East Hill Farm 2015

Before we headed to Massachusetts to visit family last month, we took our own mini-vacation first.  We spent 4 days at The Inn at East Hill Farm in Troy, NH.  Ish and I have mad a weekend trip here every year since we got married, and I vacationed there for years when I was a little girl.  One of the major benefits of vacationing here is that, although it is a planned financial splurge for our family, we nknow exactly how much it will cost us because it is all inclusive.  Any vacation that doesn't involve figuring out how and when to feed the kids gets bonus points in my book.

The kids had a blast this year.  Lily was old enough to remember the farm trip last year so she and Little Ish were able to anticipate it in the weeks before we arrived.  Last year when we went, Atticus was only 5 months old so he didn't really have any interest in the animals at all.  This year he was so excited.  He especially liked one of the smaller pigs and will still tell you that the pig eats milk and corn.  He still asks to see the goats several times per week.

One thing that was new for us on this trip was that the kids were super interested in doing the planned activities offered at the farm.  They especially enjoyed arts and crafts and made an effort not to miss a single session. They also overcame their trepidation of years past, and participated in milking both a cow and a goat.  Little Ish was really good at milking and took right to it.  Lily was nervous, but managed after a little extra encouragement from an awesome staff member. 

For Catholic families thinking of vacationing here, there is a Catholic church about a 5 minute drive away.  It is a nice parish with tons of kids.We had a family of 8 people in front of us and a family of at least 7 behind us.  So if you are nervous about bringing your kids to a different parish because of behavior and noise, there is little reason to worry about bringing them to Mass there.

Little Ish Turns 5

Little Ish turned 5 on June 26th.  He had been anticipating be 5 for months and his anticipation was heightened when his cousin turned 5 six weeks before his birthday.  As for celebrations, we had a small family celebration in Massachusetts on the day of his birthday.  His requested birthday dinner was pulled pork subs, potato chips, and cucumber slices.  My mom made a cake, and Little Ish worked with Big Ish to map out where he wanted to put each of his Mario action figures on the cake. 

On July 4th, we celebrated in Delaware at our friends' house.  He was thrilled that part of his birthday celebration included watching a local fireworks display from our friends' front yard.  He later reported to me that it was his favorite birthday present, and during the display he told Big Ish, "It's the best gift that ever the sky has given me."

He has spent the past several days declaring that whatever he is doing is the "first time I've done this as a 5 year old". 

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In light of my recent posts about Lily and Atticus, I thought I would use this space to note a few things about Little Ish at 5 years old.

--He loves to cut things out and will spend hours cutting out miniature pictures of various cartoon characters that he has printed off the computer.  He was thrilled when I relayed to him that Saint Thérèse spent a fair amount of time as a child cutting paper.

--He loves cracking eggs and will help crack them whenever he gets the chance.

--He likes harvesting sorrel wherever he finds it and puts it in salads and on burgers.

--He has a real tender spot in his heart for Atticus and gets super excited every time Atticus learns something new.

--He is starting to read a little bit here and there.  He can read most of the Level 1 Bob Books with out help.

--He loves to count but generally gets bored with it somewhere around 230.

--He is often making up word problems that require basic addition and then solving them.

--He loves playing Super Smash Bros.  with his cousins.

--He has recently shown an interest in learning to hit a baseball. 

--He still love to cuddle and will climb up on my or Ish's lap just to spend time with us. 

--He has just started to enjoy playing board games.