To Ohio and Back...

We had a lovely trip to Ohio this past weekend.  In addition to a lovely baby shower filled with friends, family, and sewing machines, we had lots of unscheduled time to just hang out with our folks.

There were lots of laughs.  This was one of them.  Eva fussed and pushed and tossed the pillows and blankets on this chair for a good two minutes, only to settle for this uncomfortable  looking position.  I'm convinced she just tried to make it look comfortable to save face.

The moms and aunts did an fantastic job putting together an meaningful and entertaining celebration for Chopper and us.  We had five or six sewing machines set up and a bunch of fabric and patterns and instructions set out.  It looked a little like a sweat shop, but everyone seemed to have good time.  (I think Walmart makes that same argument) It was exactly what we hoped; people chatted and helped one another and made fun little things that we will use and remember them by in the near future.  We'll tell Chopper about what great family he has!

One of our most animated helpers!

Andy made a really cool neckerchief with plaid on one side and cowboys on the other; he is quite the seamster (I assume that's the masculine version of that word).  Gail made a cute one with whales on it.

In the end, we received 8 handmade bib/kerchiefs, 6 burp cloths, and 1 pair of diaper covers.  A friend of Veneta made us the little hat you see in the picture!  My favorite part of the whole day was watching people help one another and work together.  Seeing first time sewers create something functional from raw fabric was very gratifying, while some of the experienced sewers created works of art with their accuracy and precision.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone involved!

Special thanks for set up, sewing machines, expertise, fabrics, etc., etc., go to Mom B and Mom H, Becky, Maribeth, and Denise!  Thank you all so much!  We had a great time!  Thanks to Alyssa and Jared for dish washing, on-site support, and transportation.

As reported in previous posts, I have been manic about mountain biking lately.  Fortunately, by design, Ian's bike is in Medina, so I had something to ride.  And in the last 15 years, a place TO ride has been developed in Huffman and Reagan Parks.  The bypasses and bridges were really fun.

In addition to the jumps and bridges and switchbacks, it was quite a wilderness ride.  A herd of deer showed up repeatedly on my ride, several red squirrels crossed the trail, a pair of banded king fishers chattered from a branch, and a pileated woodpecker raced me through the trees.  Not bad for an urban park.

We had such warm, beautiful spring weather up until the last day... then the front rolled in.  Mom and Dad H, Mom B, Zhora, and Sarah and I met at On Tap for dinner.  The food and beer were good.  The company and conversation were great.  The wind was a little much.  That night, we snuggled in and listened to the wind blow and the lightening and thunder crash.

By the time we got home on Tuesday, we needed a fire in the stove.  Ridiculous.

This morning, I got up and headed to the arboretum.  I am mentoring Jasper as he completes his independent study for his senior English class.  His project is to climb trees.  You can check out his blog here if you want.  We met with the head arborist at Cornell University for a lesson on single and double rope climbing, knots, and limb walking.

It was a pretty cool morning.

A little practice

Last weekend, or the weekend before (honestly, who can keep track), Margaret and Sarah got together to sew.  Margaret brought Sebastian and Zhora was there, too, for some reason.  Anyway, after Zach and I got back from our bike ride (see preceding post), I took the kids outside so that the ladies could focus.  We had a lovely morning!

After we explored the yard and found some magic wands to make the flowers grow faster and climbed some trees to look for birds, we went into the woods outside the fence to look for paths.  We found a path that led to a river with a waterfall and to a fallen down tree that was fun to climb on and also a treasure.  Then we learned the phrase widow-maker, and got out of that area and talked about how much wind it might take to bring the widow-maker down.

Then it was time to throw some rocks.

First we threw rocks that we found near the swimming hole. 

But I knew a spot where we could get bigger rocks, so we took a little walk!

We threw some more small rocks on our way.

And some more.

Then we found the really big rocks to throw.  There were so many that we wanted to throw that it was hard to carry them all!  We worked together and got them back and threw some big ones and made some great splashes and kerplunks.

Of course we had to wash our feet off in the river!  The water was cool and clear.

At home, Sarah and Margaret had finished their blankets and it was time to bring in the laundry.

Then it was off to Jenn and Bob's to spot some turnkeys, tell some stories, and eat some good grilled food.  What a great way to spend a Sunday!

Get a [mountain] bicycle. You will certainly not regret it, if you live.

