Vacation 2013

While we were gone the kids had a great time playing with their grandparents and their cousins. All these pictures were taken before we left and after we got back.  It was fun to watch the kids play together with the family they don't see very much.

Maine 2013

We left the kids with Gramma and Grandpa for 2 days and took off for Maine by ourselves.  Due so some family situations and a lot of rain, we were only gone for 2 days instead of 3 but we had a great time.

We hiked in 3 parks, shopped everywhere and Daddy even got to body surf in the cold New Hampshire water.
We spent our 1st day driving and then shopping in Kittery and Freeport. There is a LOT of outlets between those 2 places.   We had dinner at the wharf in Freeport, this is what it looked like outside.  I didn't mind too much, I got my lobster and corn on the cob.

After dinner we hiked about a mile at Wolf's Neck Woods.  This was an evening hike and we had the entire park to ourselves.  Probably due to the fact that is was foggy, cold and starting to rain. This was a small park, but had lots of picnic areas and some hiking along the coast. I didn't  get any pictures of this hike, but I would love to go back when it wasn't foggy.

 We camped at Bradley Mountain state park and then started a 2+ mile hike there in the morning.  Again, we had the park mostly to ourselves.

 There is supposed to be a great view from the top. Guess what we could see?

 FOG, lots of fog.

 Hike #3 was Vaughn Woods state park.  This was a great little 2 mile hike along the Salmon Falls River.  Had it been a little warmer we might have gone swimming in the river.  This hike was through an old Hemlock forest and was very pretty. Again, we only ever saw 3 other people the entire hike.

We decided to drive South along the coast and check out the New Hampshire coast. Of course we ran into the USS Albacore and had to stop and check that out.

I will admit, it was pretty cool. 

Then we continued down the coast stopping whenever we wanted along the road to check out tide pools and beaches. 

Next up was  Jenness State Beach in NH, it had the best surfing we found. The weather was actually not horrible, so Daddy went for a swim and did some great body surfing in the cold clear water. I went for a walk along the beach and when I reached the end of the beach and turned around, I saw this.  Yep, more rain and thunderstorms.....

Despite the rain and the cold, we had a great time with just the 2 of us. 

Growing Family

We took a vacation and got to see my family, which I love to do. We usually go at Christmas, but this year we went during the summer too.  The last time we were there in the summer was in 2008. This picture was taken then.

Now in 2013, 5 years later on the same steps and adding one more kid.

The kids are now swimming, lacrosse playing big kids, not a bunch of little toddlers. However, I think it was even harder to get them all looking in the same direction and not making faces.  This is the best pictures of the bunch and still you can see some mischief there.  I love it.

Busy August

Now it is the middle of September and I am wondering what happened to August. It seems I was busy setting up the house, getting the kids ready for school, Grandma visiting, starting school and lots else.  Now I get to finally update the blog about all the cool stuff we did.

1st up, My Awesome Cousins wedding. 
I have a pretty big extended family, OK it is huge by some standards, but it is crazy and I love it.  We define dysfunction in our own redneck way.   There were 5 cousins born within a year on my mom's side of the family. Four of us got married within a few years of each other  2000-2005 about. (sorry guys I am guessing since I don't remember.)  However there was one holdout, she waited and found the perfect guy.

I traveled home on a plane ALONE.  I know for some that is not a big deal but for me it was fantastic, and I got to eat without worrying about what anyone else was eating. It was great.

 



Congratulations Naomi and Keith!!

I did not get many pictures, I actually got better ones with my sisters camera.  I was having too much fun to take time for pictures.

Cabin in the Woods

We had a great vacation at Douthat State park.  We rented a cabin for the week since I wasn't ready to put all of us and Scout in tents.  It was wonderful.  The cabin was pretty small but had 2 bedrooms and was built by the Civil Conservation Corps around 1930.  They have upgraded them and they have heat and central AC. 

We still had storytime with all the kids, who went to bed late every night.

 We went on lots of hikes.
2.5 miles up and back to Blue Suck Falls,
2.0 miles around the lake. (pretty easy, but a long time on the road back to the cabin)
about 1.75 miles on the Tabacco House Ridge Trail. (very steep)

There were lots of little streams to cross.

 Scramble up the side of the falls to see it from the top.

 Play in the puddles at the bottom of the falls.

 Hang out in Daddy's arms.

 There were some cool features.  Someone had built this armchair out of rocks.  We walked by it the 1st time and only noticed it on the way back down.

 After hiking we spent lots of time taking naps in hammocks.

 Playing with Grandpa on the suspension bridge and wading in the creek.

 Catching salamanders and crawfish to examine.

 Enjoying the view from the top of Tobacco House Ridge.

It was a great vacation

James river State Park

This was supposed to be posted last week, but for some reason it didn't.... Here it is.

This year we took a vacation with just our immediate family. It was wonderful to get away with just our little family without any other commitments.  We were planning on going camping, but then I cut my finger and we didn't think that was a good idea.  So my wonderful understanding husband switched our camping reservation to a cabin reservation.  It turned out fantastic.  We had a 2 bedroom cabin with a full kitchen and living room with a fireplace.  The kids room had 2 sets of bunk beds and they loved it. 

 Plus it had a deck, gas grill and a covered porch with rocking chairs. We ate breakfast every morning on the porch.  My favorite part... The cabin was air conditioned. It was luxurious.  It was in the middle of the forest along the river.  I drove on a lot of dirt roads and little one lane bridges.

We also spent some time playing and swimming in the river.  We rented a canoe and a kayak and floated down 2 miles of the river. (we had our own life jackets)  The river had a great rock for jumping into the water and the kids loved playing in the water and being able to paddle around to check out the deer and the train running along one side of the river.  I don't think I would camp there because the primitive sited don't have running water and the developed sites are set up for RV's and have gravel, not so nice for tents.  That and the train runs all night and all day.  It would be a little loud, thankfully we had the AC on in the cabin and didn't hear it at night. 

OK, I can't get the pictures in this post to line up right and do what I want, so you can just look at them how they are... I am ready to throw the computer about because it is so frustrating.