End of Season

The girls final soccer games were played over the weekend and they were sad to see the season end.  Although Lee and I loved watching them play, we are not sad to be given a reprieve from the hectic soccer schedule, during which the girls had practice and/or games 6 out of 7 days a week.  They both had a great time playing and it was fun to watch them improve all season long!

Elizabeth is always running hard. 

Just after making a goal kick. 

Running down the ball.

The expression on Emily's face is priceless - and exactly what she looked like every time contact was impending. 

No Drama

It is the morning after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in Connecticut and I am happy to report that all is well.  We lost some small branches, but no limbs and no property damage!  The schools and work were closed; the governor closed the highways at 1pm and our mayor put a curfew into effect from 8pm on Monday to 8am on Tuesday.  In our area, the winds gusted well over 60 mph into the evening last night; and when the wind wasn't blowing, it was eerily quiet.  Although our power flickered and went out several times during the day on Monday, we never lost it for more than a few moments.  Close to 600,000 homes in Connecticut are currently without power.  The images from the shoreline and New York City are simply stunning - we are certainly counting our blessings today.

Preparing for Sandy

As you probably know, Hurricane Sandy is scheduled to make landfall in Connecticut some time over night tonight.  Although we don't live along the coast, which was already under mandatory evacuation orders and experiencing flooding as of noon today, forecasters are predicting sustained winds in central Connecticut in excess of 50 mph and gusts of up to 80 mph between late Sunday evening and early Tuesday morning (36 hours).  There can be no doubt that we will lose power again, and probably for a significant period of time.  This time, we have our fingers crossed that the utility companies are better prepared - indeed, there are already 1,600 out-of-state linemen in Connecticut, as well as 500 tree trimmers, with another 900 linemen (supposedly) on the way.  We lived through this twice in 2011, and we are ready to do it again in 2012.  Lee spent yesterday morning cleaning the gutters and we brought in all of our outside furniture; the gas tanks in our cars are full; we did all of our laundry and cleaned the house (it sounds funny, but there is nothing worse than a dirty house and piles of laundry when you have no electricity); we stocked up on dog food, crackers and granola bars and I have cookies in the oven right now; tonight, we are cooking a nice roast for dinner.  Our bellies will be full, our clothes clean and our hearts warm when the storm hits, and that is pretty much all we can do.  If possible, we will update the blog to let you know what is going on.  Please keep us in your prayers over these next 48 hours.

Cleaning the gutters. 

There was a freak sale on lobsters at a local grocery store on Saturday night, so of course, we snapped some up!  What a way to prepare for a hurricane!!!

Harvest Festival

Each fall, our church has a harvest festival for the families of the parish.  There is a hay ride to a pumpkin "patch" where we pick out our pumpkins, crafts, games, food, pumpkin decorating and more. The girls absolutely love going and when we figured out that the weekend soccer games did not conflict with the time of the fair, we made plans to attend.  Sunday was a predictably hectic day - we were split between two churches that morning as I had volunteer duty at St. Mary and Lee and the girls were off to St. Pius; then soccer and showers; and then finally, the harvest fair!  The girls were so excited and had the great time that they anticipated.

Enjoying the hay ride. 

Elizabeth picked out the perfect pumpkin! 

"I can carry it....myself....!!!" 

Pumpkin painting. 

Cupcake decorating was a huge hit, as it is every year! 

The goal is to get as much sugar as possible onto the cupcake!  Miss Stephanie and Miss Katarina did nothing but encourage them!

Tattoos with Miss Julia! 

Pin the grin on the Jack 'o Lantern 

Spider ring toss.

Fourth Time is the Charm

Last Saturday, I ran the ING Hartford Half Marathon and I finally had the race I have been hoping to have since I started training hard two years ago.  Although the training this year was brutal (humid, humid, humid) the conditions on race day were perfect for me, as it was a frigid 29 degrees at the start and barely 40 when we finished two hours later.  I went out hard from the get-go and was able to keep under a 9 minute mile pace the entire 13.1 miles - it was crazy.  I ended up finishing at 1:55:04, which is more than 5 1/2 minutes faster than my previous best, from February of this year!  I was the 1,945 finisher overall, out of 5,946 half marathoners (top 1/3 of all finishers); I was the 688 female finisher, out of 3,320 (top 20% of all females); and I was 125 out of 549 females ages 35-39 (top 22%).  This was definitely my best finish, not only because of my time, but placing among all racers, and I am really thrilled.  Thanks, as always, to my friend Sarah who slogged it out with me all summer during those humid runs.  She ran on Saturday as well, one week shy of being 5 months pregnant, and rocked it!  She has more faith in me than I do in myself and kept telling me that she thought that this was THE race for me, and she was right.  Now, on to the next race!!
Here I am, crossing the finish line (I am on the far left of the screen, black shirt, and I run right in front of the camera).

Hartford does have some pretty sweet medals.

Florence Griswold Museum

The Wee Faerie Village was on the grounds of the Florence Griswold Museum, a place that we have driven by several times but never thought to actually visit.  The house is beautiful and the story of Florence Griswold and her dedication to artists and role as "keeper of the artist colony" is quite lovely.  We enjoyed touring the old boarding house as an escape from the rain.

Florence Griswold's harp, which was a gift from her father.

The grounds were also quite lovely, even in the rain. 

After we toured the faerie village, the girls had the chance to make various crafts, which they loved. 

Working on their wands. 

Wee Faerie Village

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I really wanted to take the girls to see the Fairy Houses in Portsmouth.  Well, as it turns out, we didn't have to go to Portsmouth after all!  Tracy Kane, the woman whose books inspired the display in Portsmouth, organized an exhibit at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut and we checked it out on Sunday afternoon.  On the museum grounds were more than 25 intricate faerie houses, created by artists, student artists, gardeners and builders.  They were absolutely spectacular!  We spent a couple of hours walking the grounds in the pouring rain, reading about each house and looking for the "clue" that each architect left for us.  The girls absolutely loved it!

Elizabeth carried the brochure and acted as our tour guide. 

Flightingale Infirmary, a faerie infirmary specializing in wing repair. 

Mihashirano's Tea House - literally in the water.  Check out the sailboat in the picture below. 

Prismatic Place at the River's Edge (above and below)

The Ephemeral Shea 

Dew Drop Villas 

The girls standing in front of a Fringe Faery house - extra faery houses not on the map. 

 River Valley Farm

Another Fringe Faery house. 

Branch Ranch 

Airborne Cottages, created by Tracy Kane 

More Fringe Faery dwellings (above and below). 

Inspecting the Button Up Cottage (below) for clues.