Pond life

It feels more like a lake to the kids, but technically Houghton Pond is (duh) a pond. But it has a gravelly beach to dig in, the water is clear and shallow and warm (and full of shells), and there's a great bath house right on the edge, and there's a playground, and Ikea is just down the street. Also, it's only a 20 minutes straight drive away. Basically, the best place ever for the summer. And this summer has been THE ONE I've been waiting for. You know, each year you say "when such and such happens, it'll be easier"? Or "next year for sure this won't be so hard"? It has finally happened!!!!! (fanfare here). Henri can get them both out of their carseats. They can round up all the stuff we need for trips. They can walk to wherever we're going. They play contentedly with each other and other kids they meet for hours. HOURS!!!! In the water, totally happy, I can read a book-happy. Sunscreen goes on without screaming. Clean up to go home takes 2 minutes. They can change themselves. I could go on and on, but seriously bliss. We went twice this week, and will head back next. Very busy week, but not much on the camera. We're trying to eke out every last drop of fun as a family (or at least, the kids and I are) because school starts in a week.

The neighbors are getting their house painted. She was at work and asked me to keep an eye on them and text updates, haha

Trip one. She found a bunch of super stinky shells. 

Kids are pretty fearless in this pond for some reason. Hudson has gone under  a few times, really freaked himself out today, but they keep going back for more!

Henri finished up her summer math homework. Don't be fooled by the face, she was actually pretty sad to be done. But she perked up when I reminded her she'd have daily math homework very soon. 

Trip 2. Not much changed, just had more friends along this time. 

The rangers keep a stable, and this guy (Cowboy Jim) is very patient with kids. The ranger kept him standing there for a long time so everyone could pet and talk to him. Henri stayed well back, but Hudson was marching right up multiple times, he didn't get the concept that flip flops and horse hooves were not a good mix. 

Oh, Ikea. It's so lovely to feed everyone for less than $5 and have everyone stuffed at the end. 

We finished off the afternoon by watching Lady and the Tramp, and then the lack of nap showed and the kids were in bed at 7. Pretty great week all in all!

Back to the weeklies

Not too much going on this week because I got sick and was unable to be upright more than an hour at a time, then Hen came down with it, and then our old car died and had to be towed so Steve took my car....so, very housebound. Hudson had his 3 year old appointment; he's only 4# less than Henri and the doctor said it was fine for him to eat his favorite granola every single night since he's clearly growing just fine (what he normally does anyway). And I completely forgot to ask her all the questions I'd intended, but I think he's fine so we'll just keep on as we have.

I was zoning out, so I didn't realize till too late that we now have craters all over our yard...

It's probably bunk, but I love me some kombucha. And it's got all your VitB complexes, which is hard to get enough of.

Our library has a ton of dress up

The kids were so good while I felt lousy. They played well, snuggled me, were very sympathetic. 

After Hud's appt we went shoe shopping for Henri and since it was late we got a quick bite out. Henri loves Subway, I think it's disgusting. 

Henri's new shoes. Whooooeeeee, buying shoes for my kids is no joke. They are super opinionated about their footwear (they get that from their dad). As a matter of fact, they insist on approving all of my shoe purchases as well. Anyway, I bit my tongue hard and we finally found a pair. Fortunately she learned to tie shoelaces ages ago. 

Art time

Lots of smoothies this week. 

As has been typical of this summer, so. many. showers needed. 3/day. 

Walked Arlington Great Meadows today. Well, jogged really. The kids are more "get to the end first", not "enjoy the journey" type of hikers. 

Ice cream treat to cool down

And today was BYOC at 7Eleven. I've never had a slurpee before, and wow!!! All I've been missing in life can be found right here. Wild cherry and coke, and then I went for a run and it all came back up. But it was awesome while it lasted, haha.

Henri is moving up from Children's Church tomorrow and will be sitting all the way through big church, something she's excited about (the kids are up for most of the service already, this is just adding in the sermon). Otherwise, life should be back to the usual!

First half of August

Original titles, no? Anyway, we've had something going on pretty much every day this month. I don't remember now what they were, but it's been busy. We just got back from my folks again where we got to attend Field Days and Steve was able to come up by bus on Wednesday.

To celebrate running nearly every day for 5 weeks, I got myself new shoes and an amazing pastry. After taking the shoes on their maiden trip, I ironically haven't run since. Blame being in VT, the high humidity, and now a nasty cold. 

Toddler fashion (those are Steve's socks).

Not the best angle, but I chopped my hair. 

Rest stop on the way home

Watching the miniature donkeys at Field Days

Not only did he have to sit on every single tractor, he had to investigate anything remotely connected to a tractor.

These corn bins are inspired. The kids played forever, the adults liked to wiggle their toes in it. I was getting Hudson dressed for bed and kernels were still falling out of his pockets. 

Treats in the maple barn! My kids opted for a maple creemee, I got the maple walnut pie bars I've been dreaming about since last year. They lived up to my memory. Can't wait for next year now....

Wish I'd gotten a video of this. Hudson was "oinking" for all he was worth, it was hysterical

After we picked up Steve in Burlington we took the scenic route home so we could stop at Cookie Love

Yuuummmmm

Went to the Demolition Derby. New announcer and he wasn't very good. It was nice to be out, but the event was pretty flat this time. I got some cheesy fries out of it, though!

Checked out the new KidSpace on Friday. I had a lot of fun on the bouldering wall they built, and they really enjoyed the whole place. 

