A Camping We Will Go

Last weekend we took our first family camping trip.  Kind of weird that we haven't camped yet but we have some things that have held us back for a long time.  Mainly one...GRASS.  Mary is allergic to grass.  Last year backyard camping was successful but until then it had not been.  Itching in the night, crazy itching in the night.  Matt and I couldn't sleep in the same tent with her b/c the scratching was loud and sad.  Plus she would wake up with claw marks all on her legs.  She's still allergic to grass but as she has gotten older she is in more control and thanks to good meds and probably a little outgrowing, she can sleep peacefully.  Big blessing.

So, back to camping.  We just did a 1 night trip to Masamoquet State Park in Pomfret, CT.   It's only about 30 minutes away.  Everyone had so much fun.  And we all slept peacefully....well, as peacefully as you can in a tent. :)

On to the picture dump!

 Way too many marshmallows were consumed in a 24 hour period.  Just how it should be.

 Fun 'climbing' trees near our campsite made for happy kids.

 Good morning...the weather was perfect.  Not too cold in the night and just about perfect when we woke up.

Saturday it was on to hiking and letterboxing.  This state park and a neighboring bird sactuary were home to over a dozen letter boxes.  We didn't have time to find them all but managed to find 5.

Here below the kids are on Table Rock.  We found a letterbox near here and the stamps were a table and a rock. :)

Then we hiked to Wolf Den.  I loved this sign about the last wolf killed in CT.  The letter box near here had 2 stamps--a wolf and a big cave.

 What a cozy wolf home. :)

 Matt helping the kids stamp (or maybe it was Matt stamping--he's quite into it)

 Here are the kids at Indian Chair

The kids were hiking troopers.  Everyone wished we could stay longer but a busy life sent us home.  This trip was awesome in that we feel like new adventure doors have been opened for us now that we know Mary's skin can take it.  Happy day!

Car Cakes

Last year I helped my friend Megan make a birthday cake for her son's 1st birthday.  I think we've begun a tradition (which will be fine til she has like 12 kids and is over every month making cake.) :)  

He is a boy obsessed with cars so that's what we did.  It was a fun (and long) morning but they turned out super cute.   Plus I got a fun morning with a good friend--doesn't happen as often as I like. :)

Matt's Day

Slipped in the middle of the past few posts should have been this one.  No stellar pictures but a good day.  Kids always love celebrating Dad's birthday.  We always love having an excuse to remind him that this insane bunch of people loves him.

Of course he got an M&M dispenser--of course.

Went with peach cobbler this year for his 'cake'.  It's looking pretty candle-rific, can't even imagine what 35 candles would have looked like.

Happy birthday Matt.  Glad we have a bit longer of mid-30s before we shoot on up to upper 30s or 40s. :)

My Little Pony (Whit's Recital)

The big day arrived.  Whitney's dance recital.  She was so stinkin' cute and so excited for it all.  It was fun having a day that was special just for her.

But it wasn't just 1 day.  Dance recitals have their way to stretching out for days.

First it was picture day.

Here's Whit with 2 great friends--Ashlyn (from church) and Julia (from across the street).  She has loved having class with her buddies.

 So pretty!

I don't have any pictures from dress rehearsal day at the studio, but you get the idea.

Below is stage rehearsal.  She was so overwhelmed and excited by the large auditorium and big stage.  It was precious watching her.

Whit's in the middle.

 Then it was performance day.  She was all ready and had her backpacked packed for the time she would spend off stage. I think Whitney was bursting at the seams.  When we got in the car, Whitney said, "Mom, I feel like a movie star."  Sweet.

Whitney did a great job.  We were so proud of her.

The Whale Watch that Wasn't

Mom and Dad came to visit, aka Nanny and Papa.  We bought whale watch tickets a while back and were excited to head up to Gloucester while they were here to use them.  The plan was to go Tuesday and do the sights in Salem and then do the whale watch on Wednesday.  Once it got closer the forecast was looking bad and even the whale watch people sounded skeptical that it would happen on Wednesday.  We changed plans and moved our whale watch to Thursday--forecast:  beautiful.

