Audrey Art

The first trimester of middle school just ended and Audrey brought home the works she produced in art class. It's her favorite class.

She especially liked printmaking.

Click on the photo to go to the gallery. The password is always 'methot'.

Hub on Wheels

There's an annual bike ride every September in Boston called Hub on Wheels. The highlight is that Storrow Drive, a major roadway along the Charles River, is closed for the event and cyclists get to ride on a road that is usually closed to us.

Last year Audrey and I rode the 10-mile route - the Storrow Drive portion - together. At the point where the riders on the longer routes split off, Audrey toyed with the idea of riding farther.

Fortunately we didn't. She hadn't had any training, and she was tired after 10 miles, and sore the next day.

This summer I asked Audrey if she wanted to ride the longer route. I told her we would need to do some training rides to work up to the 40-mile length of this year's route. She was game.

So, several weekends in a row leading up to the event we rode. First a little under 10 miles. Then 20 miles a couple of times. And finally 30 miles on the Cape Cod Rail Trail while were visiting the Cape with friends. When Hub on Wheels rolled around, we were ready.

Oh, before the Cape ride I also bought a computer for Audrey's bike so she could see her own speed and distance.

We had to get up at 6am to go on the ride. Audrey wasn't too excited about that.

I had stocked up on energy foods and had them stashed in my jersey pocket. Good thing. Audrey needed boosts now and then throughout the ride. But she powered through and we finished! Just over 40 miles on our bike computers. I was very proud of her.

She was a little sore the next day but not too bad. We'll see if she's game again next year.

The age minimum is 12, so Charlotte has another year before she has to decide whether to give it a go.

Here's the route:

First Days of School

Click on the photo for a larger version

Crane Beach with Mia

Crane Beach is not only awesome in the summer - from October through March it's open to dogs so we also love to go there in the off season. On October 11 it was quite warm and we decided to go. We brought Audrey's best friend Mia with us.

I thought it would be nice for Audrey and Mia to have some good photos of them together, so I focused on capturing them. I managed to get a few candid ones.

NYC Weekend

At the end of September Audrey and I travelled to New York City.

The trip was scheduled around our annual visit to Maker Faire, a festival of "making" (hobby electronics, robotics and technology wackiness).

A month or so before I had read a glowing review of the special Picasso sculpture exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. So we travelled down Saturday morning to visit MoMA. That was well worth it: I thought the exhibit was fantastic. We always think of Picasso as a painter, but the journey he took through sculptural media is fascinating. It also makes it even more obvious what a genius he was.

I apparently didn't take any photos, but we spent Saturday night with friend Brady and Julie and Julie's brother in Yonkers. We arrived for a lovely dinner and had a great visit.

At Maker Faire we met up with another good, old Seattle friend: Bill. He was there with his wife and three kids. Audrey had fun with Cole and Tatum at a station where they could disassemble electronic devices. Audrey was fascinated.

That reminds me that I need to collect some electronic junk for the girls to take apart!

One of our favorite things about Maker Faire is the gyro booth that is there every year. It did not disappoint.

Oh, and Audrey always loves to climb on the big spider-web-like thing in the Hall of Science playground.

Hub on Wheels

Today Audrey and I rode the Hub on Wheels event in Boston.

For those of you who don't know, one nickname for Boston is "The Hub of the Universe", or "The Hub" for short.

The event has 10, 30 and 50 mile routes. This was Audrey's first bike ride of more than a mile or two so we chose the 10 mile route.

For the ride, they shut down Storrow Drive, which is the parkway (treated like a freeway by drivers) along the Boston side of the Charles River. It's novel and fun to have a main road closed to traffic for bikes!

Audrey did great and enjoyed the ride. Although she is outgrowing her bike.

She was sad when we turned off at the place where the 10-mile split from the longer routes. Most people went the other way and she liked riding in the crowd.

Next year we'll get her a larger bike and tackle the 30-mile route. Charlotte will meet the 10-year-old minimum next year, too. Perhaps she'll ride the 10-mile with Carol and Audrey and I will ride the 30.

Oh, there's also a video.

