Last few days of vacation...

Well, our vacation is coming to an end, but we've had such a great time!  (Check out our last post for our New Hampshire visit pictures!)

We've done a couple of fun things the last couple of days...

We went bowling (Jacks first time!!)....In this shot, Jack just picked up a spare!!!  He was so excited!!!

Daddy helped Jack push the ball down the lane, and I have to say, Jack did pretty good.  So good, as a matter of fact, that he beat Daddys score!! 

Yesterday, we went to Gillette's Castle.  I haven't been there since I was much younger.  My parents used to take us here! 

It was a nice afternoon, and from the castle grounds, you can see the Connecticut River down below.  Jack enjoyed watching the ferry bring cars back and forth across the river and liked the jet skis and boats travel up and down the river!  Next time we go, we'll have to take the ferry so Jack can go on it.  I always loved doing that as a child!

Jack loved being up on the balconies outside of the castle.  Jack and Daddy played hide and seek up there, hiding behind the old columns!  I caught Jack peeking down to the ground below and snapped this shot.  I love his playful look!!

I love the look of the stones and rocks that were used to make the castle....I think it makes a nice backdrop!!

After we checked out the castle, we went down to the pond by this really neat bridge.  There were picnic tables, fire pits, and LOTS of frogs!

Daddy caught this HUGE bullfrog!!  He had a hard time holding him, he just wanted to jump back into the pond, but when Jack held him, he just sat there, nice and calm.  Jack just had him on top of his hands, not even 'holding' on to him and he didn't move! 

We had a great time, and we will definitely be back probably this week!  I know Auntie Scoot and Riley will want to check it out and get some pictures too!  Besides, we weren't here very long, so we need some more time to check out the trails and maybe find a geocache or two!!

Vacation!! Woo Hoo!! (Lots of Pictures!!)

Our vacation started this past weekend.  We started off with Father's Day, which we celebrated Saturday, because we were going to be on the road on Sunday...

Jack sure loves his Daddy!!  (me too for that matter!)  They are best buddies, going fishing together, hiking, playing games and spending a lot of quality time together.  He is a great dad!!!

Jack made Daddy a special box to keep all of his knick-knacks.  Jack chose the color to paint it, the wooden 'I love Dad', and the pictures to put on it.  He chose all pictures of the two of them doing things together.  Daddy loved it!!

Early Sunday morning, we headed up to New Hampshire!!  We rented a small cabin on the Pemi River in Lincoln.  We were pretty excited, it's the first vacation we've gone away for since before Jack was born. 

Here are some of the pictures from the trip!

This was taken at The Lost River Gorge.  We got to walk through caves, some of the spots were so narrow, we had to crawl on our belly to get through!  It was very cool!

The next day, we went to Clark's Trading Post!  There is so much to do there!  Train rides, a trained bear show, bumper boats, rock walls, segway rides, and stores and museums to see!  Jack had his first train ride!!  (and second!)   As you can see, he was so excited!!!

We took lots of drives....we saw huge mountains, beautiful streams and rivers, fed ducks on the pond, and even saw some pretty cool animals along the way!  We saw beavers, turkeys, and foxes!!  This friendly guy came right over to our car before continuing on his journey down the road!

Jack loved skimming rocks in the rivers and streams too!

We got to see the moon rise above the mountains....

...and got a little silly

Jack loved spending time with his sisters!!

On our last day, before we headed home, Jack got to play his first game of mini-golf!  He did pretty good, considering he had his own idea of how you should do it!  (which included kicking the ball with his foot and just dropping the ball in the hole from above!)

Well, it's only Wednesday...we still have the rest of the week to enjoy our vacation time...stay tuned for more pictures!!

Sunny Days!!

Well, despite a few rainy days, we've had our share of nice sunny ones!!  We've done all sorts of things this week...

We went strawberry picking!!  These strawberries were HUGE!!  We also made some yummy strawberry jam too!!

We played on the swings.....

And played with Sasha (who, by the way, is Jacks bestest buddy!)

--------------------------

We did have a rainy day or two in between, so we pretty much hung out and played in the house.  Jack and I built some really nice log cabins with his Lincoln Logs....

Thankfully, the rain didn't last, so we were out and about again.....next adventure??  Mystic Seaport!

We went there with Auntie Scoot and baby Riley for some picture taking.  Jack really like the big ships and tug boats!!

And, to top off the week, we went geocaching.  We found 4 more caches....Jack especially liked where this one was hidden... on a huge tank!

Well, we have some special stuff coming up, so check back soon for some more adventures!

