From the bridge…

Looking down river

The water was much higher last weekend, as you can see by the mud on the trees.

Looking up river

I promised the kids an at-home day, but I really meant a cleaning day. Somehow I got lucky and they wanted to help clean too! The dishwasher broke yesterday so we began our day washing two dishwasher loads worth of dishes. Fun for the whole family! (Well, Alan exercised and went to work, so I guess he didn’t get to share in the dish washing excitement)

Human dishwashers

Before I turned the camera on he kept saying, “Lex Johnson, human dishwasher!” Of course he won’t repeat for the camera.

After we finished the dishes we turned on some Andrew Lloyd Webber at top volume (my choice) and moved on to bathrooms!

This one was only moderately helpful.

This one worked hard!

They almost made it through both bathrooms before being pulled away by the excitement of jumping on the beds. I’m supposed to be sweeping and mopping the kitchen/dining room right now, but I got pulled away by the excitement of my little laptop :)

Tonight’s posts are light on text but heavy on pictures. I’m tired and don’t have much to say at the moment. I also just noticed I lost my side bar. I don’t know what happened, but I’m hoping maybe if I ignore the problem for a few days it will return on it’s own. Maybe it went to the beach today too.

We went back to the Atlantic today, this time with Julie and kids. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time! The kids played nicely together and even made friends with other kids on the beach, the mommies got to chat and life was good.

At the beach

Lunch time.

The water was cold, but that didn't stop Lex!

Body surfing

We got there when the tide was coming in and the waves were huge! He had a blast.

Eve preferred the sand.

They had the best seats. (ok, the only seats!) :)

Pretty baby. She did great at the beach.

The tide went out and suddenly it was a long walk to the water.

The kids made friends with some older kids who were building very deep holes. At one point I glanced over at Lex and saw this.

He was head first in the hole and loving it! Funny boy.

Low tide = big beach. The kids are out there somewhere, washing out the sand toys.

Smiley Miss Molly.

We stopped for candy on the way home. Seriously. I was falling asleep at the wheel so I stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break and we all picked out candy. I let them each get their own and they were overwhelmed with the idea and the options. Lex just mindlessly manhandled every thing on the shelf until I realized that he had no idea what any of the candy options were. He eventually decided on plain chocolate (Hershey’s milk chocolate bar, something he’s had before), Eve went for a brightly colored Skittles packet, and I went for my old standby, Reese’s peanut butter cups. Yum! There was no sleeping on the road after that!

When we got home Eve fell apart. No surprise there. A long day at the beach, no rest, and candy for dinner will do that to a four year old. I showered her and put her to bed in tears. Lex had a nice dinner and stories with Alan. Overall a nice end to the day (for most of us).

I was thinking about posting some of the really impressive local pictures I’ve seen on Facebook, but I’m too lazy for that right now. Instead I’ll just post a few I took yesterday. We had to go out in the afternoon for a doctor’s appointment and it ended up being really quick, so I took the kids for a little drive down town to see what we could see. We ended up parking for a bit and walking around. So much for my earlier comments on disaster tourism.

Yesterday we went out for a morning, post-hurricane walk. I was tempted to hop in the car and do some disaster touring, but… well, that’s kind of morbid and probably rude and didn’t seem appropriate with kids. So instead we packed the backpack (by “we” of course I mean “I”) and headed out for an adventure on foot. We decided to walk down the hill to check out the river and the dam, to see if we had any flooding within walking distance.

We had a great time. The weather was beautiful, we met a few friends along the way, the water was calm, the dam was releasing and therefore quite interesting to see, and I let them eat ice cream along the way. What more can you ask for?!

Here are some photos from our walk:

We found an unusual plant. Big orange flowers (in her hand) and green.... fruits?

What are these? Any ideas?

We found a little pavillion by the dam so we sat and watched the water. The kids loved it and wanted to go home and get some toys and books and lunch and come back. I need to remember that for another day.

I have never been to the dam before so I have no idea if this is impressive post-hurricane water or just a normal day.

We found a bunch of flipped over soccer goals. The kids had fun guessing what they were.

They had even more fun walking and bouncing on them.

