Camping with Toddlers

August!  It's already half way through the summer! Hard to believe, I know. 

We enjoyed going on a short camping trip to hear one of our college professors preach a revival meeting in Vermont.  The meetings were about 1 hour and 45 minutes from our house, but I thought it would be so much nicer and more relaxing if we could stay in the area those three nights instead of rushing home and the girls not getting a good rest.  

When we first moved here to the parsonage, there were 2 tents left in the garage.  We got one out and cleaned it, set it up, and made sure we had a queen air mattress and a small blow up toddler mattress and headed off on our adventure!

Our campsite was right by the Connecticut river and the bathhouse was only a short walk away, which is always great with two little kids.  

We did the whole camping experience; breakfast in a cast iron skillet, lunch was sandwiches each day, and dinner was in the skillet again and dessert was smores.  

It was great!  Gwendolyn loved sleeping in her little blue bed and in the "tenty tent" as she called it. And Lucie, well, she had to be in the pack and play.  Maybe next time she'll be big enough to not roll around and walk out of bed  :) 

Here is our campsite:

 

We ate a lot of ice cream from Wade's place while we were there- one time we even drove there while the girls were napping and Dan and I ate our ice cream in peace without them begging for some :) 

We went on several walks and hikes each day.

We also went to a lake called Plymouth that had a sandy beach.  That was the girls' first experience with sand.  They had fun after they got over their fears.  :)

We also found a playground that was open!  First one in about a year that we've been on.  The girls had so much fun on the sliding boards and swings

Though our trip was during a reallllllly humid time, we didn't get too many bug bites!  The only thing that suffered slightly was the girls' sleeping schedule.  They didn't take their naps unless we happened to be driving. 

On our last day camping, we hiked up Mount Ascutney.  The view from the top was really great!  

 And of course, the way up with these kids was a blast too...

We went to a local farm and went raspberry picking.  Gwendolyn did a good job picking them, but Lucie's attention span was pretty short.  

On the last night of the meetings, we took a picture of Dan, his friend from college (who is now a pastor in Vermont), and our former professor from college.

It was a great little trip, and we're already talking about doing something like it again.  There are so many tenting places here in the Adirondacks, that it'd be easy to stay within a half hour drive so we could still take care of the chickens, dog and bunny, but still have a great time.  

Hope you enjoyed this long past-due update! 

Family Photos 2020

Since both of the girls are napping I thought this was the perfect time to make a quick post.  We had our family photos taken last week and this session was by far, my favorite of all the family photos we've had taken.  Our photographer enjoys taking candid shots of us doing what we do.  I enjoy posing and doing exactly what the photographer suggests.
We met in the middle and I'm getting better at being natural though I know someone's taking my picture (at least I think so :)
This is also the first year that I haven't still been having to wear maternity clothes in our photo session, because I have lost weight.  It was a celebration time for me!

Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we enjoyed having them taken!

Getting Fit- My journey

Getting Fit.   
Put together, they are two of the most scary, dreaded words in the English language to me. 

People have been telling me for years "Once you hit 30, it's so much harder to lose weight and get in shape!"
I'm not 30.....(yet😃 ) but after having two babies back-to-back, I had settled into a mindset of complacency (yet disgusted by it) and resignation (yet loathing it), thinking that my body had worked hard and needed a break.  A much-needed reprieve from anything difficult.  ESPECIALLY working out. 
I went through the winter able to only wear a few outfits and still wearing most of my maternity clothes (most of which by this time was hated by me).  I still had a full closet of clothes and one full drawer of clothes that I couldn't imagine fitting into, but felt desperate to keep, to remind me of how I used to be. 
Now, before you start thinking that I'm going down the "learn to love yourself" road, stop that car!
I'm not. 😃  Definitely not. 

I'm just being real. 

Anyway, so by the end of February, I can't tell you what flipped the switch for me, but I realized that I was bothered by the fact that I am not as active as I need to be.  Of course I was bothered by how I looked, but I was more upset that I didn't FEEL great. 
So I started waking up early (oh the horrors!😃) and taking the dog for a run.  I dislike running and have since I was a young child and my parents would make us do it daily for exercise.  It's not my thing.

But I know it helps me get my heart rate up and I know its good for Chula to go for runs.  I would go before Dan and the girls woke up, so that I wasn't disrupting his day either. 

Last fall, a neighbor and I went running together a few times and while it was nice to get out, I really didn't like our runs together because she always wanted to do like, 4-5 miles.  That's too much...for me, at least.  The longer the workout takes me, the more I dislike it.  So I started small. 

"One mile" I told myself.
"If I can do one mile without stopping once, I'll be happy." 

So I did. 

I was reeeeeeeeeeally slow. Then the next day I did it again, and then again the next day....and the same for weeks.  Until two weeks ago. 

