Maine 2013

Our annual Maine vacation was during the last week in July.  My parents rented a new cabin this year, which was a further walk from the beach, but had more space and a little more privacy as far as sleeping arrangements go.  Nathan and Erica stayed the entire week, and Andrew most of the week.  It was fun to watch the James and Maeve play together, but not so fun when they would have screaming matches back and forth during nap/bedtimes.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.  We had a little backyard, so we inflated the little pool I brought for Maeve.

 The next day it was cloudy and a little cool, but I had to take Miss M to the beach for the very first time, even if it was only for a few minutes.

Mr. James enjoyed all the activity from his older cousins!

Even brother and sister got along (at times)...

Poolside beach?  Why not!  Cousins sharing a cool dip.  Who wants to walk ALL the way down to the water, anyway?

Who isn't a fan of fake teeth?  Connor picked these out at a store in York Beach, and we may have had a little too much fun with them!

Surfs up!

The beach is a whole lot more fun with your cousins around.  

Breakfast on the beach, anyone?

Our good friends the Hickok's joined us for a day of sun!

Cousins lounging in the pool!

Winning 1000 tickets at the arcade?  Priceless!

She looks like she's up to something.... 

A little time at the Nubble light

Her future's so bright, she's gotta wear shades...

Camping and ATVing... must mean a trip to Cabela's!

New York City

This past Spring, it was decided that Connor needed bone grafting surgery to correct his very large soft spot. After scheduling, re-scheduling, and re-re-scheduling, we finalized a surgery date of August 6th.  Joey decided that before the surgery, he wanted to do something extra-special with Connor, so he planned a trip to New York City for the middle of July.  He invited his sister and Paige along, and that's when the magic happened.  Heather managed to get a stretch limo for the ride to AND from New York, got a sweet hotel room in Times Square, and scored tickets to see Spider-Man on Broadway.  Joey had the idea to see Spider-Man, and Heather got them all tickets.  Needless to say, Connor was extremely excited!  

Mommy stayed home with Maeve because a spunky 14-month-old in New York City is just asking for trouble.  Daddy was very good about sending pictures along, though.  They visited the M&M store, where they purchased the largest bag of M&Ms ever, and even posed with Spidey before the big show.   To this day, Connor is STILL talking about New York and how much he wants to go back (and it's November). He absolutely loved this trip, and it was a very special weekend between father and son.  I'm sure there will be another trip in the future, but I'm pretty sure the limo was a one-time thing.  We don't want the kid to get spoiled or anything!

The Island

The annual Vermont trip for the 4th of July was made just a bit more special when my cousin, Kate, invited us to spend the day with her family at the lake house they were renting.  The best part about the lake house was that it was on an island!  We met Kate's husband, Darrin, at the boat access to the lake, and we all piled in for the ride to the house.  Connor was in his glory!  He talked about the boat ride for weeks afterward. Once we arrived at the lake house, Connor was so happy.  Not only was his cousin, Sarah, there, but the entire island was shaded.  If you know Connor, you know he doesn't like bright sun shining on him.  There were so many trees on the island, that he didn't have to worry about that at all.

The kids spent the day fishing off the dock, running back and forth between the two ends of the island, and playing in the loft.  Mommy even got to have a little fun and went tubing for the first time since high school, I think.  Later in the afternoon, Kate's brother and his family joined us, so there were LOTS of little kids running all around.  We did have one minor incident when the boat stopped working.  We were all jokingly trying to figure out where we would all sleep if we couldn't get off the island.  Luckily, Kate's parents were making their way to the island as well, and they stopped to pick up an extra battery for Darrin.  Darrin and Greg used the paddle boat to get to the access road, then used the row boat that was there to transport everyone back to the island.  Darrin managed to fix the boat motor, and we were all able to get home without having to swim to shore.

We LOVED spending time with our cousins.  We had a delicious dinner and  were able to enjoy each other's company since the kids occupied themselves.  Thanks to the Heath's for such a fun day! It even made me think that perhaps the Estee's should rent a lake house one summer.  Connor had SO much fun that I know he'd just love it.  Maybe one day...