Then we went down to the boat launch by the river. The water was very low and calm.

Then we started up the hill again. Eve took this one on hands and knees :)

Across the tracks... the bridge there is a work in progress and fun to watch.

Our walk involved lots of balancing on various objects.

We stopped at the store and bought ice cream to fuel the final uphill part of our journey.

I doled out bites and hummed the Klondike commercial. When the kids asked about it I sang the jingle for them. I can't remember the last time I've seen a commercial, but they do have a catchy jingle.

I’m feeling very unsettled today.  Hurricane Irene swept through the northeast yesterday and today, leaving a path of confusion and destruction.  The hubbub predicted winds reaching 100mph around here.  The stores are sold out of batteries, flashlights, and bottled water. Talk of evacuation (not for VT, of course) and bathtub filling was everywhere. Alan watched the radar map closely (he had to for work) and we waited. The rains came this morning, heavy at times, but minimal winds. He went into work to shut down all the computers. By late afternoon it was down to a drizzle and all seemed fine. At my house. However, I felt myself being drawn to Facebook all day, my primary source of news (pitiful, I know) and I read about and watched the destruction all around us. Roads washed out, friends being evacuated by boat from top floor apartments, bridges closed and washed away… it’s all so powerful!

This is the Quechee Covered Bridge, coming in to downtown Quechee. The bridge is no longer, and the real estate office right on the corner is destroyed. Simon Pearce, right next to the real estate office, has river running through the restaurant and show room. Their basement, including turbines and glass blowing studio, is under water. There is millions of dollars in damage right there alone, not even counting the rest of the town, county, and state! (by the way, this is not my video!)

We were also watching videos of update NY being flooded. Rivers running through towns and villages. Giant hay bales (the marshmallows) floating down main street. It’s all just so amazing and awesome and scary.

To add to my unease, poor Joyce’s flight to Guam on Saturday was canceled well before the storm really hit NYC and her and Rosy have been a stranded down there. They are now trying to make their way back to Franklin, in the dark, with most of the state closed. I worry, I can’t help it. And, this is totally trivial but I’m going to say it anyway, Alan watched a disturbing (to me) show during quiet time while I tried to read the paper. And he is in the process of putting up new ceiling lighting in the living room. I’m not sure if I like it yet, but the whole look and feel in the room is different. All afternoon the floor was littered with Transformers (Lex) and light/electrical bits and pieces (Alan). We were all a bit short with one another, the kids were wired, and I just wanted to eat. Definitely an off, unsettling day. HOWEVER, that said, here is the worst of the flooding we have experienced, so I can hardly complain.

Watch the progression as my kids get messier and messier. I have a bunch of videos that I’m uploading, but it’s slow going at the moment so they may be part of another post tomorrow.

They thought this was a HUGE puddle!

I convinced them to walk down the road and we found an even bigger puddle! :)

Splashing!

They found an earthworm in the puddle. It seemed to be only half alive.

Yep, now they're filling their boots with muddy water.

Who needs boots anyway?!

Swimming in the mud.

I got them to pause for a smile, sort of. :)

Lex filled Eve's hat with muddy water and put it on his head. Somehow it held the water and he walked around with a wiggly jiggly hat on his head.

There's my boy!

Good thing we have a MUD room! I stripped them naked and tossed them in the shower :)

I’m still trying to decide if this makes me fun mommy or totally insane? They had fun and washed up just fine, so as long as they don’t come down with some crazy sickness tomorrow I’m gonna stick with fun mommy! :)

Now the winds are picking up again, but the kids are asleep, Alan is home, the candles are out, and we have a big flashlight, so all is well. Tomorrow will bring what it will bring, including cresting rivers and more flooding. Thank goodness we live on top of a hill.

Here is a link to another video of another covered bridge in VT. It eventually collapsed (not in the video). See the propane tank floating by? Apparently that is a big problem all around. A bunch of tanks leaked around the Quechee covered bridge (above) and caused fumes throughout the town. They have also closed the Quechee Gorge bridge (on Rt 4, over the gorge) because of the buildup of propane tanks under the bridge. They are worried they will exploded and bring down the bridge. They’re not even letting emergency vehicles pass! Just insane! I need to get off this computer and go to bed, but the incoming videos and photos are just amazing!

