Palm Sunday

One of the things that gets the girls to mass with minimal complaining is dressing up - when it comes to dresses, they are all girl.  In fact, neither of them has worn jeans in more than two years (their choice, not mine - I give all of their hand-me-down jeans to Goodwill).  Here they are, before we headed to mass this morning.

The Beautiful People

When Elizabeth was a little girl, before Emily arrived, she used to go to the grocery store with Lee every week.  They were an unusual couple - Lee in cut offs and t-shirts spattered with paint and spit-up, Elizabeth in beautiful clothes (we received a cache of designer hand-me-downs from one of my co-workers when she was born) and her hair in bows and ribbons.  One night, after their weekly grocery trip, Lee told me that for the last few weeks, Elizabeth had been receiving a dollar from an old man that they saw each week.  He was always there at the same time they were, with other residents from his assisted living facility.  This went on for several months, until Lee switched shopping days.  We always used to remark that it was funny that this old man gave her a dollar each week, simply because she was so adorable.  She must have made his day.
Fast forward four years.  We go to mass every Sunday and most weeks, Elizabeth goes to Sunday school but Emily comes into church with us.  Each week, she sees "the pretty lady," a lovely woman who is always impeccably dressed, in high heels and wonderful jewelry.  Emily always gives her a smile or wave and the woman always smiles back.  This past Sunday, before mass started, she came over to us and gave Emily a small pink box with an adorable bunny inside and a note that said "Happy Easter to the prettiest little girl in church."  Like big sister, like little sister.

Ranked

The new powerlifting rankings, kept by Powerlifting Watch, came out this morning.  Lee is currently ranked 32nd in the country for his weight class (regardless of age) in the bench press.  I think that I was much more excited about this, high-fiving him in the kitchen while we were making breakfast.  Seriously, he is far too modest.  Way to go, Lee - we are so proud of you!!  Additionally, all five members of the The Refuge that received a first place trophy at the last meet - Adam, Nick, Brian, Matt and Lee - are nationally ranked.  Pretty impressive for a small gym with no heat and a leaking roof!

For some reason, this printed very light, but I hi-lighted his name.

Make Your Mark

Each year, we measure the girls by drawing a line on a door jam and noting their name and the date.  When we measured the girls over the weekend, they were thrilled to see how much they had grown.  Emily is about a 1/2 inch shorter than Elizabeth was at her age; we will have to see if the difference in height continues next year, as Elizabeth had a huge growth spurt during her 5th year.

Emily getting measured. 

Elizabeth getting measured. 

The yearly growth lines.

Posing with their new purses - a bonus purchase because they have been so extraordinarily good lately, especially considering the fact that that they haven't watched television since the first week of March!

The Videographer

As most of you have probably figured out, I am the (un)official photographer and video-maker for The Refuge.  But when it comes to competitions, I can't take photos and videos at the same time, so Elizabeth has become our videographer.  She really does a great job (especially considering that she's only 6).  At the first meet, last October, she missed a couple of lifts because she couldn't quite figure out how to work the camera.  At this point, she has perfected her skills and takes pride in her work. The fact that the guys tell her that she's doing a great job (and sometimes want to watch the videos of their lifts during competition, making her feel very important) doesn't hurt either!  Here is a shot of her from last Sunday, filming Lee during the deadlift.

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.