Family Mellmann

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends, and to those who follow this blog and its related website. We hope that you are enjoying the holiday season and all that comes with it (shopping, family, travels, visitors...). We wish you a blessed, healthy, and prosperous new year. Enjoy the website update at www.mellmann.com .

Tuba Christmas in Burlington Vermont

Today we celebrated Patrick's 8th birthday. I'll work on getting the website updated with more photos (there were TWO parties today - one with family and one with friends), but I thought you might enjoy seeing what an eight-year-old looks like. :) Patrick blows out the candles on his marble cake. The presents. Patrick in his first hip waders...they're more like chest waders, but Patrick doesn't care.

Patrick's school pictures came in. I know that none of you are that eager to see any pictures (grin) but I thought I would post them anyway. The class picture below is Patrick's class of first and second graders. The teacher on the left is Mrs. Rogers, his primary teacher. The teacher on the right is Ms. Eaton; a student teacher.

Before the weather turns too cold and worms become too difficult to find we decided to make one last trip to Lake Iroquois to fish. Patrick gave it about two hours of casting and reeling, but caught nothing (except a small salad worth of sea weed) before we gave up and went home. The water was more clear than I have seen it all summer, but the colors are gone, the grass is browning, and signs of winter coming are all around. We packed up the fishing supplies and will look forward to trying again next summer.

It seems that the beautiful leaves of fall have fallen (there aren't many left) so we are back outside raking. Patrick has been a big help this year running the tractor with the leaf rake. And Katherine loves to ride along. They stuck with us for most of the day raking (leaves), riding (the tractor), dumping (leaves in the forest), and changing (winter tires on). They were dirty and exhausted by the end of the day. It's a good day when we can exhaust our children. :)

Pictures on a cell phone don't do justice to the absolute grandeur and beauty of the season!

The foliage is beautiful in Vermont right now. The colors are in full glory and the Leaf Peepers are in full viewing mode. On this day we decided to split up to best make use of the weather and fit it the things that we really wanted to do.

We haven't gone on many long bike rides this year. Partly because it has been an unusually rainy summer and partly because...well, I just don't know. I guess it's partly because Patrick complains too much and we just get tired of hearing it. On the other hand we've just been busy doing other stuff. I guess it doesn't matter. With the weather as beautiful as it has been these last few days we just had to go for a bike ride. So we loaded up all the bikes and went for a waterfront tour. As you can see by her face, Katherine is quite pleased to be going for a bike ride. Patrick was also pleased to go...no complaining on this trip. It was a beautiful day all around.

As long as we have lived on River Cove Road, watching hot air balloons launch and rise over the trees has been a treat for us. All these years and it is still a treat. And this time they even came very close, which doesn't always happen. Typically the wind blows the balloons in a more southwesterly direction taking them past us, but not near us. That made this day special.

A Vermont October is bound to be cold and a bit windy so when the sun is out and the weather is fresh, but it's not cold, you simply *must* take advantage and spend time outside. On this day Katherine and I enjoyed several periods of outdoor play, but once Patrick got home from school we just couldn't resist throwing the kids' bikes in the car and running over to the park behind Williston Central School. The kids get to do a little riding, we can hang out by the river, and then play on the playground for a bit before returning home to start supper. It was a beautiful day.

It's here! The colors, the cool breezes, the falling leaves, the warm sweaters; it's really here. As I sit here in our new office (in our new house) and look out the front windows I am greeted by an old scene; one we have enjoyed for this our ninth year. What a treasure to look out large (mostly clean) new windows on a familiar scene of changing colors, falling leaves, and kids dressed in fleece as they run in the yard. A year ago this time our earthly possessions were still packed up in boxes and stored away in self-storage units. Dinner was prepared on a small camp stove in the camper (or by Chili's) and every few days I was making a run to the gas dealer for a refill on our propane tanks (for the camper's cooking and heating). Around this time last year Jörg and I were headed out to North Carolina for our big furniture shopping trip; two solid days of furniture shopping bliss and marriage enrichment (if you can survive building a house and two days of furniture s...

As the weather starts to get cold and rainy (part of autumn in Vermont) some of our activities move indoors. With the start of the school year, the Green Mountain Gymnastics Academy once again opened their doors to a community playgroup. So, as often as we can (every other week, at least) Katherine and I go to the playgroup and "shake our sillies out" and "wiggle the waggles away". It's a great time to run, jump, climb, crawl, roll, tumble, fly, and flop until the lights go out and it's time to go home.

