2013 Frosty Family Fall Post

Finally .. I am getting to my next post.. I am calling it my seasonal "fall" post as it covers the last two months or so..
October and November where great.. We celebrated fall with some visits to relatives (Aimee to PA and Andrew to Boston)
Some golf as usual . This year for Halloween the kids had a reduced take as our typically work parties where either curtailed or eliminated (I left ge) so trick or treating only left the kids with a limited take of 20 or so pieces.. Thanks giving was in Andover to see mom and Aunt betsy. Henry the "bolt" once again won the kids race and this year unlike last Willa and Sophie had proper foot ware
However we did have a scare as sophie came down with an asthma attack and we ended up in the emergency room on thanksgiving...


I also made a good showing in the feaster five posting my fastest time (at  least in my 40's) demonstrating that the surgery last year was a success!!! I am a miracle of modern medicine...
FAll also became very crazy for work for me as I  now work for CGI a company whose has contract for the Healthcare.gov and Vermont Healthconnect websites. ... Yes these are the very sites for which popular press opinion says are a piece of crap and have a "troubled" vendor .. all in all putting a major dent in Obama's healthcare vision.. well its not all that bad we are improving and I urge you to "sign up" and call me with any problems!!!



Sophie in Emergency room

We head into the holidays once again thankful for our health and happiness.

2013 September Farm Activities

Welcome to fall 2013... where there isn't a day without soccer.. well not actually but I do believe we have 4 our of 7 days of soccer between Henry , Sophie and Willa... There is also a thing called a Jamboree where you can spend all day watching soccer.... Good news the kids are doing great with it counting goals , chasing butterflies /months and patiently watching there brothers and sisters.
We also now have two kids in full day school as Sophie started her first year of kindergarten. She loves it and has quickly moved from "bringing her lunch" to "buying her lunch" opening up a school tab on her second day.. I wonder if this a a bad sign of potential credit card risk. She also has a particular way to lay out here cloths for the next day

I spent the early part of September enjoying unemployment as I had a week between jobs.. BOY...I could get used to that and caught up on some house painting and other jobs along with of course some golf...The signature round was with Henry which I will always remember.  Henry got his first real birdie and almost a whole in one on the 6th hole of catamount. golf club. an 80 yr par 3 over water.. with a blind look at part of green. As we came in view of the hole there was Henry's ball less than 1 foot away. I was the proud papa as he knocked in his birdie put and then dad did as well as my put hit henry's ball mark and caromed into the hole (not making this up.)
I ended up with a two over for 9.. 

We also had  Uncle Bob and Aunt Irene came for a weekend and we enjoyed some local touring at the Art Hop along with a trip to Ben and Jerry's and to stowe.. It was great to have them ..

We then headed to NJ for  Aimee's cousin's James Carnival themed wedding where they had a water dunking booth ... We  where fortunate to have Uncle Mark and Aunt Pang help us out and "enjoy"  the kids for a night as Aimee and I caught up with her side of the family

The end of month had Ted and Jackie (papi and granny) for a week of incredible fall weather  and we all got outside as much as we could..

My first month of CGI was a learning experience and I am enjoying the new challenge

Enjoy the FAll

2013 Summer July - August Farm Activities

So friends of frost the summer of 2013... was the best ever!!!! That's right our party of five went on a two month spree of fun .. family and also a bit of future change... Here goes..
July started off with our annual 4th of july parade.. Sophie and Dad of all people spent the parade on the HNS float.. While lightly attended we sang and danced on our float  waving to many of the Hinesburg citizens as we came by.. Dad thought he was a rock star..  We then headed to Aunt Betsy's for  a quick trip to Peterborough NH with family .... We enjoyed some time at Dublin lake and I participated in the lake clubs regatta with Nathaniel.. Things didn't work out so well as Nathaniel and I landed in the water as our boat sunk... well not really but we did flip it.. Had a great round of golf with Big A with a 1 over 36 at Dublin lake club... I had it going... 
.. The middle of july we had our 3rd annual frost family campout.. This year we came prepared (well almost) as we bought our first family tent an 8 person "pop up" tent. The directions said easy to install but I am not sure. The tent broke within minutes of me trying to put it up. a mini break down later and . with a little duck tape and some help from aimee we survived. The party was a blast .. 19 adults and 24 kids . We had games galore led by Aimee including potato sack, tug o war... and the first ever Amazing Farm race with Aimee and I playing the role of "Phil" from the amazing race..  .. Ok that was just the start... Andrew's work had a July a thon.. which consisted of trips ever week ... Missouri .. Roseburg Oregon for a week... Chicago... Orlando...Pennsylvania.... all to help GE ... .. but the biggest trip was yet to come.. The family joined up with Aimee's cousins (Lisa and Gretchen) and their families as well as a few grand parents for a trip to the outer banks north carolina.. The travel there (two days) and Travel back (two days) took a bit out of us with hours of traffic but the mini van got us through and we had a great time. We stayed in a mc Mansion with 7 bedrooms , pool table .. pool and movie theater... A blast for families. You should try it but recommend a helicopter or plane to avoid traffic (perhaps better planning would have helped) The ocean was a 5 min walk  and the kids enjoyed waves , light houses and lots of play time.. Adults we survived...

