Getting out there

Alright.  Catching up now.  Our winter has been pretty weird; lots of ups and downs, some rain, some snow, some more rain.  We've had days in the 60s butted up to days with highs in the 20s.  Anyway, I guess that's the new normal.  We've been trying to get out a lot and enjoy whatever mother nature and post industrial society have to offer.  Emmett's growing like a weed.  He weighs close to 20 lbs now, which is super light if you're doing reps of bicep curls, but gets heavy fast on a hike.  We are determined to have camping be a part of our normal family routine, so we've been acclimating to the family hikes, planning, talking about it, and picking places to go, both near and far.

On New Years Day Sarah went into work for a spell, so Emmett and Jonas and I ran some errands and visited some parks together.  This is Buttermilk State Park at the South end of town.  Jonas was a little stiff that day, so we didn't do any big hikes, but we wandered around, looked at botanical and geological features of the park and discussed the benefits of public land. 

The Chopper and I have a few routines.  One of them is lighting the fire when it goes out.  He gets super excited about it.  So do I.  I had to stop waving my arms and jumping up and down to take this picture.

Another of the Earth's elements that The Dude likes is water.  We're all but done with our first round of swim lessons.  He can fall of the wall, hang onto the wall, dunk under water, almost float on his back by himself, and generally get along in a contented fashion in the pool.  Hoping to have him doing the front crawl by canoe season.

Swimming makes us nappy.

This amazing piece of artwork was done by Zhora... all on her own.  The kid has good taste.  Also, note that she ALWAYS puts the colours of the rainbow in the correct order.

This is from a walk at Taughannock a couple weeks ago.  We were on our way out to Pat's.  It was a bit overcast and not great for pictures, but the river and the falls never disappoint.  

Little man in the back saver.  We don't use it often as we both enjoy carrying him, but on longer walks where the path will permit, Bugger gets a buggie.

My beautiful wife contemplating the tangled bank.

Not even the majesty of nature competes with the Mama

Sarah took some shots of the ice encrusted branches.

Sarah swears that the drooling means he's thinking.

We took a trip Long Pond State Forest to scope out the camping.  We plan for this to be our first canoe trip.  The water is too hard to canoe on right now, but Jonas enjoyed making doggie snow angels.

We walked out about 50 yards before a loud cracking sound sent us scurrying back to terra ferma.  There were a bunch of people out in the middle of the lake ice fishing, so I'm sure it was safe.  Still, the idea of us all crashing through the ice together seemed an unreasonable event for the day.

Sarah has some great pictures of Emmett's first swing experience from Stewart Park.  I think she posted them on Viber.  This is from the merry go round.

I've wanted to do this (above) ever since seeing this (below).

The kid finally learned to hold his head up and grew big enough to keep his face above the pack.  Took him long enough.  Good thing I'm patient.

Holy cow!  This is from four days ago!  I'm caught up.  Of course, I had to leave our about 36,000 pictures of EmC Harrington, but hopefully there's enough here to give you the idea.  Some day, I'll put all the photos together like a flip book and we'll watch an animation of his life.

On Sunday, last, I texted all four of the people I know, excluding Vinnie because he lives in Boston, and Nathan because he lives in Ohio, and invited them to bring their clones to the local cemetery for some sweet sledding action.  It was a pretty good plan.  Above, Zhora, Nora, and Charlotte share a ride.

The big race.  Zach cheated, as usual.  Jevon appears to be putting on the brakes here.  It was Mag's first time sledding, so maybe they were taking it easy.  More likely, Jevon didn't want to appear to care as much as Zach obviously did about the win.

Trudging back up the hill to the full gang.  Note that Zach has taken up the ubiquitous standing sledding posture.

Jevon went for a more informal approach.

A second trip out with The Barnacle Baby.  This time Arlo came along with us.  I always knew where he was because The Dude's head and body would swivel around to watch him.

That is, until Big Baby fell asleep.

Next up: Grammy and Pop come to visit.

Adventurey day

The Chopper and I (and Sarah and Zhora) had an adventurey day today.  So, of course, Emmett had to start by fueling up!  Some pears and prunes to get the ole engine going, today.

He and Jonas and I then headed down to Johnson City to meet up with a guy about a boat.  I've had an eye out for a solo canoe for quite awhile now.  I missed out on a couple that I was eager for, but finally found this one down in PA.  The guy who was selling agreed to meet us half way.  I have this vision of camping with the family and some friends on the banks of a great Adirondack lake.  To be able to do that, at least one of us has to be able to carry gear.

It was great fun to tie the canoe onto the roof rack and go full Subaru.  Emmett and I just wish that it wasn't going to be so long til we can get out on the water.  Still, that gives him some time to learn to swim.

We hadn't been home too long when it was time to go back out on our next adventure.  The girls (Sarah, Zhora, and Eva) had been hanging out and making lasagna, and were eager to go hunt a Christmas tree.

We'd looked around at a bunch of different farms and settled on Moore's.  There is a barn and wreaths and cider and Santa, and lots and lots of trees.  No horse drawn sleigh or anything.  For the price we paid to bring a dead tree into our house, I think a sleigh ride wouldn't be to much to ask.  Still, we had a good time searching for the just right one.

