Category: Summer

Megan spent a few days at her grandparents last week. After we picked her up we took the kids to Newport. It was my first trip in 2 years!

The beach was so crowded! Driving away from the beach we noticed a mile backup just waiting to get in. We left just in time. After a fun morning on the beach we drove out to Flo’s on Island park. We tried to get in here on Mother’s Day but it was too crowded.

These clam cakes were worth the 2 month wait!

I love summer weekends

We’ve been back in the states for over a week and things have been busy! I’m trying to get everyone ready for school. All 4 girls will be in 4 different places come next week. Jon is still over in London so I’m doing everything on my own. I was lucky enough to have my mom come up for a couple days last week. We spent a lot of time back to school shopping.

I found the camera that I’ve been wanting on clearance so I had to grab it! I think I’m in love with it!! We tried doing a little photo shoot the other day but it was cut short because while we were out there snapping away a fisher cat walked behind me. Gross and scary!! I got a couple of shots of the girls before that happened.

 

That last one is a little blurry but thought it was too cute not to share.

Lucy was very busy in the kitchen yesterday afternoon. She loaded up zip lock bags full of carrots, celery and pretzels. She grabbed a few cheese sticks, filled 5 water bottles and loaded up her picnic basket. She went down stairs to grab the beach blanket and invited the 4 of us to a nice picnic outside. Lucy and I are lucky that we live with such sweet teenagers (and a sweet preteen) who will gladly go along with some of our ideas. 

It was nice to take a half hour out of our day to just sit, play and relax. 5 years old have the best ideas!

Oh, I just LOVE summer weekends!! We spent both days playing in the backyard with the kids:

A little bit of yard work was done:

Until the tractor died again:

(is it creepy that I take pictures when he isn’t looking?)

We washed the cars:

We ate yummy food:

Lucy became a dragon fly whisperer:

And we spent Saturday night over a friends house, talking and laughing late into the night.

Of course the weekend wasn’t perfect. I had laundry and cleaning. I had a little girl who wasn’t feeling well. I broke up more arguments then I would like to admit to,  Jon drove across 3 towns to pick Emma up from a sleepover and she was STILL sleeping when he got there. His tractor died after just getting it fixed 2 weeks ago and he was attacked by wasps while moving the hose. He got stung 3 times! Jon and I got into an argument but then something magical happened…. he admitted he was wrong. OH, I love him again!! It was a perfectly imperfect weekend!

I woke the girls up an hour early this morning. I told them they had 20 minutes to eat and put some sneakers on. We were going for a walk. Just us girls 🙂 and guess what! They enjoyed it and so did I!!

Thanks for the good idea, Jon! (All photos taken with my iPhone)

About a month before we moved to town I heard what a big deal the 4th of July is around here. There’s a big parade, a town cookout and then a big fireworks show. I remember wanting to rent a hotel up here so we wouldn’t miss it. Unfortunately we had other plans that weekend and had to wait an entire year to participate in the fun. For the last 6 years we have sat in the same spot at the parade with the same group of people. The girls have such a great time! Every year I take tons of pictures of these kids all sitting on the sidewalk waiting for the parade to begin. There were a few families missing this year but we still had a great time. After the parade we came home to swim for a few hours, it was SO hot out there! Then we headed over to a friend’s house for a cookout and waited for the fireworks show. 

 

The 6 of us ended up spending the day at home this year. And what a great day it was! Jon and I  spent the entire day in the pool playing with the girls. Emma had to work for a couple of hours in the late afternoon but once she got home we made s’mores in the driveway and hung out outside again until the mosquitos got too much to handle.

Summer moments are the best!