Productive Sunday

This past Sunday we tackled several home projects.

Elanee stayed in and cut 50lbs of seed potatoes into 3s with eyes for planting.

I spent all day planting my new lillies. My friend Julia gave me a ton of lillies that she was sick of looking at. I split them up and created a l-o-n-g border for the front lawn. I dug around 60+ holes with the post hole digger. Ouch! By next year it will look like something. I cannot wait till they are big and in bloom.

Maya spent most of the day hanging with the goat because he cried every time she left him. Jody and Ben worked their tales off for me. They dug two post holes wich doesnt sound like much untill you see the boulders they dug out. WOW! There was no getting around them. We are trying to revamp a small goat pen and build a shelter.

So after hours of hard work they managed to get the two new posts in the ground AND rehang the gate so it swings clear of the ground. Jody even added a hook and eye....just to make the wife smile ;) After all the hard work we all settled in with burgers off the grill and a family friendly movie. Thats my idea of a good day!

The Cow

This is the cow. Elanee thought he looked happy on his fresh bedding and took a picture of him. Hes just a teen and maybe 300+ lbs. We are hoping the new goat will keep him company. Hes lonely and often stands at the fence and hollars at the house. This is annoying to us....and the neighbors. At least hes good to look at. We'll have him untill Oct.

New Goat

Meet Barley!
This is our new little man. He is a pet with purpose. His job is to clear a field, pull a cart and play sugar daddy to all the goat ladies who will eventually make up our herd.
At the moment he is just 22 lbs and a big puppy. He likes to be hugged and carried. He is learning to walk on a leash. He hates his bottle and is eating corn, hay and grass as he sees fit.

Hes a cutey trotting around our house sniffing the dog.

Hiring some work done!

Last year, using some of our tax $, we got a load of clean fill delived to the property. We had had 40 ton of gravel delived too and the kids and I moved all that with shovels and a wheelbarrow. Because of that successful experience we could do the same with the clean fill. Not really! Yikes. It was rock hard clay. SO- it sat there for a year and looked ugly. The point of this dirt was to fill in one side of out U drive so it would become yard.
So this week I hired Pete Keefer to come out and move that dirt AND till a huge new garden plot. He came with his huge machinery and did a fantastic job. He scooped the hill, dumped it in small patches along the drive and smooshed it down. He tilled the garen 4 times and its beautiful!
Here you can see the dirt pile is gone, the sign is up and the garden is plowed. Nice improvements!

Building a decent sign

This week Elanee and I spent an hour or so building a new sign for my store. My original signs 'melted' with the winter weather. This one is about 8' tall and 8' wide. It will be white with changable letters.
Elanee did most of the screwing. She was good at it and fast too.

Time for the Garden

Garden time is here!!!! Yippee!!!

Now, I dont think Elanee is saying the same thing. Here she is

listening to here tunes while she tosses a winters worth of chicken poo

in the compost bin. We have recently discovered the joys of peppermint tea so I picked some up at a green house. Now we will have tons of tea. I plan to dry it and use it all winter long.
Here is one of the 6 strawberry beds. I started out with 20 plants 3 yrs ago. Now we have hundreds!

Where Daddy Works

Maya often asks Jody if he is doing therapy today or driving the bus.
Jody has had us all over to his office at Family & Childrens (where he is a therapist) but,
Maya has never seen Daddy's bus (that the Saterday job)
As a matter of fact she is the only child who has never taken a trip with him.

On the 20th Jody, Elanee, Maya and I were all in Ithaca for a Ridvan celebration at Eco Village and surprising us all Jody decided to take us up the hill to see his bus.

We got to walk through, use the potty (Maya's delight;) and play with the buttons and mic. We even got to see the storage bays, engine and garage. What a nice treat for Miss Maya. It was even fun for mom.

Leaving MY BAAAABY!!!! :(

On Fri it was time for us to go back to reality. Elanee, Maya and I packed up but not Vayda. She was ready for an entire month with the George family in South Carolina. I didnt want to leave my baaaaaaby!!!!! But, I know we can use the time apart and the time with Retta in an entirely different environment will be good for her- so reluctantly- I left her behind :(

Shhh- don't tell Vayda I said so- but our house is very quiet all of the sudden ;)

Sleepy Head

After three huge days Maya Rae was out like a light at 7:30. I was right behind her. The girls made the most of their last night in the Poconos and stayed up till 6 am.

