Suddenly, summer!

We seem to have skipped over spring entirely. Last week, the temps jumped to the high 70s, the rest of the snow disappeared, and my kids went from rubber boots and down coats straight into sandals!

We're closing on the house on Friday, though we won't move in until June 7th. We are very excited. Last weekend my dad came to check the place out and it was fun to wander with him through the yard then check out the woods and fields. The brook running through the woods behind the house is simply lovely, and the swimming hole down at the river is perfect. Who needs a pool?! We're still trying to figure out what to do with the old hay barn, it's very cool but its usefulness is not immediately apparent. The loose hay went in through a door along the roofline -- there are no big doors at ground level, so no real way to get anything in there to store. Austin's proposal: a half-court indoor basketball court. We welcome suggestions!

Mud Season

It's official -- the snow is melting and the mud is rising -- it's mud season in Vermont! The kids have switched their snow boots for rubber boots (will I ever be able to send them out of the house in normal shoes?). Gavin celebrated the beginning of mud season by doing a Pete Rose slide facefirst through the mud at the babysitter's house -- accidentally, or so he claims -- which necessitated an emergency load of laundry.

I came across some great elementary school mud-poetry in the Burlington Free Press.

Mud

By Avery Follett, grade 3

Yucky mud

Mucky mud

Mud is on my feet.

Sticky mud

Icky mud

Why is it so deep?

Slip and Slide

By Lily Weisgold, grade 4

Rain boots on.

Out I go.

I leave them by the front door.

Joy, joy, it's mud.

I hop, I jump, and I leap for mud.

It squeezes. It squishes.

It feels like chocolate pudding.

Faster, faster, I leap, I jump.

SPLAT I land face down in mud.

I giggle.

I get up.

SPLAT I slip again.

I'm covered in mud.

Slipping and sliding all around.

I can't stand on the squishy ground.

A Muddy Day

by Sam Edwards-Kuhn, grade 4

It was April. Everywhere I looked, there was mud. I love mud. It was like heaven to me.

I went outside to play. I was jumping around in the mud, sliding in the mud, and making mud forts. I was having the best day of my life until I realized that I probably wouldn't be allowed in the house again.

All of a sudden I wasn't sure I liked mud so much.

Ski and Sunshine

Austin took Gavin up to Sugarbush this morning for some spring skiing -- Gav's first ski adventure! It was a beautiful day, almost 60 degrees, and the snow won't be here much longer. (We hope!) Austin pioneered a new technique where he had Gavin hold onto his ski pole, held horizontally, and they skiied side-by-side. It worked great. Gavin had so much fun he lasted for two hours. I'm not sure if the liked the skiing down the hill as much as he liked the riding up to the top again on a sled attached to the back of a snowmobile.

The best part: chocolate milk in the lodge at the end of a great ski day with dad.

You know it's a good day when you can ski in the morning, then spend the afternoon riding bikes with your big sister in the driveway! A few more days of this warm weather and we'll finally be able to see the ground.

Barn Pix

This "Old English Hay Barn" is part of the new Gray Family Farmstead, along with the "milk barns" behind it that were once used for dairy cows (and may become home to Gavin's little heifer calf friends?) We don't know the age of the barn, we do have some pictures of it taken in the 1950s and it looks old then. Maybe early 1900s? That's one of the things we'll have to track down.

It may look old on the outside but the timbers are solid on the inside. It's built in the old no-nails style, so all these beams are put together with dowels. We need to replace some of the barn's outer board that are rotting but this building looks like it's good to go for another 100 years.

Here's something else that's cool: up in the top of the barn just under the cupola there's a huge hay fork for scooping up the hay and dropping it on top of the giant stack. It's all there with its pulleys and everything, I would imagine it could use some restoration but that might be an interesting project (if we can get the thing down!)

More house pictures . . .

Here are some more pictures of the house, by popular request!

This is what the house looks like in the snow -- and yes, there is still plenty of snow, it snowed another four inches yesterday!

This is a shot of the property a neighbor took from a plane. Our house is top right, along the road. You can see the barns on both sides of the road (painted white). The property line is defined by two lines of trees going down toward the river (the trees line two little brooks along each side of the property.) The path goes down to the "swimming hole" at the river.

This is the dining room and open kitchen, the doors go out to a patio outside. Across from the kitchen is a little family room area, and behind that is an enclosed room we will probably make our office.

This is a later addition to the house built off the kitchen. They are using it as an extra bedroom but we'll probably make it a playroom or Grandma's room. Notice the cool timbers -- these came from an old barn they took down! I like the built-in cabinets and window seats too.

This will be Lucy's room. (Gavin's room looks just like it on the other side.) My favorite part is the skylight they can look out and see the stars at night.