Just a quick photo dump over here so I have these pictures.
Before we left for London we had a lobster boil for Marlene and Brian’s 50th wedding anniversary
4th of July celebrations in town:
I really want an alpaca but I can’t convince my dear husband
Few more summer photos:
Officially half way through the month of July and I’m already dreading the thought of sending everyone off to school! Luckily we have a few more vacations to look forward to. Happy Summer!!
It’s been almost 5 years since we left London. I don’t think there has been a day that’s gone by that someone in this house hasn’t mentioned our time there. Jon and I are celebrating our 20 year anniversary this summer and knew we wanted to go back, just the two of us. I really wanted to do a late spring, early fall trip. Jon was 100% looking forward to a summer trip. I felt guilty about leaving the kids during their summer break and was really nervous about leaving Beckett. A few months ago my dad called and told me that the Red Sox and Yankees were going to be playing each other in the first ever MLB London series. I hung up with him, called Jon and told him he could have summer. AS LONG as he was willing to go to the game. Huge sacrifice, I know. HA! 20 minutes later I called my dad back and told him I booked a trip. We spent the next few months planning exactly what we wanted to do while we were there. There were certain museums, restaurants, pubs and shopping that we KNEW we wanted to do. LOTS of things in only a short amount of time. A day trip to Paris was also on our list.
First up was Chiltern Firehouse We booked this reservation about 6 weeks in advance.
We barely made our reservation because our flight was delayed about an hour. Our Uber driver raced through the city, driving by our old apartment (which was a treat), but we made our reservation without a minute to spare. It was worth it! The food and the atmosphere were both amazing!
If you go you have to try the crab donuts (above) and don’t miss out on sharing a platter of truffle fries! 
We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, hitting The National Gallery, our favorite neighborhoods and favorite pubs:
Friday we woke up and headed straight for The Tower of London
Then we went over to Borough Market for some lunch
More from Friday:
Friday night was my favorite night. We went and grabbed some food and wine for a picnic in the park and headed over to Kensington. We sat on the hill overlooking the palace for hours. That area is my absolute favorite in London. I spent every single day there with the girls while Jon worked. Every night after dinner we would stroll the park with the girls and stop for ice cream or chocolate waffles. I know that area of Hyde park like the back of my hand. Sooooo many good memories there.
After 2 bottles of wine (HA!) we went over to The Churchill Arm This place was on my list of must do’s and it did NOT disappoint!!
Just as pretty in the day!!
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to Notting Hill. We strolled through Kensington one more time. We were there before the rest of London woke up so it was very peaceful.
Notting Hill:
Sunday morning we woke up and went to Westminster Abbey to attend the 8:00 mass.
Then over to the game.
We had such a great time!! There were tons of Yankees fans sitting around us and they all started to groan (LOUD) as soon as the first two notes of Sweet Caroline started to play. Even though we were losing, every single Red Sox fan in that stadium sang at the top of their lungs!
We had to head back to the hotel early that night. We woke up at 3:30am on Monday to catch a train to Paris.
Standing inside the Louvre was breathtakingly gorgeous! The white dirt roads paved the way for the cream colored buildings that were out of this world beautiful. The pale blue sky and bright green grass had pops of every color coming out of thousands of flowers, it made for the perfect backdrop. If you stood there alone and looked around, you would swear that angels were singing. It was THAT gorgeous. I love my Paris pictures so much and I really wanted to love Paris but I just didn’t (besides the Louvre area). Outside of the Louvre was very dirty and felt extremely dangerous. The Eiffel Tower was also very pretty (from afar) and we did a nice boat tour down The Seine River. We shopped around Louis Vuitton and had lunch at a cute little cafe, then a picnic later on in the park. It wasn’t a bad day, I just don’t think I would ever go back. If I’m missing something about Paris leave me a comment down below because I feel like we’re the only people unimpressed by the city.
As for London, I will go back again and again. It feels like a home away from home.
Instead of having a birthday party this year Lucy wanted to go to GWL with one of her friends. She started taking about this last June! While surfing through Groupon this spring Jon found a GWL deal. I talked my sweet Chloe into coming along to keep me company. I’m SO glad she came! It’s getting more and more difficult spending alone time with my girls. Everyone is so busy these days.
She had the BEST time!!
