NH Camping

 A highlight of the summer for me was our camping trip to Danbury, NH with the Nadeau crew! We headed up north with Dad, Les, Merrill, Katherine, Steve, Jon, and Alex and exposed everyone to pleasures of camping on the "the land" as it is known.

Gramma Les' big find - the moose skeleton (it now lives in our garage!)

yes, we have almost all of the bones!

ready to set-up camp

camp food - tacos in a bag!

we saw the Great Wall!

the photographer

chillin' by the fire

breakfast after a rainy, wet night

how could it be a bad day when you start it with fruit loops?

the hikers!

Grandpa

cousin laughter

splashing in Walker Brook

Checking out the waterfall

the ride home!

New Rooms

Big changes took place in our house over the summer - Julia and Benjamin moved into their own rooms! While Andrew and I both felt that sharing a room was the best for them in the past we decided that it was time to make the move for a couple of reasons.  First, Julia has been asking for her own space for awhile. Second, we all spend A LOT of time together. Without going to school or preschool there is no break from each other during our regular days and with constant exposure comes a lot of bickering!

The fun part was each kid chose the colors and theme of their room. For Ben it was arctic blue and penguins:

And for J it's navy and pink with space and flamingoes:

We're hopeful that giving everyone their own space to go and chill out and take a break will result in a more harmonious household. We'll see!

LOVE

Taking a break from our family for a sec - the Supreme Court passed a momentous decision this summer that every state must recognize marriages between same sex couples. Andrew and I believe that love is love and should be recognized in all forms. We are very proud of this step taken by our nation! Coincidentally, Benjamin was dressed very appropriately for the occasion on the day the decision came down.

Maine 2015

 Our annual trip to Maine... in pictures.

we're off! 

checking the temp of the lake - it was a little chilly!

happiness on the dock

Benjamin in action!

snacks and snuggling with Grandma

the fisher-girl

Benj's first fish!

J's annual communing with the fish!

happy grandparents, happy kids

the crew... 

... and Captain Julia

practicing technique before going out on her own

first trip in the peddle kayak

she's a kayaker! (I had tears in my eyes - can't believe she's growing up so fast!)

nothing to it!

and then she had to try the peddle kayak... and never looked back at those paddles!

Ben's first trip in the green kayak with Mom

Julia "rescuing" Grandma from the float

Benj the Canoeist!

firecrackers!

cousin love

silliness all around

Swim Team

Julia's summer highlight was participating in her first swim team - she is officially a Greenwich Gator! Julia has often told us that her swimming goal is to be on the swim team at our regular year-round, swim club. She is still a couple of levels away from qualifying for that and so Andrew and I thought this opportunity would allow her to get a taste of the swim team experience to see if it's goal she really wants to pursue.... The short answer is YES!

She showed up for every 7:30am practice with a smile on her face and excitement just beaming out of her. Her enthusiasm was reinforced when she was recognized as the Gator of the Week the first week of practice for her fantastic attitude and listening skills. And it was reinforced more when she received her first set of ribbons... and her second, third, and fourth sets of ribbons!

Stretching at first practice

Gator of the Week!

first meet - ready to swim!

my gator!

chilling with Ben between races

So I am fairly certain I know where you'll find me next July at 7:30 am!

I'm Back!

I may put on jeans tonight for the first time in three months or so. September is here. I'm not quite ready for summer to end but as I look out the window I can see some orange tinged leaves and the coffee shop I am sitting in has pumpkin flavored everything... so I guess I must face reality.

I have a lot to catch up on in this space. I'd like to say I intentionally took the summer off from blogging but that's not the case, really we were just too busy. We were busy with trips, swim team, pool time, beach time, household projects, summer learning projects, planning and prepping for our full school year, and just living life. It was wonderful and in my next several posts I'll share it all!