Celebrating my kids and the great outdoors!

Weston did fantastic at his first day of daycare at Miss Kathys! She was impressed with him. Ella had a fun time with Pa and even spent some time with Aunt Kris and Brady at the pool. Pa also brought her to Home Depot and Hopeville to walk around and check out campsites. She loved every minute of it. Any time spent with Pa is a good time.

On Friday our plans changed due to Joe's injury. We decided to go hiking and dabble in letterboxing at Devil's hopeyard. Laura had told me about letterboxing. It is like geocaching but you don't need a GPS and you use stamps. I like the idea of clues because it feels like a treasure hunt! Also, a great way to get the kids involved in hiking. I LOVE Devil's Hopeyard. It is so beautiful and there is always someone else around. It makes it less creepy walking in the woods with two children. You never know what can happen like falling and injuring myself to the point I couldn't walk back. There is a good chance someone would come by. It is these things you think of when you are in the woods with two small children! Also, the morning had been an emotional one after I heard that a seven year old boy passed away from CF. The mom's blog was so touchy and heart breaking, but what I decided was that I was going to use the horrible news to enjoy my children. So we enjoyed each other! We didn't end up finding any letterboxes, but we did have a bunch of fun attempting to find them. We saw some great things in the woods such as funky looking trees, and a chair made out of rocks. I had to carry Weston a lot of the way, but he did much better than I thought considering we probably walked over 3-4 miles and up hill for a lot of it! Ella has a new favorite waterfall. Thankfully since her last favorite one was the dam in Jewett City. LOL!! Weston got soaked in the river, and I thought that was why he was wet when I was hiking with him. After a few minutes I smelled the real reason. The smell of pee just gets more intense when you are sweating!!! Ewww... Oh well it was still fun. The outdoors just makes me smile. :)

We stopped at the library on the way home. Summer reading program!!! The kiddos have to keep up with their learning. By the time we got home that night I was EXHAUSTED!!! Weston had a 20 min. power nap in the car and was wide awake! He kept talking and talking all night.

Saturday, we woke up and Andy wasn't feeling well. I didn't have any set plans, but I had promised Ella that we would go letterboxing at some point because I was just too tired to go the night before. I also had to deliver tupperware to people who had ordered it. Mary invited us to her beach house since I had to get the tupperware to her. The kids actually didn't want to go! I think they had too much fun last week and wanted a day to chill. We went anyway! They fight and drive me insane when they are home all day. They ofcoarse had a blast. Both got to go in a tiny boat in the ocean for a short little ride. We only stayed a couple of hours, but it was just nice. Something about the beach just brightens your day. As soon as I pulled down the street and saw the ocean, the people walking and biking, and the boats I couldn't help but smile! Oh that summer breeze off the ocean. Perfection!

I got the kids some McDonalds on the way home and we went to my parents house because Weston's agenda for the day included hanging out with Nana and Pa. My mom agreed to keep him so Ella and I could go letterboxing. Yippee! Ella and I went to Hopeville and went searching. At first I thought it was going to go the same way as the day before, but nope, we found one!! Actually we found three and one with two stamps! Score! There is nothing like the feeling of finding the "treasure". It is absolutely thrilling! How appropriate that the first one we found was an awareness for a child with tourettes syndrome. I thought that was fitting.

That night we went out to eat as a family because Andy was feeling better. Ella wanted to use her coupon that she got to Chilli's for homework hall of fame. So we went there and ate a nice dinner.

On Sunday, we hung around most of the day. It needed to desperately be cleaned since we have been out and about so much. We also did some grocery shopping. We've been going through a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches lately! Last night though we went for a bike ride as a FAMILY. All four of us!!! I can't believe I convinced my husband to go. He even towed the kids in the bike stroller and used the word FUN! He said he would go again! Yippe. We went to Hopeville and back two different routes. We attempted to find letterboxing with no luck again. Oh well. We didn't put much effort into it.

Today, we went to the mall. That is what the kids picked. They wanted to ride the little rides. We also bought them each a bathing suit. Weston has gotten so thin that none of his stay up. Lands End has ties in the bathing suit. They also bought toys with their own money.

Afterwards we went and played the game at the libruary. Ella stayed up for two hours past her bedtime reading the other night. 20 books! I'm so proud of her! That is what a competition does for the girl. LOL! She won three toys and a book. Weston won one toy and a book.

The rest of the day has been relaxing and irritating. First they were good. Now they are fighting. Ugh!! Bedtime can't come soon enough!

Beachin' it!

Time is already flying!!! Ella starts summer rec next week and then off to girl scout camp. After that is the second week in July already. Yesterday I made plans to go with Dianna and Adam to the beach on July 12th because we are both booked solid until then. LOL! Ella had a blast at the waterslides the other day. Weston enjoyed his last day with Mr. Joe at daycare and today he starts Miss Kathy's. So far she says he is doing wonderfully. Yippee! Ella was with Pa today but ended up at Aunt Kris' because she wanted to go swimming.

