Sunday, November 4, 2012

Halloween, Hockey, Hiking, Hillarity

So, Halloween happened. It was awesome. As far as I'm concerned, this town does Halloween right. Because the population where we are is so small relative to the geographical area, trick or treating in most of this town and the surrounding towns is infeasible and frankly, probably dangerous. Most homes are set far back from the road on large (5+ acre) lots, there are no streetlights, and most of the roads are twisty country roads that locals fly on. There are only a few pockets of town where houses are clustered in a "neighborhood", and luckily for us, one of them is ours. Our neighborhood is made of up four streets in the shape of an "E" and is located directly across the street from the K-8 elementary school. The police close off access to the neighborhood and then all residents of Salisbury, Amesville, Lime Rock and Lakeville (which are the four towns that feed into the elementary school) to trick or treat in our neighborhood only. It's a huge party. The police station takes collections of candy (so that we in the neighborhood don't have to personally purchase enough candy for 200-300 kids) and dropped it off at every house in the neighborhood Halloween morning. All we had to do was decorate the house, and enjoy the festivities. The kids went out trick or treating with Andy and our next door neighbor's kids, and I stayed home to pass out candy. Next year we need to step up our house-decorating. Years of being "the Halloween neighborhood" - our realtor referred to it as such a couple times during our house hunting, and we had no idea what she meant - have led the neighbors to an impressive collection of exterior Halloween decorations. Andy's mom made the kids absolutely adorable costumes - Woody from Toy Story and a dinosaur, and Andy and I went as "undecided voters" - he wore a leprechaun costume and I wore a unicorn costume:



People either really got Andy's and my costumes, and thought they were hilarious, or really, really didn't. Either way, we got a huge kick out of them and the boys had a blast. We also hosted a Halloween party on Sunday night for all the boys' preschool friends and their families, which was great fun and judging from the thank you notes I received, everyone had a blast. Halloween was a huge success all around.

Hockey has started up again, too. The team I play on started practicing in October, and as a gift to myself I treated myself to new equipment and am saving up for a new stick. I've also taken on a bigger role on the team and am the scheduler this year, which has been fun. I'm even considering going to ref school! I went to a hockey clinic this summer and a couple women in attendance ref at the mite and pee wee level - I was intrigued. There is apparently a big shortage of refs in our area. I need to look into the time commitment on that. The hockey season started up for Owen this weekend, too. I was unsure how Owen would do - last year, he was happy to go with public skate with me, but spent every single hockey practice (why yes, we did spend $250 for the privilege....) sitting on the bench in his equipment, watching but refusing to step on the ice or participate. He insisted he wanted to sign up again, however, and against our better judgment we again paid the fee and signed him up. I was expecting a repeat of last year but.....nope. He stepped out on the ice and did his best. Here he is, working with "coach Seth":



we were SO proud and excited for him. Last year it was so very clear that he wanted to participate, he really wanted to join in - but I just don't think emotionally he was there yet. Every single Saturday and Sunday, he would say "I want to go to hockey! Really! I do! I promise I will get on the ice!" And then.....you got it. We sat on the side and watched. I said it in my vacation post, but I'll say it again - what a difference a year makes. While there might not be that much difference physically in how he would have done from last year to this, emotionally it was a whole different ballgame. He had a blast, and was SO excited to go back again today. The hockey program here is very generous and a great deal. It meets every Saturday AND Sunday morning - one hour Saturdays, one hour and 15 minutes Sundays, for 16 weeks and at $250 I consider that a steal - and this morning he practically LEAPED on the ice. Somehow, I got talked into volunteering for the learn to skate program too, starting next week - so we'll both be on the ice from now on. You know what? Fine with me. I like being a hockey mom.

This weekend our friends Colleen and Bill came to visit, and in addition to enjoying their awesome company, which was a true highlight of the fall so far, seeing this area through their eyes a bit made me realize how despite all my complaining, it's actually really pretty nice out here. We have a lot going for us. This morning I met up with the group of three other women I've been running with in the mornings since last April, and I mentioned how much I've been undervaluing how nice it is here. My friend Jocelyn said "Yeah! We live across the street from an excellent public school. We live in a ridiculously beautiful place. Because we all work or live at boarding schools, our kids have access to things that most kids don't. We are really, really lucky." Yes, we are. I miss Boston, but I need to remember that. We ARE really, really lucky.

Speaking of ridiculously beautiful places, the boys and I decided to take advantage of it this afternoon. Last weekend I went with the same friend Jocelyn mentioned above to run the Kent Pumpkin Run, which is a 5 mile race through some of the most gorgeous scenery the northwest corner has to offer. On our way there, we passed a spectacular waterfall. I said "wow, what's that!" she said, "You've never taken your kids to the big falls? You have to!" So this afternoon, we did. It was a great, an easy, but beautiful 1 mile round trip hike up the waterfall and down the other side on a chilly, but lovely November afternoon.




Maybe it was because the kids were being particularly well behaved, brotherly and cooperative. Maybe it was because Jocelyn had just reminded me to be grateful this morning. Or maybe it was just because two little boys in the woods would put anyone in a good mood, but we had a great time. Happy Fall!






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We had a great time last weekend. Thanks again for having us! -C

Anonymous said...

Thanks for having us last weekend. We had a great time! -C