Circus Camp and Montreal

Okay, this combination of trips to and from circus camp gets a little complicated. Here's the itinerary:

Wednesday Evening	Drive from Boston to Danville, VT and camp.
Thursday Morning	Drop Charlotte off at 36-hour camp.
Thursday Afternoon	John, Carol and Audrey hike Mt. Mansfield. Then visit Ben & Jerry's factory!
Friday	John, Carol and Audrey visit St. Johnsbury, VT
Friday Afternoon	Pick up Charlotte at camp, attend demonstrations.
Friday Evening	Drive to Montreal.
Saturday	Have an awesome day in Montreal. Run into our goof friend Ken from Seattle.
Sunday	Drive back to Greensboro, VT to drop Audrey off at week-long camp.
Sunday Evening	Drive home. Charlotte enjoys week of being only child.
All Week	Go to work blah blah blah.
Saturday Morning	Drive back to Greensboro, VT to pick up Audrey from camp. Attend demonstrations.
Saturday Evening/Sunday Morning	Stay in a fun cabin in Barton, VT. Have dinner in St. Johnsbury.
Sunday Afternoon	Attend opening performance of Circus Smirkus summer tour - in the Big Top in a pasture.
Sunday Evening	Drive home.

And here's the looooong story...

We've lost track but I think this is the fourth year that one or both of the girls has gone to Smirkus Camp. Audrey went to the 36-hour Smirkling Camp twice and this was her second year of week-long camp. This was Charlotte's second time at Smirkling Camp. Smirkling Camp takes place over a Thursday night and camp is more than three hours from home, so we make a vacation of it.

In past years camp has been held at various boarding schools that they rent. But over the past few years Circus Smirkus raised $2 million, purchased a farm near their headquarters and finally were able to build their own permanent home. They were in a mad dash to get it ready for the first camp session. They held a work party in early June and seemingly half of the population of Greensboro (population 700) showed up to help. They barely made it! The dorms were still in a somewhat unfinished state but no campers or parents cared.

After we dropped Charlotte off, Audrey and Carol and I headed to Stowe. I had scoped out possible hikes and Mt. Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont, sounded doable. Unfortunately the forecast said we'd get rain in the late afternoon so we were under some time pressure. The hike was steep, rocky and muggy. Audrey was not enjoying it. A few hundred feet below the summit we came across the Green Mountain Club's Taft Lodge. It was a great stopping place. After some lunch and a rest we headed back down.

It never did rain.

In the evening we headed to St. Johnsbury to eat at a new restaurant I had found while researching: Kingdom Taproom. We had a great flatbread and a fancy salad. We liked the atmosphere.

On Friday we returned to camp to pick up Charlotte and attend her demonstrations. My favorite thing was the tumbling: watching Charlotte use a springboard and do a somersault.

Every year when we do this trip I ponder the idea of going to Montreal. It's a five hour drive from home, but only two hours from camp. This year we decided to do it. We departed camp about 4:30 and took the scenic route to a minor border crossing at North Troy, VT. We ended up getting delayed there because we had a bundle of firewood in the van. After a search, they made us drive back into the US to drop the firewood at the side of the road, then enter Canada again.

After a stop at a mall to buy a Canadian SIM card so I could use my phone for navigation and to find restaurants and attractions in Montreal, we finally arrived at our hotel downtown around 10:30.

On Saturday we first headed for Old Montreal to find some breakfast. We stopped at the first tourist crepe restaurant we found. It was alright. It served the purpose.

While we were eating we kept hearing jazz from the place next door. It also seemed like a constant stream of people was entering that establishment. But we went on our way.

We explored Old Montreal, which is very quaint. We went into several art galleries and Audrey, in particular, enjoyed that. We saw a lot of very cool art. We also stopped to listen to a great duo on the street and bought their CD.

At some point one of us posted on Facebook that we were in Montreal and our dear friend Britt commented that our dear friend Ken, her husband, was there for a conference. We eventually made contact and made a plan to meet for dinner.

Meanwhile, we took the subway to the Olympic Village from 1976 and the nearby Botanical Gardens. In the gardens is a place called the Insectarium which is a museum of sorts devoted to bugs. We had been told it was popular with kids. All of us loved it! Very fascinating.

