i keep a diary

November 01, 2013

Spirt Horse

We were reminiscing about our awesome July 2012 group trip to the Kaaterskills and by the fall of 2013 we'd finally gotten our act together (and by that, I mean Ellen took the initiative to find, coordinate and book) another amazing house for us to rent for the weekend and have a big group hang. Yay, friendcation! (And thanks again, Ellen! This never would've happened without you!).

Friday, November 1st

karen, quinn
Headed north.
driving ˆ karen ˆ quinn
Nice fall colors.
car
jeet, maddy
Maddy likes to watch but needs a little help
driving ˆ jeet ˆ maddy
Our car was the first to arrive at the house.
We got down to business unpacking all the groceries.
By the time I'd gotten a fire going...
Quinn was in the kitchen...
kitchen
quinn
...working on dinner!
cooking ˆ kitchen ˆ quinn
Matt & Claire arrived a little while later
jeet, karen
...and we got treated to some tuneage courtesy of the house guitar.
guitar ˆ jeet ˆ karen
jeet
Getting the table set.
jeet
So thankful for friends who can cook!
food ˆ salad ˆ soup
Thanks, Quinn!
Post dinner drinks at the bar!
hans, jeet, jenny penny, meredith
After a few hours of warm-up , we graduated to a card game called Apples to Apples.
cards ˆ hans ˆ jeet ˆ jenny penny ˆ meredith
claire, hans, karen, matt, meredith, peter g
After a few turns of playing, we figured out how to improve the game by adding a penalty...
cards ˆ claire ˆ hans ˆ karen ˆ matt ˆ meredith ˆ peter g
...where you have to do a shot!
cards ˆ shots
claire, ellen, karen, peter g
Ohhh! Shot!
cards ˆ shots ˆ claire ˆ ellen ˆ karen ˆ peter g
claire, hans, matt, meredith, peter g
Always a quick way to "improve" any group game!
cards ˆ shots ˆ claire ˆ hans ˆ matt ˆ meredith ˆ peter g

