Hail the Blue and Gray!

Last weekend we ventured back to our beloved alma mater for my (gasp) 15th reunion.  Although we attended Ben's 10-year a few years back, I hadn't been on campus with my class since 2003.  In 2003, I was 27, single (albeit almost engaged), childless, and in such a very different place in my life.  Even our last trip to Colby three years ago feels a bit like another lifetime - we stayed off campus with some friends, all of whom had tiny kids who were so much trouble to take anywhere or do anything with that we pretty much just stayed put and tried to catch up while playing defense.  This 15th reunion of mine was different.  The boys are old enough now to at least kind of understand the word "college".  They think it's amazingly cool to sleep in a dorm room and eat in a dining hall.  They find it funny to visit where Mommy and Daddy first met.  So it was a really fun family adventure to spend the weekend at Colby, to show the boys around, to see old friends with whom I'd completely lost touch, to meet some new ones, and to pretend we were 20 again for a weekend.  At the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, Colby is where our family began, so it will always hold a special place in our hearts.  Bringing the boys back there to experience some of that magic...well, it feels a bit like coming full circle.

Future Echo editor?

The boys took right to dorm life, each claiming their own desk/Lego station. 

The class of 1998 took over Averill for the weekend, which was kind of ironic because I don't think I set foot in Averill once over the four years I was at Colby.  It was, however, where my Mom spent her freshman year.  Ethan and Adam loved staying where Noni once lived!

We took the boys over to West Quad to show them Daddy and Mommy's old rooms, right across the hall from one another.

Friday night dancing at the bicentennial bash

Mmmm...lobster!

Doing our very best lion impersonations in the library. 

Seeing how many Stockwells fit in a dorm twin.

The boys enjoyed kids' activities galore.  When asked what their favorite part of the weekend was, they both chose the babysitting Saturday night, where they were allowed to run wild, watch movies, eat cookies, and stay up until we picked them up at midnight.  We sure weren't winning any parent-of-the-year awards walking two pint-sized zombies across campus at midnight, but hey, at least we got a night off.

Bounce house + tattoos = happy boys

A small but mighty showing for our 15th reunion.

Both boys hated to leave on Sunday morning, asking when we could go back to Colby.  I remember feeling the same exact way at my parents' 15th reunion eons ago.  Full circle.

School's (Almost) Out for Summer!

And here we are, just one week away from Ethan's last day of kindergarten.  We couldn't have asked for a better start to school life than what we got this year, and we're eager to see what first grade brings. Ethan's grown a lot this year - I look back at the post I wrote on his first day of kindergarten and I remember being so anxious about putting him on the bus that day.  Although I knew he was ready, five seemed too young to be making such a big leap into the unknown.  But he did it, full of confidence, and his confidence has only grown since September.  Today, he knows where he needs to go and when, he gets himself ready, he packs his backpack, he knows his school routine, and except for a few recent slip-ups that I'll chalk up to end-of-year-itis, he has this whole school thing down pat.

One of the biggest transitions for me this year has been needing to rely on Ethan to tell me how things are going.  When you have a preschooler, you can walk him straight into the arms of the teacher, tell the teacher if he had a bad night, or if he's having an off morning, then return however many hours later and get a full report on how his day proceeded from there.  I feel very aware of exactly what sort of day Adam's had when he's not home with me.  With Ethan, on the other hand, I have to rely on his response to "How was your day today?", which is often a succinct "Good."  Although his teacher is on the communicative end of the spectrum, we still only get updates about once a week, and they are very general.  So I have learned a bit this year about how to really listen.  That the "good" spoken off the school bus is not always an accurate assessment of the day, and that the real stories come out after Ethan's taken off his backpack, gone to the bathroom, and saddled up to our kitchen counter with a snack.  Sometimes, if the story is particularly juicy, it doesn't come out until later when we're driving in the car somewhere, or until bedtime.  But it usually does come out (or at least I like to think it does), and I've learned that probing doesn't make it come out any faster.

