Mt. Greylock

The entire year we've been here, Brad has been wanting to go up to Mt. Greylock, or ANY higher location. We've done a lot of things, but just hadn't made it there yet. So Monday evening I surprised him. We picked up pizza from Hot Tomatoes (gonna MISS that place!) and had camping chairs and stuff for a fire in the trunk, and took him on up to Mt. Greylock. His dreams came true... kind of. Instead of the endless sweeping views of the Berkshires, we got up close and personal with some dense fog. And I mean DENSE... we could see wisps of it floating around in front of us. There is a tower at the summer that you can climb up in to see even better. We climbed up the little winding staircase, but it didn't really improve the view. Oh well, I tried! It was still a fun activity. We had to be careful not to lose Eli in the fog and tall grass. After walking around in the mist and rain, we all squished in the front seat together and ate cold s'mores because you can't have fires at the summit afterall =).




In other news - we load the truck tonight and hit the road tomorrow! Columbia, MO here wer come!

Laurel Lake and Whitney Farm

On our last day with Grandma and Grandpa B. we finally got some sunshine. Since we were back home in Pittsfield, we decided to spend the morning at Lenox Beach on Laurel Lake - the little beach I used to take Eli last summer. It was the perfect day for relaxing on the shore, and doing a little wading/swimming/crayfish stalking! The kids are getting quite the farmer's tans.


We finally left when we were all starving, and grabbed some pizza from our FAVORITE place out here - Hot Tomatoes - and drove to Pontoosuc Lake (yep, lots of lakes out here) to eat our dinner on the shore. Pontoosuc is the one I walked on with the boys when it was frozen!


Afterwards, we took a scenic drive through the northern part of the county to show it off to Brad's family. Of course we stopped at our favorite hangout spot - Whitney Farm - for some good times and yummy icecream. I will MISS that place for sure. It is the only bribery I have for getting Eli to behave when I take him shopping at Target. "Go see amals (animals)?" he begs everytime we even pull into the store parking lot. He can run around and play with hay, throw rocks at chickens, chase birds, and climb the tractor jungle gyms for hours. It was a very fun way to spend our last day with the fam! Eli keeps asking to "go find ga-ma, ga-pa, au' Heidi!" and to "go to ga-ma's house" and to "ride ga-pa's van." We're sure glad they made the trip out here, and miss them already!

Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

I mentioned that Brad is going to be working crazy hours the next few weeks. Well, we were both sad that he wouldn't have a day off this weekend, but luckily Friday was one of his "short" days in the rotation schedule and he got home around 5pm. So, we grabbed a picnic dinner from Subway (gotta love $5 footlongs!) and headed down to the Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox. This little piece of paradise is only ten minutes from our house. I should mention that these little side trips lately have been FREE because our library has passes to them that you can check out for a day.

We had a LOVELY evening stroll around a pond and through the woods. We saw birds, squirrels, mice, and beaver. Eli's favorite part was doing his "peripheral test" with a stick. He was so enthralled with the stick that I couldn't get him to look at the camera (that's nothing new) or even much of the wildlife around him. We finally had to start throwing pinecones into the forest and pretending the "thump" was a mouse scurrying by in order to get Eli moving down the trail. He's been obsessed with mice eversince - and saw two real ones the next day when our landlords were doing yardwork - so now I have to tell him a bedtime story about the mouse every night. Owen absolutely loves the outdoors, and he at least took full advantage of the scenery. Anyway, What should have been a 30 minute walk took 90, but having a laid back evening together was the point. Thankfully we had our bug spray though because the pests come out in full force at dusk around here. Even still, Eli and Owen both ended up with a fly bite, but at least the mosquitos were kept at bay! It doesn't even get dark here until after 8:30pm, so we stayed late. Once loading the kids in the car they were both sacked out within 5 minutes, so I took Brad on a little drive to show him some of the beautiful things I had discovered lately within just a few minutes' drive of our home - including a waterfall down the street from our church!

Waterfall Near Church

The Mount

Most people are enjoying a 3 day weekend right now.... for us Brad gets to work 3 LONG days in a row (until after 7pm) to finish the first week of 3 WEEKS with NO days off. That's 14 straight days of wards, then he takes off early Saturday the 30th to Arizona to get our house back in shape so we can rent it out again. So I'll be all alone for 5 days, then he gets back around midnight on a Weds only to start work bright and early the next morning for two more days. THEN we'll have a weekend - which includes a yardsale, and Brad's parents coming for a visit - yay! Just typing this is making me tired =). I'm taking the kids to the hospital today to have lunch and icecream with Daddy!

