Back to school blues...

Hi everyone! It's been a busy week. Alice had her first full week of daycare this week. While it's been good to get back into a routine, it's been tiring for everyone to get back to a full work week. We are headed to Anne's tonight for dinner and then we'll be bracing ourselves for hurricane Irene this weekend! Hopefully the generator that we never use still works!

Here is a pic of Alice sporting her new fleece vest!

Vacation at last!

So we had our first and only vacation of the summer over the past week. We finally had the opportunity to stay away from home for more than a long weekend and we took full advantage! We kicked things off with a visit from the Quinns and then returned to VT for Jody and Kyle's wedding weekend. The wedding was incredible! We were happy to have a few down days in VT before then heading up to Maine for a little less than a week. We had a nice evening in Brunswick before heading out to the island to spend a couple of nights with Nick, Katie, Lauren and Ryan. Alice loved having her cousins to hold hands with and chase around the house! Lauren definitely gave Alice a run for her money in the speed department. I'm not sure Alice ever caught up with Lauren's speedy little gait. All in all we had a terrific vacation!
Bedtime reading in Alice's room. We had a fun cousin sleepover in CT!
Sharing Grandma Net's chair. This was our last night in VT after a very fun visit with lots of cousin and family time!
More cousin bedtime reading!
Headed out to the island for the 1st time this summer!
Go Sox!
I love Maine!
One of the few pictures of me that I allowed... Notice we stay strictly above the shoulders.
Post nap snuggle with Grandma Sue
Fun with Dad in the water!

We can hardly believe that our school year activities start up tomorrow! As summer winds down we are bummed to see our vacation end but so excited for what awaits us... We start the 5 week countdown for baby #2 this week!

Blueberry picking!

We had a great visit with Meg and Dana last week! Meg had just gotten back from her breadloaf summer term and Dana was in VT visiting her fam. It was a perfect detour on our way to Midd for Noah and Kelly's wedding! Alice was psyched to have so many people to play with! She loves saying Dana's name and decided she preferred to call Meg "bunny" her affectionate interpretation of Meg's last name.

Alice also really enjoyed meeting Dana's sister, Lucy. Lucy was amazing with Alice when we went down to the lake. Alice hasn't had a ton of open water exposure (her kiddie pool doesn't quite compare to a real lake!) so she gets a little nervous in deeper water. I haven't been able to convince her to be very adventurous but Lucy had her feeling very comfortable by the end of the afternoon. She was dipping her head back in the water and laying back in Lucy's arms. It was very cool to see!

We also went blueberry picking that afternoon! Alice was amazing. Her focus was incredible. She didn't eat one(!) but she picked an entire little carton herself! Here are some picks!





We also had a wonderful visit with Gumma and Gogo. Unfortunately I left my camera at Dana's so I don't have snapshots of our that - but it was great!

Alice in the sprinklers!

Here is a quick clip on Alice running around in the sprinklers at the Park. Watch the high stepping!! She definitely earned style points!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA7u4FVV9Ro

Quick Visit!

Alice and I took a quick trip over to see cousin Janet and her parents yesterday. We spent the first part of the afternoon hanging out at their place and then headed to the park. It was a hot day so Kristi advised Alice to bring her suit so she could play in the sprinklers. Alice chose to first hit the slides and tunnels of the playground but eventually made her way to the sprinklers. When she finally did - she LOVED it!

It was a great visit. I got a good chance to snuggle with Janet and Alice got some quality cousin time. She gave Janet some gentle belly rubs and several kisses. She even gave Janet her paci when she needed it!

We are home now and excited for a short week. Jenn and the Quinn kids come on Thursday and then we head up to VT for Jody's wedding! Can't wait!





Alice on her new tricycle. She hasn't quite mastered it but it's coming along.