Thompson Visit

We all had such a great visit with Jen and the kids. Abby and Sammy are two peas in a pod. Jen taught them how to knit so they knitted and sewed. They made Maisie a doll - it turned out pretty cool - especially since it was the first one either of the girls had ever made. They worked on various projects during the visit. They even had time to type out a newspaper!

Will, Jack, and Ben had a great time playing Playstation, talking YuGiO, and playing outside.

It makes me so happy to reconnect with friends from years' past and it is great to be out here and be within driving distance of friends and family!

A Visit from the Thompson Family

Jen, Abby, Will and Jack came for a visit. What a great time we all had! We went on a hike in hopes of tiring everyone out but Jen and I were the only ones who tired out. Jack was tireless and actually RAN the last of the hike in order to be the first one done - that kid has ENERGY!

A New Zink

No, we are NOT having a baby. We got a kitten today. He is very cute and yes, he is cat number three. The local no kill Shelter "TARPS" (the animal protection society) is very overcrowded right now with cats/kittens. The kids and I read their column in the local paper every week and have been talking about adding a new cat to our herd. You know... Ben is hoping we can eventually open a cat farm (don't ask, he really does dream of it). Well we won't have a cat farm but since we have the room and the resources right now we figured we'd do what we can. His name is Kurtis (which was a plus) he is very snuggly and mischievous. He will fit in perfectly with Raymond, Skywalker (and of course Rizzo). He only had to bite Maisie twice today. You will notice she is the only one of our kids who is NOT holding him in a photo.

I am going to pass on a bookmark - it is a web site to vote for shelters to get grant funding and it is decided by votes. Vote for TARPS in Chester, VT. We know, it isn't local to you but if you saw the shelter you would understand. The cats & kittens need help and the funding provides them with food, shelter, and vet care until someone like us takes them home. No public funding goes to this organization - it is all volunteers.

Vote early and Vote often - sign in daily:http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3

Thanks, we miss you!

Happy Halloween!

Hope the rain stayed away and you had a Happy Halloween!

Grafton Cheese Co

Hiking Day

We decided to take advantage of the sunshine on Sat and went back to Grafton on a hike. This time we did the "little bear" trail. It was much shorter but still very long for our family. We all need to work on our stamina and we also need to work on working together to encourage Maisie instead of screaming at her when she lays on the ground panting saying she can't go another step further (this happens about every quarter of a mile). Sam finally found the way to motivate Maisie - mini marshmallows in her snack bag - too bad we were almost finished with the hike by then! On the way home we stopped in Grafton at the Grafton Cheese Factory. We took full advantage of the free samples!! Ben of course didn't touch the cheese but loved their high end crackers. We bought two new kinds of cheese to try - if we can find a way to ship them to people we will, they were incredible!! One was a maple smoked cheddar and the other was a "duet" it was cheddar with blue cheese on the inside - Sammy loved it! The last group of pictures with the suspension bridge is a bridge over the Saxton River on the way out of town - we've been looking at it from the road and wanted to see what it was like. Maisie was a little worried there would be crocodiles underneath and was pleased to see there wasn't :-) After looking at the signage we are guessing the bridge is part of the VAST trails - a series of trails all over VT.