Yesterday we decided to go to Laura's house on Patchaug pond so we could go to the beach. Emma came along since her parents were busy unpacking their new house! The kids had a blast as always. Did you know that ponds have sea shells too? I learned something yesterday. Apparently there is some form of clam in the pond?? Who knew. The girls swam out. Weston went in pretty far as well. They ofcoarse collected a bunch of rocks and shells. Laura's daughter Molly was there with her nephew Ryan. Weston told her that he "hates babies". Lovely. It was really beautiful there. Boats were going by, jet ski's, and beautiful houses. You wouldn't know you were in Griswold.

Afterwards Emma wanted to come back to the house to play, so we did. Mack was really well behaved for Emma being new to him. He only jumped a little when he got out of the crate. The kids went outside to play on the tire swing and in the sand box. Then it was time to go to swim class! We drove Emma home and got to swim class a little earlier so we could play on the the play scape. Ella's friend Evan joined us too. Weston and Ella did wonderful at swim class. Mr. Nate came over and got Ella wet. She giggled through it. Weston had no fear and was really happy to be in class. He even did the bar bells which he told his other instructor Miss Selene that he hates! I guess that is a favorite new word. He was kicking on that with no one holding onto him. Awesome! Ella is in Butterfly I for the first time and did amazing! She swam all the way down to the bottom of the pool to retrieve a little ship. I was really impressed with both of them.

Afterwards we went home and made dinner and the kids played with Dylan and Griffin from next door for a short period of time. We are really working hard on our tans and oh boy we are already quite bronze. Hopefully tomorrow we will be going to Hopeville with Missy and the crew, but Joe just had an accident at work and cut off two of his fingers. They were re-attached and hopefully will take. It will depend on how he is feeling. We also need to sign up for the library reading program which started yesterday. Busy, busy, busy!!!

Bringing in summer...AGAIN!!

Summer, summer, here we are again!!! Wow, did that school year fly by! Weston is onto kindergarten and Ms. Ella will be in second grade! I cannot believe it. This school year was great. They both did wonderfully and really overcame some serious learning problems and delays. I am so proud of my little cuties! So onto summer!!!On Saturday (which technically wasn't summer vacation yet since the kids got out on Monday) we bought beach pails and shovels at Target since they were in the dollar isle. The kids asked if we could go to the beach. Andy was working all day, so even though it was already 10 o'clock I said "why not?". So we swung home to get our bathing suits on and picked up some things. We quickly stopped at the little league field because it was the last day for Ella to sign up for cheerleading so we had to get that done, went to the ATM for $$$ for parking, and then job lot quickly to buy a beach chair because I knew it was going to be crowded and sitting on a blanket in the water is not comfortable. LOL!! Then we were off to misquamicut. I haven't been there in probably seven-eight years?! Oh how I have missed it. That beach is my childhood and teenage years all wrapped up into one. Oh how the children enjoyed themselves too. Belly laughter galore!!! This was the first time we went to a beach with waves. We have been to the ocean before but only in coves were there are no waves. Ella had a blast jumping over them and going up to her chest (a little too deep for my anxiety level, but I was watching her). She pretty much spent the whole time in the water. It was pretty cold in there! Weston ofcoarse mostly enjoyed the sand and driving his tractors and playing with the new sand toys. By the end of the day though he was begging his sister to "bring him out" into the waves. He was afraid of them at first and made a game out of running away from them. So adorable. I just sat in my chair and enjoyed watching them have so much fun. While getting a nice tan (well some sun burn too) ofcoarse. Honestly, I didn't have a book or a magazine or another adult to speak with but the day was just so perfect. When I look back at life these are the days I want to remember and I hope my kids do too. I want to feel the sun on my face and hear the belly laughter of my children. It was perfect!Yesterday was the last day of school. We decided to make it a tradition and go to buttonwoods to celebrate. Mocha chip ice cream is to die for!!! Yummy! When we got home there was a call from Ella's BFF Evan who invited us to come over and enjoy the pool. Yippee! Again the kids had a blast swimming. Well Ella mostly. Weston was done after about an hour and was more interested in Evan's peddle tractor and the drum set in the garage. All last night he tried to talk me into gettting him the same tractor and he even asked Evan's parents "Does Evan ever play with that tractor?" LOL! You know what he was hinting around about! Ella and I got to wear our new bathing suits. Mine was 50% off. Woohoo!! It was much needed since mine was breaking. Oh and I bought a new beach bag yesterday since I have a feeling we are going to be there A LOT!Today I am at work, but Ella is off with Kris and Brady at the waterslides at Misquamicut. Which is awesome because she wanted to try them out and it is something Weston wouldn't be able to or want to do. Weston still has his last day of daycare. Woohoo