I'm not obsessed with losing weight.  I haven't changed my diet one iota, except perhaps that I'm being sure to drink at least half my body weight (in ounces) of water each day.  But since I started the water intake, and the running, my headaches have gone away, I'm not depressed, and in general, most of my days I'm very energetic and encouraged! 
That says a lot in the days we're living in. 

Two weeks ago, I noticed my weight-loss (which was now 18 pounds lost) had plateaued and I knew it was time to switch things up.  So I started doing strength training one day, running the next and back and forth.  Since then, I've lost an additional 5 lbs. 

I. Am. So. Excited!!!!!!!!!

Last week, I finally cleaned out my closet and threw out 52 articles of clothing.  I went to a thrift store that was doing a "free or make a donation day" and picked out some new church clothes to celebrate.  Don't worry.  I didn't get 52 new articles.  😂😃

I feel like I took my life back.  I wouldn't begin to post a before and after weight-loss photo, because to most people, the difference is so small.  But to me, it's gigantic, and more than that, it was what I needed to get disciplined.  I've always been a disciplined person.  In college, I followed a strict schedule I created for my days, and didn't take naps, do fun things (until my last year when I decided to enjoy college too), and was always on time for class assignments.  This was the first time in a very long time that I took a hiatus on discipline in fitness and I hated every moment of my undisciplined life. 

I'm not near perfection and I haven't arrived.  But I'm working on changing now, which is more than I've done for about 4 years. 

So, why the post?  I hope it doesn't come across like a bragging session or a pride thing.  I'm not proud at all of the fact that I've let myself be so lax for four years when I should have been moving forward.  I'm excited that I've seen results though, without spending a penny on a gym membership, new clothes, a special drink or pill that helps get rid of excess bloat....
These results came from good old fashioned W.O.R.K.

I don't suddenly love running and working out.  I still dislike it.  But I love that it helps me to grow stronger and have more energy to pour into my life.  So it's worth it to put up with exercising for that short period each morning.

Maybe you're feeling like I was.  Somehow life keeps slipping by and you haven't worked to improve a certain area of your life (for me, my health), and it's bothering you.  Here's your gentle reminder to wake up EARLY tomorrow and start your new life. 

Words-only Update

I'm sure many of you wondered if I dropped off the face of the earth.  Or maybe you havent wondered that at all, and you've just forgotten about the blog. Either way, I've been annoyed at myself for not posting anything lately.  Its been almost 3 months!  Life has been fun, busy-ish, and also just relaxing at the same time. 

Because of the virus, we had to cancel our church's missions conference, and hometown heroes day.  I'm sure that happened to many churches.  Because we haven't been able to go to our nursing home service or the prison ministry for months, we started doing a facebook live trivia night on Friday's back in March.  We did that for about a month and a half. 
Now we've been having different missionaries that our church supports give updates on the facebook live.  That's been very nice. 

I have tilled, and planted our garden.  I decided not to plant any tomatoes this year because I knew we would have tons of volunteer tomato plants.  So far, there are about 60 volunteers that are thriving.  There's no way that I can use that many, so I'll either dig them up and give them away or just pull them and give them to the chickens. 
Speaking of chickens, ours are on their last leg.  We have 10 now, and only 3 (maybe) lay eggs a day.  They are vicious and peck each other, sometimes to death (hence why we have 10 now, not 20).  We are going to have a butchering day and put them all in the freezer.  We've butchered three so far, and while they do not have hardly any meat on them, they make a delicious and rich chicken stock which I freeze for soups. Each chicken has enough meat for about one meal.  Dan doesn't love butchering them and neither do I, but we raised them out, and spent the money to grow them...it doesn't make sense NOT to eat them. 
We've already ordered a new batch of ready-to-lay pullets from a man in Argyle nearby.  They will be Rhode Island Reds instead of Isa Browns.  Hopefully they aren't as mean. 

I enjoy weeding the garden, going to walks with the girls, and cleaning our Airbnb.  The girls are in a good routine of taking one nap at the same time in the early afternoon.  It's a wonderful time when I can sit and read, or work on some things like weeding, or cleaning out the chicken coop.  Dan put up the clothes line for me and I use that every time I do laundry. 

Gwendolyn is doing great, growing fast, and loves to sing, read, and play with stickers, play doh, and with a special board game I got for her called Sequence.  She loves horses, and each time we go for a walk, we are sure to take a partial piece of apple for the horse that lives down the road, named King. 
Lucie walks now, and loves to eat, drink juice, and play with dirt and rocks. 

Dan is always doing projects and keeps busy doing odd jobs for some clients of his.  He is having lots of allergies right now.

We've heard lots of tales of black bear sightings in our area, so I'm going to have to take down our birdfeeder for a time. I've never seen one before, so I think it'll be fun to see one, as long as it isnt when I'm out going on a walk with the girls. 
Well, I am needing to go through my photos and organize them so that I can put some here on the blog.  But for now, this words-only post will have to suffice. 
 See, I no longer use a camera, I use my phone.  And my phone wont allow me to upload my photos onto my computer anymore for some reason, so its a little tricky to get pictures on the blog, unless I email them all to myself. 