So, I got really lucky last season and made it until December(?) biking at least once a week, hard, with no tune up...  Of course, things catch up to you.  On my last ride in the beginning of March my fork locked up and I had a very bumpy ride.  This gave me an opportunity to learn how many parts make up my fork...  Total count?  Um... lots.  Also, no kidding, I have one left over!  Which might explain the leak I just discovered... Ugh. Mountain biking; gotta love it.

The beast exploded.

One thing leads to another.

And another.

Refuel with old school style banana boat.  Can't believe I'm gonna have a little dude to make banana boats for.  See my bloody shark feeding frenzy?  Pretty proud!

That's looking better!  (hadn't figured out that I had a left over part yet)

As Adam Savage likes to say, "There's your problem!"

Hey, this thing only weighs like 3 lbs now.  Maybe I should ride it like this.

How 'bout I ride it like this!  I'll get the whole bridge next time!

Baby's first trip to Hopshire.

Well, it seems we really are going to have a kid at some point soonish.  I never exactly forget, but there are times that if feels more real than others.  Sarah is cleaning off the counter right now and I can see her reflection in the window.  Definitely pregnant!  We had a party for the monkey recently, too, with lots of friends, many of whom are also expecting.  Jenn did a nice job on the invitations.  

Dad took some pictures.  See his and Mom's blog, if you haven't already.  Neither Sarah nor I took one photo.  Luckily, Darren came through again.  I'll share just a few here.  At some point, we're going to have to start paying him.  It's as if we have our own personal, professional photographer.  Honestly, I was outside by the fire for a lot of the party, so I didn't see much of the inside.

Darren's shot of the front of Hopshire.  Jenn had the great idea to have our shindig at Hopshire, a local farm brewery that we've all enjoyed.  

Darren's shot of the brewery.  The tasting room is nicely decored, but they also open up the space you see here for picnics and parties and the like.  We did a pig and pints here once, and another time there was a shepherds pie cook off.  Randy and Diane (owners) have an annual harvest festival, too, where community members, including Erik and I bring hop harvests in to drop off for a Cohoperation brew.  All kinds of cool stuff.  As you can see, the party was well attended, and we felt incredibly loved.  Some people brought gifts, but we didn't open them there or play games or anything.  We cooked food and some friends brought more.  The real focus was on being together and celebrating the beginning of a new chapter.

Dad complains (a lot, sometimes) about being dragged out of the house, but people always enjoy seeing and chatting with him, and he usually enjoys them back.  Darren's photo.

Friends' kids/future baby sitters, Nora and Sebastian.  I'm not sure if they planned to coordinate outfits.  They had a lot of fun even though some of us hadn't napped.  They're so engrossed in play they didn't even notice Darren sneak this shot.

Good times, good laughs.  Holy crap! Sarah is pregnant!  We're going to be parents!  Darren was shooting from the stairs here, I think.  Clever angle.

Still a momma's boy. Darren's photo.

 Darren's photo.  Beautiful.

Mom and Livia.  They always have a good time.  Darren's photo.

Sarah and I both actually finished books recently.  We really enjoyed reading together.  It easily replaces the TV... I don't know why we don't do it more often.  Sarah read a book about the Beekman Boys that Margaret got her.  She got quite the chuckle out of it.  I read 1776.  It never really made sense to me why so many principals and bosses and the like read history books.  Now that I have to make harder decisions and ones with no clear good answer, it makes more sense.  I found it cathartic to read about Washington's trials and travails.  His issues with the British make my issues with 9th graders seem a little more manageable.

Shopping at momma goose.  Baby's first vest like Uncle Darren?

We started going through the lumber to look for some old barn wood for the kitchen.  I'm pretty proud of my lumber pile.  Hopefully we'll find some more uses for it... there is a lot.

Lot's of supervision.

This is the result of a trip out to Pat's.  Jonas goes with me pretty regularly, but it hadn't occurred to us to take Eva for some reason.  I guess we probably figured she'd be a pain in the but or stampede the horses or something.  To the contrary, she is hilarious and LOVES to run with Pat's puppy, Rocky.  They chased and swam and sniffed, and bulldozed through weeds.  Jonas was pretty busy trying to keep track of everyone. 

Is this new seat for me?

On Sunday, after the monkey party, Dad and I potsed around town.  I'd heard that there was a pair of hawks nesting up by one of our many bridges, and wanted to go see it.  We grabbed a couple binoculars and spied on her for a bit before we headed down town.

The wedge is without a doubt, my favorite simple machines.  The axe and knife, the splitting wedge, nails, saws, chisels, scissors, shims, mauls... man... oh yeah, and planes.

Cutest momma around.  Damn good carpenter, too.

Sigh...  seen better days.  Will again.