Sunday - Pool Party with Lobsters

While Farrah was with us, we had to treat her to all things New England.  What better than a little Lobster Fest - It was the perfect hot day to be at my folks pool.  We were there for the afternoon and Chris showed up with 8 of these babies - steamed and ready!  

I asked the Kiddos to make their best Lobster Face

Nick - 

Shane

And Macy all participated.

Hungry anyone

Just in case you actually thought we would feed THEM lobster

Sure, they can have Corn too - just stay away from the Lobster.

Here is the Lobster Table...  Wait, how did Drew get in there?  

Honestly, we had so much great Lobster we did share a bit with the kids, but not too much...  Plus they moved onto other creative activities.

Summer time photos.

Love this one - This is exactly why my folks love this pool

Chris was getting his crossfire workout in.

Kid throwing is hard work!

Nice nick!

Shane - O

Super Tate

Happy and Full Belly Sunday!

1 - Summertime relaxation with the McCulloughs begins - Wednesday - Friday

How many folks can hop in the Car in VA with 2 kiddos, 2 dogs and 12 days worth of stuff and NOT STOP once.  Farrah McCullough!!  

They were on the road by 6:45 and at our door step at 1:15 AMAZING.  Everyone needed to pee RIGHT AWAY - dog especially.  but after that the kids just ran in the back yard and we could chat and have a beer - she had 3 matter of fact and still made it to my Body Pump class that night (in case you were wondering - yes, she was STILL SORE even with the beer.

Clearly her car moved faster than this guy did!  The kiddos saw him one night on their walk in our neighborhood.

Love how everyone was able to make themselves right at home instantly - warms my heart Belle.

Nick made us breakfast the next morning (and had an audience)

We headed out to our local Mini put on Thursday - the first 8 holes we did a great job of keeping track, counting shots.  if you can imagine - that got more and more difficult.  There were a few Hole in Ones - literally by all!

Saving this photo for years to come.

Love seeing this crew together.

Stonehedge anyone?

Now onto Ice Cream - BEFORE lunch? Mistake?

Creamy deliciousness.

here is lunch - not nearly as exciting.

The water was more exciting.

One of the cool things about buddies is taking out the toys we don't seem as excited about playing with - and playing with it again.  And Farrah operating an air compressor.

Farrah is SO good about implementing quiet time.  They don't have to sleep - but they have to be quiet - reading is o.k.  I loved seeing these 3 little heads reading

Seriously, this day keeps going right?  Now it dinner at our favorite Thursday night spot.  The Canton Open air concert!  The band was entertaining, we had hot dogs and the worlds largest bowl of cabbage salad.

The kiddos had a blast and were even dancing it up.

https://youtu.be/yvURe8ZIwyQ

nick clearly has Ants in his pants.  

Here we are driving home when Farrah and Brian's deployment song Photograph comes on the radio. I think its so sweet that they have a deployment song.  not only is it currently a song that will mark this time apart for them and help to get them through it - but as the years pass this song will be a true treasure - 

of course the kids are totally buying it - they were being smoochy and hysterical in the back seat.

Friday morning Farrah headed to Mystic for the day to visit her childhood friend Tracey.  (we headed back to school shopping - boring!)  

She made it back just in time to catch the tail end of a Bra party and onto a little wine afterwards in downtown Collinsville.  Live music, amazing tomato salad and a great spot to grab a glass of wine.

Saturday morning we had a FULL table - Brian included!  

I love how frequently they get to Skype with him every day.  She has a special ring tone for him - when I see your face - I started to get used to hearing it - so sweet.  I can only imagine how hard it is for Brian being so far away, the kids do great at chatting, but sometimes they can be so distracted and he just wants to be part of their ever day lives.  The separation is almost over!

For Saturday we had a pool day at Mills Pond - Seeing these 2 in the baby sings just cracked me up.