I give a great deal of thought to each toy, activity, or play thing that comes into this house; is it educational? Is it a good value? Will kids play with it? Will it survive more than one child? Is it fun for me too? All of these things (and others) are considerations when I shop for kid stuff. Yet despite this thoughtful process they still gravitate to the everyday tools and materials; play with the box and disregard the gift that came in it or stomp on all the bubble wrap and forget about what that wrap was protecting. Today it is the fun of playing in featherbedding just brought out for the winter.

Nearly every year since we moved to Vermont we have traveled to Stowe (about an hour's drive from home) to visit the Oktoberfest there. For the past several year they have had a very authentic group, of German decent, perform. They are ' die Lustigen Almdudler ' and they play Patrick's favorite song ' Steirer men san very good '. We took our usual tour; drive to a parking area along the Stowe Recreational Path and then ride our bikes to the festival. It's a beautiful ride that includes ten bridges across little rivers and creeks, several little sitting areas and parks, and lots of nice scenery at this time of year as the Sugar Maples start changing colors. After we have danced, had our fill of German food and beer, and checked out the kid activities (there's always a jump thing, some craft, and a few other child destractions) Jörg rides back to the car while the kids play at the playground. We weren't sure about the weather - rain was in the for...

I realize that this may only be pleasing to me, but this was my view out the front door this morning. With the low light it was easy to watch the fog rolling across the field. It lasted only a few minutes and then the sun burned it away.

Katherine is joining the band at the drums. Rock and Roll will never be the same.

Saturday was a beautiful day. Joerg and Patrick went to Tae Kwon Do for their mid-morning class and then went on to Little River State Park for a hike. The girls went shopping! On Sunday we had an overcast day, but it was fine for a fall festival. So, after church we changed into our warm apple-picking clothes and went to Adam's Farm and Orchard for their annual fall festival with a petting zoo, live music, apples for picking, and pumpkins for plucking. Everyone pitched in so it didn't take long before we had three large bags (equal to one and a half bushels) of apples plus a little one that Katherine filled. Now all I have to do is start making apple stuff (crisp, cobbler, sauce, pie...).

Our crab apple tree is finally producing fruit. When we moved to this property eight years ago the tree had been badly neglected and had gone un-pruned for an unknown length of time. A little pruning and clearing away surrounding brush seems to have helped and this year we had actual apples. Now they weren't that popular with the human members of our property, but the deer really seemed to enjoy them.

Katherine and I got to take Patrick to Tae Kwon Do practice tonight. It's a special class for the kids who will participate in the tournament in November. Patrick will likely be one of those kids. I put several pictures on the website, but here's a sneak peek.

On Sunday, after a weekend of overcast skies and rain, the sun peeked out and the skies cleared a little, so we threw the bikes on the rack and went for our 'standard' tour leading the Ethan Allen Tower. Part of this tour is a stop at the playground. It was a short ride, but it felt good to take a break from setting up the network server in our office at home and get everyone outside to move around. I'll try to get the rest of the pictures out to the website tomorrow (Thursday) so you can see the rest of them. It was a nice day.

The tower hike comes about midway along the bike ride. Patrick always likes to climb this tree.

Riding the bike trail.

Patrick is SO pleased to be getting a haircut.

Patrick really wanted to go fishing again today, but as we were loading the car to go back to Lake Iroquois he started to feel sick-to-the-stomach. By the time he started feeling better (we still don't know what brought this on) Katherine was quieting down in her room for a rest time and it was too late to go all the way to the lake. So, we settled for a little fishing in the river that runs through our back yard. We walked down to the area on the horse farm where there is a quiet area and bridge. Katherine and I swatted mosquitoes and Patrick caught a couple of fish.

More fishing! Patrick met an older gentleman and his wife who had come to the lake for a little fishing and enjoying the outdoors. As grandparents, they were charmed by his curiosity and mature social skills. The gentleman, who is an experienced fisherman, gave Patrick some tips and tricks and helped him fix a few little problems along the way. They were intrigued by Patrick's fishing technique and how he could continue to catch fish on even the most minuscule pieces of worm. I think Patrick caught four or five fish on the same quarter inch of warm. It was a nice afternoon outdoors.