We got back august 10th  and the kids started more fun.. in august the kids had some great nature camps as well as some fun at the Lake Monster baseball and then a retun trip to Story land... This trip was a quick one with planned camp out ending in a 1 night hotel (good idea) instead...The next weekend we had our first real camp out at our friends the sayre's .. We enjoyed (well sort of) a night out in the wild.. with and I am not making this up some crazy bird noises all night long... No sleep ... sticky wet mornings.. our camping days may be numbered.. Everyone else seems to have fun... why not us?...

Our end of summer ended with  Aimee and I celebrating our 10th anniversary with a get away to Stowe and the top notch resort... it was nice to see how the tourists live and a little bit of fun for the adults as well... We checked out the village and admired a few paintings and such... I also had some of the best rounds of golf of my life.. I can't quite figure it out.. I am older hitting it shorter but somehow I got it done.. shooting 82 then at Vermont national with a chance to shoot the best round of my life.. I came up a bit short... triple bogeying the 18th for an 81... oh well... I just wish I could have a few back.. but that's golf..
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And finally for the bit of the future... after 23 years I am leaving GE.. a big move for me as I go on my next journey with a company by the name of CGI... I'll have the role of  software implementation manager and will help bring new software to the state of Vermont to help with Medicaid and insurance mgmt.. sounds boring... and maybe it is but its  change for me and will keep us in VT for the near future...

I hope you all had a great summer. Please keep in touch ...
Andrew and Aimee

2013 May/June Family Farm Updates

Seems as though I can't find the time to do consecutive months.... None the less I am back...We've had a great  spring (albeit very wet)  with the kids busy with activities and  finishing school.

Henry finished  (1st) and  did his second year of t ball smacking home runs every other at bat ..   Sophie finished  her final year of nursery school and participated in the school's theatre camp.  and stays busy searching for worms and other nature creatures.. Willa is now getting ready for her first year of nursery school.



Father's DayGolf Cup Cakes

.Aimee 's Nursery school  president term continues on as she spearheads a kitchen renovation along with all the other school activities. We had a record Big Truck Day charity event this year and Henry and I got to participate in as the head chef and top kid bus boy  of the burger and dog shack

We had a great visit from Pappi and Granny for memorial day despite the rain Under Pappi's watchfull eye Henry caught his first big fish... Sophie also got into the act as well.

Andrew's been busy at GE continuing to travel and find our next big thing for Health care .. (still searching)  My golf game is rounding into form although I think the heart surgery last year knocked a few yards off my drives.. I think this means new clubs are required...

Mom's Day Cup cakes (Panda mumium's)

Ever known anyone who owns a bar (or at least part of one)  I hadn't until my good friend Kevin bought into a new bar in Winooski called the Mule Bar.. Great beer cool décor and quality food. Sounds like the ingredients for a success. Kev I and Aimee have had a couple visits along with old friends Chris and Jackie visiting..



Crazy Uncle Kev's Mule Bar


The big news for us is a new roof is under way at the farm.. Turns out like most of the projects so far on the old house that there where a few surprises. Namely a sub roof made of cedar shingles... So ... the project will now of course take a bit longer and cost a bit more.. The joy of an old house. The good news is we've got some updates to the porch for lighting ...

Roof under construction

Enjoy the pictures and happy summer. We are off to NC in late july for a Hildabrand Family Beach  Fest!!!








