My Little Pony

Aunt Christina sent us this package yesterday!

Hair shiner and body glitter for Peaches and Beauty, along with fabulous sparkly blue hoof-nail polish! (And some treats to reward them for behaving while the kids make them totally fabulous!)

We tried out all our new pony beauty products when we got home this afternoon. The kids took their pony-decorating job very seriously.Now Peaches is the most glamorous pony in the world! (She's also the most patient.) Beauty is next and I bet she can't wait!

Thanks, Christina. We love you. And we miss your Chad. Would he approve of pony glitter? Somehow I think he would, but I doubt he would admit it.

Things older than Austin . . .

This clock is older than Austin by approximately 62 years. (It is also taller than Austin by almost two feet.) But this is what my 39-year-old husband wanted for his birthday, and how could I deny this handsome man such a handsome clock? I have to say they have both aged very well.

Camping

Last weekend we went to Deep Creek Park in Perkiomen, PA for our 8th annual campout with the Mumfords and the Smiths!
This was our opportunity to try out the new Gray family tent: Cabela's Alaskan Guide super-massive four-season survives-blizzards-and-tornadoes practially-bulletproof tent. Perfect for rainy campouts (since they don't come any other way in Vermont). So big you could hang a disco ball and hold a dance inside. Of course, the kids all just wanted to pile into the Mumfords' teeny little tent!
This year two new friends joined our camping crew: Julia Mumford and Henry Smith. Nice that they came as a pair, to join our other buddy-pairs Lucy and Ben Smith and Gavin and Ava Smith. It's hard to believe that at last year's campout Julia was still in utero, and here she is, walking around and eating dirt and catching bugs with the rest of the kids!

After a night of camping it felt great to invade Sarah's parents' pool. Lucy and Ben swam for hours until they were all shrivelled up and wrinkly (notice no floaties on my girl! She swims like a mermaid!). Their parents had fun hanging around in the poolhouse chatting and munching and watching the kids frolic.

We're already planning for the 9th annual, second weekend in August 2010 if you want to come along! I'm thinking we should try a canoe-in rustic campsite in Vermont. Either that or an all-inclusive cruise. We'll see which one gets the most votes. As long as we all get to be together, I'm in!

On top of Vermont

We took the gondola to the top of Mount Mansfield at Stowe, the highest point in the state of Vermont (all of 4,000 feet, but still.)

The scenery was breathtaking, the restaurant at the top was divine, and the best part about taking the gondola was that no short-legged people complained about the hike. Thanks, Howard! We are going to miss the Papa when he goes home tomorrow.

Enchantee, Quebec!

I now have a new favorite city: Quebec City. We've lived five hours away from this amazing place for almost two years and never made the trip! Thanks, Howard, for springing for the hotel and giving us a reason to visit. I think this is the first of many wonderful weekends there.


There are so many highlights I'm not sure where to begin. The kids would probably say the ferry ride across the St. Lawrence River was one of their favorite parts. It was pretty fun.

But close behind that would have to be the Cirque du Soleil open-air performance we happened upon our first night there. It was held under a highway overpass -- seriously! The Cirque du Soleil comes from Quebec and they're very proud of their home-grown show. The kids were entranced (though Gavin thought it was a little spooky at first.)

Plenty of wanna-be Cirque performers showed off their stuff in the town square. These acrobat / fire jugglers were pretty good, but did they really need to be in their underwear? I'm not sure it helped their act.

The people I found most fascinating were fully dressed -- in period costumes, no less, from the 17th-18th century period when Quebec was the capital of New France. There was a Nouvelle Francaise festival going on, which I guess gave everyone the excuse they needed to put on their best outfits and go promenading around in the streets. "I see George Washington!" Gavin kept shouting. At least he got the time period right.
Lots of other folks looked like they'd just escaped from Captain Jack Sparrow's pirate crew. Including my kids, who proved they had what it takes to climb the yardarm. Ahoy, mateys! Aargh!

I loved that Quebec has European-style bakeries with yummy chocolate croissants and gelato. Yummmm! That was the best part for me. The desserts alone made the trip worth it. Even though on the way up to Quebec we had to learn a new French phrase: "mon pneu et la plat" = I have a flat tire. Lucky we had the French phrasebook along (and Gavin, who is convinced he speaks French.) There don't seem to be any English-speaking mechanics in Quebec. Fortunately, they were all very patient and nice and we managed to get new tires and on our way without too much hassle! We refuse to be disuaded by a "pneu plat" -- we'll definitely be coming back soon.

Lucy Toothy

Just as it was looking like Lucy would go into second grade with her full set of baby teeth, she suddenly discovered that her bottom front tooth was a little wiggly! She had it wiggled out by evening, so I scrambled to make her a tooth-pouch for the tooth fairy (and check our supply of dollar bills) while she wrote a letter to the fairy. The next day, she spent most of the day wiggling the other one until it came out, too.



She's thrilled, but I'm a little sad. I remember being so excited when she was six months old and those sharp little bottom teeth came in. We would hold her upside down so she would open her mouth and show them off. Now she wants to show off their absence, and she's big enough to protest when I try to hold her upside down.

Playing Outside

This kid with the dirty face and a toad clutched in his hand -- yep, he's mine.

His sister, the Toad Princess, actually gets these little guys to crawl up on her shoulder! I can also dispel the myth that toads become princes because I did observe her kiss one. It earned her a lecture from her mother but no magical transformations happened to either one of them.

Lucy and Gavin can be entertained for HOURS by the creatures they find in the yard. All I have to do to keep them busy is find them a toad, some worms, or a beetle and they're good to go!

When Austin gets home he takes them for rides around the yard on Peaches and Beauty. Gavin is getting good at holding on to Peaches with his legs while she trots around. Lucy has become quite a good little horsewoman too. She takes her "Care of Horses and Ponies" book out to the paddock daily to check them for diseases.

Beauty gets her best exercise from Austin, though. He's the one who brings her water and scoops her poop and lets her know who is in charge. She's willing to walk Lucy around the yard a few times in exchange for a nice fast trot with Austin up the trails near the house.

They say that a kid hasn't had enough fun if there isn't a ring of dirt around the bathtub at the end of each day. By that measure my kids are having a great summer. I'd say my husband is, too.