Playin' Outside

This weekend on a lazy Sunday morning, Kev & I were sitting in front of 

The home we're trying to buy... our fingers are crossed at this
point... waiting for inspections & we're praying it all works out!            

the wood  stove in our pajamas, drinking coffee (decaf for me, bleh) and chatting about the house we're hoping to buy, our little boy who we can't wait to meet, and lots of things in between.  We've always been pretty good conversationalists, one of us is better, but I'm not saying who.  ;0) 

Somehow we got to talking about pets we wanted as kids.  I am a huge science dork and love all things wild, so if this little boy is anything like me, we'll have lots of crawly critters in our house, which is awesome!  When I was small & freckle-faced, I thought Marty Stouffer's Wild America was the best television show ever (with close favorites being Punky Brewster & Looney Tunes) and I pretended to be like him, constantly on the hunt to observe salamanders, frogs, grasshoppers, snakes... really anything lurking under old rotting logs or nestled into Mother Nature's nooks & crannies.  Sometimes my dad would take my sister and I walking through the woods, teaching us to be as quiet as possible, which is tricky for 5-9 year old twin girls!  Once we even saw a fisher slinking between the pines on a cold winter's day, we felt that was a major sighting!  



Nowadays, my hair may not be in pig tails (as often) and I may not have as many pants with ripped knees and grass stains, but I still love the outdoors & being a teacher allows me to foster this love of the outdoors to expose my students to how amazing the world right outside their doors is, and most importantly, how much for exciting it is than their video gaming equipment!) I can't wait to explore the backyard with our little boy!

Back to our morning conversation, pardon my rambling... Kev was telling me about how his dad would help him catch turtles and frogs when he was a little boy.  I love the mental image I got from this story, I imagine little Kev in rubber boots with Grandpa Dave holding his hand and trudging through the muddy marshes & cranberry bogs in search of turtles, frogs, or other interesting discoveries.  Kev has stories of a little pet snapping turtle named Divet that they found on a golf course & fed tiny pieces of meat and lettuce to.  Just this week "Grandpa Carriere" spent the day with a 2 year old friend taking trips to the dump, to get cookies, and working in the yard.  Our little boy will have the most amazing grandparents.


I can't wait to create memories like this with little Will.  Today we took him on a short adventure snowshoeing across the lake, although it was freezing cold, the kind of cold where it hurts to breathe through your nose. Here are a few pics of our day:

Mt. Washington from Highland Lake

Bailey didn't seem to mind the blustery wind!

Some ice fishermen made an awesome fort!

King... or should I say Queen of the Mountain

Tiny little island across the Lake from our house, I liked to swim there when it was warm.

Oh, and I picked up these wooden letters the other day for a nifty little project I am working on for the nursery.  More to come later... Have a great day everyone!