Apple Picking Season

It's that time of year again. We went out to Hicks Orchard in Granville, NY, about 30 minutes from our house, to pick some apples.

There is something mystical about walking into an orchard where all you can see all around you are apple trees, and virtually every fruit on the tree is the size

of a softball.

With four helpers, it only took about 20 minutes to pick four half-bushels, twice as much as we bought last year.

Now that Meridith has some industrial-grade canning supplies and desires, we figured this was a good way to fill some jars.

We went exclusively with Northern Spy apples this year, because many of the other varieties we like were decimated by some late frosts this spring.

After a full day of canning, you can see seven quarts of apple pie filling, six pints of apple butter, and eight pints of apple jelly. But the real kicker is that this represents just one of the four half-bushels that we got.

We're going to be busy for the next week trying to get these apples processed. It might be a little while before any of the stuff in these cans starts to look appetizing again.

Lake George Triathlon

While hanging out with friends at the 4th of July celebration at Crandall Park, we were persuaded to sign up for the team relay version of the Lake George Triathlon. It's an olympic distance event - 0.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6 mile run. Meridith did the swim, I did the bike, and our neighbor down the street, Julie, did the run. The race was on September 18th.

Just prior to the start - there were six waves

of swimmers, and the team relay swimmers were all in the last wave. The water was a balmy 68 degrees, and Meridith was one of maybe ten swimmers who didn't use a wetsuit.

The venue for the course is gorgeous, and we were fortunate to have absolutely perfect weather on the day of the race. Apparently, last year's race was plagued by high winds, low temperatures, and overcast skies all day. It wasn't that warm when the event started (sorry, Meridith), but it was perfect by the time I got on the bike.

The bike course was a loop I was pretty familiar with, and I raced it pretty well. After pouring through the post-race times, I figured out that I passed 160 riders on the bike (aided by the facts that the team relay was the last to get started and that I didn't need to worry about running afterwards), averaging 21.3 mph. More importantly, I beat the time of another neighbor that I ride with frequently who was racing with his own relay team by 19 seconds.

Julie finished the run and brought us in at a respectable 23rd place out of 48 teams.

As a whole, we had a great time - it was a great goal to train for near the end of the cycling season. Weather will quickly turn cold from here on out, and long rides on Saturday mornings will end in a few more weeks. It was fun enough, though, that we were all ready to sign up that day for next year's race. I'm seriously contemplating signing up for the individual competition.

The Garden's Bounty

I just had to add this because this is the first big batch of tomatoes I've gotten from the garden. Why? Because the kids eat them faster than I can pick them. I had put up a fence to keep the bunnies out but I didn't think to keep the kids out. I've been picking green beans for over a month and the only time I got to serve them with dinner was after we got home from a week out of town. Forget about me ever getting a snow pea in the house, those get picked over by Gwen who doesn't leave a trace. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the kids are eating their veggies, but is it so bad to want to have some of our bounty for dinner too?

Our Famous Patriot

We met a bunch of friends at the park to see fireworks on the fourth of July. The kids had a great time throwing the free frisbees from the Lions Club, seeing the classic cars (Herbie the love bug was there) and just running around on the grass. Gwen grabbed a flag that our neighbors brought and ran over to see Dan and

Isaac tossing the frisbee. All that adorableness in a red, white and blue dress on the 4th and carrying a flag, what photographer could resist?

Having a live orchestra playing while you watch fireworks is pretty neat. Hannah, Isaac and Ian loved the fireworks, Gwen hated them. She's not a big fan of loud noises. I got to hold my hands over her ears during the whole show. We were really close to where they launch the fireworks, so it felt like they were right on top of us. On the down side, it made them extra loud.

Footnote
Here is the image that the photographer was kind enough to email us:

Tour de Cure

We spent a not so lovely, rainy day in Saratoga while Dan rode 100 miles (yes, you read that right) in the Tour de Cure.

Dan was riding before any of the rest of us had gotten up in the morning. We got to the school where they had the start/finish line about 4 hours after he started. Dan had never done a 100 mile ride before and I had no idea when he would be finishing. I figured I'd guess conservatively and let the kids cheer people on at the finish line. They had a great time. There were several different length routes to ride, so there was a constant stream of people to cheer for.
The weather could definitely have been better. We missed the worst of the rain, but sadly Dan did not. It rained pretty heavily for the first while and then drizzled off and on the rest of the way. He was soaked to the bone, but he did it in only 5 hours and 15 minutes!

After all that waiting Ian and I almost missed him crossing the finish. Ian had needed to go to the bathroom so I was taking him inside the school. I looked up the road just before we went in and saw Dan's red U of U jersey heading toward the parking lot. I grabbed Ian and we ran back to the finish line just in time to snap some pictures.

