Christmas Eve at Church

Christmas was really special for Gretchen this year

because she and the girls did a trio at Church.

David enjoyed it just as much because the girls

actually got along really well at they practiced

and filled the house with the sounds of Christmas.

You can see the Family Trio,

Ingrid(flute), Grace(alto sax),and Gretchen(accompanying on piano)

at this link:  http://youtu.be/2BDaQIy_NFU

We wish for all of you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS DAY -

and all the best in 2013!

Stay in touch!

December 2012 - Almost Christmas

Christmas Service Project

This year instead of the 4H group adopting a local family to help out at Christmas, the group decided to help out some soldiers who are away from home for the holidays. With a little help from a friend involved with the navy, Gretchen got a list of names direct from the XO on one of our aircraft carriers of some sailor that could benefit from a care package. The whole group donated things, and here is the family splitting up for the different sailor.

It turned out to be a big job, but we got through it.

Later on Ingrid's friend came over and they made a small gingerbread village. Here it is partway done.

Time for Ingrid's Christmas concert - Eventide. If you look closely you can see her in the middle of the back.

After the concert and the outdoor candlelit singing, there was a gathering with refreshments. This was the Christmas tree in the hall where the reception was. I'd say 18 feet - I'd like to have one that big in the living room.

Ingrid wasn't too happy the next morning when we had to get up and go get our own tree. She isn't all the happy in the morning, and it shows in this picture.

Grace got right into the swing of things though. She found this big rock in the middle of one field.

Ingrid perked right up when we found a likely candidate. This ended up being the tree we picked.

And here it is ready for the trip home. The canoe trailer is doing double duty here, it sure is easier than trying to put the tree on the roof of the car.

Fair and Fall 2012

2012 County Fair

Ingrid had an opportunity to work in the 4H building at the country fair all weekend, so she took it. Part of the time she was there Gretchen and Grace went up to the fair also. Here they are almost acting like sisters.

More clowning around at the fair

David's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this fall, and David's brother and sister threw a big dinner for them. Here is Grace all dressed up at the dinner. I don't get to see her like this too often.

Ingrid on the other hand would dress like this all the time if we let her.

The 4H seniors all came over and cooked dinner one night and did a lovely job.

Ingrid with one of our youngest 4H members.

And Grace with some of her friends and some sisters. They made up an appetizer tray that was spooky with a Halloween theme.

The 4H seniors also took a cake decorating class. For one of the sessions they had to bring a bunch of cupcakes, so here is Ingrid finishing them up.

We did our turkey dinner for Thanksgiving the weekend before, so on Thanksgiving we did something else - homemeade ravioli. David makes a bit of a mess when he does this.

One more shot of the 4H seniors making quilt squares for a project.

Summer 2012

We spent a few days at the Orvis's camp on Big Moose Lake, and found that one of Ingrid's new classmates lives just 2 miles from there. She came up and spent a whole day with us, and then her younger sister and father came over for dinner that night.

We dropped off both of the girls for a week at Skye Farm. Ingrid is pretty excited in this picture, she was about to go 'off site' for a 4 day long canoe camping trip. Grace is not so excited.

Another picture of Ingrid being very excited.

In August Gretchen went back to work full time, for the first time since before Ingrid was born. Here she about to leave on her first day.

While Gretchen was working, I took both of the girls and a friend each camping for 4 days. We went to Rollin's Pond. Despite the huge number of sites, Rollin's Pond never disappoints. Here is our site right on the water, just before we set up the gear.

One of the days we were there we canoed the Rollins Loop. David was in the canoe with the two younger girls, while the two older girls were in the other canoe on their own. Here we are approaching the passage between Rollin's Pond and Floodwood Pond.

Ingrid and her friend seemed to spend a lot of the trip trying to keep up.

On the way home we stopped at the access road to the Adirondack Lodge so the girls could see the mountains, and so that we could take a picture with the high peaks in the background.

Here is Ingrid on the first day of high school. What a beautiful campus.

Meanwhile, this has become Grace's favorite place, the Hirsch Observatory on the RPI campus. She and David go every Saturday night to help out with public observing and they have both joined the Rensselaer Astrophysical Society.

Grace observing the stars through a 6" reflector telescope.

She also made this interesting collage using her iPod. Pretty neat.

Late Spring and Early Summer 2012

 We built some flower boxes this year that are a lot nicer than the ones we bought a few years back, and significantly cheaper. Grace is helping put in the pansies.

 The 4H group also went for a tour of the USS Slater down in Albany. Grace and her friend don't look all that enthusiastic in this picture.

Here is the group touring around on the ship. This was very interesting, I'd recommend it if you haven't been already.

Sometimes the girls need help sorting out their iTunes libraries, and it becomes a whole family affair.

Here is Ingrid at her 8th grade graduation. I think she is happy to be done with middle school.

She won an award for French, but we aren't sure exactly what it represents, and that isn't just because the certificate is in French.

At the end of the 8th grade year is the big dinner dance on one of the Hudson River Cruise type ships. Ingrid decided this was the look she wanted, complete with the combat boots, and she and Gretchen made the dress.

Here she is with a good friend just about to get on the ship.

The official picture taking before she and a group of friends gets on board.

Spring 2012

David took a day off on a beautiful day in the middle of March to go hiking in the high peaks. After getting turned back from his original destination due to high water, he climbed Cascade mountain instead. It was 75F on top of the mountain, and I didn't see another person on the hike until I started back down.

Sometime it seems like overkill to be prepared - it was in the 70's in the parking lot, but he brought the snowshoes, the poles and the spikes along just in case. The snowshoes never came off the pack, but the poles and the spikes were a huge help.

Spring is also time for 4H demonstrations. Here Grace is doing her demonstration on the game of Chess, along with the magnetic chessboard she made for the demonstration.

Ingrid did her demonstration on the history of the flute, complete with iPod selections to demonstrate some of the different types of flute music.

Grace also worked on a 10 page research paper for the EcoEd program at RPI. Her subject was the concerns around the use of palm oil. She refuses to eat anything containing palm oil, and you might be surprised how hard it can be to find foods that don't contain it.

Ingrid's making a dress to wear to a formal at a 4H function. She did a fantastic job on it.

Here is the finished product. A bit short for Dad's taste, but still a nice job.

And we're still working on getting rid of the pile of timber left over from clearing the septic system when we built the house. You can see a small fire down at the corner of the yard. I'm not sure the chickens are all that happy about it.

March 2012 - Happy St. Pat's and other big news

Grandma and Grandpa were coming over for dinner, and Grace got to choose and make dessert. She chose to make Celebration pie, and it came out just like the picture on the cover of the recipe book. It tasted as good as it looked.

Here is Ingrid enjoying a piece - even several weeks later she still says it was delicious.

During March this year there was about two weeks of June-like weather. One of the first of the really nice days, the girls went outside to do their homework. Grace chose to climb up in a tree to do hers.

Ingrid just threw a blanket in the middle of the front yard to do hers. The more important thing to get out of this picture is that she is writing with a pencil she has that says 'Emma Willard', the bag she used to carry her books out there says the same, as do the side of the sunglasses she's wearing. Not only did she get in, but she got a huge scholarship. We're thrilled, and she is very excited about it.

Then it was St. Patrick's day. Another fantastic day. We parked way over on the west side of the park and walked to the parade, then afterwards we went over to the El Loco for a drink and snack. Gretchen is hoisting a toast to St. Patrick, and the girls are enjoying a snack.