Monday, August 26, 2013

Kayaking the Concord River

 Of all our adventures this summer, this one was probably the craziest. Two moms, eight kids, kayaking down the river. I learned a lot about how my kids work together. G-man and Kiwi struggled, so we did a switcheroo in the middle, and things went much smoother. I sure didn't have it as tough as Tara who couldn't keep the 12 month old sitting to save her life. It was so pretty. We loved watching the bugs and looking for turtles. At the end we attempted to catch some fish in a net. We didn't succeed, but we sure had fun trying.
The troops, pre-launch
 My crew for the first leg. I love my little blonde boys!
 Kiwi and G-man struggling. There was some crying. Someone wasn't too found of continually running into the riverbank. I think when two are trying to steer at the same time you end up going in circles. Or maybe when two are trying to paddle and no one is steering.
 My new crew waving to our partners.
 G did an awesome job getting that boat back to the dock. He's a pretty tough guy.
Our partners in crime attempting to keep from taking a dunk in the river.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Swan Boats

We took a Saturday to visit the Boston Common and ride the Swan Boats. I think the (subway) train ride downtown is still the favorite part, but the kids had a fun time on the boats.

 Cute boys! (all three of them ;D)
 The swan boat
 Swans on the river. Seems appropriate.
Cool bridge

Friday, August 16, 2013

Trip To Maine

I have an awesome friend. Her name is Bekka and she's from Maine. She invited us to come home with her for a few days. Sometimes I wonder if people realize what it's like to add FOUR KIDS to your home. She and her parents were pretty brave to host us all. We had so much fun and I was super excited to add Maine to my list of states that we've visited out here.

We started out with Portland Head Light, the oldest lighthouse in Maine at the Head of Portland Harbor.
Right next to the Lighthouse is Fort Williams. The kids really enjoyed getting out of the car and exploring the Fort. Unfortunately, we couldn't go up in the lighthouse.
The Troops: M, J, S, G, E, K
The rest of the day was spent shopping and miniature golfing. A very busy day for the kids. Luckily, the next day was a beach day at Reid State Park. I have to say, this was an awesome beach. We spent most of the day at the lagoon finding snails and crabs. The water was perfect and the littles appreciated the lack of waves.

We skipped the ocean side as it was a bit crowded and the waves were high. Instead we took a quick trip down to the tide pools for the bigger two. They loved it! We couldn't stay for long and they were very disappointed. We definitely will have to make a trip back here with Chad in 2014.

First trip to main = Success!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Rock Climbing in the Fells

We have some rock climbing friends in the ward who hosted an activity. We were more than happy to join them. Everyone had a good time despite some fear of heights by some (Luann).  Even Mr. S brave his little five year old self up the rock.  I was so proud of that little guy!





Saturday, August 10, 2013

Family Trip to the Beach

Turns out Chad's pretty talented at the sand sculpting. At least more talented than me as my idea of a sand castle is a pile of sand. As tall as I can make it. What can I say, I'm short on creativity. And patience.

 Thomas the Train. Jared's favorite.
 I did attempt to make my sand castle fancy. A ramp up the giant mound of sand. It looked cool.
 Not as cool as the pyramid

 Or the sand castle face guy
 We don't draw names in the sand. We build names in the sand.
Daddy hard at work.

The day was beautiful.  We also did some boogie boarding which the older kids loved. I kind of loved it too. The beach is pretty awesome.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Swimming in MA

Swimming in MA is a bit different than AZ. The pools are COLD! You don't spend a lot of time actually in the pool.  But it's warm enough that you need an occasional dip to keep the heat at bay. 

Our awesome friends the Hahns invited us a few times to join the Mormon mommy pool party. If you don't live in the town, you need an invite to attend. A bunch of LDS families go and hang for the day. It's cooler than being at home and all the kids get to hang with friends they usually only see on Sundays.

There was swimming, but there was also pool noodle fights, football games, lego building, and diving contests.  This was one of our favorite things we did during the summer.

 MR. S learned to swim to the steps


 J-Dub is a jumping fiend. Kiwi's pretty good at catching too.

G-man had a great time hanging with all the boys. I'm looking forward to next year already.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Geocaching and Wild Berries!

We attempted to do a little geocaching over the summer. We were successful 50% of the time, although most of our failures had to do with my unfamiliarity with using GPS on my phone.  It definitely makes hiking more fun for the kids knowing that there is something to find out there.  We were very successful in Breakheart Reservation in Wakefield. We found two geocaches  One geocache was big with a token in it plus treasures to swap. There also were wild blueberries and blackberries along the trail. It's amazing to live someplace where things grow. Spontaneously. Probably my favorite hiking trip with my kids. We definitely will have to do this one again next summer.

 Wild Blackberries!
 Almost to the geocache