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Monday, July 27, 2009

One Last Thing

Saturday July 18th Ben started riding a two wheeler, much to the dismay of Sophie. Not only is he younger than her, but he has to use her bike. I told her she can do two things, move on or work harder at learning to ride a bike. She got some good practice in on Saturday and she is soooooo close. Maybe today is the day. I'll try to grab some photos.

July 25th

I don't feel like making several more posts, so I am cramming the next few unrelated photos together for July 25th in to one post.

While driving to my parents and bird swooped in front of the car in a funny way. I didn't hear an impact so I thought the bird had been spared. But when we stopped we discovered that it was not his lucky day. I guess if you have to go, you may as well go in a unique way.

While at my parents we took the kids to the river. They rent their field to a farmer so we had to walk through the corn.

My little corn children.
My niece Miriam really looked up to Sophie and I tried to get a picture of them holding hands as they walked through the corn. You can't see their hands, but I still thought this was a cute photo of them.


Miriam, Sophie, Jacob, Lydia and Ben ready for bed as the last hours of the night ticked away.

Fairbanks Museum

We took the kids to the Fairbanks Museum the other day. The only picture I took was of Jacob looking through the glass. I think it is a really cool photo though it "reflects" nothing about the Fairbanks Museum.

Martha's Visit

My best friend Martha came to Vermont for her sister's wedding reception. She and her family stayed with us a couple of days. We had so much fun I forgot to take pictures. But here are the few that I did take.

Martha's daughter Lydia and Sophie reconnected like they had never been separated. In fact it was difficult to pry them apart when it was time to say goodbye. Donations will be accepted for our travel west fund!

Martha works at a florist in Utah, but she did the flowers at her sister's wedding reception. With 3 hours (an no advanced warning,) wildflowers, and my mom's flower garden, Martha created three bouquets for the tables, A large bouquet for the food table, and bouquet for her sister to carry. It was a privilege to watch her work. I want to be like her when I grow up!

Finally, here we are (with Annabelle) at the wedding. I haven't seen her for three years and it could be another three (thought I hope for less) before I see her again. Who knows what can change in three years!!! I may take on a part time job to get out west sooner!

p.s. I have sisters out west that we are saving up to see too. I just didn't want them to feel left out!

Wedding

My cousin Caleb got married July 19th to a lovely lady Lindsay. I didn't take a lot of pictures because the photographer has a website where he posts the wedding photos. However I felt these two were important.

The Deslaurier Clan
Front:Barbara Deslaurier (my grandmother) Britt Cummings (my dad) Caleb (the Groom) Craig Deslaurier (uncle)
Middle:Glenn Lavigne, Denise (Deslaurier) Lavigne (uncle and aunt), Linda (Deslaurier) Corse, Michele (Deslaurier) Cummings (my mom), Muffy (Esty...I think) Deslaurier (wife to Craig), Kim ( I don't know her maiden name...sorry) Deslaurier
In the way back:Lionel Deslaurier (my grandfather), Leon Corse, and way to the right Wayne Deslaurier (married to Kim)

The Cummings Clan Counter Clockwise
Me!, Michele (mom),Britt (dad),April (sister), Kristin (sister-in-law), Dana (brother, married to Kristin), and Kathryn (sister)

Erica and Jennifer are out west, Aaron (my guy), Don (Kathryn's guy) and Matthew (April's guys) were at home tending to children and such! Thanks guys!

Black Eye

Jacob got a black eye. We aren't really sure how. At first I thought it was because he had a screaming fit and he had broken blood vessels in his eye lid. However as the bruise "ripened" I really started to wonder if that is really possible.

The Boys...and a Crazy Girl

When we put the kids to bed Aaron takes the boys upstairs while I help Sophie downstairs. To speed up the process Aaron sometimes carries both boys up in piggy back style.

Sophie of course heard something fun and joined in.

Off they go!

Weird Bread

I made bread on the same day we went over to a friends house so I had to leave the bread in the fridge for awhile so it wouldn't rise too fast. The saran wrap stuck to the dough in just a couple of places on the dough and created a moist spot. In these moist spots the bread grew these weird bubbles while it was baking. I like it so much I may try to recreate it!


Friend Play

We went over to a friends house to play and the girls got dressed up in full regalia. The were doused in body glitter. I think Sophie still has some in her hair and this was about 2 weeks ago!

Meanwhile the boys were outside catching frogs in the pond. Of course Ben slipped on a rock and fell right in.


Success!!!