Momma's got a new toy!!

There's good news, and there is bad news.....

The bad news is, my camera messed up another memory card and I lost about 100 pictures.  The good news (really good news) is Mark was planning on getting me a Canon Digital SLR camera for my birthday in November, and decided that an early birthday present would be a good idea!!  I am a very happy lady!!  Of course, it's a fancier camera than I am used to, and at this point, I have only figured out how to take pictures on the 'automatic' setting...I have A LOT of learning to do!!    By the way....I love you Mark!! 

The funny thing is, on Thursday, the day my camera was delivered, it was actually Marks birthday!!  So my first pictures are of Mark and Jack with his birthday cupcake!  (We are celebrating with a real cake today - Saturday!)

Jack was very excited for Daddys birthday...he even came up with the idea for presents for him.   He said, "We NEED to get Daddy a book on hunting and a jiu jitsu book!!"  So off to Borders we went and Jack picked out some really nice books. We also found him a "Rocky" t-shirt and got him a Cabellas Gift card to help out with his upcoming project:  The man cave.  (Marks tough guy room!)

******************************

We've spent some time down at Hopeville Pond State Park too over the last few days.  We went with Auntie Scoot and Riley to play in the sand and water.....

....and we also went fishing there with Daddy last night!!

Jack and Daddy caught a few crappies!

***************************

Jack and I also went geocaching....although didn't have too much luck.  I did, however, get this really cute shot of Jack walking behind me as we were leaving the woods....

I looked back as we were walking and saw him like this...it looked so cute, but I knew if I stopped and turned around, he would have looked up and I wouldn't have been able to capture this moment.  So I took a 'one in a million' chance.  I held the camera at my side while I was walking, without even seeing where it was aiming, and I pushed the button.  Just once.  It came out exactly how I was hoping!! 

I also took a few pictures of random flowers just for fun:

Poor Jack is going to have to get used to me always stopping to take a picture....

Well, off to get ready for hubbys birthday party....have a great weekend!!

Always on the go!

Well, it's been a busy last few days (as usual!). 

We've been all over and brought the camera with us.....

This is my family...it was sooooo hot out, but all we had was this pool for Jack, so we all got in it and cooled our feet off!  We even made a whirlpool!

My sister, Kathy (A.K.A. Auntie Scoot) and I have started to take pictures for a website called Blipfoto.  You can submit one picture a day, but it needs to be taken on that day...so we've been kind of obsessive about taking tons of pictures to find a good one...these are some of the shots we've gotten...

Jack, Auntie Scoot, Riley and I went to Devil's Hopyard and got this shot of the covered bridge!

Auntie Scoot took this one of Jack and I on the bridge...I like this one of us!!

We found this old barn and took some pictures of it as we were leaving Devil's Hopyard, I love how the buoys stand out against the red of the barn!

Of course we couldn't resist some pictures of the adorable Miss Riley!  She had fun sitting in the grass playing with rocks!

This farm is right down the street from me, and I love the old red tractor out in front.  I thought I'd grab this shot...the sun was hitting the tractor perfectly and I loved the clouds over the field!

Jack and spotted this dragonfly while at Pachaug State Forest...check out his face...it looks like he is smiling for the camera!

Jack really enjoyed sitting on this little bridge.  He was having so much fun looking for frogs and fish! 

Our last picture today is of a little friend that came to see Jack (okay, really his ice cream!)  This bird came over, stuck his face in Jacks ice cream and stole some sprinkles!!

Oh!  And you need to check this out.....go to http://www.funnydayswithmommyandmaddie.blogspot.com!  They are having a great giveaway!  You can win one of two Rumba watches!  Check these out, they are totally fun for the summer!

A hot weekend!

Yesterday, Jacks cousin Riley came over for a swim in the pool!  Jack and Riley had so much fun splashing and it really cooled them off!  Riley especially liked to splash just like she does in the bathtub!!

Later in the evening, we got a little fire going outside and toasted marshmallows!!  YUM!  We had fun watching Sydney try to NOT burn the marshmallows, but everytime she tried to toast one, it caught on fire!  Jack thought that was so funny, he just sat there laughing hysterically!! 

It was so nice snuggling with Jack by the fire watching the fireflys dance around the yard!

 

Today, we played outside for a while, but it didn't last long....it was SOOOOO HOT outside!  Jack was being a goober making silly faces and I managed to capture this classic look....

We headed over to Friendly's for their free ice cream day to cool off and Jack was pretty excited to see the firetruck they had there for the kids to check out (and of course was VERY excited to get ice cream!)