Twinners

Gwen insists on wearing the same thing as Hannah and Hannah loves it.  We took these before church.


Gwen has gone as far as to dictate that their hair must also be the same. I remember having matching pajamas with my big sister when I was 5 or 6 and feeling so proud so I just melt when Gwen tells me that she wants to be just like Hannah. I might have to start making dresses for them because Hannah is getting old enough that it's harder to find clothes with the same fabric that fit both of them.

Memorial Day Weekend in Boston

Elyse came to visit, and we all took a trip to Boston to spend part of the long weekend checking out the sites. We started off at the Children's Museum, which was pretty cool. The kids all thought the maze right at the entrance was the best; I'd have to say I agree.

Ian ended up participating in a study being done by some Hahhvahhd psychology grad students who were trying to study the ability of children to make linguistic connections between concepts that were not explicitly stated but were implied. I tried to ask the students what the hypotheses of the study were and how they were actually testing them. They didn't give very good answers (as in, couldn't explain to me what their hypotheses were). Either psychology experiments don't have to follow the scientific method, or some Hahhvahhd grad students aren't actually all that brilliant.....

Not everything at the Children's Museum was work and study, though. The kids liked the indoor "basketball court," for instance....

The next day we walked the Freedom Trail - THE WHOLE THING. I'm guessing that the round trip was close to 5 miles. That's a lot of steps for those little legs. We were all pretty exhausted by the time we finished.

This picture is in front of the Park Street Church. You can see by the kids' expressions that it's still early in the day....

Not much later, at the Granary Burying Ground, in front of Paul Revere's grave, the kids are still in a pretty good mood, but you can see that interest was starting to fade. At this point, we still had about 5 hours of our walking tour left.

Fast-forward through the King's Chapel, the site of the first public school, the Old Corner Bookstore, a couple of meeting houses, the site of the Boston Massacre, Fanueil Hall, Paul Revere's home, Old North Church (one if by land, two if by sea...), and Copp's burying ground, and we made it to the furthest point away from our hotel. This is the Battle of Bunker Hill memorial, and as the name suggests, it's on top of a hill, as in you have to walk up the hill to get to it. The expression on Ian's face does a good job of conveying everyone's emotions at this point in the tour.

The kids perked up a bit when we got to the USS Constitution, but the window on their patience / ability to withhold a constant stream of complaints about their feet / knees / legs was rapidly closing.

For the next 30 minutes or so, we walked directly back toward our hotel, making as few stops as possible. Complaints were heard, tears were shed, and threats regarding captivity of favorite toys were made.

Then, to save the day, just maybe ten minutes away from the end of our journey, we happened upon some street performers. I have to say, this might well have been the coolest thing we saw on the tour. Okay, they don't have the historical significance, but they were mighty entertaining.

All in all, it was a great trip. Boston is a fun town to check out. I'm sure that we'll be going back for a second round, maybe after all the blisters have healed and the kids have regained the privilege of seeing their favorite toys again....

Buehner Family Fun

Dan got to go on a long bike ride with Mike and Spencer. I can tell that he is just dying for our kids to be old enough to do this too.

The kids slept very well every night.  The whole trip was like one long wonderful playdate for the kids.

Burt Family Fun

    
I think the smiles say everything.


Some pics of most of the Burt family.

Salt Lake

So, we went to Salt Lake in April and I'm blogging about it now a month and a half later.

We took the kids to all the churchy places downtown. They had a good time and got all worn out from all the walking.

Gwen looks like she's ready to go for a swim on the roof of the conference center.

Even though it wasn't particularly hot, the kids really enjoyed running through the fountain at the Gateway.

First Plane Ride EVER!

The kids got to go on their very first ever ride in a plane. They loved it!

They got to check out the cockpit before the flight.

We were worried about how they would do, but they were great. Gwen got an ear infection the day before we left but we to her to the doc ASAP and she didn't seem to have any problem at all on the plane.
Where did we go on our glorious plane ride?
That's the next post.

Hannah's Baptism

Hannah was a happy girl and has been excited to get baptized ever since she turned eight. She had to wait a couple of weeks just because of scheduling technicalities, but we had her baptism service in between sessions of general conference today.

Here's Hannah at home, right before we left for church.

Hannah and Mom outside the house, getting ready to leave.

Hannah is ready to be baptized!

We had all four kids sing "I am a Child of God" together for the musical number. Normally we would have trouble getting Isaac and maybe even Ian to sing, but Mom bribed them with soft-serve ice cream from Martha's if they all sang loud and clear. I've never heard such a bold children's choir...