While Joerg is in Germany for his uncle Juergen's funeral, the rest of us are enjoying the last warm days of summer. We're back to Lake Iroquois in Williston for a little water play and fishing.

What a week we have had! About two weeks ago Joerg and I decided that we would take the last few days before school started and make it a fun-fest. I call it the Blitz of Fun. Joerg took three days off work so that we could have five days to play. We started last Friday with a trip to Great Escape in New York. We left pretty quickly in the morning and didn't get home until nearly 23.00. Everyone was exhausted, but we had a great day. That was Day #1. On Saturday we went to Granby Zoo in Granby Quebec Canada. We started a little later and returned home a little earlier, but the drive is also a little shorter. We still had a great day. Patrick's highlight was the Lorikeet House. That was Day #2. On Sunday we went canoeing on the Green River Reservoir. We did a little canoeing and a little fishing. It was a quieter day, but still fun for everyone, which was really the goal. That was Day #3. On Monday afternoon we joined some friends at the County Fair. We spent the...

After a week of calm and quiet (NOT) here in Williston, Dad hit the white waters for a little thrill and chill! (He's the one with the yellow helmet and white beard, rear right.)

Patrick survived his dentist appointment. He has two adult teeth but the baby teeth are still in place...what they call ectopic eruption.

Getting ready to roll!

A visit to Echo...Papa is waiting for a ride on the ferry back to the car.

Lunch at the Boathouse while Papa gets the car.

Here we go!

Getting ready to ride the bike path!

At the market with Mama!

These are the three guys who went through two years of Montessori school together. Now they are in Audubon camp together.

Check this out! This post is from my cell phone! Keep your eyes on this blog! Changes may come faster than before!

Going into the second grade, Patrick has developed many new interests. He continues to love all things creepy, crawly, slithery, slimy, and jumpy, and he likes things that fly, buzz, hum, chirp, swoop, swing, and swim. His movie interests have graduated from solely animated (think Disney/Pixar's Nemo) to more life-like movies like Homeward Bound and Dr. Doolittle. Slapstick comedy seems to tickle him more than anything. His infectious giggles and laughs seem to be back...sounds we haven't heard that much since he started first grade. It seems that the summer break has been helpful in bringing the "old" Patrick back. He has also rediscovered his computer. Perhaps this is partly because Katherine has discovered it (you know, they always want what the other one has), but he really seems to enjoy it. Now that he has a better understanding of how to spell words he can go online and look up "bald eegl" and "cobru snake" pictures for his home-made b...

Despite some looming weather on Sunday we had a very nice weekend. Saturday the "boys" had Tae Kwon Do and the rest of the day we worked and played outside getting some much-needed work done around the yard. We captured a few pictures which you can check out. On Sunday we decided to take a shot and visit the Montreal Balloon Festival , yet another attempt to get Patrick on his ride. Three summers ago, when he helped on the ground crew of the Energizer Bunny Hot Air Balloon, we promised Patrick that he could have a balloon ride expecting to be able to get him up on the tethered balloon at the festival in Essex Junction (at the balloon festival there), but the balloon went down (closed for the day) before Patrick had a chance to get his ride. We have spent the last two years trying to get him a ride. We thought for sure this weekend would be the ride, but first we learned that Patrick is too little (they have a height requirement - you have to be able to see over the bask...

After a quiet morning at home we ran some errands to get some propane tanks filled and pick up the camper from the shop. We had a hitch installed just before the 4 th of July so that we could attach the bike rack to the back of the camper (since the hitch on the car would have the trailer hitch). It worked fine for the first camping trip, but when Jörg returned from the International Father and Kid camping weekend the bike rack was hanging on by a little bit of sheet metal. With that fixed (hopefully for good now) we can take the bikes camping when we go to Lyndonville for the Caledonia State Fair (and demolition derby). Meanwhile, after our errands, Patrick wanted to visit Church Street so we had a little lunch at home and then headed for the marketplace. They weren't always angels, but we had a very nice time.

The last few days have been filled with fun and activities perfectly suited to kids. While the guys were gone to Tae Kwon Do camp Katherine did some dress-up. When they returned, we got the trains out and played bubbles. It's hard to believe that the summer is almost over. I hear some of my friends make comments about how glad they are that school is about to start. I, on the other hand, may dread school starting more than Patrick does...and he's not looking forward to it at all. We're really enjoying our summer. We have had play dates with friends, camping trips, train days, bubble days, dress-up days. We have even had movie days when rain drove us indoors. We have made craft projects, painted stuff, worked on play-do creations, cooked, baked, and colored. We have slept in, stayed up late, watched Mythbusters faithfully, and never missed a night of Popsicles. It's been a great summer...and it's not over just yet. Check out our latest pictures at www.mell...

