Maine Vacation

In August we ventured up to northern Maine to visit Grammy and Grampy. First stop was their 'winter home' where Rachel and Grammy picked flowers together and Carson got a ride on Grampy's tractor. Rachel also had fun throwing the frisbee to the dogs.






Next stop was 'camp' which was a wonderful stay in the woods. The kids enjoyed their first campfire and Rachel loved the smores. Carson sat still for about 5 minutes which is quite a feat for him.




The kids enjoyed playing in the woods and on the docks. Grammy found some old paint brushes for them to 'paint' the dock - what fun! Carson's favorite activity was throwing rocks in the water. We had to teach the dogs not to fetch what he threw! And Rachel enjoyed picking the handful of blueberries still on the bushes. Yummy!

One of the highlights was a sunset cruise in the motorboat. This was the first motorboat ride for Rachel and Carson and they loved it. Daddy had to hold on tight to Carson since sitting still is not his forte, but fortunately no one got wet. We were lucky enough to see a moose swimming across the lake. If she hadn't been such a fast swimmer we might have some pictures to share.

Another highlight was making our own trail! Grammy's casual mention of "..wouldn't it be nice to have a path for walking here..." did not fall on deaf ears. It didn't take long to incite this group into action and within a day we had cleared quite a bit of Andrews Trail. Look for it next time you are in the woods of northern Maine.

Grammy and Grampy had fun showing the kids around their camp and the surrounding woods. Carson was very excited about seeing Grampy's tools. Here he is practicing with Grampy's drill. Carson has a passion for tools that is hard to believe for a 3-year-old. One afternoon was chilly enough for 'the girls' to have a tea party inside.

One of the best parts of the trip for the kids was playing with the dogs. Rachel was a little bit hesitant around the dogs at first, but she and Buttercup soon warmed up to each other and were good friends by the time we left. Below, Carson is hiding behind Daddy's legs while eating a cookie, making sure that the dogs won't take his treat away!

Pine Lodge 2010

We were lucky enough to have 4 gorgeous days at Pine Lodge this summer with Granddad. Too bad Daddy was in California and couldn't join us, hopefully next year. The weather was amazing - what a difference from last summer! We went swimming every day and the kids had lots of fun splashing and playing in the water. They even got Granddad in the water and got to experience "Yeeooowwwweee!".

The first day of our vacation we had a yummy lobster roll feast with family. Good food and good company. Photo below is courtesy of Rachel, she is getting to be quite a good photographer.






One of the highlights of Pine Lodge is sharing Granddad's cereal. The kids even remembered this from last year. This year Carson was a bit more methodical and took charge, "Granddad, you eat the blueberries and I'll eat the bananas and strawberries!". I don't think Granddad would do this for anyone else but Carson.



One of the best parts about letting Rachel take pictures with the camera is seeing the world from her perspective. And it is interesting to see what she photographs - almost anything goes. My favorite is when she gets snapshots of her own feet. She also took pictures of everyone's feet the day of the family lobster feast :)



We now have a favorite park on the Cape in Truro which is full of play boats, a lighthouse, swings, slides and a sandbox. Great place to end the day when it cools off a bit. And we've found an ice cream place which is conveniently located on the way home.



Thanks to Aunt Ginie for getting us out to see the bay side one morning. We hoped to see tidal flats but we were a little bit late for that, so we just played in the low tide and searched for good skipping rocks. Here are the kids trying to leap over a mini-trench in the sand.








Why so much persistence in jumping over this little trench? They were trying to follow the example of their 77-year old Granddad!! I guess he's still young at heart.

Memorial Day

I guess I am a few months behind in posting photos because instead of 4th of July pictures I'm just getting around to posting the Memorial Day pictures. We had a fun weekend with Granddad and the Yale Crew at Pine Lodge and were fortunate enough to have great weather the whole weekend! Here are the kids digging in the driveway sand - one of their favorite past times at Pine Lodge.


Rachel takes a turn with the ice cream maker. We had no trouble finding little people to lick the dasher this year!


Rachel composing a portrait of Uncle Don, glasses included.




Several unlucky lobsters undergoing major surgery. What a delicious feast!


On our way to the pond.


Rachel catches a whale!


A short visit to the beach, just long enough to build a sand castle.






Carson training to be the next in line to mow the lawn at Pine Lodge. Granddad will need to buy him a sweatband before he takes over the job.


The annual visit to Moby Dicks was as delicious as ever.

Grandma's Visit

Grandma flew across the country to visit us and on her first day we dragged her into Boston with us for an overnight sightseeing trip. Good thing she has plenty of energy! Our first order of business in Boston was the Children's Museum. Between the construction site, the real Bobcats, and the tool workshop, Carson was in seventh heaven. Rachel liked the Arthur and Curious George exhibits, and they both loved the sand and water tables.











It was fun for the kids to stay overnight in a hotel. Here they are coloring with Grandma in the hotel room.



The next day we discovered a merry-go-round in Boston Common which we couldn't pass up. We were lucky to have beautiful weather.





Here is Rachel showing Grandma a sculpture she made in preschool.







Carson was so worn out by the excitement of Grandma's visit that he actually fell asleep standing up for the first time. He was watching for Daddy out the window, leaned over on the bed and fell asleep.

Happy Spring!

This wonderful spring weather has inspired us to get out and do things. We started the month with a day trip into Cambridge to see the Harvard Natural History Museum. What a wonderful place to see animal specimens of every kind. John was anxious to show the kids some dinosaur bones. Carson loved even the largest dinosaurs (monsters!) but Rachel screamed and wanted nothing to do with them.



Here is Rachel holding up a fossilized dinosaur poop. Fascinating for the kids to see that!



Part of the fun for our day into Cambridge was riding the subway. The kids loved the change from the boring car and the motion rocked Carson to sleep on the ride home.



We had some visitors for Easter weekend which was lots of fun. The kids were excited to have someone new to play with and Ricky soon became like a big brother to them.





We had an Easter Egg hunt outside this year. Rachel and Ricky ran around collecting eggs so fast I didn't even have time to take their picture! Carson meandered slowly around the yard, finding an egg and eating the candy from inside the egg right away. He didn't seem to care that he had fewer eggs, he was just happy to have some candy in his mouth.






Ever since Daddy showed Carson what a storm drain is, he is fascinated by them and cannot walk by a storm drain without looking down to see what lurks below.



We recently spent a day at the Providence Zoo where I snapped this photo of the kids playing with a little waterfall. It was an unseasonably warm day and the kids found the cool water refreshing.



Here is Carson relaxing in front of the TV with Bob Builder, one of his favorite characters.