First Lake Monsters game! We lucked out and nailed the timing perfectly for, well, everything. Got there in time for good parking, Henri woke up just as the rain ended, we got all kinds of fun handouts plus it was trick-or-treating night so they loaded up on candy, we left just as the rain got heavy again, got home before they were too tired. 

Steve got the nachos he's been raving about for years

Little guy loved it. Champ was a big hit with both. What a great venue to take kids to! The innings were mercifully short and the entertainment between was, well, entertaining. I think baseball tearfully boring, so it was nice that actually playing ball seemed to be more of an afterthought here. 

And then today....sniff. For real there are no more babies. Also, the 3's are truly horrible. But I kind of like this kid so I guess we'll keep him. He got everything his little heart desired, had cereal and cake for dinner, and was just so thrilled that everything was about him and that he got to direct how the day went. He loved being sung to, he loved opening cards and gifts (and exclaimed over each one), he loved that we had church so he could see all of his friends (and his Sunday School teacher gave him two cupcakes...). He ended the day tucking me up in his blanket so I would be "comfy and snuggly" and then just cuddling on me. As I'd spent the morning re-reading his first 6 months of life and remembering how he was permanently attached to me, it was a sweet way to feel he isn't too grown up yet. Happy Birthday, Hudson!

Catch up

I had great intentions of staying somewhat on top of this blog and photo sharing. But this recent silence can be completely blamed on technology and the un-usefulness of it. Thanks to the expert help of my resident and on-call tech guys, I have found a work around that will hopefully work. Mourning our switch to all Apple products, they really are the pits. Anyway, here's July!:

David doesn't get enough credit on this blog. He's the tension diffuser, the fixer, and my go-to child break. Here, he's saving my salmon from getting tossed when I discovered I'd bought the one with bones in it (ewwwww!!!!)

And here he's attempting to fix my slamming screen door. Unfortunately I think that's a hopeless task and we're just going to have to throw away the house and start again. But thanks for trying!

Hard to find her, but bottom left is Henri singing the song they'd learned at VBS this year.

Sigh, totally out of order. Sorry. Obviously, this is the 4th.

Waiting for the parade in Lincoln

All the Schoefflers. The whole family ended up coming down for the 4th and the cousins had so much fun together!

Henri won "Camper of the Week" for VBS. She got an African Violet and is so proud of it.

We had an informal cookout at church on the 4th

Then on the 5th headed up to Ogunquit for an entire day of sand and sun. And ladybugs. Not sure where she was finding them all, but Ava kept our castles well supplied with the critters. 

Uncle Paul takes castle building very seriously. There was a moat and a ditch that ran all the way to the ocean. 

Back to the cookout

On the way to the beach

It's been a hot summer, but on days it was especially hot we seemed to find ourselves with plans to go to Drumlin Farm. Because nothing makes you feel cooler than hanging out in a sweltering sheep barn.....

Gram got to stay for a week

Typical naptime attire

There have been so. many. showers this summer. The dirt has been unreal.

Got to put my Lilebaby to use and took a friends baby for a long walk so she could eat a meal in peace. The old magic is still there, he was out within three minutes.

Because using the water table as it was intended would be too logical.

More Audubon walks

Back to using that couch to 5K app cause I slacked off after last years race. Normally I run after the kids go to bed (and the temp drops below 100) but schedule required I haul them along. I still despise the act of running but really like how I feel afterwards. And I get super antsy if I can't go every day. 

Hudson has decided he likes climbing, and it's pretty impressive what he can do with crocs on

Hudson touched a stove burner right after the oatmeal came off, so we got to spend most of a Saturday morning at the pediatricians. Fortunately it's all healing fine. 

Organizing the art supplies

We were at the park and the local ice cream place had a 5K going past, so we cheered on everyone, especially the stragglers at the end. Hudson is your guy for that sort of thing, he's a big encourager.

Daddy helping Hen with her bike

The kids and I spent a week at my folks

A fantastic aunt to my kids. She tolerates their nonsense, they adore her, AND she lets me sleep past 6 because she gets up with Hud and makes his breakfast. 

New plants all over my folks this year

Such a cool storm. There was a very distinct edge to it; the dark cloud were raining.

Storm coming in from the North

Some more of my moms flowers

Meghan forgot her pillow and we were trying to meet up with her, but instead we ended up taking her pillow on all our adventures that day and photographing it for her. First we went blueberry picking. 

Pelkies had easy picking. Hudson mostly wandered and munched, but Henri was very industrious

Half of our haul. Henri picked that whole thing herself. 

The kids discovered the stash of Tintin this visit and despite not being able to read were hooked

Playing memory with Gram

Feels like we spent a lot of time at the doctors this month. Just routing immunizations in anticipation of school. She did great.

Trying out a new water and play park

The tradeoff for having the kids amuse themselves quietly for an hour is that the house gets trashed. Some days it's totally worth it. 

They built a pirate raft

School is happening so soon! Her backpack has come and been tested to approval.

On our way to a playdate, so I needed coffee. And two sets of pathetic eyes convinced me life would be better if they got their own. It is nice not having to share all of mine....

We decorated in honor of National System Administrator Day (those are mice hanging, and computers on the window) and made Steve a nice meal with dessert. 

Got to spend the day at Meg and Nate's. I loved their old window fasteners; don't they look like Aladdin's lamp? Their whole apartment is fantastic. 

The kids played with all of their fun toys while the adults played board games. I looked over, and they had arranged the dinosaurs to eat the color coordinated m+m's, haha. 

Yarn bombing around town

Yummmmm

Always fun to run in to famous people (well, their remains at least)

There! All caught up on July. On to August :)