Last Saturday Brad was off and we went to check out a local attraction - The Mount, or the Edith Wharton Estate and Gardens in Lenox. Edith lived at the turn of the century, and came from a wealthy family. She became a best-selling American author in her time, and her works of fiction and short stories are still respected today (The House of Mirth). She was also an avid gardener, and interior designer - her book The Decoration of Houses put interior design "on the map" as a profession. The house and gardens she had constructed in Lenox are truly beautiful. Her home is much more simplistic and classically beautiful than other homes of the guilded age era. I think I would have liked getting to know her! She was also good friends with Henry James, another well known author of the time (Turn of the Screw), who visited The Mount often. Edith only lived in the home for a decade or so, until her mismatched marriage ended and she moved to Paris, where she stayed until her death. Since then, it's been a home to other families, as well as a school for girls. Now it is a museum. I am SO jealous of the gardens most of all, and the scenic views of Laurel Lake in the background.

Spring Frost

Just before Easter we had a lovely little Spring frost. Of course I'm always bummed when yet ANOTHER cold front blows in, but this one actually brought a little beauty with it. I was driving the boys to story time at the library in the next town over, and wound up taking a detour through a nature preserve to get some shots. All the trees looked as if they had been dipped in glitter frosting, and it was melted by the time we finished at the library. It's always amazing to me how striking the beauty of nature can be, and yet so fleeting. So sit back in your nice warm house and enjoy!

Maple Sugaring

Yesterday we went to Ioka Valley Farm in Hancock, MA to see how REAL maple syrup is made. We got to learn about and taste the different "grades" of syrup (light to dark amber) as well as some other things made with maple syrup. We saw the "sugar house" where the sap is boiled into syrup - that's really all it is when you buy REAL syrup. Check out the ingredients in YOUR maple syrup, lol. The good stuff just says "maple syrup."


We also got to check out the maple trees, and the 30 miles of tubing they use to get the sap from the trees down to the farm - no more individual hanging buckets! It is pretty amazing all the work that goes into it year round, when the window for getting the sap is a very small one from the end of Feb to early April, depending on the weather.


Eli loved playing with the little toy tractors they had set up in little "sandbox"full of rice. It was hard to tear him away for the tour. After our little tour, we ate at the "Calf-A" and had pancakes, cinnamon french toast, and of course, SYRUP! It was so yummy, that Eli ate an entire adult sized order of french toast AND fed it TO HIMSELF! He even DIPPED his toast in the DRIPPY syrup - AMAZING. We hope we can go back just for some more food.

Owen was dreaming about tasting some!

We brought THIS home with us!

We stopped in the barn to say hello to the "seep" (sheep), goat, and "yamas" (llamas).

Snowshoe Hike

Brad and I got to go on a DATE today! Eli went to play at Stew's house, and we went on a snowshoe hike in the woods. I've always wanted to try out some snowshoes - and they are pretty cool! We borrowed them from some friends in the ward, and followed the trails through Kennedy Park in Lenox. It was really warm today, and a lot of the snow is starting to melt, so it was slushy but lots of fun. I think it's a winter sport I could actually embrace if we end up living somewhere long term with snowy winters. We "shoe-ed" in for a bit, then stopped and ate a picnic lunch. We sat on a rock on the side of the mountain where we could see the frozen lake through the trees down below. It was beautiful, and actually romantic! Owen slept through most of the hike. Pretty much every other hiker we passed by had to ooh and ahh about how adorable he was with his puppy dog hat.

Ice Walking

Sounds adventurous, doesn't it? It's the new extreme sport for moms and tots - walking across frozen lakes! The boys and I hung out with Amy and Stew this week, and they live right next to Pontoosuc Lake, which of course is frozen over this time of year. People drive cars, trucks, snowmobiles, and four wheelers out there on the ice, as well as ice fish. We thought we would be brave and walk the kids out to the island in the middle and back. It was actually quite a walk! Amy and I both had a baby strapped to us along with dragging a toddler, and there were several inches of slushy snow atop the ice to sludge through. We made it, enjoyed the view, and were glad to be back on solid ground. There's probably about a foot of ice on the lake, but it's still pretty nerve-wracking to think that you are walking on top of a deep body of water with little kids in tow - especially when we could see the cracks in it as well as some of the holes left by the fishermen. We thoroughly tired the kids out that day and Eli conked out on the way home.