Happy Birthday Aleks!!!!

It's too bad our birthdays are mid-week and we're busy working, like any other day.

Aleks got a birthday card from Mason this morning and promises of gifts if he gets home before we are asleep tonight (he worked a 15 hour day yesterday getting home close to 10:30 PM).

What a great mid-day break. We had lunch together in Watertown with a few friends to celebrate. The mexican place where we ate (right in the same complex as Molecular) couldn't seat us outside but we had a nice break from the office.

We're both looking forward to heading to the farm this weekend, relaxing a bit, and doing some belated birthday celebrating with his family.

Update:
Aleks got home just as Mason and I returned from a long walk, which was perfect. He opened his 'surprise' gifts first - a pole hole digger and a pole saw. Hey, they were on his birthday wish list. What can I say? I also threw him for a loop with two large boxes, identical in shape and size - two Adirondack chairs. But wait! The fun doesn't stop there. He gets to assemble and finish the chairs himself!

The celebrations continued at the farm with his family. What a great weekend. Other gifts for Aleks included a fire pit!!! We managed to pull of a themed birthday this year. FUN! It was also great to watch Beckett explore in the water - at the pond and the stream. We can't wait to all be together again in Newport.

Clam Fest 2008

Yarmouth, ME Clam Festival 2008!

What a great weekend! Thanks to the Wilsons for hosting another successful Clam Fest.We got to Yarmouth Saturday morning just in time for the Clam Shucking contest. Aleks didn't have much luck upgrading his third place medal from last year with 4 clams shucked in 1 minute, but we're happy for Aaron placing 2nd in the finals with 7 clams (first place winner got 9)!

We didn't do much shopping or browsing the arts and crafts booths this year with Mason but we had such a great day. Mason had fun playing with Pippen, Betsy, Clyde, and the other dogs. It's shocking to see how much all the kids have grown since last year (especially Carter and Olivia), and we welcomed newcomers like Chase. and there's soon-to-come baby Trainor.

After a fun day of ladder ball, beer frisbee, flip cups, eating, drinking, and hanging out we headed back to see fireworks and enjoy the carnival. Aleks tried, and tried, and tried, and tried unsuccessfully to beat the ladder game [see picture below] and came in a close second in the water shooting game. The fireworks were great to see too.

We finished the night with a huge bonfire and rounds of jell-o shots. A perfect way to end a weekend. It only took me 2 hours to vaccum and fabreeze my car after a 2.5 hour ride with a dirty wet dog.
Enjoy these sample pictures. We don't have any of our tent used in the front lawn of the Wilson's house. We love it!! It's huge - even Aleks can stand up in it! It fit a queen size air mattress plus Mason's crate, it was perfect.
I have, however, included a picture of our tent partially set up in our living room!
...until next year...

home sweet home

What a weekend!
The weather in the Boston area was perfect all weekend with warm sunny days and cool, bug-less nights. We enjoyed a great BBQ at our neighbors house Saturday night and really enjoyed being home and doing work around the house. We have a fun filled summer so weekends with the both of us home are going to be rare, but we really enjoyed time together at home this weekend.

Homeowners can relate - there's always something to do around the house! And with a handyman husband there's always something gong on! Just when we thought we got the house in order, cleaned, and organized, the house gets flipped inside out with another project.

I spent Saturday dusting, moping, and doing a real clean of the house (I could have never imagined myself sitting on the kitchen counter scrubbing the cabinet doors clean, but I was this weekend!) while Aleks was busy mowing, doing yard work, and refinishing our back door - sanding, replacing hardware, priming, painting, and reinstalling. ...sounds like a lot of work just typing all the steps involved. HA

Sunday was another perfect day so we took Mason to Mt Misery park, about 20 minutes from our home. It was a perfect place to take him for a long walk and let him explore new sights, sounds, and smells while keeping him in control on the leash. I think we all enjoyed the walk and being outdoors together. If you want to read more about where we were, here's a great web page:
click for more information about Mt. Misery in Lincoln, MA

Once everything was in order around the house Aleks decided to continue our Phase 1 of the 1/2 bath remodel. (Phase 1 includes getting a new toilet and sink, so I thought). Apparently Phase 1 also includes replacing the medicine cabinet, getting new lighting, and painting. Aleks removed the early 1960's medicine cabinet (with light bulbs included) only to find a huge hole in the wall behind it. You'll also notice in this picture some remnants of old wall paper.

