ok, so a lot has happened, no idea where to start.

we have made a move that is literally to a living situation 180 degrees from where we used to be. from near complete wilderness and isolation to being in what is basically the middle of the village of lake placid. clearly not 'urban,' but it might as well be.

we really don't drive much. (!!!!!!!!!!!!)

we walk to school--drop off and pick up. how superb! i feel so virtuous getting them outside first thing.

we walk to the playground. every day. it is still snowed in, but that doesn't stop us.

we can walk around the lake. done it several times, even in the freezing rain (not planned, it started when we were on the far side of the lake). someone needs to do an analysis of how many extra calories one burns when pushing 70 lbs of child in a double stroller.

we FINALLY managed to go on a dogsled ride on mirror lake. ava missed her school outing to the dogs due to a raging fever, and i had promised her that i would take her. it dawned on me that even though winter shows no sign of abating (it snowed all day here), the ice on the lakes just might be thinking of thinning, and the dog sled man just might be thinking of quitting. so we went down one afternoon. it was actually quite fun, and remarkable. the dogs are so happy when running, and they are so enamored with their human. he was quite nice and the kids loved it.

speaking of dogs, rose has benefitted tremendously. she gets walked by a human who carries a poopy bag in their coat pocket at all times and amazingly, her incontinence has become less of a problem. this is amazing, because at our old house, she was in and out of the house seven-thousand times a day--but in the yard on her own. she goes out only 3 or 4 times a day now. apparently, the leash has a powerful psychological effect on her bladder, because she is holding it. but you cannot put on your coat without her showing up wondering if she is going out too. and ava is so enthusiastic about going out with her--first thing in the morning she will throw on her outside clothes and go walk, no matter how cold it is.

easter was great--after a morning of candy we went to the mountain and took part in the egg hunt there -- wow. hello aggressive children. i think because easter was earlier this year, there were more people willing to go to the mountain for the egg hunt--you could still ski, so why not? it was reported that there were 3000 kids. not sure if that is possible, but i do sort of believe it.

as i think i have mentioned, it is still seriously winter here. i cannot wait until we do not have to put on 17 different items of clothing just to go outside. we have had so much snow.

living in town has exposed us to many interesting things--simply by looking out our window. ava has an obsession with license plates--something that is 100% my genetic influence--and she will spend hours looking out the window, identifying them. we also have trucks, the mailman, construction vehicles, the trolly, and an unending stream of people and dogs. the latter are cute, the former are rather interesting. it is amazing what people will say on the sidewalk. usually, it is entertaining. today, we caught a glimpse into the not-so-entertaining things people will let fly in a strange town. fortunately, ava was at school and carter was almost asleep when a man, presumably a father, in front of (apparently (i did not see them, it was later reported to me) 2 young pre-school-ish kids, laid into his 12-ish kid. and when i say laid into, i mean it. i ran to the window to see if someone was gettining the crap beat out of them. and i was not the only one--people appeared in windows and doors all over the place. i could not make out everything he was saying, but learned later that he was not just screaming "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME YOU GD IDIOT???!?!??!??!?!?" but also some really unbelievable things like "f-you" and "go f-yourself..." i wish i had seen the kids, but i only saw the man. it does not translate to the written word well. it was BRUTAL. this is the sort of thing that makes your heart break. i mean, what could that 12-year old have done? think of the worst thing. really. worst case--say that 12 year old just revealed that he had intentionally committed the worst crime you could think of. does that even begin to justify that sort of behavior? ok, think of another situation. say the kid had done something that intentionally or unintentionally had ruined this man--financially or otherwise. something to make him really really outrageously angry and desperate. uncontrollably angry. does that justify such behavior? the kid was pre-pubescent. and the reality is, the likelyhood that the kid did anything of the sort is practically nil, and the even worse reality is: if this is what this man does to his (presumably) kid in public, what is happening now, behind closed doors?

fortunately, this has only happened once. more often than not, the entertainment has been funny and/or interesting.

though i forgot about people with insanely loud engines and stereo systems. amazing what slips the mind. and frankly, it is amazing that there are people who feel compelled to drive through lake placid as if they were in the big city and had something to prove. what a riot. Mr. Tough-n-Stuff.

The best part of all this? We finally live in a house with walls that are not made of precious wood, and we finally can tape things to them. Like the 3000 National Geographic maps that I have collected over the years, and which Ava totally adores. I taped it up and she immediately found China, "one of the biggest states..."

um, well, no, well, in a way, hmmm...that is an interesting way to put it, ava...