Saturday, November 2nd

Woke to the smell of coffee already made!
guitar
Took Maddy for a long walk around the grounds.
farm ˆ house
Breakfast.
jeet, jenny penny, karen, the ktb
The house had an amazing back porch.
porch ˆ jeet ˆ jenny penny ˆ karen ˆ the ktb
Nice to get out of the city once in a while.
farm
Kim came back from the field next door to tell us that the horses were out in the pasture.
So we moved our porch party nextdoor to the barn.
farm
ellen, jenny penny, the ktb
Ellen made fast friends.
horse ˆ ellen ˆ jenny penny ˆ the ktb
the ktb
Such handsome!
horse ˆ the ktb
piper, quinn, the ktb
Matching flannels photo shoot!
best ˆ horse ˆ piper ˆ quinn ˆ the ktb
quinn, the ktb
Haha.
horse ˆ quinn ˆ the ktb
quinn, the ktb
What do horses like? Haaaaaaay!
horse ˆ quinn ˆ the ktb
The nearby pine trees were filled with white doves.
bird ˆ dove ˆ tree
A flight of doves aflight..
bird ˆ clouds
peter g
Back inside, Peter was hard at work...
cooking ˆ kitchen ˆ tired ˆ peter g
...on an epic breakfast!
breakdance ˆ cooking ˆ food ˆ kitchen
So good!
breakfast ˆ food
After breakfast tunes.
jeet, jenny penny
Nail party.
nails ˆ jeet ˆ jenny penny
Jenny even brought her nail-drying lamp!
nails
claire, josh adcock, matt, the ktb
Yep, this is pretty much the whole afternoon.
porch ˆ claire ˆ josh adcock ˆ matt ˆ the ktb
karen, maddy
Maddy wants to kill everything.
porch ˆ karen ˆ maddy
Around 2pm we went to pick up Sarah & John at the train station!
driving
Later that afternoon, we decided to try out some magic mushroom chocolates!
mushrooms
By 4pm we had a nice little campfire going and the chocolates had started taking effect...
farm ˆ fire
...just in time for the late autumn setting sun.
best ˆ farm ˆ fire
claire, jenny penny, josh adcock, karen, matt, peter g, quinn, the ktb
We wandered around the farm and communed with nature. I spent at least forty minutes sitting on the stone fence watching the tree branches swirl and "breathe."
group ˆ claire ˆ jenny penny ˆ josh adcock ˆ karen ˆ matt ˆ peter g ˆ quinn ˆ the ktb
meredith
Eventually, we made our way to the back of the property where they have a large teepee.
best ˆ teepee ˆ tent ˆ meredith
meredith, quinn, the ktb
At one point, someone looked up at at the stitching pattern towards the top of the tent and noticed. "Hey, that looks like a shirt collar up there." Then, "Hey, Wait a minute, you guys..."
teepee ˆ meredith ˆ quinn ˆ the ktb
"We're INSIDE OF A GIANT BUSINESS MAN"
teepee
Hey, out there! Come in here and be a part of our executive team!
teepee
quinn, the ktb
Quinn & Kim returned from the house with some kind of fruit and wine drink they'd concocted together.
sunset ˆ quinn ˆ the ktb
josh adcock, quinn, the ktb
Hmmm, looks like wine and or some other kind of alcohol mixed with an entire section of orange. Served with orange rind to taste.
cocktail ˆ josh adcock ˆ quinn ˆ the ktb
The sunset was absolutely stunning! The whole sky was a-glow with orange.
sunset
matt, meredith
Even all the inhabitants of the Business Man's Shirt had to come outside to see what all the hub-bub was about.
teepee ˆ matt ˆ meredith
We watched the sky turn from...
sunset ˆ teepee
...from orange / pink...
sunset
karen
...to purple / pink!
sunset ˆ karen
matt
Matt is laughing so hard in this photos he's having to bend his knees! Sooooo funny.
best ˆ laugh ˆ teepee ˆ matt
meredith
Back inside we were treated to bar dancing in a onesie!
bar ˆ dance ˆ meredith
karen
And face painting!
paint ˆ karen
meredith
Hahaha.
paint ˆ meredith
karen
So much laughing.
laugh ˆ karen
Paper towel puppet theater!
puppet
They tried to make me go to rehab, I said Noooooooo.
puppet
maddy, me
Dancing with my dog.
maddy ˆ me
hans
While Hans got responsible and started working on dinner....
cooking ˆ kitchen ˆ hans
quinn
...the rest of the gang was still in party mode.
dance ˆ quinn
Check out Hans' gorgeous salad...
food ˆ salad
...and insanely delicious potatoes au gratin.
cooking ˆ food
jeet, karen, the ktb
Lovelies.
jeet ˆ karen ˆ the ktb
The easiest way to herd a group of people this large is with food!
Took Maddy for a long walk around the house on a varmint hunt.
farm ˆ house
Aerial supper view.
food ˆ group
After our excellent dinner was over...
best ˆ food ˆ group
...we had a less drinking-intensive round of Cards Against Humanity...
cards
...and got sculpty with the Play-doh.
clay
Hahah.
clay ˆ wtf

Sunday, November 3rd

matt, sarah
Sunday morning breakfast / clean-up and check out time!
matt ˆ sarah
ellen
Ellen reading a note: DON'T FORGET TO FEED THE HORSES THE LAST APPLE.
apple ˆ ellen
ellen
Check!
apple ˆ horse ˆ ellen
claire, ellen, hans, jenny penny, jon c, josh adcock, karen, matt, me, meredith, peter g, quinn, sarah, the ktb
Auto-timer class portrait before we all went our separate ways! Thanks for a lovely weekend, everyone!
best ˆ group ˆ claire ˆ ellen ˆ hans ˆ jenny penny ˆ jon c ˆ josh adcock ˆ karen ˆ matt ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ peter g ˆ quinn ˆ sarah ˆ the ktb

1 comment

  • tcf16july 14, 2016

    This looks like an amazingly fun time. Except for....Smirnoff??