Triple Trick or Treat

Harry Potter and his angelic sister had a very happy Hallow-week!

The school's UNICEF costume parade had to be held in the high school gym due to weather, but the kids were not deterred.

Lucy and her bunny-friend Chloe.

Gavin and his fifth-grade "big buddy" Rowan. They walked together in the parade even though Harry-Potter-Gavin kept yelling Expecto Patronum at the Rowan-Dementor.

Trick or Treat #1: the civilian dorms at Norwich. The students really got into it.

I love the pizza guy.

These girls must be from a warmer state than Vermont.

Trick or Treat #2: the ward party on Friday night.

Trick or Treat #3: despite the fact that it was SNOWING, the kids had to go out to Central Street to shake down the neighbors on the actual Halloween night. They came home with some serious loot for some serious trading. Austin and I stacked the deck by buying a bag of Sour Patch Kids (their favorite!) to trade for all their best candy bars. Everyone's going to bed happy and a little bit sugar-buzzed tonight.

Pumpkin Party 2010

My camera was out of batteries, so I didn't get any pumpkins-in-progress.

Montreal

This past weekend I was invited to a Liberty Fund conference at the swanky Hotel Nelligan in Old City Montreal. Since I was going to be holed up in a conference room with a bunch of academics talking about nationalism and secession (a sore subject in French Quebec, which wants to secede from Canada), my crew decided to come along and enjoy the hotel and its neighborhood.

They started every morning at a local patisserie, where Austin enjoyed croissants and chocolatine pastries and Gavin gorged himself on baguettes.

Lucy still refuses to try French breads and pastries, but she willingly joins in drinking family-sized cups of Chocolat au Chaud.

The first day was rather rainy but these kids are Vermonters -- always prepared for any weather!

Austin and the kids went on a boat cruise down the St. Lawrence River. The rain spoiled the views somewhat but they had a great time anyway.

When it cleared up they walked around and found their favorite entertainment: a street performer.



Who wants to help with the next part of his act? Lucy does!


She was awesome and got a huge round of applause. (I hope this doesn't give her any career ideas.)



I joined the family in visiting some amazing Montreal churches, like the Basilica of Notre Dame.

I think Lucy takes after her Gram. As soon as we got in the building, she snatched the camera and photographed EVERYTHING. All of these pictures are hers.

We also visited the smaller pilgrimage chapel of Notre Dame de Bonsecours. It is notable for the models of ships hanging from the ceiling which, for some unaccountable reason, Lucy actually didn't photograph.

Lucy DID get a nice picture of the shrine of St. Marguerite Bourgeouys and the original 17th century "Notre Dame" she brought with her from France. It's the dark little statuette in the center. Apparently it rescues sailors at sea -- hence the hanging ships.

Our hotel didn't have a swimming pool, but the kids quickly got over their disappointment when they discovered that we had our own "hot tub" in the bathroom! Their reward for being so good in this very un-child-friendly hotel was that they got to go "swimming" pretty much whenever they wanted!

P.S. we rushed home after my conference ended so Gavin could make it to the birthday party of his best Kindergarten friend, Elyas. They had face painters at the party who made Gavin into a super-scary skeleton. He refused to look in the mirror because he scared himself too much.

I was just standing there watching the face painter when I noticed the painting behind them and realized -- THAT'S MY BARN! Elyas' dad is an artist and he came by about 18 months ago to take some pictures of our hay barn, but I completely forgot about it. The picture made it into a couple of juried exhibits and hung at a gallery for a while but hasn't yet sold. I stood in front of the painting during the entire party trying not to think about how great it would look on our wall.

Lucy's Birthday-Baptism Bonanza

Guess how old our Lucy is!

That's right, my girl is eight years old. Since this is a very special birthday, we decided to invite Lucy's very favorite people.

Lucy's Grandma and Grandpa Fisher came from Utah. Grandpa had business in Pennsylvania, so he brought Grandma up to spend the week with us, then he drove back up for Lucy's birthday party -- about 25 hours of driving in all. It was so wonderful to have them here. Grandpa bonded with Lucy's chickens and fixed Gavin's bike.

Lucy introduced Grandma and Grandpa to Captain and they all went on rides. In fact, Grandma and Captain became fast friends during the week, facilitated by a lot of attention and a lot of treats. (Grandma's technique seems to work just as well on ponies as it does on grandchildren.)

Then Gram and Papa Gray arrived from Utah. (Not actually on horseback.)



We spent a lot of time outdoors among the beautiful fall colors, finding places for Gram to take pictures.

We all had a great time visiting even though Lucy could barely stand waiting any longer to eat her cake and open her presents!

The best part came the next morning: Lucy's baptism.

Her whole family fan club was there with her. It was a such a beautiful day. Austin baptized and confirmed her, Papa gave a talk, and Grandma and Gavin said the prayers. Lucy's priceless comment of the day: "Wow, I've never been this wet in church before!" Now that her baptism is over, I told her I hoped she wouldn't have any reason to ever be that wet in church again.

We provided some refreshments, but Sister Bush's fabulous baptism cake stole the show.

Lucy's good friends Willow and Natalie were there to support her and help her eat her cake. Lots of ward members came out to the baptism, we were so pleased. She is a much-loved little girl.

(While I was rushing around getting ready for the baptism, Dad installed our new dining room light fixture. He always leaves our house better than he found it.)

Thanks Mom and Dad and Sharon and Howard for coming! You really made this weekend special for all of us, especially Lucy.