Away they go!

Eve wore her “exercise dress” for the hike.

How’s this for big muscle activity!?

Snack time. Big muscle activity takes frequent refueling!

The weird arm positions are because Lex was teaching the other two how to skip rocks.

The water is very low this year. Unlike this week last year! Hello Irene!

Eve finds caterpillars everywhere we go. At the farm later in the day she had a wooly bear crawling up her shoulder!

On the way back up the hill the kids gathered “beautiful leaves” for a bouquet for me. I reminded them that in a few weeks we’ll have more leaves than we know what to do with right in our own front lawn!

Eve pouting in the corner because “No one will play with me,” after Lex and I got bored of playing her endless imaginary game. Poor girl. She needs some 5yr old girl friends to play with!

This is what quiet time in our house looks like sometimes. Other times it’s a boy lost in a book. I never know what I’ll find when I open the door.

Who can resist licking the bowl after the most popular snack in the house – popcorn with raisins, spray butter, and nutritional yeast!

Tea and the newspaper. Like my new tea mug? I painted it myself. :)

Eve bought window markers with her allowance last week and our windows have been thoroughly decorated all week. We finally got around to washing them this weekend. I even managed to make it a game for the kids!

I can’t expect to make it through a busy week with family and babysitters and contractors and house disruptions and all without at least one major breakdown. This week’s breakdown came courtesy of Lex on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately it ended with him jumping off the ottaman in his bedroom and crashing face first into a wooden doll cradle. The result was a scrape on his gums above his front teeth, a cut on the inside of his lip, and an hour with a mouthful of gauze to contain the bleeding. Now he’s left with a fat lip. Poor boy.

It’s a beautiful day on Lake Champlain.

Checking out the fish while waiting for me to check in at the museum.

First things first, lunch on the terrace.

Lunch with a view. What more could we ask for?!

First stop in the museum was a sunken ship exhibit. The kids loved it. We actually started and ended our visit in this shipwreck!

Then off to visit the turtles. Did you know there exists a soft-shelled turtle?

Eve loved the touch tank. I didn’t get a good picture of her touching the sea star, but this is a cool picture of a sea star feeding. The museum woman said you can tell it’s feeding because it is bunched up in the middle.

Out on the deck for a quick pic. :) I love that he smiles for the camera these days!

Getting a better view of New York state with a good pair of museum binoculars.

Getting silly. Time for a break.

We went back outside for a snack break, then a trip through the ankle misting machine. :)

When we left the museum we walked up to Church Street, which is a cool walking street with lots of activity. The first thing we found there is a painted bear exhibit. I didn’t catch the details of why, but there were painted bears everywhere. A fundraiser for something, I’m sure. The kids decided we need to take pictures of them on every single bear. Mema and I took turns taking the pictures. I’ll spare you every single one and just post a few. :)

The game was to try and take the picture before Eve stuck her tongue out. I didn’t win with this picture. :)

We stopped a the Lake Champaign Chocolate store. I vetoed the “block of chocolate” option and we agreed on a bag of mixed chocolates instead.

I love these unprompted, heart-melting, hand-holding moments. It does a momma proud.

At the end of the street we found a fountain. The kids couldn’t resist. I couldn’t say no.

Lo and behold, we found a Panera Bread on Church Street! One with outdoor seating. One where the staff delivers your meal! Life is good. (on that note, I didn’t make it to the Life is Good store just down the street…. maybe next trip.)

One more bear for good measure.

A drawing Eve made for Lex. It is a tree and a flower and a person climbing a mountain. Even Eve wasn’t sure about the stuff in the middle. :)

My mudroom. Easy (NOT!) come, easy go.

This might be my last time shopping with these two for awhile. I think that’s probably a good thing.

The store was pretty empty today so I let them be a little wild. They are full of wild these days!

Waiting patiently while I check out at the grocery store. They wore themselves out.. for a minute or two!

We had many errands to run this morning, ending at the farm for our CSA pickup. The kids ran around (more wild!) and picked flowers from the pick-your-own flower patch they have. When we got home Eve took the job of arranging all the flowers in vases and watering them.

While Eve did the flowers Lex checked out in the office for awhile. I went in to find that he was praticing the piano (the piano has become a saga for another post!) and he even wrote a song.