inches. We will see...
I suspect the supermarket will be packed tomorrow, and we'll be in there with the best of them stocking up.
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