Beginning of Summer Fun

The summer started late, thanks to Hurricane Sandy and several snow days, but we packed in the fun just the same.  The end of school was June 28th, the latest we could legally go, so by the time our first week of summer was upon us, it was already Daddy's birthday!  So we left Maeve with a sitter and took Connor, Joe, and Penny to the North End for lunch.  Connor tried (and LOVED) calamari, and we had delicious cannoli's from Mike's.

We also took a day to go to the Brockton Fair.  We try to go every year.  The kids love it, and you can't beat the people watching experience!  We talked Heather, Mark, and Paige into going with us, and we had a ton of fun!  The kids were adorable to watch, and Connor was old enough this year to go on rides by himself, so we didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for an adult to go with him each time.   We ate lots of junk food and loved watching the kids have fun with each other.  

Field Trip

Backtracking a bit, I wanted to post a little bit about Connor's very first field trip!  The entire Kindergarten at his school went to the Roger William's Zoo in Rhode Island.  I volunteered to be a chaperone, and let me tell you- all of those kids on the bus was insane!  Since I work in a school, I've been on many trips before in my life, but they're with middle school kids.  They most often keep to themselves, perhaps sing, but they aren't bad on a bus.  The kindergarten kids were LOUD.  Once we were close to the zoo, they started chanting. It was cute at first, but then they wouldn't stop.  I took a video, but just recorded the back of the seat so I wasn't recording other people's kids (I didn't want to be that creepy Mom).  It's not like I could get a video of my own child, since he didn't even sit with me...

The kids had a great time at the zoo, but it was a FAST trip.  By the time we got the bus loaded and drove to Rhode Island, we only had about an hour and a half at the zoo before we were told to meet back at the buses for lunch.  It actually worked out fine because my group did not have the longest attention span, so a quick look at the animals was all they needed.

Last Day

In the fastest ten months on record, my little boy finished Kindergarten!  As I've stated before, deciding to send Connor to Kindergarten before he was allowed to start in Stoughton was one of the best decisions we've made.  We knew Connor needed to be in school.  This kid is smart.  And I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother and I'm supposed to.  I mean, he's really smart.  So keeping him in daycare was going to do him a disservice.  Socially he needed to be where there were other kids his age, all learning to follow rules.  The first few weeks were nerve-racking, since the teacher told me that he'd wander away from the lunch table, or the classroom.  After thinking about it, I decided that it was because he'd never had to "ask" to go anywhere before.  He never had to ask permission to use the bathroom, or go to the next room, so all of that was an adjustment for him.  Once he adjusted, however, he was a super star.  He became a model student, and his teacher would often tell me how much she loved having him in class.  We noticed a definite change in our boy.  He became much more confident, and WAY more social.  He was invited to birthday parties, and actually participated in SINGING "Happy Birthday" to his BFF (for those of you who know Connor well, you know this is no small thing.  He HATES the song being sung.  It shows how much he loves his friend that he was willing to sing with the other kids).  Connor was well-known throughout his school, and teachers, office staff, and custodians would often tell me how funny he was.  He truly enjoyed his Kindergarten year, and I am so happy we made the choice to send him early.  What a little man he's become!

He went from this:

To this:

Happy Last Day of Kindergarten, Connor!

We LOVE you!

Memorial Day

I know... it's been a LONG time since I've posted anything.  But in my defense, it was a very hectic summer.  A summer where my kids needed me more than my blog, so it was put on hold.  I'll try my best to play catch-up!

For Memorial Day, we watched the Brockton Parade with our friends Layla, Quincy, and Brady.  The kids were adorable in their red, white, and blue outfits.  We even made the local paper, too!  Sadly, they butchered our names, and apparently sold Connor to the Curtis family since he had the last name "Curtis" in the caption.  And the only picture I could get was a screen shot of the paper, so that's what you see!

It was a fun morning, and the kids always have fun when they get together!