One especially cool exhibit was a viney tree that had been trained to grow in a long horizontal arch from its pot to another pot about 10 feet away. At one end was an ant colony, and at the other end was a food source (a flowering plant). There was no glass. One could watch the ants chew off bits of plant (often in a team) before one of them took on the load and carried it all the way back to the nest. There were thousands of ants all making the round trip. And the most fascinating thing? The ants don't eat the leaves: they feed them to a fungus that lives in their nest, and the ants farm and eat the fungus!

I was blown away by the variety of insects. Even just among beetles and moths there were hundreds and hundreds of different species. It is a fantastic illustration of the power of natural selection to drive specialization toward a species' unique niche.

After that we went up in the slanted observation tower that was built as the centerpiece of the Olympic Village for a great view of the city. Back at the base, we discovered the Olympic swimming and diving pool is "hidden" under the tower.

Then it was time to go find Ken and find some dinner.

Ken had been busy at a technical conference all week and hadn't seen much of the city. We took him back down through Old Montreal, looking for restaurants along the way. We ended up back at the square where we had breakfast and guess what looked best? That place with the jazz.

It turns out the place has a lovely courtyard and the jazz is live.

There was a long line, but a strange thing happened. I went to the front and asked the greeter how long the wait would be for a party of five. He told me to wait right there. We were confused for a minute or two, but then he told me to go back in line and get my party and in we went! To a fantastic table overlooking the stage! We're not sure what happened, but we didn't complain.

The setting was magical: a beautiful garden courtyard with a lively crowd enjoying a gorgeous summer evening while listening to live music. I was on cloud nine.

We really enjoyed hanging out with Ken. After dinner we watched some street performers, the girls had their sketch drawn and we ended with some ice cream. By the time we walked Ken back to his hotel and took the subway back to ours it was pretty late.

It had been an absolutely perfect day! Thank you for the nice introduction, Montreal!

Sunday morning we drove back to Vermont in order to drop Audrey off at camp at 3:00. Then we drove home.

Charlotte really enjoyed being the only child for a week!

Saturday morning we got up at 6:00am and drove back up to Greensboro to pick Audrey up at 10:00.

For this one-night stay I had reserved a cabin next to the river in Barton, VT, about 20 minutes from camp. The girls loved it. There was a pool, and we could walk up the river a short distance to a stone railroad viaduct that was picturesque. That night we drove back to St. Johnsbury to return to the Kingdom Taproom.

On Sunday we slept in a little and laid around. Then we had a late breakfast and visited a yard sale in Glover just down the road from Barton. We bought some dishes and an old shoe shine kit.

Then it was back to Greensboro for the 1:00 performance of Circus Smirkus - this was the initial performance of the 70-performance summer tour. I really like going to the inaugural performance because it is held in a big top in the middle of a pasture at the circus headquarters, which is an old farm down a long dirt road.

The performance was great, as always.

Finally, all the fun was over. it was time to drive back to Melrose once more and get back to normal life.

The part of Vermont we visit every year for camp is called the Northeast Kingdom. Every year when we're there I spend a lot of time fantasizing about living there because it is such a gorgeous landscape: very green, rolling hills with surprise vistas, scenic little rivers. Of course, we always see it in June. I bet the winters there feel pretty damn long.

We'll do it again next year! Although next year both girls will go to week-long camp so the logistics will be a little easier.

Audrey's 5th Grade Graduation

Audrey's class had a graduation ceremony and party on June 9. There were three fifth grade classes at her school, so a little more than 60 kids.

Several of Audrey's teachers from other grades were there as well. It was fun to see them again.

Our little wallflower hung out mostly with her Mom and Dad. She would make little excursions into the crowd but not for long. I think Audrey's shyness is endearing. I was quite shy as a kid and I turned out alright, so I don't worry about it in my kids.

Audrey did spend some time celebrating with her best friend, Mia. And they've spent a lot of great time together this summer.

School Play - Cinderella

Way back in January, Amy, another mom at the school, started organizing the school play, which takes place just before school gets out in June. Amy has produced the play for several years and the result is far better than I would ever expect from an elementary school play. It always has great costumes, great sets and amazing singing. This year both Methot girls decided to participate.

Charlotte had no interest in a speaking part but was quite happy to be a mouse in the chorus. Audrey also didn't want to appear on stage but really liked the idea of being a stage hand. Fine with us - that meant quite a bit fewer rehearsals they had to attend!

