Jul 27, 2013

Life in (and around) Hanover: Our Summer, so far

By Marcy H. TP'14

Is it really almost the end of July already? Summer has really flown by. So what have we been up to? Well, my husband (Zach, T'14) has been busy working away at his internship in San Francisco, making great connections and really enjoying the work. Yet he often tells me how jealous he is that our boys and I get to spend our summer here in Hanover! In truth, we've been having a pretty great time as well. Here's a bit of what we've been up to:

• It hit me that most of the past year we've been primarily going to the playgrounds here at Sachem.  And for good reason- there's three of them and they have a decent variety of play options so the boys don't get bored; they're a great place to meet our neighbors and have impromptu playdates; and they're all within a short walk from home which is a nice bonus. However, there are also lots of other great playgrounds nearby, and we've been making a point of checking those out lately. Some new favorites are the Riverside Park in West Lebanon and the playscapes at the Ray School in Hanover.
• It has been a HOT summer, which has given us plenty of incentive to check out good swimming spots in the area. We've splashed about at the Lebanon Memorial Pool, Lake Sunapee (which my kids adorably called "Lake Centipede"), and a cool little swimming hole off the Mink Brook trail, and enjoyed a great promotion for a free trial at the Upper Valley Aquatic Center (which its great indoor splash pad). We haven't even made it to the Montshire Museum's outdoor water area or Storrs Pond yet, but I'm sure we'll get to them before summer's over.  
   
• The Bounce House! A great place to take the kiddoes when it's too hot to play outside. I love watching my 2 year old run around in circles when we go, letting out energy! ; )
• I took my 5 year old to the VINS Nature Center this week, where we saw several cool birds of prey including golden eagles, a peregrine falcon, several types of owls, and (my son's favorite) a couple bald eagles.  
   
• Between the heat and the rain that lasted through much of June we never made it out strawberry picking (kinda bummed about that), but we did recently go blueberry picking! We went to Super Acres farm, the same place as last year, and had a grand time. 

And, of course, there have been many hours spent playing here in Sachem with friends and neighbors. It's been strange to watch the moving trucks come and go, taking the T'13s and all their things with them, but there are still many of us who stayed for the summer and so still many playmates to hang out with. It's been a great summer, and there's still so much we haven't gotten around to yet!

To close out the post, a few pictures: