After a few years of working on other projects and bouncing ideas off of Brooke's dad, I finally decided to repair the garage wall. First step was taking off the bad siding. Theo decided he wanted to be an eagle for halloween this year. I had to check that the wings I made fit him. I found a great tutorial online.  We harvested the tiny watermelon from our garden and then no one ate it. Come on. It was so cute. First step was adding some metal trim coil to help shed water that gets through the fiber cement siding. Whenever it rains or snow melts it leaks into our garage. In the winter our garage floor turns into an ice rink.  Next I put the first row of fiber cement siding as far down as possible. This was not as low as the original siding.  It was almost impossible to clean out the crack between the neighbor's blacktop and my garage wall. Someday they'll replace their parking pad and I'll make sure it's NOT against my garage. After chatting with Brooke's dad I ...

  As Theo would say, "The first time we're using our new car is on a road trip!" I can't believe how much cars have advanced in 10 years. So weird to have a built in screen with a back up camera.  Lane assist, traction control. Wait, I think our good old Honda Inisght was just really barebones. Plus it was actually 15 years old.  The fancy part of our new Ford Escape is that we've upgraded from a hybrid to a plug-in hybrid. About 40 miles all electric and then 40+ mpg gallon for a few hundred more miles.  The kids are loving the roomy backseat.  Driving through Cornell, we stopped at Sam's Place and Diner . We were surprised to see the interior had changed a lot since the last time we were here . I guess things change a lot after nearly ten years. Then we promised the kids ice cream at Dylan's Dairy.  Cute place but was hoping it was homemade ice cream. We had left in the morning instead of the night before so we could stop at Timm's Hill . The highest...

Today's adventure would take us to the Kolacky Capital of the World for apple picking and pastries. Now Theo's a pro at making his own breakfast. They watch too many cooking shows. But tbh I'm more likely to leave a pan on the stove than the kids. On our way to Montgomery the kids drew together. It's just so sweet when they get along.  While in Montgomery we had to stop at Franke's Bakery for kolackies. We both got these confused with Paczki. Not at all the same. Kolackies are Czech not Polish.  These were kind of like a stuffed hot cross bun and pretty small. So, we got a day old pack of donuts too.

Every morning must start with Nintendo Switch time.  Every morning must always start with porch breakfast.  Theo told me he wants to start learning how to cook and bake. We started our first lesson with making scrambled eggs.  Also Theo decided earlier this week he wanted his haircut. He was sick of his hair blowing in his eyes and touching his neck. He also mentioned that a couple kids at school asked if he was a boy or girl. 

My new favorite client sent me out to Burlington, Vermont for a shoot at Champlain College. With no rental cars anywhere nearby, I spent a few days walking around Burlington when I was shooting 360s. We tried to figure out a way for all of us to go, but for the short amount of time we'd be there it didn't seem worth it for how much it was going to cost.  I'm not sure if you were aware, but as the largest city in Vermont, Burlington only has 44,000 residents. That's nuts. A small suburb in the Twin Cities. First meal at El Cortijo. Modern tex-mex in an old dinning car. The whole city is centered on Church Street, which was full of somewhat bougie stores and restaurants. At the end of the church street is the Unitarian Meeting House which the street is named for. I meandered my way down to the Lake Champlain waterfront. In the distance is New York State and the Adirondack Mountains. It's not a Great Lake by any means, but it's big. Twice the size of Mille Lacs in ...