Little Cousins, Big Snow - The Vermont Olympics Part 4

The Vermont Olympics: Today's Event:
"Little Cousins"
Requirements: You are Estelle's first cousin, but you aren't old enough to change Léna's diaper. (Or you are young enough to think it is really gross and wouldn't want to).
We have:
1 Honorary Animal Medal
2 Bronze Medals 2 Silver Medals 1 Gold Medal, and one
Sacred and Holy Gold Medal to Mother Nature for providing lots and lots of our favorite thing in the world in the wintertime: snow.
Here are a bunch of photos from different days and places showing how much we enjoyed it.

Léna's baptism in snow!
Less than 24 hours after our arrival, here we were, out in the white stuff.
Bronze cousin Medal to "Baby" Elijah, who allowed himself to be chased.
Out and about.
Inspecting a prop for the Runaway Pond Bicentential.
When I was little, there were always a lot of people to pull me up the hill. And the hill I slid on as a kid was a heck of a lot bigger than what you see in these photos. I was spoiled.

Making snow angels:
Joanie and Lena hunker down:
Silver Medal to Cousin Wayne, for being a great buddy and surveillor of Estelle for 2 weeks. She loved being with him.
The girl was ready for action:
Wayne & Estelle starting off:
The view from above
Mart, Wayne & Cole (hidden)
More Sliding party guests - Darlene & HEatherMartha insists on taking Léna down the bunny slope.
Playing King of the Mountain on the plow drifts:

Spike rolls in the snow.. (Honorary Medal Mention for Spike, who cannot compete in these Olympics since he isn't human, but Estelle likes him) (sort of)
Heading to the pond:
Cedric gives Estelle a ride in the snow scoop

Now Wes pulls both little girls:
By the way, that red coat used to be my Dad's. See footnote for Cousin Heather.

Skates!Darlene helps with the milkcrates...
Silver Medal for the most patient cousin ever, Cole. Here he is with Estelle waiting for a ride on my Dad's trackster that Wes keeps running...
A snowman at Martha's, the day before the big storm.
The Big Storm:


Bronze Medal to Jacob, who is sort of inbetween the "Big Cousin" and the "Little Cousin" category. He managed Estelle and her 3rd cousin Asa on morning quite handily, not to mention braving a blizzard so Estelle could roll around in......fresh, beautiful powdered snow.


This was a slice of heaven for Estelle. She was totally enraptured.
During this storm, Estelle also got to drive the tractor plow John Deere with Uncle Chris:
And make a snowman with glamour:
And dig with a shovel:

Last, but certainly not least, GOLD MEDAL to Heather, for being Estelle's best friend and playmate every single day in Vermont. Some mornings Estelle came into my bed at 7 a.m. and said "Mommy, call Aunt Darlene right now and tell Heather to come and play with me right now. Mommy. Call. Right now. Mommy. Call." 5 months apart in age, these girls had some fun - some fights too, but mostly fun! Here are photos of them - NOT in snow.











Thank you Heather! We love you, and ALL our little cousins!

No Child(ren's Book) Left Behind

Today's Vermont Olympic Event: Reading to Estelle
I had an epiphany during my trip to Vermont last month: there's a reason why I'm so smart, I mean, why I like to read - I think I was read to A LOT as a child. The same people who read to me back then spent a lot of time reading to my daughter during snowy days in New England. Some mornings, it lasted over an hour, book after book. What a gift.

Gold Medal Ties to my Mom and Joanie, who never ever said no. And Joan gets an extra special Dorothy Canfield Fisher for having the most amazing private children's library in a house.
My hands-down favorite: the resurrected Blueberry Pie Elf. Because no one can see an elf, no one can feel and elf, and no one can hear an elf.
Often times the pink afghan knit by my OWN grandmother was necessary.
Sometimes those silly Olympics in Vancouver distracted us...
Dr. Seuss was not to be outdone by some silly Elf.Sometimes the ladies coordinated their outfits for the occasion, like reading a compilation of Little Golden Books here in this photo.
Often the whole crowd got involved:Sometimes the story made the listeners a little tad sad.....
Very often we were snuggled in bed. SILVER MEDAL to Martha for pulling out some incredibly worn and loved books from her own children's childhood, held together with brittle masking tape, many of which I had never heard of. Different era, different books...Bronze medal to Uncle Wes for taking one for the team and reading a funny nonsense rhyming book.
Another Bronze to Uncle Cedric for coming on Valentine's Day in a red sweater and reading stories where every character had different voices that captivated the imagination.
Runner Up Bronzes to everyone who read to Léna, who began to improve her vocabulary and comprehension skills:Goodnight Moon....

Billy Goat Gruff...
Two and a half weeks later, every single day, Estelle speaks of something that she heard in a story in Vermont. Both Thomas and I are stunned at her ability to recollect, and the way she continues to make connections between characters, plot lines, rhymes etc from all those tales and something she runs across in the moment.
Thank you to all those readers out there. Estelle has a T-shirt that her cousin Wayne gave her: "Love Me, Read a Book to Me." No doubt Estelle is loved!

The V.O., Next Event

Who needs the Oscars? We've got the next installment of the Vermont Olympics!
Today's Event: GREAT AUNTS
Participant Requirements: Be a great-aunt to Estelle and Léna
Be it Perron or Alexander, blood or marriage
(We don't care how you are a Great Aunt, we're like the Unitarian Universalists - we'll take anybody). (Sorry Lisa and Dan).

