June 30, 2013

365 ~ 2013: Day 181

Summer!

Summer Staycation!

This past week the Doc had off from work so we planned some fun things to do while he was home with us.  We also did some relaxing and hanging around the house.  Since we did our big trip in April we kept this vacation local!

On Monday June 24th we headed up to Rumney, NH to check out the Polar Caves!  It was such a hot day that being inside the caves was like being in free air conditioning!  There was even one cave that still had an ice block inside.  According to the sign it will be about Mid-August before it completely melts.

The boys are ready to explore some caves!
But first Evan makes a friend!
And then the 2 older ones need to get in on the fun!
David, Shaun & Daddy in the caves!
I see you!
One last cave before we are done!  So we take a quick rest on this bench.
Spider web on one of the sets of stairs in the cave, it was pretty neat to see, especially with the sunlight reflecting on it!
On Tuesday we took the boys to see Monster's University.  They love going to the movies!  It was a cute movie though I can't say it was better than the first one.


Wednesday was our R&R day, we ran some errands, David had his piano practice but the best part of the day was staying in our jammies until noon!!  We had big plans to head to Santa's Village on Thursday so it was nice to stay home on Wednesday!

So we got up on Thursday, I packed sandwiches, snacks and drinks for all of us and we headed north to Jefferson, NH (which is a 2 hour drive for us!)  I had been a few times as a kid but this was the first time we took our boys.  It was a fun little park and David LOVED the water slides!  I'm not sure it was as fun as Story Land but I'm glad we checked it out!

Ready to have some fun!

Quick picture in the Sleigh while Daddy gets the tickets!

David and Daddy on the Yule Log!
David was tall enough to ride on the rides by himself!

Evan feeding the Reindeer!
Visiting with Santa!!
"Dave" found his name in the book!
Evan's loved the Reindeer Merry-Go-Round
David taking me for a drive!
Shaun driving Daddy and Evan!

Evan thought this ride was so fun!
Shaun riding on the roller coaster with Daddy
Having some fun at the water part of the park, had to bribe Shaun to ride down a slide with me!
Notice how many available seats there are, but leave it to Shaun to sit next to the stranger and make a new friend!
Friday we dropped the boys off with my sister for a sleepover and so we took advantage of the kid free time and went to see the new Star Trek movie!  It's always nice to be able to see a movie and have a grown up dinner out!  It was a great vacation and I'm looking forward to our next vacation in August!

June 29, 2013

365 ~ 2013: Day 179

Today I participated in a group shoot on a horse farm.  It was put on by SOPHA, the studio that has helped me take my love of photography to the next level!  This wasn't a class per se, but I did learn a lot and it was fun to be able to talk to other photographers.  I must have taken about 300 images but I kept coming back to this one.  I knew as soon as I shot it that it was going to be my favorite.  This was on of the few set ups that was all natural light.  I'm drawn to this one because it just feels natural to me.  Shooting models is not something I am used to so all my favorite images are the candid ones!  It's definitely more me!

June 28, 2013

365 ~ 2013: Day 178

The last day of our Staycation was an interesting one.  It started out with an unexpected phone call that my brother was in an accident.  Thankfully he will be OK but there is nothing like hearing the phone ring before 7am on your vacation to get your blood pumping.  We had plans to stick around the house today but we rescheduled some plans just in case.  We were also expecting a furniture delivery and the septic guy to come and take care of our tank.  Today I learned more about how a septic system works than I ever thought I would need to know, but hopefully this bit of knowledge will prevent anything massive from failing in the future!

With no plans to be anywhere during the day it gave Charlie some time to finish the bookshelf he started earlier in the week for Shaun's room.  He desperately needs one and I found these plans online.  It's not quite finished, but so far it looks awesome.  At the end of the day it might have just been less of a pain to just buy one, but I think having it hand made by Daddy makes it extra special and now that he's built one, he'll be a pro for the next one!  The picture below, is the frame of the shelf and it's on up on it's side.  I am looking forward to seeing the finished product tomorrow after it gets sanded and stained.

We finished our staycation by dropping the boys off with my sister for the night because I have a class all day tomorrow and it will give Charlie the chance to get some more work done around the house before he goes back to work.  We took advantage of our kid free night with Indian food and seeing the new Star Trek movie.  It's been a weird day but I'm thankful for the outcome!

June 27, 2013

365 ~ 2013: Day 177

Staycation Day 4: Santa's Village

It was our first time taking the boys here and they had so much fun.  It was nice to go on a weekday, the park was not crowded at all and often the boys were able to stay on the rides and ride a second time.  I know I had been as a kid, but I honestly didn't remember it at all.  I think the most fun the boys had the whole day was finding all of the Alphabet Elves.  They got a card at the beginning of the day and they had to find the corresponding elf and punch the card.  At the end of the day, after finding all the Elves, they got a certificate and a prize!  It was a really fun day.