And……we’re off!! Lucy just got out of school on Friday and we’ve been busy since!
Emma got Canobie Lake Park tickets through her work for Saturday. We all had SO much fun!! Beckett is getting to an age where he is LOVING the rides!
Lucy is at an age where she is really loving the big kid rides so I have another rollercoaster partner!!
Sunday we went to visit our dads for Father’s Day. I didn’t take any picture of them… UGH! But Lucy took this one of Megan and Chloe and sent it to me
LOVE THEM!!
Kate met Megan at Marlene’s and they went to their first concert of the summer
Yesterday we took a ride up to York and did the zoo, the park and lunch.
Beckett fell in LOVE with the baby goats!! It really was the cutest thing and he really wanted to take one home.
Yesterday’s photo dump:
We are loving summer so far and have a bunch more things to cross off our summer bucket list!! Can’t wait!
Oh, summer, you are within arms reach and we just can’t wait for ya!! Lucy and her chorus sang the National Anthem at a local minor league baseball game over the weekend and it was our first official taste of summer.
We have so much planned for the summer but first we have to make it through the last few days of school. Can’t wait!!
Junior prom time!!
Chloe had been looking forward to this day for so long and I think prom itself exceeded her expectations. She had so much fun!! I mean, most girls that I know LOVE getting all dressed up. What’s better than having your hair and makeup done and feeling like a princess? Ok, obviously there are more important things but this really was a great feeling. Look at her:
She looked so beautiful!
I swear this dress was made for her! It was perfect!
Such a wonderful night for such an amazing young woman.
I just opened my planner and realized that June is almost here so lets play catch up on May before these pictures get lost.
This picture of Chloe was actually taken in April, the night she got home from Costa Rica, but I love it so much and had to include it. I was SOOOOO happy to have her home from Costa Rica!!
Its pretty much been raining the entire month of May (with the exception of this week)
Friary Family birthday season kicked off with Emma turning 23!! TWENTY THREE! How?!?!
Beckett started spring soccer. His first 3 practices were held indoors due to all the rain we’ve been having.
Winnie is always by someone’s side.
I love watching him play with his toys!
Lucy is his favorite person to play with. Melts my heart when she comes home from school and plays with him. He waits all day for her to get home.
My shopping buddy
Orange lizards
Hanging out in my room while I was making my bed
Warm spring days
I got a new apple watch for Mother’s Day and was pretty proud of my morning steps!
My sweetest boy
We tried potty training one day. It lasted ONE DAY! Why are boys so hard to train? This is one stubborn little guy. I’ve been buying small packs of diapers once a week instead of a big box in hopes that we’ll get there soon.
Beckett is dying for a little brother. Ha! He tells EVERYONE that his baby brother will be here soon. Hahahaha!
We sat with this couple at Nathan’s christening and Beckett fell in love with them. Here he is going through this lady’s pocketbook. He ended up coming home with a pen and some hand sanitizer. hahaha!
These two cute dogs showed up on my front steps one day. They hung out with us for a few hours until their owners came and got them. Beck cried that he wanted to keep the black one.
Flowers from Megan. And the sweetest note from Chloe.
How Lucy does her homework. He was patiently waiting for her to finish so she could play with him.
Cutest lunch date in dire need of a haircut. Ha!
Went to our first Red Sox game of the season. The next one will be in LONDON! Can’t wait!
Have you ever had one of those days where all seemed well with the world? That was my day on Saturday. I knew that both Emma and Chloe were working on Sunday so we decided to celebrate Mother’s Day on Saturday. The six of us hopped into the car and headed into the city to pick up Megan.
Our first stop was at Mike’s Pastry OMG! We’ve lived here our entire lives and we’ve never been before!! (well, Megan has since she’s our true Bostonian). It was worth the 40 year wait and I can’t wait to go back!! Just look at this yummy, mint cannoli……
We got a big box full of cannolis, cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies. Calories do not count on Mother’s Day!
We sat by the waterfront and talked for about an hour and of course we had to take pictures.
Then we walked through the North End, which again was a first for Jon and I. I’m not sure why we’ve never been there before but, in my opinion, it’s one of the nicest area’s in Boston.
We walked over to Faneuil Hall where Megan ran into an old friend’s mom. She was so cute! She told Megan that on the train ride over she was wondering if she would run into her. What do you know? In a huge crowded city there was Megan. Beckett kept telling Megan “I love your new town”. After many trips into the city this also felt new to Beck.
