High flying Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day in the U.S., and we took advantage of the gorgeous weather by visiting Highland Forest, one of our favorite county parks. We packed a picnic lunch, and enjoyed the  gorgeous view from outside Skyline Lodge:

It was breezy up on the hill, which is one of the reasons we chose Highland Forest for our outing. Aidan bought a kite when we were in Lake George and he had not yet flown it. He and James put the kite together and soon had it ready to fly:

It took a few times for them to get the hang of getting it airborne:

But soon Aidan was an old pro at kite flying:

We then went on a hike. Highland Forest is a great place to hike, except when an unexpected and sudden thunderstorm arrives, but yesterday the good weather held. Aidan was looking for fossils in a soggy creek bed when James spotted these animal tracks:

I hope the raccoon and the coyote were not there at the same time! We probably covered about 3-4 miles during our hike and were grateful to get back to the car and water.

Dinner came from Jack Stack Barbecue out of Kansas City, MO. James had received one of their catalogs, so I decided to order a dinner from there for Father's Day. I ordered beef brisket, pork tenderloin and two sides, and it arrived packed in dry ice on Friday. All we had to do was heat up the food, which was perfect since we were tired from hiking and kite flying. Dinner was delicious! And there is still plenty of brisket and pork leftover, so we will have it for dinner another night. I think James would agree that it was an excellent Father's Day from start to finish.

Gifts

For the first time in quite a while, I completed two knitting projects just a few days apart. Both projects are gifts, so I was under a bit of a deadline.

The first item is a baby hat:

Our neighbors across the street, Dave and Lauren, had their first baby last week. Although we don't know them well, when we found out they were having a baby, we wanted to give them a little gift. They knew they were having a girl but I absolutely refused to make a pink hat, both because I am tired of knitting pink items (see below) and because pink should not be the only color a girl wears.

Riley's hat is knit from Knit Picks Swish Worsted, which is a 100% Merino superwash wool, meaning that it is machine washable. I did not want anything that had to be handled delicately; new parents have enough on their hands! The color turned out to be a bit more autumnal than I anticipated, but since the hat has great stretch and turned out a bit bigger than I thought a newborn size would be, she should be able to wear it in the fall. We will pair the hat with our favorite children's music CD, Catch the Moon.

The second item is an end of year present for Aidan's teacher, Ms. Sheridan, who is an amazing teacher. Although she hardly looks old enough to drive, she is a pro - she firmly but gently commands the attention of her students and leads them to do their best work. She is, by far, the best teacher I have seen in Aidan’s school career. When I gave Aidan the choice of knitting her a present or buying one, he asked me to please knit something for her. How could I refuse?

I chose an infinity scarf, which can be worn in one long loop:

Or doubled around the neck:

OF COURSE her favorite color is pink; it seems that every other project I knit as a gift is pink and just about every teacher Aidan has ever had has preferred pink. Since it had to be pink, I went with a vibrant pink, and the yarn is decadently luscious: Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk, a blend of 50% alpaca and 50% silk. Ooh-la-la, it feels soft and luxurious, and hopefully will help Ms. Sheridan keep warm during our rather brisk winters.