Ahhhh well.  Hope you all are well, and that you are having a lovely late spring/almost summer!

Spring and winter in one week

Hello friends!

What a week!  I don't know about you, but here in upstate, our weeks are flying by!  Last weekend, our weather was beautiful and sunny and I thought spring was coming.  Gwendolyn and I raked out all of the flower beds and picked up all of the sticks and leaves in the yard. 

 

Dan bought a cheap trailer that needed quite a bit of work, so he has been able to devote some time to that. 

 

A few months ago when we were furnishing our house, a lady gave me a stack of these small plastic chairs.  Gwendolyn calls it her "baby blue chair".  Lucinda and Gwen love to sit in them.

 

 

 

We were having several wagon rides each day

And walks to see the horses down the road happen pretty much every day.

 

 

One day Gwendolyn and I read the newspaper together outside right before it started raining a bit.

 

 

Remember me mentioning buying that old trunk?  Well, I finished it!  What a little sanding, staining, painting and polyerthane can't fix!  Check out the completed project!  It's missing the handles and big clasp in the front, but that doesn't matter to me since we'll be using it for décor.

 

 

Then early in the week, we woke up to 7 1/2 inches of heavy, wet snow.  It wasn't worth plowing, since it was in the 40's and we knew it would melt in no time.  We got out our makeshift sleds out and pulled the girls around and then made a snowman.  It was fun, and something different to do. 

 

 

 

 

 

In just two days, all of the snow was gone, with the exception of a pile where our snowman was.  We are enjoying getting projects done here at the house.  I've made two curtains, made to-do lists, and mostly finished everything on the lists! :D 

Hope your week has been just as productive! 

Stay safe!

My Thoughts and life here and now

Hello friends and readers!

So much can change in just the matter of a few weeks, can't it?  We can go from one week going about our weeks as if nothing in the world is going to change, and then realizing that the world as we know is has gone completely crazy. 

I don't know how your state is, but here, the panic, frenzy, and fear is real amongst so many.  I've taken a back seat to the social media posts I see all week, but after seeing all 50 (or so) surrounding schools closing for a month, the restaurants closing, and grocery stores not having toilet paper, wipes, soap or meat of any kind in stock...it can start to get to you a little.  Yesterday I was reminded though that God has not given us (Christians) the spirit of fear, but of POWER, of LOVE, and of a SOUND MIND.  The world is not acting in power, love and certainly not with a sound mind in regards to the spread of this pandemic, the coronavirus. 

I continue to pray for those who are ill with it, those in quarantine, and those who are grieving loved ones lost to it. 

 

That being said, I refuse to give in to the panic striking our country. 

Thanks to the two road kill Dan picked up (deer) last year, we have venison in the freezer and enough blended frozen banana and shredded zucchini to last us awhile.  :)

 

We're being safe, continuning to wash our hands like we have done before there ever was a virus, and are still living our lives. 

 

On to the pictures for this post.   

The other week I mentioned that we were searching for furniture for our rental.  We came across a lady who was selling a whole garage full of furniture for very cheap.  We picked out what we liked and I really liked this bed.  I've always loved beds with posts.  Ours had a large headboard and posts, but we decided to try switching frames.  This frame came to stay at our house and ours went to the rental.  So far, I like it.  It has drawers in the bottom of it. 

 

 

Also, in our search, I came across a lady on craigslist who was giving away this chair for free because a family member had sat in it and completely busted the back off of it.  Some internal piece of wood was broken in the chair.  I brought it home, Dan took it apart and fixed it.  So now we have a chair that somehow, perfectly matches the walls of our room (not easy to match!).

 

Gwendolyn and Lucie are growing fast.  Lucie figured out how to walk with the walker and to climb up the stairs.  She's very mobile.  Together, they love to climb in the kitchen cupboards and play with the canned goods and pots and pans. 

 

Smoothie time.

 

And playing in the laundry basket

 

Gwendolyn and I, playing in the snow.

 

While perusing our local antique store, I saw that outside there was a collection of old trunks.  I'm a old trunk lover, so I asked the owner how much they were.  The lowest one was $35.  I was surprised at myself when I found myself haggling a little bit and said that I would take two IF he gave them to me for $30 for both.  He said "$35 and we have ourselves a deal."

So I have two new trunks.  One of them has a hole in the front which Dan says he can fix.  This one, though missing the straps (of course) and the clasp and handles, is intact.  Since Dan has been so busy working for some clients, I am taking on the job of bringing this one back to life.  I'll be sure to take an "after" photo when I finish it.   

 

That's it for now!  Stay safe you guys!  Don't give in to the panic and fear that our society without God is experiencing.  God knows everything that's happening and He is still in control.  Nothing is out of His power.