We removed the wall paper and quickly ran to Lowes and Home Depot to find a recessed cabinet to fit into our new hole in the wall along with a new light fixture. I strongly suggested we stop short of re-wiring the bathroom lighting at this time. For anyone who knows our home, or any home built in the late 50's/early 60's, it was common to put light switches outside the rooms so our bathroom switch is outside the bathroom and across the hall ...go figure.

Enjoy the pictures. I'll continue to update the blog with more pictures as we make more progress (aka filling the hole with our new medicine cabinet, installing the new light fixture, and possibly painting the walls to match the doody brown tiles).

Going Green

Hi everyone.
Unless you've been living under a rock lately, you're very aware of skyrocketing gas prices along with continuous talks of global warming and the uber-trendy term "going green".

Aleks and I have always thought of ourselves as somewhat eco-friendly people. We try to appreciate the beauty in our surroundings, clean up after ourselves, and do our share of recycling. Apparently that's not enough, by any stretch.

Whether it's shopping around for a new car or doing repairs and upgrades to our home, the word "green" is now first and foremost in our minds. Please post comments if you have ideas or suggestions on how us 'ordinary' people can get creative in helping our environment. (We recycle, created a compost pile, grow some of our own vegetables and herbs, upgraded to eco-friendlier appliances, use CFL bulbs and turn off lights when leaving a room, etc.)

In the mean time, check out National Geographic online. They have announced the New 7 Wonders of the World - an addition to the Ancient 7 Wonders. They also posted the 8 Natural Wonders of the World added to the UN Heritage List, for those of you who weren't involved in the American Idol style voting that took place over the past year.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/photogalleries/natural-wonders-photos/index.html

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

RLGC | 4th of July

What a great weekend at Raquette Lake!!

Some highlights include:
Thursday - the beautiful scenery and a great trip getting there, dinner at Red Dog then drinks outside the Tap Room. [Aleks was busy working almost a full day Thursday]

Friday - trip to Old Forge for breakfast at the Muffin Patch then a morning of shopping (my favorite was "The Adirondacks Most General Store") then a full afternoon on Steve's boat out on Raquette Lake. I've included a picture of us beached along with many other boaters - think tailgating but with boats. We ended a great day with sparklers, glow-stick earrings and necklaces, dinner at the Tap Room, and Raquette fireworks and tailgating. [Aleks was busy working around the house and taking care of Mason. He also went into Boston to visit with his family for a bit.]


Saturday - another beautiful day, but this time Lisa was back to work and I got to see her in action. She's amazing with the little campers and their counselors. We were inspecting bunks, watching activities, then headed over to boys camp for an afternoon of Olympics, pig-out dinner, and more fireworks! [Aleks was still busy with his house projects - installing a new sink in our 1/2 bath, fixing our back door to the porch, cleaning his car, cleaning up his piles, and many other things]


I had such a great visit. Sunday was a long drive home but fun to stop at Barnell Farm along the way for lunch with the parents and the Rosens. It was nice to come home to find Aleks as tired and ready to crash as I was! He did a great job with projects around the house and taking care of Mason while I was away. It's definitely nice to be back home again, but it's hard leaving such a great place.


And as a tribute to Helene - Raquette is definitely in our blood and I'll always appreciate the Dancing Diamonds out on the lake (or any lake or stream for that matter) and find something special in the nights moon.

Not again!

This is a quick update on Mason.
We were home in WP this weekend for Kristen and Jesse's Engagement Shower, which was fabulous, and we're so excited for the wedding in Florida this August!

Unfortunately Mason started limping off his back left leg some time Saturday. This is the same leg he just had surgery on. We immediately limited his activity and started giving him his pain/anti-inflammatory meds when we got home Sunday night.

The good news is that he seems to be improving already. We were told he'll be prone to limping, especially after prolonged activity. It's just hard to limit a lab puppy from running around, playing, and just being a dog. We're only taking him on short leash walks this week as he recovers and playing plenty of games around the house that stimulate his mind and keep him entertained a bit. We're also not exactly sure what caused this episode, but we plan to get him back to running around soon.

I also want to take a minute to say that our hearts go out to cousin Sarah and we wish her all the best. We hear that big sister Lauren has been fabulous and I wish we could be there for huge hugs and kisses. Extra love goes out to the Schoeners this week!