Lots of people keep asking what I’ve been up to this summer. Here’s a pictorial recap:
Eben and I had our first real deal backpacking trip in the White Mountains with our friend Sarah (who will be marrying us next fall) and her friends Rachel (who played dodge ball with us), Becky, and Katie (clockwise around the circle from me).
The first day was beautiful, but day two was full of mishaps not to mention bad weather. Everyone made it out safely, but some were a bit worse for wear.
but there were lots of really beautiful views!
Like the rest of New England, we had a very rainy summer, so one semi-sunny Saturday, Eben and I went strawberry picking. Yum!
On our way home we stopped at the Lincoln Audubon reserve and joined the Massachusetts Audubon Society. They have a farm as part of the reserve and we made a new friend.
Kisses!!!
He was so sweet!
We attended Old Songs again with Eben's family. The weather this year was much more volatile. We would watch the storms coming, get soaked, then resume listening to the fantastic music. It was a fun adventure!
Eben’s childhood friend Seth’s brother Noah got married in Southwest Harbor, Maine. It was a gorgeous outdoor ceremony on his family’s property overlooking the water.
We made a friend there too!
From the coast we crossed the state and spent a week by the lake in Rangeley as the Crosses have done for about 15 years.
I spent much of the week in this position working on Elias’quilt.
MINNESOTA!!!!
I got to see my big sister the mommy and to meet my adorable, chubby, happy, sweet nephew Elias!
We were also able to make ourselves useful in helping bring thier new house into the 21st century with a little interior face lift. Eben and I focused mostly on the walls of the kitchen, but Vanessa closet and bathroom got some action too!
Eben and I also honed our bat ‘catching’ skills when I discovered a bat upstairs and closed it in Julian’s room. Thinking that she (Priscilla, as we called her) might recognize the open window if we directed her towards it, I removed the screen. A few minutes earlier though, Eben tried to catch Priscilla in a box with large handle holes. For those of you who have dealt with bats before, you know that this could never work. He was convinced otherwise and when she was temporarily in the box she was scared and called out. So when I removed the window screen, in flew another larger, hairier, angrier male bat! The whole thing was very funny!!! Ultimately, Juan fashioned a net out of a coat hanger and a mesh orange bag. Both bats were released unharmed.
SO CUTE!!!
New mom, new house.
We went to Rockleigh, New Jersey where Eben’s freshman year roommate at Conn, Osten married Daphney. Eben was the best man. Although his speech did not talk about poop being eaten (like my maid of honor speech) he did talk about farting. It went over very well! The wedding was lovely and I have NEVER in my life seen as much food in one place before, not even at a grocery store. I will not be able to promise quite a spread at our wedding, I am sorry.
We attended the Heath Fair again this year and encouraged Mario, Chrystina and Pearl to make the drive to meet us there.
There were lots of baby animals!!!
To finish up the summer, we spent Labor Day weekend back in Woodstock.
We wanted to get a sense of when the sun sets and temperature (not that that can be reliable) at various points during the day so we're prepared for that same weekend next year!
We invited both sets of parents to join us since none of them had seen the wedding location or Woodstock before. Julian even came along, although with all the planning/organizing we did that weekend, he informed us that he’s ‘never going back to Vermont EVER again!’. Tory who owns the inn and her daughter Hannah are also in the photo with us.
And that was my summer in a nutshell! We weren't home very much, but our babies were well taken care of by our friends Kip and Kasia! and now you know why I haven't been around to blog.