Of course these 2 had to get into the baby swing action too

Look at our big kids

We brought Twizzlers as a fun snack for the kiddos - or shall I say, Numb Chucks - or Walrus Tusks.  Tate literally broke out in dance with numb Chucks when  handed them to him. - kiddos simple humor is truly something I want to trees about their childhood.

Camping - Bucket list #4 with the Webers!

Its amazing how quickly the summer can fly by.  At the beginning of the summer we made a bucket list - knowing it would fly by, we tried to keep it simple.  

Camping was one of them.  

I honestly love Camping.  

Let me rephrase that, I love my family camping.  

Minimal distractions - 

the great outdoors, 

kids playing with sticks, rocks, trees and spiders

 - its what it should be like. 

 One of the great things about camping is who you get to go with.  Thanks to Megan my wonderful friend that we met in VA - we got to meet Molly and Anthony who live HERE in Avon.  Over the year we have enjoyed dinners together and they have some awesome kiddos too.  So we were talking about Camping and they were all for it.  We were able to find a night mist the busy summer and off we went.  

Lake Otis in MA.

Perfect!

Weather had it - they day we arrived was wonderful.  The next morning - predicted not so wonderful. we were watching the radar and the rain was due to start at 6:00AM

have fun now kiddos!!

Look at this HUGE tent - MUCH better than the one we received as a wedding gift .... a few years ago.

Dinner is cooking ==)

Love this photo of the kiddos as the sun is going down.

Can you believe that is coffee in there?

Knowing it was going to rain starting at 6AM we packed up everything except the tent.  We woke up to the sound of rain drops and the evidence that we weren't sleeping on level ground!  These two slid all the way under my cot and under Chris's!

No camp fire breakfasts - Off to Harvest in West Simsbury - much dryer there.  Than to home for a movie!  Chocolate Chip pancakes!!  Yum!

Celebration and a night out

Saturday night we a night out for Chris and I - First we started at Feng  - an amazing Chinese restaurant in Canton - we met 3 other couples there for Drinks and Dinner.  The coolest thing about that was the guys had literally never met each other and the girls only knew each other from the kiddos sports.  But we put a date on the calendar and all but one of us could make it.  It was the neatest most unique group.  Some from Boston, Colorado, CT, VA - such different backgrounds it made for colorful conversation.  No photos as I totally forgot - But I don't want to forget what it feels like to go out of your circle and try something new - meet someone new - so refreshing.

That being said - it was also truly heartwarming to walk into a 70th birthday party to a family I have known for over 25 years!  WoW right?  Peter Brinkerhoff is turning 70 and we were so fortunate to be included in Jill and Jodies party.

Beautiful family!  Yes, we are thinking of and missing Pete and Sally who live in Tahoe - making the trip home isn't as simple for them.

Here are the kiddos together.

Love that Mrs. Griffin snapped a sweet photo of my sister and my mom and I.

Just a few more of our crew.

The next morning the Griffins Popped over to chat a bit more before heading back to MV - and do a little cast signing.

Drew was collecting signatures on his new green cast.

Got uncle Jay too.

So Saturday night was a night for celebrating new friends and cherished friends - 

Where are we?

Its kinda tough finding good 'cast' activities for this little guy.  Outside of swimming he CONSTANTLY keeps up.  It was a rather hot and MUGGY Saturday - Chris was going to take the big kids golfing (which drew is HAPPY to keep up with) but I opted to take him mini put instead.

Matterhorn - 

Which he loved just as much.

He did every hole 4 times trying different techniques and using the different tunnels and clearly wore himself out - cause guess where we are - 

At ACE Hardware - just picking up a few things to make an umbrella stand with - HUGE thank you to the sweet kiddo that was helping me as he literally put it all together while this guys snoozed

He was sweet (and HOT) to snooze with.  Before he fell asleep he kept asking for my nail file to help with his itchy skin - from being outside and sweaty...  poor guy.

about 15 minutes after taking this photo - I was able to lay him down on the outdoor furniture that was on display inside - its a good thing I like Ace Hardware - everyone there is SO nice!!