Tie for Super Duper Gold Medals are my dad's 2 living siblings. Treasures, both of them.Above: Me and Aunt Becky in the middle of a crowd at Martha's. This is like hanging out with my Dad again, the same n0-nonsense attitude but with great perfume and fantastic nail polish. Sometimes she is so like him, it's enough to take your breath away.
Below, Aunt Elaine in her West Glover farmhouse.
See that chocolate cake on the table. Oh you better believe she made that for us. She is over 80 and uses a walker, but she made us chocolate cake AND brownies. On a wood stove. She says things like "Aren't you a cunnin' little thing?" to the baby. Speaks like my father's mother.Silver Medal Ties for a few lovely French Canadian gals = my mom's sisters. Aunt Yolande who enjoyed playing with our little butterball Léna.


And our other Silver Medal winner is one of my mom's other sisters, my Aunt Cecile Davignon (as in Sur le Pont).
Like a stage-coach inn, Cecile graciously hosted us for a few hours for coffee and blueberry muffins one snowy/raining morning, serving as a halfway meeting point so Martha could get me back to Lisa and back to NH so I could get back to Boston to get back to France. (an Olympic event in and of itself).
Bronze Medal Winners: My aunts who "married in", Carole and Marilyn Perron, wives to my mom's brothers Eddie and Rickie, who live up the road from Joan and Wes and with whom we enjoyed a Friday afternoon with tea and scones. It is amazing to think that they, plus Wes and Joan, all live on land that was originally all part of my grandfather's farm. It was a big farm!We missed seeing all our other aunts, most notably Estelle's namesake Aunt Estelle. Here's a photo of us together from a previous (pre-Léna) visit:
A Posthumous Gold Medal goes to my Aunt Eleanor, sister to Becky and Elaine, from whom Léna gets her middle name. Here is a photo of us, the last time I saw her. Healthy, caring, and fixed me some crackin' egg salad sandwiches, served with a pickle. I sure do miss her voice.
Another Posthumuos Gold for my Aunt Pearl, ("married in"), just days after Eleanor. The Queen of Cabot, the lady knew cheese. She also knew just about every crazy expression that every existed - and used them in every sentence she spoke. A marvel. Here's a photo of the last time I saw her.
Not only do I always be sure to visit everyone I can when I go home, I always bring my camera. You never know when it might be the last visit, and I like to have a nice visual to accompany their voices in my memory.
A bunch of great, great ladies - and Great Aunts!

The Vermont Olympics, Opening Ceremonies

Had my postings been more timely, presenting our trip to New England simultaneously with the Vancouver events would have made sense. But, internet connections (lack thereof) and neverending illnesses prevailed. Consider it a time-zone delay of 2 weeks!
Thus, without further ado, The Vermont Olympics, or, the V.O.
Like any good broadcast, we like to string you along, so we'll be covering one "event" per post.

Today's Event: Giant (Cousins) Slalom
Participant Requirements:

• Be a Giant Cousin - i.e. a LOT bigger/older than Estelle & Léna,
  
• Still be a first cousin,
  
• Be someone whose diapers Julie has changed

Gold Medal: Cousin Jesse, for making the most of a short visit during a blizzard (inside him and out!)
Honorable Mention Gold Medal: Cousin Anna, for single-handedly entertaining jetlagged Estelle nonstop for almost 48 hours and never wavering a bit:


Silver Medal: Cousin Lillian, who, on a quick ski weekend home from Harvard, trekked up to Glover to spend a few hours being attacked by Estelle:
And having her hair done:And reading to Léna:
Honorable Mention Silver Medal: Cousin Addison, for coming in a crazy blizzard to see his cousins:
Bronze Medal Tie-Breakers: Cousins Chelsea, Lauren, Katie & Lizzie, who all visited Estelle & Léna in Glover and played games, read books, got climbed on, had their hand combed and brushed over and over and over, went sliding, played with dolls, and God knows what else while I was busy a. talking with siblings b. stuffing my face or perhaps c. talking with siblings or finally d. stuffing my face.
The photo above of Lauren & Estelle is my favorite of the entire trip. It makes all the travel hassle worth it, and reminds me why in the heck I even do it.
Below: Candyland. Doesn't get any sweeter than that.

Above: Lauren at the top of the hill takes Estelle for a spin. Below, Chelsea reads Léna a favorite before nap
Cousins Katie and Lizzy hammed it up with the girls for over 2 hours straight one Sunday lunch. So fun!Lizzy gets mauled by 3 little girlsKatie obeys orders to "lie down and sleep with the baby doll!"Seeing as she was recovering from pneumonia, she was probably happy for the "rest".Honorable Bronze: Cousin Tyler, for keeping his house intact (barely) after a 75-minute visit with Estelle & Léna.
Aimee looks on wondering about the pot and stand behind this gymnastic event about to go south.

Vermont "Big" cousins we missed: Matthew, off interviewing at Tufts. Alexandra, sunbathing in Florida. Calvin, trying his luck in Seattle. Eliza, enjoying sunny San Diego. And all our other big cousins that we don't see as much: Caitrin (a mommy herself!), Sara, Emily and the Massachusetts crowd: Conor, Maura, and Rachel. Hope to see them this summer!