It turns out that my parents had planned an entire weekend of outdoor activities for us.  Let me preface this by saying that this is somewhat unusual.  Not that my parents don't like the outdoors, but usually the most outdoorsy thing we do is play mini-golf on Father's Day.  So I had come ill-prepared (or poorly packed) for the weekend's activities.  The ATVing the day before had been a muddy endeavor, and I ended up having to borrow some jeans while Mom washed mine.  Borrowing my parents' clothes was also today's theme.  Neither Will, Katie or I had packed our walk-in-the-wood clothes or coats, so in order to take a stroll around my parents' 10 acres we had to borrow coats, hats and gloves; which gave the group a rather mish-mash appearance.

The first task of the day (after eating some of the wonderful candy the Easter bunny had left us) was to purchase Wellies.  As none of us had appropriate woods-walking shoes, Mom decided that the muddy terrain warranted some rubber boots, which she had seen for a good price.  So we all headed out to the store to purchase our Wellies.  It was quite a task, as there were a variety of colors and styles to choose from, but size was really what made the deciding factor for all of us.  So Wellies in hand, we headed home to change into our outdoor ensembles for our walk in the woods.

The Wellies turned out to be great fun, as it allowed us to walk IN the stream in my parents' woods.  Dad already owned appropriate woods-walking shoes, so he did not take place in the stream walk.  Katie also preferred to spend most of her time on dry land.  The stream, just like all of the land around my parents' house, is lined with clay, which made the stream walking rather slippery.  There were also quite a few moments where one of us would take a step and the stream level would suddenly rise ALMOST to the top of our Wellie!  Mom went first and used her walking stick to test the depths.

We had an excellent time on our walk, and got a chance to view most of the property.  It turns out that 10 acres of woods isn't as large as I thought it would be, and we were able to see a great deal of it.  It was also nice to be outside.  Can you tell that it was a tiny bit chillier than we had expected?  Dad also showed us a fox-hole he had found and recounted the story of the turkey family he had seen strut across the front yard a few days before, complete with the tom turkey displaying his tail plumage to assert his dominance.

We all thought that Will looked typically Irish with his beard, cap, green coat and Wellies!

Shortly after this photo of Will and I was taken he did his best to dunk my head in the water!  I think he just wanted to make sure that I didn't miss him TOO much!

Our walk concluded around the back of the house, and we stumbled upon this site.  It turns out that my father was under the impression that he needed to create some sort of "ruffage" in the yard over the clay soil for when the lawn gets hydro-seeded in a few weeks.  It turns out after Christmas was over my father too the poor Christmas tree on to the back porch and did a bit of work on it with a machete!  This is the carnage left behind (to help give the grass somewhere to grow?).  Can't you see how proud he is?  I love my Dad, he just cracks me up.  Who else would be so "practical"?

For Easter weekend I headed down to my parents house solo.  Ray had to work on a major project at the EMC that is in a bit of crunch-time (as the school year rapidly comes to a close), so he packed me up and sent me on my way to Glenville.  This is the third time I've visited my parents' new house, and my Dad had a new toy to show off.  My uncle owns an ATV, which he uses to plow the small parking lot he has at the funeral home downstate.  In the non-snowy months (and in Westchester County that's March through October) he has no use for it.  When he was up visiting last, he brought it with him and my father discovered the joys of tearing around the new front lawn.  As no grass has been planted yet, my mom lets him do to his heart's content.

Not long after I arrived, Will and Katie made their entrance in Katie's new car!  It was the five of us for the weekend, and my parents had some big plans.  First, and most importantly, were the ATV rides my Dad was giving.  I have been on an ATV once before; on our honeymoon in Mexico Ray and I did an afternoon long ATV trip around the nearby desert and beach and had a fabulous time!  Actually, I enjoyed it a tremendous amount more than I expected, and Ray will never let me forget it.   We had rented one ATV for us to share, with Ray doing most of the driving, which I think worked out the best for both of us.  So today my Dad offered everyone the opportunity to drive, but no one wanted to go solo, but we were up for rides!

I actually went first, in order to convince my Mom that it was a good idea.  My Dad knows how to work that ATV and likes to pick up some serious speed.  They have a rather steep driveway (which you can see behind my Mom) which my Dad loves to tear up and speed down!

I went for Round 2 and then we convinced my brother to give it a go.  There are no trees or any sort of landscaping in their yard yet, so my Dad was free to get us good and muddy!

I don't know if you can see it on the website, but this is my Dad CATCHING AIR!  All 4 ATV tires are off the ground!  There is a rather steep incline coming up the back of the plateau that my Dad is about to land on.  He likes to hit the gas and bound up that hill.  It's exciting and scary all at once!

So after our exhilarating ATV rides we rested a bit (and maybe even did a tiny bit of shopping).  Mom had planned burgers and flank steak on the grill for dinner (super yummy) and made her famous family recipe chocolate sauce to be eaten with a bit of ice cream for dessert.

After dinner we all bundled up in a mish-mash of my parents coats, sweatshirts, gloves, hats and blankets to sit outside.  We grabbed the porch furniture and gathered around the bonfire that my Dad had spent all afternoon building.  He did try rather hard to convince William and I that we needed to pick up sticks for the bonfire, but we both claimed time served (and the fact that neither of us live there), so Dad used the ATV instead (that's what the basket he's added to the front is for).

It was actually a rather impressive set up: my Dad had built a bit of a TeePee bonfire, and between his and my brother's Eagle Scout knowledge, they managed to light it, tend it and not burn the house down!  The bonfire was set up right on the front lawn, as my parents house is (apparently) built all on clay and there is no grass or brush to catch.  We went outside just as it was starting to get dusky and stayed until almost 10pm.

Being that it was Easter weekend, my Mom had procured an adult Easter basket full of candy for the four of us to share.  There had been some talk of going to the store to get marshmallows and make smores, but in the end the chocolate sauce and ice cream won out.  Not to waste a good bonfire, my resourceful brother and I decided that marshmallow peeps we almost as good as regular marshmallows so we got to work.

We found sticks and roasted our peeps!  Honestly, I am a fan of burning the marshmallow and then eating it, so I attempted the same technique with the peep, but it just didn't taste quite the same!