From Easter to Birthday

Chandre with her wand and fairy wings

Chandre came to visit Brattleboro, Vermont, where I'm living now, in May and she had fun playing with her new fairy wings and wand. She's now in Wyoming visiting her grandparents there (Steph's husband, Jason's, parents). She'll come back to Vermont in July to stay for a while before starting kindergarten.

Brattleboro fallout shelter

I'm working at a sporting goods store called Sam's in Brattleboro, and the building doubles as a nuclear fallout shelter. There's a nuclear power plant, Vermont Yankee, about five miles from here. There are nuclear signs like this one all over town, just in case. I'm not too worried about it though.

Naked in Brattleboro

Brattleboro is a very liberal town of about 15,000. The town also has no public nudity laws, so people walk around without clothes from time to time. I was these two a few weeks ago while reading on my lunch break. It was a really hot day, but I kept my clothes on.

Chandre making Easter eggs

Chandre was also here in Brattleboro for Easter, and we had fun making eggs. Chandre always wants to help with whatever I'm doing, and of course she wanted to carry the hard-boiled eggs. Ariane, her sister Daphnee, Daph's boyfriend Jeeps and Ariane's mom Diane (Chandre calls her Marmy), were around for Easter and helped with the eggs also.

Chandre dying Easter eggs

We all had fun making the eggs, and the Easter bunny found Chandre in Vermont and brought her candy and chocolate. We were worried the Easter bunny might go to Connecticut and Chandre wouldn't be there - good thing he does his research.

Chandre's egg

Chandre was proud of her egg creations and wanted to show everybody.

Chandre and Ariane in Connecticut

Ariane and I went down to Connecticut for Chandre's birthday and had lots of fun playing at the beach, going on swings and, of course, opening presents. Chandre loves to swing and she can pump all by herself! Despite that, she always wants an Under-Doggy from Daddy Eric.

Chandre opening birthday presents

Here's Chandre opening more presents when she came to visit Vermont earlier this month.

Chandre's birthday cake

Chandre invited a few friends to the beach for her birthday and we had a nice lunch to go with it. Chandre and her friends had fun climbing all over the rocks and playing in the grass.

Chandre at the beach with some friends

Later on, we moved to the beach to make sand castles and play in the waves. The adults also played a little Frisbee. It was a beautiful day and everybody had a great time.

New Hampshire wildreness

Ariane and I have done a few hikes around Southeastern Vermont and it's very beautiful here in the Green Mountains. This picture is from a hike we did in Western New Hampshire. There was a beautiful creek, a nice gorge and other scenic areas. Part of the Appalachian Trail runs through an area just West of here, and we plan to hike part of that this summer.