15 YEARS!!!

We went to Gould today to celebrate my 15 year reunion! Hard to believe, exciting to see the massive change and raelly fun to dream about our little 7 & 5 year olds there some day!! 

This was a picture from Lavena's phone when we were on the top of Baldpate. 

I had the privilege of attending open house at the Woodstock school for Estella and Brenna.
Brenna explained to us all the fun things she is learning in kindergarten, which includes a personal i-pad for each K student.  She probably knows more about using hers than I do.  All the things that K-kids use to do with pencil and paper they now have on an i-pad.  She is very excited and has made many friends.  It was fun to see her expressions as she directed us around the room and down the hall.  

Brenna is reading us her first book.
And they still learn how to write. 

And draw- this is her giraffe!!!!

Estella was also excited to show us all of her accomplishments.  She has a lot of energy and is a friendly spirit.   The school is small and so everyone knows each other from young to old.  It is very family oriented and caring and a wonderful place to get a good start. 

Estella has beautiful penmanship.  Nana, her great-great grandmother-  would be very proud of her neat work. 

We got a full description of her projects.  Estella is in second grade, but she thought it would be nice to go back to kindergarten to get the i-pad. 

Then Estella gave us a lesson in math.   Thankfully I got the correct answer.
We went off the the gym where they had cupcakes and treats.  It was a wonderful night, and I mostly enjoyed the enthusiasm that both girls have for learning at school and outside of school.  

Happy Birthday Estella
7 Years Old !!!!!!!!

You have enjoyed a wonderful year and now it is time to grow some more.
God Bless
Love Granny and Pop

These are pictures from our climb up Baldpate a couple of week ago.  It was a beautiful day and the sky cleared as we hiked.  

This was a beautiful little place full of moss.  

There were places where the sun could come through the canopy of leaves.  

Melissa this one is for you.  We actually met several thru hikers who were happy to have a couple hundred miles left.  

This was on the top of east peak and you can see behind us is west peak.
We did not take enough food and so when something fell on the ground we picked it up and ate it.  We also found a M&M and were tempted, but thought the bears might like it.  It was not like one M&M would offer much energy.  

I love this picture, because every time we have climbed Baldpate it has been windy up there.  At this point we are on west peak looking at east peak.  It takes about 45 minutes to go from one to the other.  

 You can see the trail going up east peak.

The day was so nice and I hope I can bring my grandchildren up here.  

This is perseverance!  Can you imagine trying to grow where the ice freezes horizontally?   I have been up here when it was snowing,  freezing and the wind was blowing so strong that icicle several inches long were freezing horizontally.   We actually saw a snowbow that day.   There is a little bit of life left in this old tree.