Winter-ish in Williamstown

I (Mike) arrived in Williamstown, MA around Nov 1st to start my new job (at the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives at Williams College).  (Dad and I made the drive from SLC to MA in three long days, serenaded by the lilting yarls of our traveling companions - Flash, Twyla, and Mowgli.)  I got settled in and then after Thanksgiving together in San Francisco, the girls flew back to the East Coast with me and Mom (who graciously joined the three of us for the flight).

Since then, Mom (Gram) and Dad (Aba) have been running The Gram & Aba School of Hard Knocks.  The girls have been having a blast.  And as you can see below, they've also been enjoying the snow.

Thanksgiving in SF

Had a blast in San Fran with our "cousins" - the Swillinger-Marzoulis and Harris-Newtons.
Lots of big kids to look up to and a new baby to help take care of!

Hanging in the backyard with Anala, Divi, and Kainoa

Sheldon, Mike, Zora, Noemi, Silas, and Patrick

Getting ready for the group photo

Two weird bearded dudes and a baby

Yummy Yogurt!

Ah, the pleasures of being 2 (and having a sister to be crazy with).

You'd Never Guess We're Related

We went to the library today and explored new reading corners on the way out. Noemi found a bunch of bean bags and promptly kicked up her feet and opened a book lying nearby. I swear I didn't say a word - just snapped photos.

Happy Halloween!

Two very soft bears would like you to know their mother only allowed them two pieces of candy this year. Grrrr!

Big News!

A lot has happened since our last blog post. For those who haven't heard, we are moving to Massachusetts this fall! Mike accepted a job at Assistant Director of Sustainability at Williams College so we will be leaving Salt Lake City for Williamstown, MA over the course of the next few months. It will be a two (maybe three?)-part extraction: Mike will go in a couple weeks to start his job at the beginning of November, while Katy stays until mid-December to finish the semester at Westminster. Noemi and Zora will split the difference, flying with Katy to San Francisco to meet up with the Evanses for Thanksgiving and then heading back with Mike to Williamstown. Needless to say, wrangling these logistics (and by "logistics" I mean two crazy toddlers) would be impossible without the support of multiple beloved family members (who, hopefully, will still love us when this is all over with).

We'll spare you all the gory real estate, packing, and pet transportation details, but just know the best Christmas present will be when we're all together again for keeps in our rental in Western Mass.

Until then, here are a few shots from an evening event at Mike's farm. The girls were more interested in playing and "sleeping" in the veggie wash station (an old bathtub) than mingling with the guests. But it was inspiring to see how much the farm has grown in just a few short years--and how enamored everyone is of Real Food Rising when they come visit. It will be hard to leave behind.

Sitting in the wash station

Zora rubbing Noemi's back as she "sleeps"
(yes, they're helping to pick out their own clothes now)

Mike leads a tour of the "Back 40" - the acre and a half he added to the farm this year

Camping in Capitol Reef

For our second time camping with the girls, we headed down to Capitol Reef National Park about 3 1/2 hours south of Salt Lake City. The car ride wasn't much fun, but helping set up our tent, running around our campsite, and throwing rocks in the river was pretty cool. We took a couple short walks in the red rock canyons, but mostly just enjoyed being outside all together before the craziness of fall sets in.

Helping to get our tent set up

Hanging out eating a snack

The view from our tent

Mike kept us well-fed. The mornings were a little chilly!

Before one of our "hikes"

They look happy here, but the long car rides wore us all out

Recent Seats

Things we like to sit on: turtles, tractors, puddles, fountains, ... and we finally get to face forward in the car - awesome!

Noemi at the park

Noey at Wheeler Farm with Oma

Zora at the park

fountain at the aviary

Facing forward in the car for the first time. What big girls!

Cooking!

We have a lot of fun cooking with the girls. Two favorite recipes are pizza and popsicles, of course!

Noemi and Zora help roll out the pizza dough:

Zora showing off the Raspberry & Coconut Milk creamsicles we made:

Yummy!

Weekend pancake session (wish this meant we could sleep in and they'd bring us breakfast in bed!):

And they do help out with healthy dishes in a pinch:

getting ready to roast asparagus

Sisters Eating Toast

Who knew it could be so much fun?

Zora and Mommy's Day Out

Zora and I spent the day together, just the two of us, on Thursday. We went to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum where we played a lot of pretend games (grocery shopping, driving a truck, flying a helicopter), splashed in the water table, and climbed on everything. We had a quick lunch at Einstein's Bagels, then home for a nap. Unfortunately, Zora had a hard time falling asleep without her sister. But we still had energy to go to a playground for more climbing and slides before Noemi got home from school. It was a wonderful day!

Again, I'm experimenting with Google+ Stories so click here for a visual narrative of the day:

https://plus.google.com/110114880180563231688/stories/f6ef64d0-5042-3ba8-87d3-199d512477b514723043d24/1?authkey=CMir18X5-sOWfA

Noemi and Mommy's Day Out

Now that it's summer and I'm not teaching, I'm trying to get more one-on-one time with the girls. Yesterday was Noey's day and we went to the zoo. We would have done more, but she took an extra long nap without her sister there to wake her up after an hour!

Not to discount how hard parents of singletons work, but I do have to say it was pretty nice having only one kid for a change: I could step out of my role as referee and just hang out with my daughter. And the girls were actually very sweet to one another when Zora came home from daycare, saying they missed each other and not pushing each other off high stools (win-win!).

Here are a few pics from our day, but you may be able to see them in a snazzier "story" format on Google Plus by clicking this link: https://plus.google.com/110114880180563231688/stories/614ada1f-51d2-3f61-b99c-532bf9ff509d147197e2611/1?authkey=CN_JxpDZrLjv8AE
(I don't know if you need a Google+ account to view it or not - it's an experiment!)

Playing with the crustacean exhibit

Polar bear swimming

More interested in her hand than the grizzly bear

We went out to lunch and did some coloring

Fourth (and Fifth and Sixth) of July

What a fun long weekend we had.  Parade (sort of), BBQ, World Cup (GOOOOOOOOOL!), Burmese festival, the Aviary, and undies!

On the back path trying to get to our friends - the Rifkins - at the Park City 4th of July Parade.  We reached them and two minutes later the parade ended.  Cest la vie!

Hanging at Curtis and Kristjane's for an evening BBQ - stayed up late (for us)!

Watching the World Cup  - Argentina-Belgium - (and coloring).  We had the Westminster dining hall to ourselves.

Halftime was also really fun!  At the fountain at Westminster

Then some hug time with the large stuffed penguin at the library.

At the Burmese New Year Festival.  The girls' first rock concert!

At the Aviary

A sister smooch through the bird photo op wall.