Honey Hill Orchard with Girl Scouts

Bree's troop visited Honey Pot Hill Orchard for some apple picking this afternoon.  We had never been there before, but people seem to love it there.  We needed to make a reservation because of COVID, so we were unpleasantly surprised to find the place SWARMING with people.  It was packed, and the apple pickings were slim.  It was nice for the girls to see each other, but in the future I think we're going to stick to our small, quiet local orchards.

 

Boy Scout Bike Trip

A dozen scouts embarked on a ~30 mile trip (each way) this weekend.

Good thing he was required to bring along a spare inner tube.  Aiden was the first to get a flat.  In the parking lot, before they even departed!  I was impressed when he was able to replace the tube pretty much completely independently.  

The Scoutmaster carried all the boys' gear in his minivan.

And they're off!

 Overall, it was a successful trip.  Sadly, Aiden was involved in a crash on Sunday morning on the way home.  They only had a mile left in their journey when it happened.  Thankfully, no cars were involved - just a few bikes.  But he was kind of banged up, and ended up riding in the van with the Scoutmaster for the last mile.  Hopefully this doesn't scare him off of future bike trips.

The endless birthday

Lucky boy was paid a visit by another couple of friends today, bearing birthday treats!  Feeling the love!

 

A little socially distant celebrating

The birthday celebration continued with some of Aiden's pals this afternoon, outdoors in our backyard.  Glad the weather cooperated!!!

The boys were having competitions shotgunning water!  OMG!😳

 

Going to school at last!

The kids are FINALLY going to actual school this morning!  Yahoo!  Their "pod" will have in-person learning every other week -- mornings only.  They will be back at home for online, "asynchronous" learning in the afternoon.

Masks on, and ready to roll.  I'm glad they are both on the same schedule and at the same school this year, since we opted not to do the bus.  

 

That's Birthday Camping Weekend Wrap

It was fun exploring a new campground this year!  Can't wait to see where our next adventure takes us.

 

We've got a TEENAGER in the house (errrrr.....in the tent)

Can't believe our first born turns 13 today!!  Where did all the time go??

We took a fantastic hike today.  Can't think of a better way to celebrate this boy who loves the outdoors.

Can you tell how cold it is, based on my Rudolph nose??  Of all the years we've camped on Aiden's birthday weekend, this one has been the absolute coldest.

Balancing rock.

Found a nice sunny spot for our lunch break.

Views from atop the fire tower.  The foliage will probably be pretty stunning here in another couple of weeks.

Very excited to get Mexican Train from Auntie Renee & Uncle Adam.  We had a lot of fun playing this up at Sugarloaf back in February!

New book and some cold hard cash from Nan & Pop (in addition to a complete refresh of all his graphic T-shirts, and a very cool Game of Thrones face mask).

Toasting our buns.

And for the grand finale - Aiden's favorite - lemon cake!  Happy #13, kiddo!  Love you lots!!

VERY Remote Learning

One perk of this week being a "remote learning" week for the kids, is that they didn't have to miss any school for our annual camping trip.  They did use up all my high speed data for the month during their calls this afternoon, but it was totally worthwhile.  

Pawtuckaway State Park was closed to out of state residents when we were booking our trip this year, so we found a state park in Western Mass to try out instead.  We're staying at the Daughters of the American Revolution State Park in Goshen, MA.  The temps the next two mornings are expected to be in the low 30's.  We considered renting a camper for the weekend (since Aiden is the only one with proper cold weather camping gear), but our very generous neighbors lent us their pop-up instead.  We are SO grateful!  This was much better than sleeping on the cold ground last night.

 

Books!!!!!!!!

Yahoo!!  We had an outdoor appointment at the library today to browse a selection of books handpicked for Aiden & Bree by our awesome JV Fletcher librarians.  Not only did we walk away with lots of checked-out new reads, but Miss Nancy GAVE the kids a pile of brand new signed copies of books that she gets as part of a monthly subscription to KEEP.  She's seriously the BEST!  The kids have really been missing the library.  Pre-COVID, we were there at least twice a week borrowing books.

 

Orientation Day

So starts the most unusual school year, in the history of school....

We had to make a run to school to pick up their planners, and they coerced me into a trip to Muffins on Main on the way home.  😉

 

Twas The Night Before School(ish)

School starts (kind of) tomorrow.  It's an online orientation day for both kids.  The rest of the week will be remote learning for them. Next week they will go in person.  Some families have opted for 100% remote learning from home.  Others, like us, have chosen the "hybrid model".  They will be at school, one week on, one week off.  On the weeks they are at school, it will be an early release with online assignments for the afternoon.  We'll see how this goes!  It can't be worse than the spring....

 

Daddy / Daughter Breakfast

I'm up in Maine to pick-up Auntie Renee's wedding dress with her later today, and Aiden is on his camping trip, so it's just Daddy and Bree for breakfast today.  Looks like she got the royal treatment!!

 

Boy Scouts - Back in Action!

First camp trip post-COVID.  It's a little different than it was before (single person per tent, bring and prepare your own meals, mask wearing, etc.), but I'm glad they were able to make it happen!