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After a potty break on her own, we came inside to discover
Claire-Bear put herself down for a nap! |
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We've been busy this summer enjoying lots of sunshine, time outdoors, and fun activities. We've tried to capture some of the fun to share here:
One afternoon we decided to take a trip to the mall so mommy could buy a new dress. We stopped by the arcade for some games, played on the arcade rides at the food court, and then stopped by Walmart just for fun. We found a thermos to match one that a friend gave to us for school which will make things easier come September. Both girls are super excited about having their lunches packed in these and have asked to use them multiple times!
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| Simply Exhausted from all the Shopping & Fun! |
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| Silly morning selfie with Lily! |
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| Having Lunch @ Jrecks |
In Mid-July Grandma Hooley made her way to her heavenly home which brought family home for a few days. While their visit was unplanned and swift it was nice for the cousins to have some time together.
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Sleepover @ Grammie's (minus Claire, who likes
to be with her daddy!) |
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| Playing croquet with Logan |
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Icecream in Harrisville
after the wake |
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Playground fun at the post-funeral
banquet |
This summer Stella attended the Lake Place Soccer Camp at SLU with her bestie Gigi. This gave Claire some time to be by herself and do some fun things on her own too.
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| Craft Time |
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| Riding in Stella's Seat! |
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| Wearing Stella's headband |
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| Fobare's - all to herself! |
The Soccer Camp schedule was not what we had expected so when the last day of camp turned out to be Saturday we needed to divide and conquer. I chose to head to Burlington for our weekend at RMH on my own so the girls wouldn't miss out on the end of the day camp fun. Stella was not pleased that I would be leaving without them but after some tears she made me a note and give it to me before I left. She said 'mom, when you miss me, just look at this!'.
As I mentioned before, Claire is such a daddy's girl. She's even taken to letting me know 'mom, I like dad better, but I still like you a little bit'. The first time it was super cute but the second time she shared this wasn't so funny!
In late July Randy went out of town for a week to attend Point Guard College - a basketball camp which provides professional development opportunities for coaches. The girls spent the week with their grandpa who is recently retired and had fun hanging out with more family visiting.
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Playing outside at
Grammie & Pa's |
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| Abigail's birthday party |
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| More outdoor fun! |
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| Hot Tub with Jordan |
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August started out with some summer sunshine, which we all love! This has allowed for grilling, kiddie pool, and slip-n-slide fun!
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| Ice Cream Truck Treat @ a BBQ with the Brittton's |
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| Doing one of many dance shows in the garage |
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| Another Ice Cream Truck Treat! | | |
Since Cami was having surgery in Burlington Gigi came over for a sleepover. While we thought the big girls might pair off, all three girls did a great job including everyone and they all had a really fun time!
On Saturday the 8th we were able to enjoy some of the Tri-Town Summer Festival. As usual, the girls had an awesome time doing some of the special things planned for the weekend.
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| Waiting for the parade |
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| Running into Miss Katy at the Carnival of Fun |
Claire tired of the bounce-houses which I'd never have expected. She just really wanted to go to the playground next door!
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| Giant Slide Fun |
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Waiting (patiently) for Stella so
we could visit the playground |
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| The turtle/duck race |
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Steak Dinner! Claire insisted on bringing home
her bread crusts. |
In May we bought this Mini Cooper Clubman. We all LOVE this car! The girls are always asking if we can take the Mini, and whenever they see one they yell out 'Mini!'. It's probably safe to say when we are traveling as four, or going anywhere far, Mom and Dad prefer the Town & Country!
At Abigail's birthday party the girls absolutely fell in love with the Disney themed cots. Papa wanted them to each have one, and since we are sure they'll be used on our trips to RMH and future sleepovers we agreed to get them. The girls were both super excited about them but Stella has taken to sleeping on hers next to Mom and Dad's bed. I asked her if it was comfortable and she said yes, that it's very cozy!
On Sunday we ventured off to Fobare's Fruits to meet up with Kristen and Wyatt. It was a fun afternoon of play!
When we came home from Fobare's the girls wanted to splash around in their pool. When Miss Katy arrived home they watched her give Donah and Pearl baths.
We started this week off with a BBQ with some of Mommy's work friends. Stella had such a fun time playing with Viola she was simply beside herself when it was time to leave!
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| Sticky Smores |
Summer has certainly flown by and although there's only a few weeks left we are planning more fun. This week marks the end of day camp season at SUNY Potsdam so our family is headed off on vacation soon!
As August quickly slips away we've been busy close to home. We visited the local restaurant 'The Riverview' for dinner one evening, and Mom made her first trip to the new Badenhauser Library on a Saturday morning. The girls were happy to show me around and enjoyed the different toys available to play with - a Dora guitar and puppet theater were favorites for the day!
Monday evening we met up with Randy's cousin Tiffeney for dinner in South Boston. Afterward we headed over to the Boston Common's so the girls could run around on the playground for a bit. They got soaked from running through the splash pad area and hated to leave.
Rather than stay in the heart of Boston we stretched our vacation budget and stayed at the Double Tree, our favorite hotel chain, in Leominster. Riding the commuter train into Boston was part of the fun! We then hopped onto a subway train and ventured to the New England Aquarium. To our surprise the girls weren't all that excited about all the Aquarium has to offer. It was also extremely busy for noon on Tuesday with a nearly 30-minute wait just to get tickets to enter. They were more interested in the carousel down the street so we had a somewhat quick visit.
The carousel was our main attraction for Boston and a reminder that sometimes it's the small and simple things in life that bring us the most joy!
Thursday marked the beginning of the last leg of our vacation. We headed to Sidney, ME for a visit with the Smart family. Again, we really didn't have a lot of plans other than having fun! We decided to have a quick stop off at the Maine Mall to buy some new clothes for the start of school. Our girls have a lot of clothes which have been handed down but we thought it would be fun for them to pick something out on their own. To their surprise, this mall also had, you guessed it, a carousel! This was a lucky find!
Rather than eat at the mall we opted to find something more local and stumbled across Gritty's. This place was awesome! Not only did they have a large menu complete with classic favorites on their children's menu (that were reasonably priced for once) they had a fenced in playground. Wow! We actually were able to have a conversation while waiting for our food. This hasn't happened in a long time!
While driving across VT we stumbled across a dirt road. We remembered this from our last trip to Maine but this time wasn't less amusing. Stella even noticed how silly it seemed and said 'Really?! Do we have to drive through the woods?'