I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to get involved with Ethan's school this year.  Volunteering in his classroom and with other activities at the school has afforded me a window into his daily life that I wouldn't otherwise have.  When he mentions a particular classmate, or a corner of his room, or his gym teacher, I have a picture in my head and can relate to what he's telling me on a different level.  And I've also felt lucky to have had some solo time with Ethan a few afternoons a week this year when Adam is at school.  We've used those afternoons to run special errands, go for faster bike rides than we can when Adam's home, take a sewing class, cook dinner together, practice reading, and work on his school garden.

Ethan and his first sewing project: a Tooth Fairy pillow!

Planting gardens at Ethan's school

On Wednesday, we took a walk/run at the Scarborough Marsh together, and while I have no pictures to document it, it was one of my favorite afternoons this year.  It was a perfect spring day and we saw so many beautiful birds, including a green heron.  Ethan alternated between holding my hand and challenging me to sprints.  He could have walked forever if I'd let him, but I knew we had to turn back or he'd never make the return trip home.

I've also cherished my alone days with Adam this year.  He is my little trooper, the one who does not complain about being dragged around to look at appliances, or two hours north to pick up tomato plants, or on our usual weekly errands.

Lunch in Wilton, ME after picking up our tomato plants

As long as he has his thumb, the Lion King soundtrack, and his mama, he's happy.  Before we head out for a day of these "adventures", Adam and I always squeeze in at least a game or two on his stay-at-home days.  Playing games is probably Adam's most favorite activity of late (well, that and color-by-number), and I love playing with him.  Although I was annoyed at the time, I'm pretty happy now that Adam decided to hang out in my tummy for an extra long time so that I get one more year of stay-at-home days with him.

And so next Friday, when Ethan gets off that bus for the last time as a kindergartner, summer vacation begins.  Ethan's signed up for a variety of camps which I hope will be fun and enriching for him.  Adam will stay at his school for most of the summer, with a week of camp and a few weeks of family vacation thrown in.  And while I'll miss the alone time I currently get with each of my boys, I am looking forward to some quality family time.  And I think these guys are too.

TGIS (Thank God Its Summer)

OK, I know it's not really summer yet (my literal boys remind me of this regularly), but it sure feels like it around here.  With the near-90 degree temps today, and the annual opening up of the cabins in Waterford last weekend (in nothing close to 90 degree temps), it's beginning to look a lot like SUMMER!  Oh how I love me a Maine summer.  And oh how I love Memorial Day at the compound. Cold, rainy weather didn't stop us from having a fantastic opening weekend, chock full of work, family fun, and fishing.  I love the feeling of community that pervades opening weekend, from the moment we all gather to put in the docks between hugs and "How are you?"s and "Happy summer!"s after a long winter apart, to the campfire (or fireplace, in this case) sing-a-longs to celebrate birthdays, to the association meetings that involve both young and old in efforts to care for and preserve this amazing resource we all share.  It's all quite special, and I try to teach my boys that not everyone has this.  Not everyone gets to gather with their huge extended family on a regular basis in an idyllic setting.  Not everyone has the opportunity to run free with their cousins, to explore trails and pirate ships and lookout towers.  Not everyone is able to easily access their ancestry and their history, through scrapbooks, and artifacts of summers past, and situations that encourage storytelling across generations.  I think if you grow up spending summers at a place like the compound, you think it's all quite normal.  But as someone who didn't, I can assure you it is not at all normal.  With every passing year, as I watch my kids engage with their cousins and truly reap the benefits of all that this abnormal wonder offers, I feel more and more lucky to call this community my own.

We spent a LOT of time here this weekend.  It was chilly!  But here's what I'm talking about regarding artifacts of summers past - check out that mantel.  We have a picture of Ben and his dad fishing from when Ben was about Ethan's age, an award we won for our costume last year, and a mounted fish that Tom caught decades ago.  There are treasures like this all over the compound.

This kid fell in love with fishing this weekend.

That is, everything except the part where you actually catch a fish. 

Check out that cast!