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strawberry picking.. record year

2013 Mar April Farm Activities

Hello followers of frost...
I know . I know.. where have you been... I was exhausted by the super post...
But I am back..with some news... So march was great .. Henry became an expert skier at Bolton hitting the double diamonds with dad. He 's got a video of his favorite trail to prove it ...

Aimee threw an awesome birthday for Henry's 7th .. It was at the town hall and featured non other than Darth Vardar himself .. Actualy me ..
Unfortunately for Darth he was beaten to a pulp from some of the young jedi nights with some light saber stickes .. I don't recommend  this. On the plus side I was able to repeat the line " Henry ... I am your father" many times..

Also in late march we hit the road to Aunt Betsy's house for easter. This year we where treated to some NH maple syrup fresh from the backyard sugaring that Nathaniel and Andrew had this year.. While not as good as Vermont Maple syrup I have to say NH syrup has come along way... :)

Willa also turned 3 this year.. and celebrated with some cupcakes with her friend ruby, Chocolate Cake with Aunt Betsy  and even more  cake with Brother Mark , Pang and Alyssa on a quick visit to the farm.. March and April where busy for work for andrew as I spent many days on the road trying to find GE's next customer or at least keep some of their current ones. Fortunately Granny and Pappy came to help out as at one point both aimee and I where gone on trips (Aimee to Chicago me to San Diego)
In April, we made it down to Andover for Amma's birthday and met up with Betsy and Mark.. As part of the trip we made it to our first Redsox game with Henry and Sophie. We made it through the 5th inning and saw lots of good base ball.
. We also  helped Amma put out here lawn furniture and folk art... Its a yearly tradition you don't want to miss...

2013 Super Blog II Post

well I am back to offer more details.. the readers asked.. I deliver....

So two more points of interest from the Mancation.....

PLease see graphic below.

So .. let me explain.. you see funny stuff happens all the time.. some of it you plan some of it you don't
What you see above was a sequence of events so bizarre its hard to explain... It starts with 3 people one impatient, one some what lost and one innocent latent by stander .. upon eating a dinner at location 1 impatient person says lets go.. some what lost person says ok got get the freekin car we are busy finishing said dinner.. impatient one goes and get car.. other two finish dinner and head to find impatient one.. impatient one found but latent one late... lost one gets into car with impatient one ..... lateent one open door .. (skis in way) closes it  and impatient one... speeds off with ozzy serius radio cranked.. latent one standing next to car... lost one talks to latent one several times... but no response.. impatient one...cranks the ozzy ...and it goes on for as you can see 2.1 miles..(there was also a stop for beer along the way.) Upon arriving at location 2 .. we searched and searched for latent one.. to no avail... needless to say there was alot to explain ).. I'll let you guess who of paul, kevin and andrew represent each character..

Picture to meet christie

So christie was our hero of sorts.. upon arriving on time for flight home to the east we where checked in (bags as well) and taking escalator up to security.. next thing we know "cancellled" Christie then told us that our best chance for flight home was monday for a flight which was to get us home on saturday...not good.. plan b going into effect and flight home booked... 30 minutes later christier finds us a baggage claim trying to get the bags out of the airport and says... oh by the way we just added a red eye to boston.. you interested... well yeah....
A few more pics


Top of Alta ..



Alta chutes

Beer we traded for a Heady Topper

2013 Febuary Super Blog Post

Sometimes you want to go back in time and remember what it was like. .. some times time goes by so quick you feel like you have missed  something... and sometimes you just have to say ..f@@@ck it and go for it.. And that is how my blog starts with my favorite thoughts on a guys trip to Utah with good buddies Paul and Kevin.

Perhaps the movie brave heart said it even better.. “Every man dies. Not every man really lives”.

