Veni, Vidi, Vici

Although I know that it probably sounds a bit ridiculous, "conquer" and "dominate" are really the only words to describe a meet in which basically every competitor from The Refuge takes first place and breaking four state records and two APA world records along the way.  The men that Lee lifts with are committed to their sport and unbelievably good at what they do.  We have reached the point where we consider these guys to a part of our family.  They are tremendously good people, treat the girls and I like gold and have made Lee reach down deep and find strength that he didn't know he had.  Great work Brian, Adam, Nick, Matt and Lee - so proud of you guys!  Below are shots of the members of Team Refuge and a video that I put together.

Lee and Nick (the owner of The Refuge) 

Nick and Adam (Coach Szeps) 

Lee and Ryan 

Metabolic Doc getting in Nick's face before his 600 lb. record breaking lift.

Brian 

Brian, putting up 525 lbs. for a new state record and APA world record. 

Adam, benching 445 lbs. 

Team Refuge 

Lee, Brian, Nick, Adam and Matt, with their first place trophies.

The girls don't have team t-shirts like the rest of us, so I had some hair bling made for them.

Emily, Lee and Elizabeth

Northeast Coast Open

On Sunday, Lee and his teammates from The Refuge competed at the Northeast Coast Open.  While powerlifting may not seem like a team sport or an exciting sport, it was definitely both of those things on Sunday.  First of all, this competition was huge - people were practically hanging out of the rafters to get a glimpse of the competitors, there were so many spectators.  Second of all, the guys from The Refuge were spectacular - every one of them did such a phenomenal job.  Third of all, Lee killed it!  He looked as strong as I have ever seen him look - he was totally focused and got the job done like he's never done before.  Lee competes in the 198 weight class.  On Saturday afternoon, after five straight days of hitting the sauna, he weighed in at 195 pounds.  Keep that number in mind.  On Sunday afternoon, he benchpressed 410 pounds, setting a new state record and a new APA world record for his age and weightclass.  He benchpressed more than DOUBLE his body weight!  Then, about an hour later, he came back and deadlifted 575 pounds, another state record!  It was an unbelievable day for Lee and the girls and I are so ridiculously proud of him and all that he has accomplished in such a short period of time.  Last year at this time, he just starting to think about competing, which is completely different from just hitting the gym and lifting.  There are specific rules in competition, from what you wear, to how you position yourself on the bench, to how long you have to hold the bar against your chest before completing a lift. It is really amazing to see how far he has come and how strong he has become in such a short period of time!

Bench Press.

Visualizing the next lift. 

Lee and Nick 

Deadlift 

575 lb. deadlift - new state record.

575 lb Deadlift

410 lb Bench

Covered Bridges

I really love covered bridges and there are tons of them in Vermont.  In the Woodstock area alone, there are seven covered bridges.  My family only had enough patience to visit three of them, and considering how unbelievably bad the roads were, I can't really blame them.

Taftsville Covered Bridge

Inside the Taftsville Covered Bridge. 

Taftsville Covered Bridge 

Middle Covered Bridge 

Lincoln Covered Bridge

Kedron Sugar Makers

After visiting Sugarbush, we headed to Kedron Sugar Makers in South Woodstock.  From what we could tell, Kedron is only open one weekend a year.  It's sugar house was smaller and visitors were crammed in, listening to the employees talk about how the syrup is made.  Although it was a completely different experience, we are definitely Kedron fans because of the sugar ice.  While were in the sugar house, we got the chance to taste sugar ice, which was ground up ice with warm maple syrup on it - so delicious!

  

The Sugar House. 

I love this sign. 

 

This place was way more steamy - this was one of the only clear shots of the inside that I got. 

 

Eating sugar ice.

Sugarbush Farm

Last weekend, we traveled to Vermont for Maple Sugar Open House weekend.  Pure maple syrup is a much loved commodity in our house so we thought that it would be interesting (for all of us) to see how it is made.  We first visited Sugarbush Farm, in Woodstock.  Unlike a lot of the sugar houses that were open over the weekend, Sugarbush Farm is always open, so it had great demonstrations and incredibly informative employees.  Sugarbush makes both cheese and maple syrup.  We got to try several different types of cheeses, as well as the four different types of syrup.  I never actually realized that there was such a difference in maple syrup and as a family, we all settled on what we liked best.  After our tasting, we headed down to the sugar house to watch how they make the syrup.  Did you know that it takes 40 gallons of sugar water (the stuff that comes from the tree) to make one gallon of maple syrup?  The process is fascinating.  After spending some quality time in the sugar house, we headed back up to the store and buy some syrup, cheese, and a warming pitcher.

All of the different types of cheeses, dipped in wax. 

Mmmmmm...... 

Trying different types of maple syrup. 

The different cheese (we tried most of them).

Tapping the trees the old fashioned way. 

The Sugar House. 

Inside of the Sugar House.

 There was a lot of smoke (from the fire) and steam (from the boiling process).

Maple syrup!! 

Watching the maple syrup pour out. 

Kegs (sort of) of maple syrup. 

The girls. 

Of course Elizabeth (AGD) came along for the adventure.  Elizabeth got comments everywhere we went. 

The different types of maple syrup.

Through Elizabeth's Eyes

Elizabeth has a "real" camera, which actually makes things a bit more difficult for her.  Although the megapixels are greater, she has to hold her hand very steady when she takes a picture, or else it comes out blurry.  She really enjoys taking her camera with her when we go places and we like looking at her pictures afterwards because she has a totally different perspective.

Auntie Kathy and Uncle Peter (when they visited in December). 

The beloved zhu zhu pets. 

Emily in the bathroom (obviously payback) 

Beloved American Girl Doll. 

Butterflies at Magic Wings. 

Aunt Margie on Christmas Eve. 

Daddy and Mommy (I really wish this one wasn't blurry - it's so rare to have a picture of just the two of us). 

Sarah and Emma (an example of how great her photos come out when she has a steady hand).

Elizabeth Cole in her new St. Patrick's Day dress.

 Elizabeth is fascinated with our GPS, which we rarely use.

Cassie and Bitty Baby - more evidence of how much Elizabeth loves babies.