The kid just loves being outside!  We're so lucky.

He definitely recognizes and is infatuated with Zhora at this point.  It's hard to get a picture of him with her around because he's always looking at her.  It's obvious that she's going to be his "big sister".



A successful hunt!

The tree is only about 6 ft tall, but it's pretty and should be fun to decorate.  We had a good time getting it.  It was fun to strap stuff to the car today, too.  Looking forward to a nice christmas season in the near future, and some awesome canoe camping in the spring/summer.

The girls went out to the Ice Festival and to see a movie.  The boys (plus Eva) went home and chilled.  It was wonderful.  Emmett and I ate and played and read lots of books.  He played with Jonas for awhile, too.  It was very sweet.  All in all, a good day.  We're looking forward to getting the tree up and to getting the canoe in the water.  The timing on those two events is gonna be a little different.

Beach Daze

As Dad is fond of saying, "Salt water cures everything." Or was that chlorine? Or swimming? Anyway, we're finding the salve to life's stresses and foibles here, in Ocracoke.  The time is passing too quickly of course, and I was trying not to write that, because it absolutely goes without saying, but there it is, so there you go.  We're already starting to quote Mom and Dad H, "We really should come in the off season and stay two weeks."

This picture didn't make it into the group from the boat.  Our shipmates took it for us.  We're a pretty content crew.

Sarah's been talking about getting a dragonfly tattoo on her ankle, but she thought she'd try it out first before committing.  I think it needs a unicorn and a rainbow to make it complete.

Woo!  Beach!  Woo!

Woo!  Eduardo's!  Woo!  Emmett has been a real good sport.  He goes everywhere, does everything, and as long as he's fueled up and clean, he does it without complaint... like the Element.

This year's house has two nice porches and is tucked back behind another property so it's super quiet.  The rocking chairs leave a lot to be desired, but we make due, and the porch swings are great.

It's been really hot this trip and the dogs have a rough time of it anyway, so we've taken them out for sunset and sunrise.  I've walked them around the neighborhood a few times, too.  They don't seem to be missing the mid day beaching and are grateful and happy to be along.  For what it's worth, I love this picture.

Eva, Jonas, Sarah with Emmett, Keith.

Somehow, it took me a minute to realize that if they make UPF outfits for kids, they probably make them for adults, too.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a matching onesie, but I love not having to smear sunscreen all over all the time.  Plus, mine has a hood that makes me look like Storm Shadow.  The 8 year old me would be stoked.

Last night, or a couple nights ago, we went out to watch the sun set and the moon rise.  This is a picture of the latter, obviously.

Venus and Mercury (above) were in the sky, along with Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.  I totally wish we'd brought the astronomical binoculars!  What were we thinking?  Oh well, it was still a pretty great adventure just to sit and look up.

Don't worry, everyone has been wearing sunscreen on their exposed parts.  With the exception of the top of Veneta's feet, we've had no sunburns!  Maybe a first.  We're all sporting SPF 60, wearing hats, some of us are in UPF clothes, and under the canopy... How times change.  

We've been getting some reading and relaxing in, also.

Yesterday we went to the Ocracoke Preservation Society and the Ocracoke Working Watermen's Association exhibit wear we learned about how the community came together to save the fish house.  That made our visit to the Ocracoke Seafood Company even cooler.  I wanted to grill some fish while we are here, and have been watching a lot of grilling shows to get ready.  It was cool to chat with the fish monger and she even gave us a couple tips about what and how to grill.  I have a pretty strict "No tertiary consumers" rule, but I broke it this time on the advice of the fish monger.  So in the end, we left with some shrimp, a pampano, and a mako shark steak!

The grilling went well enough that I think Alton Brown would have said, "Pretty good".  The steak was grilled very simple because I wanted to taste the fish rather than a marinade.  For those who haven't had it, it's pretty close to sword fish.

Sarah's still a bit timid when it comes to sea food, so I threw a couple pig dogs on the grill for her.  She sauteed some onion and summer squash that we brought with us and made a lovely coleslaw.  Veneta made shrimp that was just perfect.

If you look carefully, you can see a little piece of the shark on the left hand side, next to the slaw.

Wish you were here!

Dinner devoured.

Yesterday or today, I got up early (thanks Jonas) and decided that instead of trying to go back to sleep, which is usually fruitless, I'd take the dogs to watch the sun rise and the moon set.

Moon setting over the dunes.

Sun rising over the guard station.  Unfortunately, I can't look at this without thinking of Apocalypse Now.

Tonight we finally ate at the Flying Melon.  It was good and the atmosphere was fun.  We've really enjoyed cooking at home rather than going out, for the most part, and it made tonight feel like a treat.  Tomorrow I will have another snowball.  I've only had one so far this trip!  We're going to hit the coffee shop, then the little food truck, Graceful Bakery, and head to Hammock Hills Nature Trail before finally hitting the beach.  I will get a snowball when we come back for the heat of the day.