And live we did...  rekindling our misspent youth with the variety of activities we did some twenty years ago.. Overall we spent a week with the mormons at Park City. We laughed , we skied we laughed, we lost each other once or twice and then well we got stuck there for an extra day to the storm of the century back east... I can highly recommend this trip for those mid 40's guys who  well feel as though they need to get away... at least once in a while..... First and foremost the skiing was great.. utah has a great setup with airport , mountain access and great temps and most importantly ski conditions. We started at Canyons on the first day there ("lets get it started"). They have a bubble chair which surrounds you and holds 6 people... The next day park city ("unchained")  where they have the a mountain coaster along with 7 or so mountain areas ...  We had an off day and I hit the Yoga studio for some mind and muscle relaxation... Next up alta ("mayhem")... the mad river of the west.. (no snow boards) It was challenging from the start as this part of utah gets more snow but is more steep with chutes and other terrifying terrain...We survived .. Following another off day which consisted of bowling and a bit of shopping (souvenir's for everyone!!) we had our first and last powder day at Brighton("finale") We hit it hard and skied trees with hero snow most of the day... No injuries occurred and we came home a day later because the storm back east cancelled our flight.. As a result we had a12 hours to hit the mall and catch a a flick...What 's curious about utah is the low alcohol beers. A downer for most except if your Kevin who brought 12 of vermont's most famous canned beer "the heady topper" Little did w know that this higher alcohol beer( aka the reason for bringing this beer halfway across the country) is a cult phenomena.. earning us stares and free beers throughout utah... Someone is doing some good marketing for this stuff. Also on the plus it was delicious...
Well after I got home a bunch of things happened . I could talk about it but this blog is lengthy and you've had a lot to think about lets just leave it be...  perhaps I'll recap next month..


Arriving in SaltLake



Canyons

Canyons first day

 

 

Park City Trees

 



Alta



Stocked Fridge!!!








Brighton Powder Day

2013 January Farm Activities

Happy New Year and I hope this post finds you well.. Every January we make resolutions.. mine... well pretty simple really... find a way to connect with those who are important... hence your first blog... albeit we are in febuary and you've been waiting weeks for january's info.. So what did happen in January.. for the Frost's January is birthday  day's both Aimees' and Sophie's. It also has the birthday for my Bro in Law Andrew Morison and my Brother Mark.. So this january we had some birthday fun with my mom, sister and her husband for a visit  and the crock pot weekend of our dreams.. One day Chicken Provencal stew the next Pulled pork.. all done perfectly.. you should try it.. Unfortunately the weekend ended with the loss of our beloved Patriots falling short.. as our patriot fans tried there best to pull it out.

The next weekend we took Aimee out for a great birthday at a new restaurant and then had sophie's blow out 5th birthday... Aimee once again rocked the party with a dance party at our local town hall. We got some high school kids to teach 11 5 year olds how to shake it.. It was awesome.. We also had some good skiing in january followed by a severe thaw.. Vermont winter's have been fickle the last couple ofyears...

2012 December Farm Activities

Happy New year and Holiday's to everyone..

Good news .. I am just about back to normal.. well as normal as I ever am.. I have been runing ,laughing, and driving Aimee Crazy....
I think she wants me to go back for a second surgery.. Just kidding. It was a good december and was busy as always with the things that December and New Years Brings.. This year we did our best to get all the family involved and "grace" them with our presence.. In short ... road trip or road trip(s)  ... we took a trip to Mom's in Andover for  pre xmas get together with Sister Betsy and the Morison clan.. A bucket of gingerbread cookies and  a post op visit at MGH with a clean bill of health... The good news is not only did the surgery go well but the bill came through a GE revenue cycle system that I work on... (unfortunately they are deinstalling.. ugh )

January Thaw Snow Buddy!

Daddy Reading the night before xmas

Waiting for presents.. did santa come?

Next trip was a big one.. the mother of all road trips which included a rest stop at Uncle Mark's (Niskayuna NY ) then on to Pittsburgh PA. Aimee mastered the drive with a collection of audio books, dvds and of course snack and activity pack.. We had a fun time in PA with Aimee's parents, grandfather and brother Bill his Wife Amanda and the new family's new pet (bru the doggie). A week later we made our way back through a snow storm.. The mini van starred on this one.. taking us through the snow covered windy roads of northern ny and vt.. The white nuckler ride ended with arriving to 25 inches of snow on the ground.. We trudged into the house shovelled what we could and started our winter in VT.. ... Henry and I went to Uncle Kev's for our 2nd annual 5 guys night with friend Paul and his son...Then Henry and I hit the slopes and the hope is this year so will Aimee... She got the full spread this year ... you name it she has.. gloves, jacket... pants..socks.. and skis ... all state of the art.. (well maybe not the skis)  all of this stuff will serve as incredible motivation for vt's last skier hold out.. she is in.. So is sophie who mastered on her last visit to the mighty mite to make it up and down without dad.. Henry is skier extra ordinaire but somehow also decided that snow boarding might be good. (oh no!!!!)
As our winter thaw arrived this weekend we look forward to a great year and are very greatfull for our health and happiness.