RODENT ALERT!!!
This next picture is from a different day, but it kind of fits the theme. The kids like to bring us all the dead rodents that the cats leave around. Ben does it the most, but notice he is conscientious enough to carry the vole with a leaf for cleanliness sake. Ahhhh boys...

Also of note...the other day the cat brought a live vole into the yard. Ben pinned the vole to the ground with a rock on its tail where they boys proceeded to play with the vole. I of course was oblivious to this inside the house. Jacob came running in crying with blood running down his arm saying over and over that a baby mouse bit him. I cleaned and disinfected his finger and went outside to discover the scene described above. So far Jacob has not mutated into a vole, so I think there are no lasting effects.

Rodent Alert

This is Dimple. He is a baby meadow jumping mouse that our cat caught but did not kill. In the process his paw was injured. We took him in to help him heal, but in the process decided to keep him as a pet. He was so tiny, mild mannered and sweet.





After his paw healed though I felt bad because he is a jumping mouse and you can't really jump in a pickle jar. Since his paw was all better we decided to let him go. It was a little sad because he was so sweet, but he literally bounded away like a kangaroo! Seeing him jump away like that helped us all know he was better off in the wild.

July Nature Shots

Here is a run down of nature shots from the month of July. Some I will caption, others are just things that caught my eye.


These next few photos are of clouds are from a storm that came in so fast a furious. There were actually tornado warnings in parts of the state so when the storm blew in I got a little nervous.


These first two photos were of cloud fingers that looked like they were reaching down to pluck you up. They were better in person.

These clouds made a horizontal tunnel in the sky and they happened to form just as the sun was setting so they were glowing in a creepy way.

This SPECTACULAR thunderhead was on the southern horizon. The other clouds were on the western horizon. When the two met, the storm got scary looking. In the end it was a great, long lasting, but relatively harmless storm.

Look at the cool curlique in the flower!


This moth was so huge you could see the light reflected in his/her eye.


This moth was a brilliant orange. It comes across as peachy, but it was more of a salmon color.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Videos From Boston

This one is for my boys who love trains and vehicles in general. The best souvenir that we brought back...our used train tickets.

I love birds and really enjoyed watching them play while the world rushed past them.

Anniversary

July 6th Aaron and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. Since I am not pregnant or nursing a baby, and all three of our kids are potty trained I thought we needed to get away for a couple of days (you never know when the planets will align like that again!!!!)

Thursday July 9th we left our kids with Aaron's sister Leah (THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!) and went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to the ocean. The weather was perfect! Unfortunately we didn't want to bring the camera down to the beach so there are no photos :(

From there we drove to Massachusetts and stayed in a hotel (oh the luxury!) The next day we took the train into Boston and walked the Freedom Trail. Again the weather was perfect.

The only trouble we had was that Aaron really wanted to go on the U.S.S. Constitution but they were refurbishing it and while you could go on it, the deck was tarped over and the rigging was not up.

On top of that there was a fesitval, Sail Boston, that brought SO many people to the harbor. One ranger said they had not had that kind of attendance in 10 years.

Anyway because of the crowds there were long lines and limited access. Basically, we will be heading back to Boston sometime soon so that we can go again.

Also there were several people we could have visited with, but because we were celebrating our anniversary we chose to be anti-social. So if we were in your neck of the woods and didn't stop by...sorry, but we will catch you next time!

I met this HANDSOME fellow waiting for the train, and...

...we hooked up!


On the train we struck the classic "Abby and Brad" pose


Some views of Faneuil Hall that I enjoyed

I love the combination of curves and lines

This is actually from the old North Church, but it kind of fits with the line up here.

I caught this cute guy checking me out from across the way

So I returned the favor

In front of the U.S.S. Constitution.

The Bunker Hill Monument 294 stairs ALL THE WAY UP. I seriously thought I was going to die. Of course my nerves were not put to rest by the emergency defibrillator next to the bathroom. My heart and legs didn't give out, but I did almost fall down some stairs on the way down because going down the circular stairs make me dizzy and nauseous.

I think considering how hot and sweaty I was and how fast my heart was pounding...this is a pretty good photo!


All that hard work was TOTALLY worth the view.

Further proof we made it to the top.

Looking up at the level above us.

All in all it was a wonderful trip where I fell deeply and madly in love with Aaron all over again. By the end of the two days families with small children made me tear up. It is true absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I am surprised how much caring for children changes the way I interact with Aaron and he I. It was really nice to be totally dedicated to each other again, if only for two days. I love where I am at in life, but I will totally enjoy retirement.

We will be doing this again. The question is when...