Bro-down

Lance came for a two-day party while Dani was in Denver. We rode bikes, visited the train store, made a few recipes from Grandma Dickey's cookbook, hiked to a waterfall, ate a mountain of Brazilian meats, went to the playground, hiked through the forest, and ate Thai food. The end.

The Day Cece Wore her Wolf Suit...

Who goes there?

Our attention was caught by a sudden flash of nearby wings. A Barred owl decided to winter the stormy day in the hemlocks right outside our picture windows. We were all delighted and spent hours watching "Who." Come again!

Ring out the Old...with a walk

 After lazing about in our pajamas and playing new Christmas games for a week, we decided it was time for some fresh air. So we donned our gay winter apparel and started tromping through the forest.

Cece picked out Bryn's earrings as a sibling Christmas gift.

Not sure about this whole frozen pond thing

 Our first stop was the frozen reservoir. It wasn't that frozen, and acted more like jello when one jumped upon it. Or broke entirely when Peter stomped on it.

 We then headed on to the woodland destination- McD's. It was either that or the gas station. Glamorous, I know.

I'm a little obsessed with the brooding hemlock forest behind them.

Camping in the cabin of fire

I volunteered to take the YW (all three of them) to the Stake Youths camping trip up in Raymond, NH where the church has a camp with cabins and a lake and such. It was a perfect chilly fall campout, and our cabin came equipped with a wood stove which I had roaring well into the night until it felt like Phoenix AZ on a July midday. The next day we helped take the docks out of the lake for the winter and then went for a hike to a lovely but closed weather tower.

I struggle with camping menus because I'm always trying to find the balance between deliciousness, healthiness, and easiness. I think I balanced it just right this time. For dinner we procured hot subs from the local subway. For breakfast we ate bagels and cream cheese and scrambled eggs and sausage (I did bring my camp stove). For lunch we had PBJ bagels and a variety of snacks and fruit and veggies.

Our glorious Young Women

The surroundings we were forced to behold

Bottle flipping by the docks

In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety Two...

We took a Columbus Day hike to Bear Hill Tower in the Fells. The frigid air held the promise of warmth in the sunbeams that hit our backs.

Troll Hidey-hole

After the hike we hit the Museum of Science.