Carol volunteered to help paint the set. She did a great job sketching the furniture (other volunteers painted it in), and painting many of the detail objects in the backdrop. I thought it looked wonderful.

The girls worked all three performances the first weekend in June. We all enjoyed the experience.

Why look! Here's a video!

Ice Show 2015

Ice Show 2015

The girls take skating lessons all year round these days, but the "main" season is October-March. And at the end of that season there is an annual ice show produced by the woman who heads the skating school. Each year the girls get new costumes for their routine in the show.

Every girl (there are zero boys in this skating school, at least this year) skates with her class group. And once they advance from the eight Basic levels into the eight Free Skate levels they can also skate in a trio, duo or solo. Charlotte is currently Basic 5. Audrey is Free Skate 3, so in addition to her group routine Audrey also performed a duo this year.

Both girls skated very well.

You can see videos of the performances here:

• Charlotte's Group Routine
• Audrey's Group Routine
• Audrey's Duo Routine

On Frozen Pond

Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest where it never gets cold enough to freeze bodies of water enough to make them safe to skate on, I've never skated on a pond. Neither have the girls, except for playing around on a chunky pond a couple winters ago.

We live one block from a small wooded park with a small vernal pool, and several blocks from a much larger park with a larger vernal pool. This year we had a couple of big rainstorms very late in the fall that enlarged the ponds not long before they froze. We haven't had any big snows yet to cover the ponds and make them chunky. Conditions are perfect for pond skating.

On Sunday we packed snacks and a thermos of cocoa and headed for the larger pond. I took Rhodie for a long walk in the woods (in the same park) while the girls skated a little waiting for a group of older boys to finish playing hockey. The boys soon left to watch the Patriots' game and the girls had the pond to themselves. An hour later, their schoolmates started showing up and soon there was a great crowd of kids and their parents skating.

Audrey has been taking figure skating lessons once a week year round for more than four years now, and Charlotte for two years. It was really fun to watch them use those skills. They had such a good time that we stayed at the pond for almost four hours. Monday it rained (a natural Zamboni!) and Tuesday they had commitments after school but today they got to skate on the pond after school for an hour. As long as the ice is good I think they'll be regulars.

I brought the GoPro camera with us on Sunday along with our extendible monopod (aka "selfie stick"). The girls were cooperative and I captured a ton of great footage of them. It's been fun choosing the best shots and making this video.

Nothing makes this dad happier than his progeny enjoying themselves outside on a pretty winter day. In fact, the girls barely used electronics all weekend!

Click on the image to go to the video.

Greenlake

During all my years living in Seattle I have never swum in Greenlake - until this summer. The lore is that you'd get swimmer's itch. Apparently that was true at one time but since the geese have been better controlled it's no longer true.

Anyway, my parents' Seattle home is a block from the lake and this summer the girls swam in the lake every day. The weather was perfect and the water was warm.

I only brought the GoPro (waterproof camera) one day. Unfortunately it wasn't one of the days that Audrey jumped off the high dive!

Click on the image to see a little video of our lake adventures.

Audrey Water Skiing

During our Seattle visit our friends Matt and Jeana invited us and other friends over to swim and boat.

Matt has a brand new ski boat, and the kids who wanted to got a chance to try water skiing. Audrey, as always, was game.

She fell while trying to get up on her first two attempts, which is completely normal. But on her third attempt she made it, and then stayed up for a long time before letting go.

Audrey was very proud, and we were excited for her!

Thank you very much, Matt and Jeana!

Click on the image to go to the video.

Roller Skating

Audrey and I went skating yesterday with some friends. I made a little video.

Look! I'm being creative again!

Audrey Skating Photos

Here are Audrey's official photos from Figure Skating this winter season.

Audrey skated in two pieces. Her lesson group skated to "You Belong With Me" and her featured trio skated to "Firework".

Click the images for larger versions.

Girls Rock Camp

This past summer Audrey attended Girls Rock Camp for the second year in a row. This year she chose drums as her instrument.

Over the course of the week at camp the girls form a band, pick a name, write a song and then rehearse it. They also participate in other activities like self-defense. Then on Saturday after the week at camp there is a "showcase" at a real bar where all of the bands perform their songs on a real stage with real lights and sound system and a real audience of friends and family. It's a blast.

