The session is finished

Well, all good things must come to an end and today was Brenna and Molly's last day at Camp Nana (poor Papa! He gets overlooked in that title but he sure is a big part of Camp Nana!)

Anyway, it was very hard to have to be the party-pooper that put everything in the car and drove away. There was a whole lot of stalling, whining and crying . . .

And that was just from Nana! The girls didn't do too well either. :)

Poor Nana and Papa - they're really going to be lonely these next few days as they adust to a quiet house again. I'm not sure who enjoyed Camp more. How incredibly lucky we are!

Growing Up

Four years makes a big difference!

I don't recall giving them permission to grow so much so fast!

So the Girl Scout calendar has been finished and out of 80,000+ scouts in our Council, Brenna's troop did indeed make the cover!

See her on the left end of the middle row?

Her troop has never sold calendars before (we just do the cookies in the spring) but I somehow think we'll make quite a profit this year !

http://www.gscnc.org/fund/calendars/

The Red Coats are Coming!

Today I took Brenna to an awesome event downtown. Over 20 companies of 18th century British army re-enactors set up a replica of the original camp on Boston Common. Activities and demonstrations included military drills, cooking, making clothes and shoes, games, equipment repairs, medicine tents, musket firings, a small skirmish with colonists, music and other aspects of daily life of a British soldier. This was the first time the Red Coats camped (and they did truly camp all weekend) on Boston Common since 1776!

We had a great time - made better by the fact that we ran in to a history teacher from my high school. He remembered me and was so welcoming with Brenna. It was a fabulous opportunity that clearly won't come our way again anytime soon!

(click the bottom right corner of the slideshow to make it bigger)

The Party Bus has rolled out!

The girls are off on the grand sleepover of the summer. I don't know who was more excited - my cousins - who have more activities planned than the 4 kids can feasibly accomplish in three nights, much less one! - or my kids who happily strapped themselves into my uncle's van (dubbed the Party Bus since all four kids and 2 hosts were in it) and drove off into the sunset!

The tour bus rolls on . . .

As we continue our grand New England summer tour, we've had a few more stops recently.

We went to visit Uncle Don and Auntie Kristin (although the girls tend to give them big hugs and then immediately run off to play with their dogs (here's Riley) or their Wii - both of which are longed for things in our house.

We' ve been to Castle Island several times - sometimes to play by the water but mostly just to take walks, ride our bikes or scooters or just get ice cream!

Nana celebrated her birthday this week and the girls bought her a Webkinz - despite the fact that it probably means she won't be logging on to their accounts and earning points anymore!

One of Nana's friends gave her concert tix for her birthday and I had the pleasure of accompanying her to see Kenny Rogers. The guy is 112 if he's a day but his voice is still strong and believe it or not, I knew most of the songs! I loved hanging out with Mom and we had a ton of laughs, but I probably won't be going home bragging to my friends that I went to this show. :)

Today we visited out cousins Nolan, Aidan and Kathryn and had a great time playing with them. (I love that the kids get along so well!) Of course I was ready to scoop Miss Kathryn right up and take her home. She's like a baby doll!

Tomorrow we are off to visit Auntie Dottie who is hopefully feeling better. Then the girls will have a much-anticipated sleepover with cousins Jack and Brody at "Auntie" (okay, she's my cousin but we've addressed that issue previously!) Lisa and Angelo's house. We figure that since Lisa and Angelo have been married for 3 months now they must be fully prepared to handle 4 kids! This was their idea and they insist they're ready and willing so I guess the best I can do is just pray for them! :) Of course Lisa's sisters Debbie and Diane plan to join in the fun for part of the evening's festivities (and knowing them will wind up staying as well.)

I swear these kids could do something new every day and still not fit everything in. We still have more cousins to see and more places to visit!

Separated at Birth?

How freaking hilarious is this?

She looks like one of those toys where the rubber eyes pop out when you squeeze it.

This picture of Brenna is from the log ride at Story Land. A camera takes your picture as you go over the edge of the big drop. Every single person in line at the photo booth was howling laughing at "the kid with the bug eyes."

I can't stop laughing at it!!!!

Story Land

We had a great trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and once again enjoyed a summer visit to Story Land. Everyone HAS to take this picture with Humpty Dumpty at the entrance to the park! It's a perfect park for the age 10 and under crowd - no ride is too big for the girls and yet Brenna was still very entertained. Molly kept falling a hair under the "48" to ride alone" bar (even though she measured 49" at her 6 yr old checkup) but I can't say I minded riding with her! It did mean I didn't take very many pictures though.

Another "must" picture with the pumpkin coach. I can't wait to get home to put these shots with ones from years past.

Story Land also added a circus this year which was wonderful!

This morning was rainy so we finished our vacation with a round of mini golf at our hotel.

Now we're back to Nana and Papa's and we are tired!!

Rewind: Downtown

Here are a few more pictures from our day downtown last week. We'll be heading back to Boston Common for a Redcoat encampment (the first since 1776!) on Aug 15 but here are some shots we took while playing tourists.

At the State House (where Daddy worked for a while)

George Washington statue

Playing in the sprayer at the Frog Pond on the Common

Molly on the Swan Boats - she loved watching the ducks

The plantings in the Public Garden looked better than I've ever seen them.

My camera died at the Old Granary Burying Ground -how appropriate! I was surprised at their interest but the girls really enjoyed visiting there and finding the graves of Paul Revere, Sam Adams, John Hancock and Crispus Attucks among others. Brenna especially enjoyed it since she's a Paul Revere buff.

Our weather has been beautiful and we're enjoying being out and about. We're off to New Hampshire tomorrow to visit StoryLand and a few other places. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Connor

Our "cousins" come in all shapes and sizes and Connor is proof of that. He's a dog!

My cousin Jeff and his wife Caroline have a King Charles spaniel that the girls just adore. Connor has the sweetest temperment and a fabulous wardrobe to boot (not to mention the funniest name I've heard on a dog!) He came in his Red Sox shirt today to welcome us. Molly thought that was hilarious! I think the poor thing was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention but he was awesome with the girls.

Oh - and Happy Birthday Jeff!

Pool Fun

We spent the day today visiting with our cousins at their house. As usual, they had a ball together swimming and just generally enjoying each other's company. Days like this really make me wish we lived closer together. Here's most of the gang horsing around on the deck . . .

Thanks for a great day John and Coleman! And let's not forget Miss Nora. Could she be any cuter? She was just thrilled to have some girls around to play with.