So Wednesday we headed up to Salem, MA.  It was fun to see and experience, definitely a town that overcommercializes and is solely centered around witch hunts and whatnot.

First stop--visitor's center.  Watched a movie on the witch trials.  Pretty informative.

 Afterwards, we ate lunch at the parking garage since it was easier than transporting the cooler.  Here you find Annie doing one of her million dance moves.  Man, she has awesome moves--and she knows it.

  

We headed to the Old Cemetery.  Can't help but love an old cemetery. 

Our letterboxing website told us there was a letterbox hidden in the cemetery.  Here Matt and Dad are searching the clues--it was all in vain.  No letterbox to be found. :(

Next to the cemetery is a little memorial set up honoring the 19 victims of the witch trials of 1692.  There are 19 benches with names and dates engraved.

I think these 3 are sitting on one of the tributes. :)

The kids became junior rangers, we saw a few more things and then headed toward our hotel.  On the way, I checked my phone messages and had one from the whale watch company.  There was a storm out at sea that would make the ocean extremely rough the next day so they were cancelling our whale watch.  AAAAAHHHHHHH!  I was so bummed, probably more than the kids.

We stayed anyway and enjoyed hotel fun.

SWIMMING!

Day 2 (non-whale watch day) we headed to Gloucester anyway and went to Halibut State Park.  It was beautiful.

Here's Nanny, Andrew and Annie on the trail leading to the reservoir.

There was a beautiful reservoir and then right behind it was the ocean.

From here, we followed a trail down to the Sea Rocks--fun times ahead b/c there was a letterbox hidden at the sea rocks.  And we found this one!

Nanny and Papa

Lots of small tide pools and fun rocks to climb.  It was a lot of fun.

From there we headed to Lynch Park in Beverly, MA before heading home.  It had a small beach (kind of nasty) but a beautiful rose garden that overlooks the ocean/bay.

So pretty!  A great 2 days even though we missed the part that should have been the highlight.

Hopefully there can be a whale watching post soon.

Happy Birthday Mary Girl!

Happy 9th Birthday to our Mary!

It was a happy day.  Nanny and Papa in town, presents, and a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.  It's hard to ask for more than that!

Mary's favorite food still is (and probably always will be) chocolate, HERSHEY'S chocolate to be exact.  She showed more excitement opening this Hershey bar than she did opening a Harry Potter Film Wizardry book.  Geez (though she hasn't put that book down since her birthday)

The request this year was a "fancy chocolate cake with chocolate covered strawberries".  She was happy with the end results.  I was reminded that we should make chocolate covered strawberries more often--delish!

This year is our 'go out to eat for your birthday' year.  Mary's birthday coincided with another reward the kids had been working toward so we felt the need to go big--Chuck E Cheese big.  The kids had a blast.  Mary even won 100 tickets on one game...excitement was in the air.

No Chuck E Cheese pictures of Andrew, but he was there, blowing his tokens as fast as the rest of them.

Happy birthday Mary.  I think she even blew them all out in one blow--take that asthma!

And, in honor of her 9th birthday, here are 9 things about Mary:

chocolate lover, piano player,

 book devourer (current favs are Books of Umber, Sisters Grimm and Harry Potter), 

Harry Potter obsessor,  Lego builder, talk talk talker, sleeper inner, Girl Scouter, Activity Days lover

We love you Mary!

Family Fun Day

 We attended the elementary school family fun day.  Give my kids some tickets to spend and cotton candy and we're good to go.  Each year I see a lot more potential for our school's family day--fortunately my kids think it's amazing.  I also see my life being more full than I prefer to do anything about it.  In the meantime, I'll just continue to be grateful for the volunteers who do a lot and hope that one of these days I'll be able to do more.

Happy cotton candy girls.  And yes, Annie's face was totally disgusting after this.  Her face always has a way of being totally disgusting.  Something I love about her.

 

Andrew dunked his principal.  That made his day!

Bounce house fun!