Horse Back Riding

On Thursday Russ was taking Vahid, Ruhi and his dad to NYC for a Mets game so Retta and I decided to find something for the rest of us to do. We settled on horse back riding.
Elanee and Quddus opted to stay back and play video games so Retta, Maya, Vayda and I drove over to Pocono Adventures Riding Stables.
We were assigned horses and told to mount up. Now- I was not really able to mount up on a horse wearing a saddle up above my reach and a stirrup at my shoulder height!!!! Not so much! Cant I get a bail of hay to step up on???? I asked. No go.
So- the lady who was running the show grabbed my foot and shoved it up above my shoulder and into the stirrup. Then- before I knew it she squatted down, ducked her head under my crotch and then with my boot-y on her shoulders she freakin sumo wrestler bench pressed me onto the horse!!!!!!!!!!! I was laughing too darn hard to be mortified. I have decided that if I wanna look skinny...on a horse is not the place to try.
However, Retta looks o so natural on one. Once everyone was in line we were given a 45 min tour of a rocky path and lovely woods. At one point Retta yelled back to me, "Hey Carrie- what do you think of the ride?" My reply was, "Just like yesterdays drive- bumper to bumper and highly stressful!"

In the end I had relaxed. Maya and Vayda were naturals and perfectly content riding a giant beast. I found the whole thing rather liberating. The next day I found that my entire being was aching. Ouch.

The view from upstairs

After the day on the islands Russes oldest son, Ryan stopped by the time share for a visit. His birthday was around the corner so Russ put together a little B-day party for him. I snapped this shot from upstairs.

Liberty Island

After Ellis Island we went over the Liberty Island. This was fun and cereal ! After 37 yrs of seeing pictures of the Statue of Liberty in text books and in movies the actually seeing it in person was over the top! Maya was so cute as we aproached the island on the ferry...."Mom!!! There she is!" :)
It was so cool having this great experience with my o so dear friend, Retta.
We decided that being that the statue was given to us by the French, she absolutely has hairy pits and legs ;) Ok- maybe we spent too much time in the sun that day.
This is our group....

Top- Carrie, Maya Rae, Russ

Bottom- Lauretta, Elanee, Ruhi, Quddus, Vayda & Vahid

Russ managed this shot by laying his camera on the sidewalk and using the timer....

not too shabby.

Ellis Island

On Wed we woke up at 5:30 am and left for New Jersey Park with 6 kids in tow by 7:30 am.
After a treterous 2 hr drive to NJ we literally RAN to get ferry tickets. We got potty breaks in and tickets for all. We had to strip down for the metal detectors and grab some coffee then we waited for the ferry. Once we were all on board we climbed to the top for the best view.
When we arrived at Ellis Island we milled around a bit. Then, I saw a proffessor giving his college class a tour so I grabbed the girls and glommed on. We learned so much from this guy. We got alot out of the visit in a hour or so. It was really intense. Absolutely profound. As we stood on 'the stairs of seperation' and we learned about families being torn apart and hopes being crushed in that very spot I literally had to fight back the tears. The girls seemed to really get alot

out of it.
Here are the kids snacking and chillin on the ferry.

Vacation!

This past week Elanee, Vayda, Maya Rae and I joined our friends Lauretta, Russ, Quddus, Vahid, & Ruhi in the Pokenos. Russes dad has a time share there and the Georges go there once each yr. This time Retta flew into Rochester airport on the a Friday. We spent 4 days hanging out....without her kids and neglecting mine :)
On Tues the girls, Retta and I drove down to PA. After 4.5 hrs in the small car...
The kids were ready for a swim at the rec.

A lesson in levers

Sodus in March was a study in all things natural science.

Beyond this was a cool thing...a lesson in levers!

Maya happened upon a long board and a little log that had washed up on the beach.
We drug it up into the sand and played 'surf board' and teeter-totter.
Then we made some adjustments and Maya was totally psyched to find that little ol her...
could life mom up!!! Wow! Homeschool at its best.

A Sunday at Sodus

On Sunday the 30th of March Jody was in the mood to get off the property and away from the chores so he, Maya and I all took off for a day trip to Sodus Point.We walked the peer and admired the rocks.

We explored the half melted ice and snow. It was cool how the sand under the snow was darker than the snow itself so the underside of the snow was melted- like caves- under the ice.
It was sunny but chilly out on the peer. Maya could almost climb into those icy caverns.
Maya discovered what a sand dune was and bravely looked off the peer at the deep water and gigantic rocks.
Daddy wrote in the sand.
As is Maya's way, she took every oportunity to rebuild the beach. She found branches, stones and trash to create her own little world.
One of her favorite games was to swim in the stones.

This was a great time for the 3 of us. Maya never gets time alone with both Mom and Dad so that made it super special.