We let the boys spread their wings a bit more this weekend than we have in summers past.  Here they are Monday morning out on the T'Cozy dock, while the adults stayed happily inside drinking their coffee.  Ethan is casting (surprise, surprise) and Adam is dutifully listening as Ethan instructs him in all things fishing.

The next generation of NEWHATS.  This was the first Junior NEWHATS meeting our boys attended.  And while these four boys had a little trouble sitting still for the proceedings, they were a big help clearing sticks from the Green Arrow Trail right afterwards.  

Ethan was generous enough to give his brother a try or two before reclaiming the sole fishing pole.  Another fishing pole is on our shopping list.

When the clouds cleared on Monday morning, we did our first hike of the year up Tir'em. 

Other Stockwellians had the same idea.  It made for a fun party at the top.

Cousins at the top!

Adam found a friendly caterpillar that entertained the boys for quite a while.

Proud hikers at the bottom.   First hike of the season deemed a big success!  And very sore muscles for Mommy the next day, after having chased a certain little monkey who decided to sprint down the whole mountain.

Diggin' in the Dirt

Well it wouldn't be May without a post about the garden, now would it?  I'll leave Ben (ahem ahem) to blog about all the particulars of what's been planted and how lovely it's all doing, but suffice it to say, May is all about gardening in the Stockwell house.  These gardeners are funny creatures - sometime around September or October every year, I hear recurring promises to scale back, go smaller, spend less time in the garden...and it's not just Ben - I hear this from the many beloved gardeners in my life.  Then there is the long cold winter, and these gardeners start to dream...and to plan...and to collect piles and piles of seed catalogs...and before you know it, it's April and your garden is twice the size you last remembered it!  All kidding aside, I truly love the role gardening plays in our family life.  I love that both Ethan and Adam now have their very own gardens, where they can choose what they want to grow (sort of - Adam's insistence upon growing corn and only corn has been redirected), plant it, take care of it (again, sort of, with lots of help from Dad), pick it, and proudly share it with the rest of the family.  I love that starting now, I can walk out to my garden at lunchtime every day and grab a handful of lettuce for a salad or a sandwich, and that in a couple of months, we'll be relying on our garden for almost all our vegetable needs.  I love that our kids love veggies, and that some of that has to come from having witnessed the magical beauty of a plant just beginning to sprout from the earth, and having tasted a sun-warmed tomato or a crisper-than-crisp snap pea, straight off the vine.  I love that the other morning, before he'd even had breakfast, Ethan wanted to go check on his garden to see how much his plants had grown overnight.  And that Adam was only a few steps behind him.  And I love that gardening is something we can all do together.

Now about that expansion...Ben's been busy this spring replacing old beds and building new ones, including this pretty stone garden on the hill.

He and the boys also spent the weekend I was away with my mom on garden expansion detail.  I was quite impressed with the two new raised beds that awaited me when I returned!

And because I've seen how passionate my kids are about gardening, I decided this spring to co-chair a committee focused on constructing a new school garden at Ethan's school.  Back in April, we held a community work day, with a great turnout, amazing weather, and three new raised beds, built, painted, filled, and ready to be planted.

And in case Ethan just wasn't getting enough with all this gardening fun at home, he spent his April vacation just down the road at Broadturn Farm.  In addition to some time in the greenhouse, Ethan collected eggs, fed the baby cow, built many, many fairy houses, fell in the brook, played in a maze made of stacked wood, made yogurt, and generally enjoyed being a mini-farmer for a week.  Adam's there now on Thursday mornings for a preschool version of the camp, and is similarly loving getting his hands (and feet and face) dirty.

 

 

 

So now we wait.  We welcome these rainy days and hope for some sun soon and check our plants often and nibble at the lettuce and plant some more.  It's all so much fun (says the one who does the least amount of work in the garden and reaps the most significant benefits - thanks honey).  

Our compost delivery arrived at dinnertime one night.  And just like that, I was eating alone and there were three men wielding shovels in my yard.

Fun on a Sunday morning: a trip to the livestock supply place for straw.
We Stockwells sure do know how to have a good time.