A little post hurricane fun. After a rainy day in the house they had some energy to burn. Several neighbors stopped by during this fun and had a good laugh watching the kids. :)

I did it, I did it, I did it! :) After three and a half years and about 48lbs, I reached my Weight Watchers goal weight! Yay me! I’ve been so nervous this week and Alan and the kids have been so sweet and supportive. Alan has been giving me tips on how to drop weight fast (which he learned eons ago in wrestling). Some I used (limit fluids for 12hrs) some I did not (put on a garbage bag and sweats and go for a run!). Turns out none of the tiny details I worried about really mattered. I needed to lose one pound and this morning I was down 2.4lbs! Whoohooo!!! The kids were so sweet at the meeting and kept congratulating me. Eve drew me a “special picture” (she colored in a construction vehicle and gave it to me) and Lex took a picture for me :) After the meeting we stopped at Alan’s office to share the good news with him. I was bouncing (ok, I still am!!)

Lex took a picture for me. The receptionist offered to take a "better" picture for me, but this is exactly what I wanted! Lex snapped the picture and said, "There, that looks good." The whole room said "Awww...." The leader in front with me is actually a leader-in-training, not my normal meeting leader, but that was fun because she too struggled with plateaus and it took her a long time to lose her weight. We emailed and discussed and supported each other at times, so it was nice to be able to celebrate a bit with her.

Now on to six weeks of maintenance where I learn how to maintain this weight, then I officially get Weight Watchers Lifetime status. Oh la la!

Also, with Hurricane Irene on it’s way up the east coast (so they say), there’s a chance the CHaD Half Marathon will be reschedule/postponed anyway. Sigh. But at least I got it done and no longer have to worry about it! :)

This made me so happy I’m going to link it to
the blog hop at Rub Some Dirt On It. Happiness Is…

I wonder how many of my posts have that title? I should look that up some day. We spent a lovely few days in Franklin visiting the family last week. I have tons of pictures of campfires and birthday cupcake cones and demolition derbies… but my camera card was usurped (I wonder if that means what I think it means?) by my lovely sister and now it’s in the mail, hopefully on it’s way to my house. Pictures will come later this week.

Upon return we unpacked then repacked the car and headed south to celebrate Mandy’s birthday at a cool campsite on a lake. The kids splashed in the water and marveled at the audacity (big word day) of someone daring enough to throw a paper plate into the campfire. They ate ice cream and I ate rice crispy treats (for the first time in eons!) and we all went home wired. Good times.

Monday we crashed. Alan took the Prius (with the car seats) to work so we were housebound, which was my goal for the day. Laundry, dishes, vacuuming (well, thoughts of vacuuming anyway!) and general R&R took place.

Once my mind started to settle it occurred to me that we only have two weeks left until school starts and the kids need backpacks! I also need to book travel plans for DC next month. In other words, once my mind started to settle from the past week, it immediately switched to the upcoming weeks. Better late than never, right? :) So we are online backpack shopping (I’ll probably throw some school clothes in there too) and someday soon I’ll be motivated to book travel arrangements.

Most importantly this week I’m focusing on me. Yep, me! And my godforsaken plan to reach my WW goal weight this week or run the CHaD half marathon on Sunday. Yep, craziness is my motto. I have one pound to go and, with a Thursday morning weigh-in, a day and half to get there. I’ve been staying within points (mostly, despite all the travel and birthday celebrations) and exercising every day. Yesterday and today Alan agreed to put the kids to bed so I could do an AM exercise and then a PM run. Insane! I’m trying to pretend I did not eat rice crispy treats (although I’ve mentioned them twice already so I guess my denial isn’t working) and delicious dark chocolate covered almonds I bought “for the kids” this morning. Sigh. Wish me luck, with losing a pound or running a half marathon! (that’s 13.1 miles for those who don’t know, and there’s no way in hell I can actually run that!)

Now I have to go make a shopping list, take the monkeys shopping this afternoon (Eve decided to take a nap today so she’ll be raring to go!) and hope the cleaning fairy visits my house while I’m away! :)