Adventures!

Last Sunday, we drove down to Boston to visit the Stone Zoo. We just missed the thunderstorm. That in itself was just a fun outing, but we actually went to Target on the way back home. This is sort of silly, but it's kind of exciting because we have no Target anywhere around here. I got a few shirts. It's so nice to have stain free shirts.

Last week Fiona had her science/nature camp at the Montshire Museum of Science. This is an hour away, and Fiona is of the age now where the camp lasts all day. I had originally thought I'd sign both Sophia and Fiona up, but Sophia is not quite old enough yet. Those October birthdays. Anywho, Doug stayed home and did projects on the house (the garage and basement look totally different!), and Sophia and I spent 6 hours every day doing errands in the surrounding towns and hiking. One day I took Sophia to VINS (Vermont Institute of Natural Science), where they have raptors that they rescue and shelter. They had a couple of trails there too, so I thought, why not? It was a huge hit. We would go more often, but the price is a bit steep when there are three or four of us. They had a "tree house" exhibit (it's not really a tree house) that Sophia loved. I loved the tropical dart frogs they had--their colors are incredible.







We spent most of our time hiking and having picnics from the Hanover and Lebanon food co-ops (in New Hampshire). I happily ate lots of California and dragon rolls, and Sophia ate lots of bagels, fruit, and orange things. Orange things are cheese puffs. She saw a big jar of these at BJ's and went "oooooh!" and grabbed it. So I bought her some multi-grain ones at the co-op. They are still bright orange. I have to confess here that I have a cheesy poof weakness that I secretly indulge in now and then. Sometimes it is great to stay up late watching movies and eating cheesy poofs with Dr Pepper. Actually, Doug bought me one the other day for a treat, and it was just too sweet for me to drink more than half. The urge comes up now and then, however.

But I digress.

Her interest in the hiking was sustained by hunting for acorns, of which she has a quite plentiful supply now. The only drawback to the hiking were the hoards of mosquitoes. All these trails are near water and the skeeters are just thriving right now. Fortunately, Fiona didn't seem to have a problem at camp, and they didn't seem to bother Sophia much (except getting in her face), but I got chomped on, and poor Doug, who came with us on the last day, has swollen red bites all over him. I tried this citronella woo, but it didn't seem to do a damn thing. Anyway, it was a delicious week of sun and not quite 70F degree weather despite the skeeters. I somehow did not make it to King Arthur Flour, which I'm kicking myself for now, because I need chocolate disks to try a new chocolate chip cookie dough recipe.

Fiona decided, apparently, they should end the week with haircuts. She did this very quickly and quietly. She did it right before we went out, in fact, and I didn't even notice it until we came back. I thought Sophia's hair looked funny (she always takes her barrettes and ponytail holders out these days), like the front of her hair had been somehow tucked under the rest of her hair and behind her ear...

Fiona, to her credit, was honest about what had happened, and I now have, from her dresser, a jar of her sister's ringlets. She was trying to make her sister's hair "like hers". Sophia was a most enthusiastic participant.



Fiona just did her bangs, and it's not too bad.



The missing ringlets.



New bangs.

This is the last week of summer vacation for Fiona. Sophia has another week.

We still don't have firewood, presumably because of all the rain, but it should come next week. In early September, we're getting our drafty windows replaced, which should make the downstairs more bearable in winter.

The most exciting news is that Sobo is coming next week for a month! On the heels, of that, we get to have Triana for a few days. It's so wonderful to have visitors.