4th of July

A friend called a few days before the 4th and said they wanted to do something for the 4th but didn't have the yard space and essentially encouraged me to have a BBQ.  I'm all up for that.
We had a few friends come over and the kids played, got wet, and played some more.  We ate good food, lit a fire for smores and then did sparklers and fireworks as it got dark.  We really do have a great yard for hosting.  I am always amazed how the yard doesn't seem that full with a lot of people in it.  I should do it more often!
 

 

 

 

Happy Day!

Despicable at the Drive In

One thing on our summer to do list was to go to the drive-in.  I think the last time I went I was 2 or 3 years old.  Happy day that Wednesday nights are $20 a carload.  We invited a bunch of friends and had a big group of us to go see Despicable Me 2.  We arrived early, played at the playground and hung out for a while.  And hunkered down for it to start at 9pm.  Start time didn't actually occur til 9:30 (grrrrr) but everyone stayed awake and was happy.
 

 

The double feature was World War Z, so we opted out and headed home.  Bedtime at 11:30 meant I knew I'd have sleeper-inners.  And we did.  The earliest woke up after 9 and the last got up at 11.  Sweet!

New York Family Reunion

An amazing cousin in New York, Katie Bunker, has made a point of seeking us out.  Her mom, Kathy, and Clem are cousins and though we'd never met her or her mom, she's made numerous attempts to include us in family things.  Last November, we were supposed to go for an early Thanksgiving/family reunion but thanks to our big winter storm we were powerless and crazy and didn't make it.

When Katie called and told us they would be having a big 1st birthday party for their foster daughter (soon to be adopted daughter), we jumped at the chance to come.  Uncle John and Aunt Carol (Clem's brother and his wife) came too along with their son Steven and his family.  It was so great seeing and meeting all these neat people.  Just a mere 2+ hours away for us to New Paltz--Uncle John and their crew came 2 hours from the opposite side.  A perfect meet in the middle.

 Here's Matt with Uncle John and Steven. Yes, Matt and Steven really have the 'Singer' look and yes we think Matt's brother Dan will grow up to be Uncle John--these family resemblances are crazy!

The kids made fast friends with their 'new' cousins.  Here are Whit and Ella!

Brenna and Wendy--such nice people.  We had met Steven once several years ago but never his wife and kids.  What a treat!

And here's Matt with Katie and her mom, Kathy, and Katie's husband Scott.

For privacy issues with baby Marie since adoption stuff isn't finalized and Katie has never posted a picture of her online, I won't be the first.  Needless to say, what a cute girl who is the love of her parents' life.

Here's one of Uncle John and Aunt Carol with the kids.  We got our kids and Ella in the picture and then a few other fast friends from the celebrations joined in.  I love how kids make such fast friends.

Looking forward to getting to see everyone again.

Road Racin'

There is a big race by our house every fall and this year we decided to be a part of it.  They have a kids run, a family fun mile run, and a 5K.  Mary, Andrew and I did the family fun mile run.

They were loving their bibs and new t-shirts!

The elementary school gym teachers led us all in some warm-ups.  Even Whit got in on the action (though I don't recall them having us do the splits)

Here we go!! (I don't think we are visible)

Here's Andrew heading to the finish line.

And here come Mary and me

Perfect time for a family photo.

Happy day!!  Now we have times to beat for next year. 

Whale Watching

Another summer highlight--dang we've had so many of them.  I feel really lucky.

Back in May we were supposed to go whale watching with mom and dad but our trip got cancelled thanks to an off shore storm.  Fast forward to August...we still had the whale watch tickets and Megan and Nate decided to join us.

We headed to Gloucester, MA and got there early enough to have a picnic at a mini-park.

After multiple kid races, Nate and kid races, Dad and kid races, Megan and I finally got our turn.  Don't worry she beat me (after and only after some serious cheating--nice try Meg)

Then it was off to Cape Ann Whale Watch

Here are the kids in front of our boat, the Hurricane II

Our fun company (notice how Megan, Nate and Matt all matched...I didn't get the green/khaki memo)

We went out like 15 miles off shore.  A nice, windy ride.  Then the whale spotting began.  We didn't realize what a treat we were in for.

We saw so many and they kept coming up and diving back down over and over.  The captain kept assuring us that we got a very lucky day.  The whales were close and big and beautiful.  It was amazing how silent the boat got once we started spotting them.  We easily watched whales over an hour.  It was awesome.

Funny Whit.  At some point in the middle she found Matt's sweatshirt and put it on claiming she was cold.  It was defiintely not cold but she wore it the rest of the time. :)

I'm sure she saw some awesome stuff in those binoculars

I tried to get shots of people with the whales but those darn whales are so unpredictable.

This is about as good as I could get.

Posing as fish...

On the 15 mile ride back to shore, the crew came out and interacted with the kids.  So nice!

Our whale watch was from 1:30 to probably 5pm.  We then headed down the road to Good Harbor Beach for an hour of fun.  Oh, if we could have just stayed an extra day...

Summer Lovin'--Vacation Part 3

After a great 2 1/2 weeks, we had to sadly end our vacation.  We realized that the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, NY would still be taking place, so we decided to go home the upstate NY route to see it.  And since we were right there, we had to do Niagara Falls.  Talk about a highlight! 

We finally made it to Niagara, NY--getting tired of the car already, so we got some halleluia cheers!

We only spent about 3 hours at Niagara Falls but it was all awesome!

We took a ride on the Maid of the Mist--talk about 30 minutes of sheer happiness and fun.  I don't think the grins left faces at all.  It was cool just how close we got to the falls and how wet we really got.  It was the highlight of everyone's day.

You can see a Maid of the Mist boat in the background on its way into Horseshoe Falls.

From Niagara, we drove the 1 1/2 hours or so to Rochester and grabbed some fast McDonalds and checked into our final hotel.    Look at these happy kids--this was the state of our entire vacation...no wonder it was so wonderful. :)

We then made it to Palmyra for the pageant.  The last time I went was as a teenager--it wasn't what we were expecting because we were so used to the Nauvoo pageant (it's a musical).  It was nice being more prepared this time.  Definitely not a musical!

The kids enjoyed holding some of the props and weapons from shows past.

Before the show, cast members were walking around and greeting the audience--the kids were excited to meet them. 

If I'm being honest, I definitely prefer Nauvoo to Palmyra, but it was a good experience.  Definitely mesmerizing for the kids.  I think they really enjoyed seeing stories from the Book of Mormon come to life. 

By the end, we were exhausted and just ready to be back home in Connecticut.

A great end to a great trip.  Lucky us.