A Perfect Day in Massachusetts

Our most wonderful, amazing friends from New York invited us to visit them at their beach house in Massachusetts last week.  They have invited us for the last few summers, but it was always too tricky to figure out how to get all the way to Massachusetts from NYC without a car.  This year the stars were aligned.

It was the most glorious, magical day.   The air was thick and warm.  The clouds were low and threatened rain all day.  The breeze refreshing.  The company and conversation of good friends was perfect.  All day I felt like I was in a movie*.

Thank you so much Lauren, Violet and Lena**!  We love you all and miss you terribly.

*specifically, it felt like a scene from Dan in Real Life
**someday I'll post the story on how Lauren and I met...it's kinda crazy-awesome.

You know your kid is a New Yorker when...

He pretends to be a street performer.

As soon as he finished singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", while strumming the guitar, he told me to put money "in the case". I tossed in a quarter. He promptly said, "More please." I rewarded good manners with another quarter.

I have since collected two forgotten quarters off the floor.

As they say:

You can take a kid out of the city. But you can never take the city out of a kid.

Dinosaur State Park

None of my kids are really into dinosaurs (like I've seen some kids), but a morning adventure to Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill, CT sounded fun and easy. And that's exactly what it was. We got there soon after they opened and we had the place to ourselves for about an hour before camp groups started piling in. We got to see real dinosaur tracks that we're uncovered in the 1960's right there in Rocky Hill. The kids touched a snake, learned about foot prints, rocks, and bones. It was small enough that we had finished everything by the time the kids were finished being well behaved  

So we headed out and rode the Connecticut River Ferry back to Grandma & Grandpa's house. It was a perfect morning adventure.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Playing in the Rain

We have had a couple of big rainstorms blow through today. I love the big grey clouds that quickly blow through the green New England hills. The crashing thunder and lightning. The buckets of rain the pour down in an instant. It's really spectacular.

And the kids love it too!

Summer...so far!

We have been experiencing a very unusual summer. I should clarify that this summer is unusual for us; probably not for the majority of families in the U.S. We have decided to live the "typical" family life this summer. Brian's aunt is generously letting us stay in her basement (next door to Brian's parents' home) in a beautiful town in Connecticut. It's been heavenly!

So far we have bee doing a lot of swimming, berry picking, fresh corn eating, playing, partying, hiking, fort building, and eating lots of ice cream. It has been wonderful and relaxing.

We took a leap of financial faith and bought a car. An awesome, used, very fuel efficient 2004 Honda Civic. Although, to put things in (financial) perspective, it cost about the same as 2 months rent. And the future of the car (once summer fun is over) is still undetermined. So far it has been a great, well used purchase.

Brian has been using megabus ($5/ticket) to travel back and forth for the weekends.

Again, all photos were taken and uploaded via my phone...sorry they are not the best quality (and out of order), but I love them anyway!

hiking in Cotton Hollow

swinging on Grandma's swing

Cotton Hollow

Robb's Farm (we love their ice cream!)

I love this crazy girl!

At Robb's Farm

 a hot little cutie at Rose's Berry Farm

Cousin James' 1st birthday party

at Rose's Berry Farm

Belltown Hill Orchards

Swim!!!

awesome homemade slip 'n slide

Grandma's vacuum haircut--he thought it was cool

building a fort near the Connecticut River

jumping in!!
getting her face under the water has been a HUGE accomplishment this summer

Cotton Hollow

Dondero Orchards

Connecticut River

Roughing It

It's raining. It's pouring. It's our first time camping with kids!

We are at Camp Joseph (located adjacent to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial) in Sharon, VT. It's a beautiful campground. Some of us are staying in tents. Some of us are in a tiny cabin.

Last night we pitched tents, go rained on, built a fire, ran from the pouring rain, cooked a feast of tin foil dinners and hot dogs for the kids, got drenched in another downpour, revived our camp fire, ate s'mores, lit some sparklers and then cozied up and went to sleep. It was a full evening!

Luckily the rain has stopped, the birds are singing a most glorious morning chorus and everyone is still sleeping. I'm enjoying this magnificent morning. It is truly spectacular to watch the thick fog drift up into the sky through the layers of rolling green hills (mountains???) of Vermont as the sun rises in the east creating a canvas of calming pinks and blues.

This quiet, peaceful, radiant moment feels like heaven on earth.

I'm sad that I forgot to bring my Nikon, which captures moments much more beautifully than my iPhone. But I'm glad I had these fun photos to post (in no particular order).

Right Now: Busted!

I couldn't believe it! I put this very tired little guy down for his nap (at Grandma & Grandpa's house) and within a few minutes I heard knocking on the bedroom door. NOOOO!!!

He was so proud of himself!

An hour later I tried again; hoping and praying it was a fluke. Hoping and praying he would be so tired that he wouldn't want to try again. But knowing all too well that it was only the beginning of him mastering the skill of escape.

I left the door open just a crack so I could spy on him. He rested for a few moments. Then stood up, threw his binky on the floor and proceeded to scale his prison walls. There's no stopping him now!

It's a good thing he's so darn cute!

Right Now: MegaBus

Expectations can be a powerful thing. I was expecting this trip to be difficult. Lots of frustration and crying from a very busy, unentertainable (yes, I just made up a new word ;)) 18 month old. Lots of arguing over the iPad from Isabella and Oliver. There was some of both. But it's a pleasant surprise that both boys are napping.

This is my first time attempting to ride MegaBus solo with the kiddos. We still have 20 blocks to go before we hop off manhattan (and still trek home), so I may be premature in saying this, but I'm calling it a successful adventure!

Why I don't make dinner anymore...

In the middle of making a real dinner*, I caught this little dude helping himself to a snack...and spreading the love.

I love how he's trying to get it off his foot.

*real dinner: referring to a meal I made that wasn't pb&j, quesadillas, pasta, smoothies, or popcorn.  A rare thing around these parts.