The Hames family update

Happy Holidays!

Everyone likes a photo card these days for the holidays, it seems the days of just signing your name are over and with that in mind, I thought I might take a moment and try and update you on where this particular Hames family is in our life.

As you know, we moved house from Buffalo to Hamilton, NY. Hamilton is a small town in Central New York (as opposed to western NY) with a population of about 3,000 people and roughly 1,500 deer (most of who trod across our lawn at one point or another in the day).  This town is gorgeous… as you can likely imagine- we have a village green where the farmer’s market and summer concerts take place and just enough restaurants/bars/shops to keep us satisfied.  We are surrounded by hills and covered by greenery and these days treated to the smell of wood fires all day long. The people here are exceptionally kind, considerate, helpful and friendly.  Matt and I are making new friends and the kids have transitioned beautifully.

We moved from an old house built in the early 1900s in Buffalo to a new house built about 11 years ago with nothing needed except for the painting of walls. We have a huge yard (1.8 acres), a big ol’ rock called Mount Hames, a fire pit, a swing set and an invisible fence to keep our 10 year old nutty dog, Lucy, safe and sound. I have to revisit the deer for a second… I have been here since February and the deer have not become any less amazing to me… add to that Mr. Fox who comes sauntering around whenever he feels like it… it is lovely.

The families. 

Thankfully, we have had lots of visitors from friends and family already and we hope this trend will continue. The whole Hames family had a reunion of sorts here this summer with Nanny’s brother, two sisters and spouses spending time with us and of course, Grandpa came to help with the birthday month of June (who knew he was a cupcake master?!). Perhaps our cutest visitor this year was our new niece/cousin, baby Ellie Hames…can’t wait to watch her grow! As you may be able to tell from our address, we live very close to a lake, Lake Morraine,  where there is canoeing, swimming or kayaking… not to mention bike riding which the kids are both doing now without training wheels. 

Matt is really enjoying his job at Colgate University, and he is well-liked and well-respected by the community here. He works hard, but thankfully is not expected to put in ridiculous hours. He has joined a group of guys who play soccer on Saturday mornings which has been fun for him both physically and socially. He joined the Utica curling club and as of last week won the club championship… qualifying him for the next big tournament. He spent time in Switzerland last year as the coach of the US National Men’s team and this year played with that team for a short time considering a run for the 2014 Winter Olympics. After several months of intense traveling and competing, Matt and the team parted ways allowing him to spend more time with us here at home… needless to say- he is the best curler any of us know and I admire him for going for his dream of trying for the Olympics!

Autumn. 

What can we say about our little six year old. She is not shy, let’s just say that. Although she is the smallest student in first grade (possibly also kindergarten), she is the fastest runner, the best climber and the most impressive monkey-bar swinger the school has.  She just participated in the local production of the Nutcracker as a gingerbread dancer and will likely start gymnastics classes next year. She has shown us many talents some of which include; memorizing and singing all lyrics to songs, confident hip hop dancing, creative story telling and bottomless pit eating of slice after slice of cheese pizza (hold the cheese, please). She and Gavin play well together, until they don’t… but we are very proud of the little girl she is and tell her every chance we get.

Gavin. 

Four years old. The most popular boy in Pre-K according to his teacher. When not being chased by his many girlfriends, he can be found trying to keep up with his big boy friends. He loves playing with Autumn and has almost perfected the writing of his name… he is a daredevil and can often be found jumping with abandon off things far too high for my comfort. There is no doubt- the expression ‘Mama’s boy’ is telling of my relationship with Gavin as I seem to let him get away with more than his fair share of mischief… but can you blame me?

Me. 

Well, I quit my job a couple days ago after I was offered a part-time position with the Hamilton Initiative. I will be working to highlight some of the many gems this town has to offer. I think this may be the perfect job for me at this time.  Our family will definitely benefit from the flexible schedule and part-time hours and when you come to visit, as a professional I can ensure you will see ALL the best stuff and be treated like royalty J .  Matt and I celebrated our ten year anniversary with weekend with a romantic weekend spent in NY wine country including a sunset sail ride and gourmet meals… did I mention the wine?

Love,
Rhona, Matt, Autumn, Gavin, Lucy and Little Ms. Scarlet (our black cat).

Bonus shots: