June Pictures

Let’s get some of these pictures on here before I forget 🙂

My littlest girl turned into a teenager this month. I’m not sure how in the world that happened so quickly!! That present she was so excited about opening was a Disney Loungefly from Tracey. She is OBSESSED with Loungefly backpacks!!

We ended our homeschool journey at the beginning of the month. It was honestly one of the BEST things we’ve done together. I LOVED having her home with me but she decided to go back to school with her friends for her 8th grade year. As much as I’m going to miss having her home with me, I’m SO ready to be back on a routine in the fall.

The flowers have been so beautiful this year!! I find myself walking around snapping pictures!! Ha!

Beckett finished up soccer for the spring. Watching him play was one of the most entertaining parts of the year so far. Haha! He really doesn’t know what’s going on with the game and his mouth definitely moves quicker than his feet out there. BUT he was SO proud of his soccer medal he received. He even scored his first goal during the last game. He kept yelling to everyone around that it was his first one.

He says he’s more of a football player……….we’ll see

Father’s Day

Megan with her oldest friend in the world

And me with mine

A few more pictures from the month:

Of course they’re all of Beckett 🙂 All caught up. Happy June!!

End of Summer

We just wrapped up our final summer getaway. We spent most of last week down the Cape (Emma got there on Thursday night). I knew at the beginning of summer that this Cape getaway would signal the end of summer but I just can’t believe it’s almost over. In a way we are all ready to get back to our routine but I’m just not ready for Megan to head off to the city again. It’s been so nice having her back here for the summer. Knowing how much she loves the city and how much she misses her college friends makes it a little easier to let go. And, Chloe!!! The baby of the big kids is going to be a senior in high school!! HOW?!?! Seems like just yesterday I put her on that kindergarten bus, turned around, burst into tears and told Jon I wanted another baby. HA!! Thank God he listened 😉

Some pictures from the week:

img_9918

We stopped by Cape Cod Organic Farm to see Uncle Timmy. img_9920img_9927img_9925

I try to get lifeguard pictures every summer and was bummed that Emma hadn’t gotten down there yetimg_9923

Annual trip to Captain Frostysimg_9967img_9968img_9971

Beckett was enjoying his ice cream cone until he saw Jon’s

img_9974

Good trade!!

Mayflower Beach: He buried her and then jumped on her.img_9954

Martha’s Vineyardimg_0026img_0028img_0017img_0032img_0029img_0001img_9999

Chatham img_9984img_9985

I didn’t spend as much time taking pictures as I usually do. I’d like to say it’s because I was trying to soak up this fabulous family (they really are the best) but it’s mostly because Beckett spent most of the time being a wild man. We all came home a little more exhausted than usual. Ha!

Summer 2019 was FILLED with adventures and lots of great memories were made but we’re ready for ya, fall!

Maine

We just got back from spending a week up in Biddeford. Out of all the vacations we take Maine is definitely the most relaxing. Although, I’m sitting here trying to figure out why I’m so exhausted. Emma was able to come up and spend a few days with us at the beginning of the week and then Megan was able to join us for the rest of the week. They actually crossed paths on the highway. Spending an entire week with everyone all together is getting harder and harder these days.

We spent most of our time at the beach with a few little day trips here and there. I have lots of pictures to share!

img_9424img_9411img_9414img_9412img_9400img_9783img_9600img_9614

We took our annual trip up to Portland so we could stop at  The Holy Donut (here)

img_9634img_9635img_9638

img_9637

THE BEST DONUTS!!

img_9631

We went to Kennebunkport

img_9551img_9544

Went out on Lynn’s boat

img_9762img_9719img_9752img_9734img_9773img_9758img_9748img_9733img_9764

Celebrated Chloe turning 17!!!!!! Happy Birthday, Chloe!!!!!

img_9623img_9669img_9662

Spent lots of time on this swing

img_9399img_9397img_9507img_9509

relaxed

 

(Mama selfie)

Chased down the ice cream man

Hahaha!

Took walks

Enjoyed the beauty of Maine

Of course had lobster

But more importantly we enjoyed being together

London & Paris

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.

img_8508-1

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!

img_8506

If you go you have to try the crab donuts (above) and don’t miss out on sharing a platter of truffle fries! img_8507img_9020

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, hitting The National Gallery, our favorite neighborhoods and favorite pubs:

img_868851377789-cb4b-4c1f-adf3-3b882f78ac5dimg_8619img_8521img_8512img_8543img_8524img_8522img_8567-1img_8565-1img_8533

img_8534img_8549img_8539img_8551img_8564

Friday we woke up and headed straight for The Tower of London

img_8594img_8596

Then we went over to Borough Market for some lunch

More from Friday:

img_9022

img_9021img_8641img_8649img_8684img_8516

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.

img_8694img_8691

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!!

img_8702

Just as pretty in the day!!

img_8747

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.

img_8713img_8714img_8716

Notting Hill:

img_8720img_8732-1img_8733img_8727img_8741img_8742img_8718img_8735img_8745img_8731img_8724

Sunday morning we woke up and went to Westminster Abbey to attend the 8:00 mass.

img_8769img_8772

Then over to the game.

facetune_30-06-2019-11-09-356df3f0a0-d14c-4f62-b500-72d006ec0f6c

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.

937de831-4ef3-44bb-8359-4ea95f07b8f2img_8937img_8912img_8936img_8929img_8931img_8895img_8844img_8879img_8851img_8863img_8846img_8856img_8884

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.

 

 

 

Great Wolf Lodge

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!!

Summer

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!!

California Part 3

I took over 700 pictures on our vacation and I’m about to dump a bunch of them here so I’ll always have them. I’ll let the pictures tell the story

North Beach

Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial

Belmont Park

World Famous on Pacific Beach

Ha!

Windan Sea Beach (our beach)

Newport Beach

Loving this road trip!!

Santa Monica Pier

Hollywood

Lunch

East LA

We are loving California!!

California Part 2

Can we just stop for a moment and appreciate how beautiful the world is

I’m really missing those California sunsets!!

Balboa Park:

We spent another morning down at the seaport and grabbed an early lunch. Emma wasn’t feeling well so she stayed behind

We went to dinner that night at Jon’s second cousin’s house. It was the first time we met her and we all instantly fell in love with her

Jon and I left the kids one night and met up with an old friend for some drinks

We pretty much went nonstop the entire time we were there and I have so many more pictures to share. Soon.

California Part 1

Our vacation got off to a pretty rough start. After struggling to get Beck’s car seat installed on the airplane we were told that we had to get off the plane due to bad weather. There was going to be a 4 hour delay. We had a connecting flight that we were never going to make. So we had to rebook our flights for first thing the next morning. We had 8 hours to wait and it didn’t make any sense for us to go home so we waited it out………. at the airport

We had a quick layover in TX

But, La Jolla you were worth the wait!!

It was a long day of traveling and beach going and we were all exhausted but there was no way I was going to miss my first west coast sunset. Megan, Chloe, Lucy and I all walked down to the beach to watch

We spent the 4th of July at the beach. We went to Torey Pines first and then over to Coronado and met up with Scott

Then we went to the seaport to watch the fireworks around the bay. It was an incredible sight to see

The following day we went to Seaworld. Jon hated Seaworld but I’m pretty sure it’s because he had flashbacks of Shamu pinching his ear when he was a little boy. The rest of us loved it!

We stopped at The Taco Stand on the way home. This place was DELICIOUS!! There was a constant line down the street no matter what time of day or night we drove by

SO good!!!

Sweet Emilie came for dinner one night

SO good to see her!

A few more pictures from the beginning of the week

If you’ve made it this far you’re a trooper. I think that was only day 3!! More to come!

This Moment

She was sitting on the couch while I was putting Lucy’s lunch together this morning. I turned and saw her staring at me. She smiled and I burst into tears. It’s gonna be a long week. Graduation tomorrow.