Brigantine Beach Week 1

We spent 2 weeks at the beach in August.  The first week was with my side of the family.  Everyone had a blast and we spent most of the time at the beach, the kids were happy to stay all day there. 

 The five older cousins just hanging out in a large puddle.

 Matthew caught several sand sharks one day but no king fish

 Lillie wasn't scared to touch the shark

 Ethan tried his hand at fishing

 Where did Lillie go?

 Look at what the babies did to their older siblings!!!

 Uncle Matthew spoiled them and got them all ice cream one day from the ice cream truck

 He never stopped running

 Neither did Lillie

 Josie enjoying some time with Grandpa

 Ryan catching a wave

 Lots of sand castles were built and promptly stomped on by babies.

 The perfect baby keeper, neither one could climb out of the hole and there were happy to be in there!

 Ethan and Uncle Justin were hit with the saves over and over again.

Lillie went out with Uncle Justin too

 Ethan tried out the boogie board

 Relaxing on the beach for a minute

 A boy made a chair out of sand and Josie was enthralled by it, she watched him for the longest time and as soon as he got up, she ran over there. She was so proud she could sit in it!

 Josie loved the waves too, she got knocked over a couple of times and would just laugh when afterwards. Once the wave went right over her and rolled her around and she didn't care one bit.

 Ryan didn't have any luck fishing either.

 Some tired kids after the beach, Lillie practically crashed on the couch every afternoon.

Josie and Finn hanging out together, they loved playing with each other.

We had a blast the first week...stay tuned for week 2!

Boston

In July we headed up to Boston to visit my uncle and aunt.  The first day, we took the kids to the Discovery Museum in Acton, MA. They loved it and didn't want to leave!  The next day we headed into Boston on the T to visit the Aquarium.  Ryan got in free with his teacher pass and we were able to get a discounted membership for the rest of us.  Which means we will be heading back several times over the next year! Ethan really wanted to go on a whale watch so we will definitely do that too.

 Ethan was so excited. He has always been fascinated by the ocean and couldn't wait to get to the Aquarium.  Plus he loves trains so he was in heaven riding the T. He even wore his shark shirt just for the occasion.

 First up was the penguins.  Lillie loved watching the penguins swim around and waddle on the rock formations.

 Even Josie was interested in looking at all the sea creatures.

 The turtle was huge, it was definitely a favorite and as we walked up around the large tank, Ethan and Lillie looked for it in all the windows.

 The top of the tank was cool, there was even a shark swimming around.

 "Mom, stop taking my picture!"

 There were two touch tanks.  Lillie wasn't afraid to touch anything. She touched crabs, sea urchins and sea stars in the Edge of Sea exhibit. In the second touch tank, she touched rays as they swam under your hands.

 Ethan was a little more cautious in both touch tanks.  Though he did manage to finally work up the courage to touch the rays.

 He thought the jellyfish were really neat as they floated around.

 Back at my uncle and aunt's place we got to taste their raspberries and Lillie even got to "work" picking weeds.

 Here we all are (minus Ryan, I'm actually in a picture for once!)

 Lillie just being silly

 Josie kept trying to escape! 

We had a blast, thanks Uncle George and Aunt Lynell for letting us stay with you!

4th of July in Vermont

We headed up to Vermont for a the 4th of July and had a blast just hanging out the lodge.

Even though these two got up early, they stayed quiet with their leappads for the rest of the sleeping adults.

The first morning, Rebecca, Ryan, the kids and I headed for a bike ride down Bingo Road.

Less than a mile in, Ethan rode his bike down the bank and into the creek.  It was about 6 feet straight down! After pulling him up and brushing him off, he was ready to go.  He is one tough dude!

Lillie and Josie had it easy, just sit back and relax!

Ethan found a bad piggie (from Angry Birds) in the woods, he was thrilled!

It was a gorgeous road to travel down.

We made it to the swimming hole and even though we didn't bring bathing suits, the kids were wet within minutes. Definitely have to bring suits next time!

Josie loved kicking her feet in the water

Ryan decided to take a swim, he jumped all the way in and swam around for a bit.  That's cold mountain water, it was freezing! He even slid down the rocks like a water slide.

It ended up being about a 5 mile ride.  We got back to the lodge and Ethan said he wanted to go 100 miles!

At the lodge, we had lots of fun activities to do while hanging out. It's nice to not have a TV on.

Ethan loved the Jenga Boom.  You had to move fast or it exploded. He loves explosions, he spent a lot of time building different towers, just to watch it explode.

The unused wood stove was a great place for Lillie's dolls.

On Saturday we headed to Brandon for their 4th of July parade.

While waiting for the parade to start, we just had to try some Vermont made ice cream!

Brandon's celebrity, artist Warren Kimbl. He passed out the flags to all the kids before the parade, he must have been dying in his costume walking around, it was hot out! 

Silly girl used the frisbee (or as Ethan calls it, fris-a-bee, like recipe) as a hat for shade.

After the parade, we went on another bike ride down Bingo Road and this time Ethan's tire popped.  Ryan was a superhero and put Ethan in front and had the girls in the back.

Ethan rode for a bit in the back storage part of the trailer, but we were concerned about him ripping the fabric and so he went back to the front. He thought it was hilarious to be in the back.

Lillie built a castle complete with flowers one night.

The water was a little too cold for her!

Lillie loves to be matching with her sister!

Before heading home, we took one more trip to the swimming hole with everyone. This time no swimming allowed!

We had a great trip (minus the power outage the first night) the kids can't wait to go back!