Grass stained knees

getaway

Last week at this time Jon and I were here, one of our all time favorite destinations.

It had been 6 years since our last escape, just the two of us. It was long overdue.

3 days, 2 nights, restful sleep, amazing food, savoring the breeze through open balcony doors while church bells ring all over the city. Window shopping, browsing antiques, breathing in the architecture, embracing the history of the Old South.

It was completely restorative bliss.

Thank you Nan and George for coming to stay with the boys.

I'm not sure who had more fun, us or them?

 

apple time...

Hello September, my it's nice to see you!

The arrival of this month means so many wonderful things: cooler weather, a brand new school year, college football, fall food and one of our very favorite things of course, the chance to spend the day in the fresh air surrounded by crisp apples.

We ventured to a new orchard with our co-op friends. It was a pretty spot and a much closer drive than last year's destination, however, I think I can say with much certainty that we will not be returning. Ever. Again. As it turned out, the proprietors were super grumpy and less than happy to see our children. As soon as we hopped out of the car, greeted our buddies and cozied up to the picnic tables to have a quick bite before picking, the grouchiest lady marched over to tell us that large groups of people were unwanted in their orchard and we would only be permitted to stay for one hour. WHAAAATTTT????? We just stood there looking at her, waiting for her to start laughing and tell us that she was just joking... What do you mean 3 mothers and their children were not welcome to spend time on your hillside??? We didn't even want to mention the 3 other mothers and their respective children still in transit, eager to join our gathering. Apparently, according to grouchy apple pants, the previous day a large group of families had descended upon the orchard and stayed for 3 hours (3 whole hours in the fresh air, can you imagine??) Well, they allowed their children to run around in the sun and probably even permitted them to laugh loudly. She told us she was sorry but they "ruined it for everyone else", honestly her exact words. I can't remember the last time I experienced something so absurd.

Regardless of our chilly reception, we managed to enjoy ourselves. I believe we actually lingered for about 2 hours and managed to avoid coming face to face with the orchard's bouncer.

 

We managed to keep our children close and "reined in". I think I actually announced more than once that "running and having fun was not permitted on this hillside".You can imagine the faces of the children, sure that once again mama had lost her mind!

It really ended up being a good time spent with good buddies, but I've got to be honest, I'm really looking forward to our family apple picking trip in two weeks. At least I know we will be welcome when we show up on that beautiful hillside!   

sand and surf

Beach trip 2010.

We stayed just across the street from the house that we rented two years ago when I had just found out we were expecting twins. I kept being hit with memories of the shock we were still feeling at that time and the panic of what was to come...and now, two years later, here were those "babies", running all over the place, as if they always had been. How does that happen?

 

 

 

 

It was a wonderful week!

The opportunity to rest and relax...the warmth of the sand between your toes, the scent and the gentle mist of salt in the air, the sound of the gulls, the sight of pelicans gliding gently overhead, the sound of the laughter of babies and cousins, the squeals of delight as cool water meets little toes, the feel of a sun-warmed paperback book in your hands, an evening walk through town for frozen custard, the luxury of dinner out with my siblings and my love. The memory of these moments shall be held in our hearts until we gather, once again, by the seaside.   

adventuring

A few weeks ago we spent the day exploring a local destination that we had visited once before. 

There is a new pirate exhibit going on and Grandmother and Grandpa Bobby were visiting so it seemed like a perfect way to spend the day.

The pirate exhibit was really great!

Look at this little swashbuckler, he's such a cutie!

This shot is from the regular museum installations. It made me chuckle to see all 4 of our guys all lined up like that, almost in their birth order even.

Photos with our whole family are really rare to see, usually one of us is holding the camera. I just love this one of all six of us, very candid and very busy and so very us!

We ended the day at the pond where the boys hovered around the edge trying to catch Bullfrogs and tadpoles. The light was so gorgeous and they were so happy.

It was a good adventure!

snow day

We got a bit of snow this past weekend. Hooray!

What's even better is that it actually stayed on the ground for two whole days, which is a super special circumstance in these here southern parts of the country.

I think all kids like to play in the snow, but my kids really love to play in the snow. They were out in it from Saturday morning through last evening, every. waking. moment.  

It was super beautiful and we had such fun.

Sometimes I think my crew would be well suited for life way up North... Maine perhaps. Unfortunately, I think we would have to leave Papa behind, which would be inconvenient to say the least. *chuckle*

Maybe Samuel's favorite day EVER

I have talked about it here and here, about Samuel's love of, fascination with, alright, let's just be honest, his obsession with the ice cream man.

We have researched online about ice cream trucks.

Where do you buy an ice cream truck? How much does one cost? Mom, did you know there are different types of speakers that play the song? Did you know you can pick any song you want if you are the ice cream man? Where do you buy the ice cream to sell if you are the ice cream man?  Where do you get the stickers that go on the side of the truck? Mom, guess what? When I grow up I want to be the ice cream man. Really. Really??

Well on Tuesday we had our furnace and A/C replaced. When those giant boxes made their way off the workman's truck the wheels started turning in my mind.

We hatched a plan. We took a trip to Michael's to choose the paint for our truck, this was a major negotiation, mind you. Yellow, no I want green and yellow, I want blue, back and forth they went until we settled on this fantastic metallic blue. The whole time we were painting it I couldn't get the image of a super cool Camero circa 1985 out of my mind. It felt like the boys should have been wearing stained, white, wife beaters and some excellent gold chains. It's crazy what certain smells and even colors bring to mind!

Then we stopped by the grocery store and selected our treats. Another time consuming decision. This was important stuff! 

After spending the majority of the morning covering ourselves and our box with several coats of wicked cool blue paint, then waiting, waiting so patiently for it to dry enough to glue our box cutouts to the side...

Viola... The end result!

Look at that smiling face!

There was some practicing of the transaction and then they were ready for business!

Thankfully, my kind neighbor took one look at us, two boys, one cooler filled with treats, one ice cream truck wagon, one double stroller stuffed with babies and offered to walk along with us, just in case Samuel got tired of pulling the wagon. Which of course he did. In his defense it was about 1,000 degrees and he really did make it pretty far. But I'm not sure how we would have made it up that last hill home without her! 

Everyone thought it was super great. My guys were beaming with pride and excitement. The neighborhood kids were thrilled to get some good treats.

In the end, we sold 18 ice creams, and even sold out of three choices.

With their $9.00 in hand they feel strongly that we should go back to the store and restock our truck. I told them it depends on how well the babies nap this morning.

Honestly, it turned out to be a pretty good business for an operation that really wasn't supposed to be more than some excellent imaginative role-play! 

And I think it will be one of those days that they will remember with fondness forever. I hope.

Home again, home again, except without the jig

We had such a fun week. We are all feeling sad to have returned to real life.
Please forgive me for what might be the longest photo post ever, it's just that we took so many photos over the last 7 days, it was super hard to pick and choose. These are some of the most memorable moments...

summer sunshine

 A recent trip to our favorite spot for milk, eggs, and all other locavore goodness. It was the perfect morning to linger a while, soak in some sun and search for grasshoppers in the wild flower beds. 

This year's trip to the strawberry patch...

was a total bust because of the crazy amount of rain and cool days that lasted way into the month of June.
We combed up and down the rows of lush green plants, hunting with hope in our hearts and after about half an hour, our berry box boasted maybe 5 good berries. We decided to give up with intentions to come back a few weeks later.

And then we never did. Blah. 

I guess there's always next year

May 29th

A beautiful afternoon under a magical tree with our very best friends...