Last weekend I found myself home alone while Jörg took the kids camping on the Father & Kid camping trip with the Internationals. This weekend, Jörg has again gone camping, but this time he took only Patrick. They are going on a Tae Kwon Do camping weekend with other members of the Blue Wave association. They left late this afternoon and will come back Sunday. I'm sorry to say that Jörg didn't take the camera with him so pictures will likely not be forthcoming, but who wants to see a bunch of sweaty martial artists anyway. :) It's probably going to be a warm weekend, and with the rain that we just had it is sure to be humid. I'm sure that they will have a good time anyway. Katherine is in bed and the house is quiet. This is probably a good time to relax and catch up on little projects. Enjoy the new website.

It's ready. The website redesign is complete and ready for use. The old site is now gone (and with it all the out-dated photos) and the new site is loaded. We hope that you will find the new site easier to navigate, and my personal hope is that by simplifying the site like this I will have a better chance of keeping it updated. We'll see how that works out. In the meantime, you can check out the new site at HERE !

Here is a slide show of some of the pictures taken by my dive instructor in Tahiti. I have put this same slide show on the website, but for those who just watch the blog, I thought I should put it here also.

If you have been waiting for some new pictures, the wait is over. If you check out our beta site you should find three sets of pictures located in the drop-down box called "Latest Happenings". I may change the name of that drop-down box, but this is where you can find the latest pictures. I will list the most current items on top; the further down the list, the older the pictures. We're not quite ready to retire our old site yet, but this new site is up and running and is the place where I keep the current stuff. I still like this blog idea because you can "subscribe" to the blog, which will send you an e-mail whenever there is an update. I haven't figured out how to do that with the website yet. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

This weekend was the International Father & Kid camping weekend. It's an old tradition from back when the International Playgroup was running and Infineon dads (a subset of the Playgroup) would get together for a camping weekend with the kids. We have missed a few over the years, but this year it worked out. Jörg took the kids, the canoe, the bikes, and the camper and went to Lake Carmi. They're still not home, so I thought I would take a minute and share an update on the new website. Oh...you didn't know that there was going to be a new website? That's okay. Until this weekend, I wasn't sure there was going to be one either. Jörg and I have been talking about updating the website. Not just with more pictures, but with a new look. He was really hoping that I would work out a new site that would take the effort out of making updates and get into something a little less maintenance-heavy. I thought we were just getting face-lift. I'm not certain yet ...

Photos, taken in July 2005, show Marge (Grandma) with Erika, Patrick, Diane (Mom), and Katherine.

Patrick has developed a real interest in fishing, but no one around here knows that much about it. I can put a can put a worm on a hook, and Jörg can put hooks and bobbers on the fishing pole, but no one knows what to do if Patrick actually CATCHES a fish. So, Jörg bit the hook (no bullets here) and joined a fishing clinic with Patrick, hosted by the local Parks and Recreation Department. Sure enough, Patrick caught a fish. He's up to six by now, but fortunately we are strictly catch-and-release in this house. He's going to have to catch much larger fish before I learn how to gut and clean them.

As I was walking by the front door one afternoon, the sight of a snake caught my attention. I took a closer look and realized it was eating a small toad. I figured Patrick would be eager to check it out so I called him. He could hardly contain his excitement.

Patrick takes the plunge...or does he? Katherine gets her river legs. River treasure.

Last summer, before we took our computers down and went into cyber-sleep as we moved into our camper for the duration of our home construction, we set up a blog as a way to keep family and friends up-to-date on the latest construction progress and goings on here on River Cove Road. The blog could be accessed by us from any web-connected computer, whereas the website really required access to a specific machine...mine. Using a blog I could go to Barnes & Noble with a laptop, connect to the internet and make updates. Once we moved into the house and got our computers back up and running we switched back to the regular website and abandon the blog. Now we're working on a new look for www.mellmann.com and we're doing some experiments. This is just one of them. The coming months may reveal several experiments as we look for new ways to spruce up an old site. If you have an opinion we hope you'll share it with us.