Earrings, Candles and Croods

After the baptism weekend, we had a few days with Nanny and Papa.

As an early birthday present from them, we took Whit to get her ears pierced.  She was so excited, can't you tell?  What a trooper too--no tears, total bravery.  She's such a girly girl--loves her clothes and being fancy.  Whit will be the girl who changes her earrings every day.
 

 

We pulled the kids out of school one day and headed up to S. Deerfield, MA to go to Yankee Candle.  We haven't been in a few years and my parents have never been.  It's a fun place.

Hard to believe Annie would be lovin' gumballs!

We grabbed some fast food and then caught an afternoon showing of The Croods.  The kids loved it.

 

And now the house is kind of quiet.  We love having company and always hate to see them go!

Shirk Company--a race, some apples, a steam train and a riverboat!

We got lucky enough to have Mom and Dad come visit which meant we got a bonus of Megan and Nate coming too.

It was Hartford Marathon weekend but since my knee started giving me grief during training, I decided not to run.  Megan and Nate ended up running the 5K.  It was great going down and cheering them on.

Hartford Marathon Saturday also always means Singer apple picking Saturday.  It's our 4th year in a row. 

Our annual family apple picking photo.  I'll never tire of that view.

Megan and Nate decided to roll down the HUGE hill at the apple orchard.  We ended up with lots of hill-rollers and Whit and Annie ended up with lots of scratches. :(

The Primary Program happened the same weekend everyone was here.  Talk about great timing!

On Monday, we headed down to Essex, CT to ride the Essex steam train.  It was a great day.

We rode the train about 30 minutes and then got off and boarded a riverboat for a riverboat ride that lasted just over an hour.  It was relaxing and beautiful.

Then it was a train ride back to the station!

We ended our day with a trip to Stew Leonard's grocery store--an experience of its own.

Mom and Dad headed out the next day.

So glad they could come!!!

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.

Missouri (Misery--hee hee) Loves Company

We made our, what it seems has become 'annual', pilgrimage back to St. Louis to see family and hang out with our cousins in the usual play intensely, play daily, play like it will be a year before you get to play again type of trip.

This year also included a trip within the trip; we went to Nauvoo, IL in the middle to spend 3 days there and see Matt's parents who volunteered helping with the Nauvoo Pageant for 3 1/2 weeks this summer. It also included a trip after our trip since on the way home we stopped in Kirtland, OH and Palmyra, NY to visit some church history sites.

Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Gotta love watching the scenery (or DVD) on the road. Except for the 2 1/2 hour delay Day 1 due to road construction, the drive was just great. If I saw one more sign that said "Be prepared to Stop" I was going to lose my mind.

A natural moment hanging out with Hailey and Elise, all decked out in funky dress up clothes--Hailey's funny hat and bandana, Mary's Indian pants, Elise's beret and clown outfit, and this is just missing Andrew in his police hat.

A fun day at Suson Park playing, seeing the animals and having a picnic. This is the starting line at the race to the tree.

Annie was happy hanging out at the table. I think the long 'we're having company' tables were brought out almost daily.

A shot of Nanny and Papa with the grandkids. It is no small feat getting everyone looking the right way, having their arms/hands down and acting semi happy simultaneously. This is the 'stand over here while we figure out where to put you' shot.

Happy Birthday to me. Another year with a Missouri birthday.

Kellie had the best idea. We threw a 'tea party' for the kids using a set of Aunt Ginna's old china. Kellie got a set and I got a set after she died and it is beautiful and purple flowery. Kellie brought her's over and the kids dressed up in their best outfits and had fancy food (finger sandwiches, fruit, cheetos, and cookies) and punch. We put on music and had a 'fancy meal' followed by dancing. Talk about manners. We should have 'fancy' meals more often. It was tons of fun.

Andrew and Ethan looking fancy.

We loved Hailey as the sequined pioneer.

A majority of our time was spent outside in the sweltering heat while the kids swam and did the water slide. It was fun for them and sweaty for us.

These girls spent forever 'making food' or something with water.

We even got Matt on "Double Drop Falls." I think the waterslide itself was a bit nervous to reach its maximum weight capacity :) but it seemed to hold up ok. This picture cracks me up!

Basically, it looks like we didn't do much except hang out. That's probably because we didn't.

It was wonderful.