There is a volunteer professional videographer who shoots the showcase. They just posted the results on YouTube. Here is the video of Audrey's band, "The Lone Wolf's" performing.

Broken Child

[Mostly written by Carol]

Audrey was playing at a friends house the other day after school. They were climbing around on some rocks in the backyard. Audrey says there was a spider and she intentionally jumped back off the rock onto the ground but had a little too much momentum so she fell back and caught herself with her left hand. The Dad called me and said she was crying a little and wanted to go home. You couldn't see anything wrong, but she rarely cries over an injury and the way she was holding it I felt it warranted an X-ray. Before heading to the ER I swung by home and had John take a look. Since the location of pain Audrey was pointing at was not at a joint (thus probably not a sprain) he agreed we should probably have it looked at.

As Audrey and I waited at the ER she was moving it more and more and I began to think that maybe it was fine. Audrey was sure she had sprained it. But shortly thereafter the X-ray showed she had a "buckled distal radius". It is a very common injury in kids. The bone above the wrist is still soft and often will bend or compress (buckle) instead of fracture fully. It is an injury that heals quickly without complications. It is not in a growth plate area which is good.

Audrey is in good spirits. She has a little discomfort but not a lot. She wasn't interested in taking Tylenol at the hospital so you know it wasn't too horrible for her.

Audrey left the ER with a splint and advice to see an orthopedist the next day. The orthopedist said if she were older they would just leave it splinted but with younger, more active kids they use a cast so the patient can move around more freely. He says Audrey can do all sports and activities except swimming.

The cast will come off in three weeks when they will take another X-ray. She may have a Velcro splint for another week after that if needed.

Audrey is very happy it was her left hand and not her right. It will make school work so much easier. And she was excited to get the choose the color of her cast.

Unfortunately, this happened two days before the end-of-session ice show in which Audrey was very excited to perform. I'm writing this a few hours before the show and Audrey has decided she doesn't even want to watch. But she's likely to continue taking year-round figure skating lessons so there's always next year.

Audrey Turns Nine

Slideshow | Video

Carol pulled off another great birthday party at home for Audrey's ninth birthday. This year the theme was games. There was a game where kids had to move M&Ms from one bowl to another using a straw. A game based on Battleship but using Hershey kisses and hugs and when you guess a location you get that piece of candy. Carol made a giant Tic Tac Toe board out of felt. They played "Quack", where a player is blindfolded in the center of a circle and then has to guess a person's identity just from hearing that person say "quack." Plus maybe another game or two I can't remember.

Carol also made and decorated the cake. Audrey chose the design. It started as a chess board in honor of Audrey recently learning the game. Then instead of chess pieces on the board it turned into chess and music, in honor of Audrey's love for singing around the house and trying to learn the cello.

Audrey invited a bunch of friends from school. It's our practice that the non-birthday girl gets to invite one guest so a friend of Charlotte joined in. It was a cacophony of giggles and screams for two and a half hours but quite fun. Carol also served dinner in there somewhere between games, cake and presents.

It is taking a while for it to sink in that we have a nine year old. That's halfway to adulthood! I feel so far behind on what I want to teach her! Not to mention fixing all the stuff I've not done as well as I'd like.

C'est la vie.

All we can do is try harder.

Sledding

We got our first real snow of the season back on December 29th while we were out of town. We received about 3-4 inches at our house. The girls have been enjoying sledding in the Burtnetts' back yard across the fence from us.

On January 6th Audrey and I went to Melrose's public Mt. Hood Golf Course which is the semi-official sledding hill in town. We'd never been before. I was concerned there might not be enough snow left but it was fine.

As soon as we got there Audrey shot downhill headfirst on a disc. A mom standing nearby said, "She's a daredevil!" Indeed.

We had a fabulous time! I think we'll be making regular trips there after future snowstorms.

Audrey Skating Update

Audrey has been taking figure skating lessons for a year now with only a one-month break in the summer. She's been doing a great job listening to her instructors and learning new skills. In the spring we bought her some higher quality skates.

The US Figure Skating Association has badge levels that skaters pass through as they are learning. When she is tested again in early January Audrey will probably earn her Basic Level 5 badge. Once she completes her basic levels Audrey can move on to free skating, dance or even speed skating.

The "main" skating lesson season just started again in November. In March Audrey will star in her second big ice show. She's already excited.