Hiking the gorge

Aunt Mandy came to visit today and we went to Quechee to hike the gorge. It was a beautiful day and we all had a blast. I have such fond memories of Quechee Gorge from all the years we came up here as kids. It used to seem like such a looong hike, but it really isn’t. It’s not even a mile total, from top to bottom. We probably did almost 2 miles today, going up and down and making a few detours. We went down, played on the rocks, waded in the water, slipped and slided, and then went all the way to the top to look at the dam. Alan explained all the inner workings and Lex told me tonight that he had fun with everything, but the dam was his favorite part :) Then we all went out to lunch at an awesome restaurant Alan and I discovered a few weeks ago on a date. We sat outside at a picnic table, ate delicious food, and enjoyed the day. Then back to the house for naps and quiet time. After that Alan and Amanda entertained the kids while I holed up in the office to do some work for Good Beginnings, post some books for sale on half.com, and get caught up on old email. A good time was had by all :)

Running down the trail

Lex running down the trail. He did a great job walking/running the entire way, up and down.

Peaking over the edge

Peaking over the edge. Eve is on Mandy's shoulders in the background.

Wading

Wading in the little pools.

Salt dough

We were going to make homemade play-doh on Thursday. Lex, super excited, ran to his cookbook because he knew it had a recipe for play-doh. Turns out it’s a recipe for bread dough that you can play with. The title says Play Dough. He was bummed. But he kept looking and came across a salt dough recipe and decided he wanted to make that instead. So funny because we used to make salt dough as kids, but I never would have thought of it until he found the recipe. So we made up a batch and the kids had fun rolling and shaping and cutting. After a few hours in the oven it was ready to be painted! But, sadly, we only own washable paint. On Friday we went and bought some acrylic (aka NOT washable paint!) and Friday afternoon we had a blast painting our salt dough creations. They dried quickly so we were able to go back and paint decorations and layers and it was fun. I always forget how much Eve loves painting. It’s messy and not my favorite project, but she loves it. I need to paint with her more often. She put many, many coats of paint on each one she did. It was fun.

lex painting

eve painting

messy hands

NON washable! (when it dries. fortunatly it comes off pretty easily while still wet!)

finished projects

Want one? We have plenty to spare. :)