It seemed like Boston woke up with the flowers this weekend. The hustle and bustle of the city combined with the quiet of the waterfront made for a pretty perfect spring day in the city.
This motherhood job that I have is pretty fantastic! I feel so blessed to call this crew mine.
(can you tell Beck was happy to have a few hours with his big sister?)
I want to start off by saying that we so badly missed Chloe at Easter yesterday. She’s off on a school trip to Costa Rica and Panama. I know that she is having the time of her life but I think she missed us also. Can’t wait to have her back in a few hours!!
I am a sucker for tradition! Every year we go to the town field for an Easter egg hunt with the kids. This year I totally was not feeling it. I didn’t even bring it up hoping that everyone would forget about it. I felt a little guilty but figured that Beckett is only 3 and I would take him next year. He would never know. Then I realized that Beckett is 3!!!! We only have a few more years to do this kind of thing. So I quickly reminded everyone about the hunt and off we went!
I am SO SO glad we went! He had a great time running around collecting all of the eggs. Lucy, Jon and I also had a great time watching and cheering him on. I don’t ever want to take these moments for granted again!
Lucy and Beckett kept busy the day before Easter baking Easter cupcakes and orange chocolate dipped strawberries.
Eggs were painted
and carrots were put out. Early bedtimes were had by all so the bunny could come and leave treats
Beckett is into Jake and the Neverland Pirates so the Easter bunny put his goodies in a treasure chest this year
The Easter bunny must know that Lucy likes to go Rae Dunn hunting with me because he put her stuff in a new Dunn Easter basket. 
The older girls get boring baskets but they love their new shoes!
He left Chloe her Birk’s a few days before she went on her vacation but left her a little treat for when she gets home 🙂
Look at how excited B was!! 3 year olds love the holidays!!
We went to my parents for a couple of hours in the morning. It was so nice for the kids to be able to hang out with their cousins for a little while.
Then it was off to Marlene and Brian’s for lunch and some more cousin time with Connor and Camden.
There is definitely a hole in this family photo. We can’t wait to get our girl back and hear all about her adventures!
April 8th!! What?!?!? Happy Birthday to my mom!!
I feel like I blinked and March was gone and April seems to be heading the same way. This little space has been quiet but life definitely isn’t! The other day I was playing in the driveway with Lucy and Beckett and it hit me that I’ve had babies and kids for the last 23 (next month) years!! I’ve spent my entire adult life as a mom. I can’t imagine having life any other way but WOW!!
I’ve taken a lot of pictures over the last few weeks so here goes:
Deep in thought. Hahaha!! He is such a little cutie pie!!
Lucy got some gummy sushi from Amazon. It tasted about as great as regular sushi. Ha!
As we were walking in the grocery aisle the other day he said “hey, mom, take a picture of this and planted a big kiss on Lucy.
The weather has been so nice so we’ve been spending a lot of time outside.
Jon and I had a date night last week and I had to snap a picture of this gorgeous sunset.
The last two years Tracey has been coming up to spend a day with me. We go shopping, out to lunch and she does my school runs with me. It’s turning into one of my favorite days of the year. Tracey fun fact: when I moved up here she would come up every couple of weeks to spend the day with me and the girls. I think she felt bad because she knew I was all alone up here. She’s the BEST!!
This puppy is getting so big!!
Lucy art!
That picture just cracks me up so I had to add it!
Jon took Megan out to breakfast last week and then dropped her off to meet her friends for a soul cycle class. She LOVES her soul cycle classes!! and she loves living in the city!!
School lunch for Lucy
Beckett lunch. He’s so picky!! I’m having the hardest time trying to get nutritious meals into this kid. He is all about junk food so now I have to limit what we keep in the house. Which is obviously a good thing. Haha! Thanks, Beckett!!
We went to see our Megan in the city. Can’t wait to have her home!
I stole this picture off of Collin’s Instagram because it was so cute! Love Emma in her new glasses.
A few more random pictures:
Marlene found this old puzzle that she was gifted about 13 years ago. Look at those sweet little faces!
I can’t wait for school to be out for the summer so I can have all the pieces to this Friary puzzle back home for a few months!
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