June 26, 2013

365 ~ 2013: Day 176

On the third day of our staycation we decided to chill out at home.  We didn't even change out of our jammies until well after noon time!  If David didn't have to go to his piano lesson, and we didn't have to pick up our CSA, we may have very well stayed in jammies all day!  It wasn't all play today thought as we worked on tackling our massive to-do list.  We did some purging and furniture rearranging in the boys bedrooms.  I also made a dent in the laundry room!  It was nice to get so much done since I have a bad habit of "forgetting" about the list.  I'm thankful for the rain today to help keep us motivated today!

June 24, 2013

365 ~ 2013: Day 174

Today was the first day of our Staycation!  Charlie took the week off to hang out with us and since we did a big trip in April we are hanging close to home.  I bought the NH Fun Pass through the PTA fundraiser and so we are taking advantage of some discounts.  Today we headed up north to check out the Polar Caves!  It was nice way to stay cool on this hot day since the caves are very cool.  In fact one of the caves had a huge ice block inside that according to the sign will stay frozen until August!

Here is David and Shaun inside one of the caves!

June 23, 2013

June 19, 2013

Shaun 5.0

Last Monday Shaun turned FIVE!  We celebrated with a pancake dinner the night before at the Tilt'n Diner.  And then had sang and had cupcakes on his actual birthday.  He's healthy and growing like a weed!  He grew 3-1/4 inches from last years check, and is only an inch shorter than David was at his SIX year check up!  He's officially graduated from preschool and moving up to Kindergarten in the fall.  He will have the same teacher that  David had and I just know he'll have a great year!  I think he is excited to ride the bus too!

He is still a ray of sunshine (when he isn't whining, of course!) and will just light up a room with his infectious smile!  He loves music and is looking forward to continuing his music lessons in the fall.  He started T-ball this year and while he took a few weeks to warm up to it, I think he's really starting to enjoy playing.  He's been working on his reading and sounding out words and has finally mastered writing his name.  He has struggled the most with his pencil grip this year and I'm impressed with the progress he made the second half of the school year.

I can't wait to see what is in store for the FIVE year old Shaun!  I can't believe just how much he's grown over the last year even!

FIRST & LAST day of Preschool!
Birthday Eve Pancakes for dinner!
Look who's FIVE!
Ready to make a wish!
Blow the candle out!
Cool card from Omi and Grampy
Excited for his Skylanders gift!
Happy Birthday Buddy!
Shaun's FIVE Year Stats:
Height: 43 3/4 inches (67%)
Weight: 46.8 lbs (85%)

365 ~ 2013: Day 169

I signed up for a CSA in town for the summer and today was the first pick up!  I'm looking forward to trying all kinds of new veggies this summer and the best part is that they are all locally grown and super fresh!  David is holding our new flat leaf parsley potted plant!  We also got lots of different greens, some garlic scallions, kale, and tomatoes.

June 18, 2013

365 ~ 2013: Day 168

Working on their throwing skills using a balloon at baseball practice tonight.  Object was to try and hit the balloon because that is the force and height they want them to be throwing when they go to first base after a hit.  Their last game of the season is on Saturday, then next year he tries out for Kid Pitch! Time to start working on his pitching!

June 17, 2013

365 ~ 2013: Day 167

At of 2:45 today, David stepped off the bus no longer a first grader!  It's the start of Summer vacation and my first baby is officially a second grader!  He has grown so much over this past year and I have really enjoyed watching him wake up each morning excited to learn, and a lot of the credit goes to his amazing teacher, Mrs. Moran!

June 16, 2013

365 ~ 2013: Day 166

Happy Father's Day to one heck of a Daddy, our boys are pretty darn lucky!!

Happy Father's Day!

The Doc was unfortunately on call for Father's Day this year so we did a quick celebration early in the morning and gave him his gift (a new x-box game!) and lots of hugs from the boys before heading off to work.  And in similar fashion to my Mother's Day Brunch, I hosted the family for a Father's Day Cookout.  We had burgers, dogs, sausages, brats and kielbasa on the grill, served with a variety of salads and munchies.  I always tend to go over board so you know when I say burgers and dogs, it means much more than just that!  It's always great to spend time with family and I feel fortunate to have a great space to be able to do that comfortably!

Savanah and Shaun enjoying some yummy food

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Dad with his kiddos!
The boys!