Catching Up! Our Back to School Tradition and 21st Anniversary!!!

I've been trying to get this post published all month long...and now it's October!!! Several years ago, my husband started taking the first day of school off of work, and we'd spend the day doing fun stuff. It's also kind of an anniversary day date, too, because that's always the first or second week back as well. It seems all our fun day trips this summer had the same thing in common: HEAT! This day was no exception, so we didn't walk through town like we normally do, but it was lots of fun. And no, I don't mind having our little third wheel along at all, because I KNOW how soon he won't be anymore.

We started off on Pierce Island in Portsmouth. Such a beautiful place to explore and visit.

Although, there was a group of women and kids in this area, extended family I think, and they were all smoking like chimneys and so, so loud. They were scattered...and in nearly every shot I tried to take, ha, so this is the best I got that morning.

Picnic by the harbor -
Levi was thrilled with the fact that he could step up and down, up and down, as much as he wanted, ha. It's the little things, I guess. ;)

Cutest little pink-cheeked boy I ever laid eyes on!

We braved the humidity and walked over to Prescott Park. I'm not entirely sure, because of the sweat stinging in my eyes, but I think it was as beautiful as ever. ha ha ha

The water you see in the background is the same as from the park, it's simply around the corner. Normally we walk all along the edge of the harbor and walk out onto the docks, but again, HEAT.

Mr. Rocket Scientist got himself some new anti-glare glasses, and we laugh because these are the first pair that seem to glow purple in natural light. :)

My favorite part!

I don't have one single picture from the second part of our day because I was sandy and my hands were full, ha. We went straight to the beach and got clam strip sandwiches from the boardwalk- they were good! It was super hard dragging the stroller through the soft sand, and the tide was in, so insanely crowded and not much sandy real estate. We finally found a spot and let Levi play in the shade cast by the stroller- he was pretty overwhelmed by the noise and the crowd, so one of us took turns playing with him while the other jumped into the ocean to cool off. Eventually he let me carry him out into the water and we jumped waves for a long time. Then my feet started to get tingly because the air was SO hot and the water SO frigid, so we packed up and headed for home.

Levi watched some Cars until he passed out cold. :)

I've read for years about decorating the door for the first day of school, and this year, I finally got around to it! Thank goodness for Prime! Ryder knows someone's coming!!

She loved it! I don't think the boys cared as much. Or maybe they really did and they just kept their excitement hidden inside. :)

I almost wrote Happy Monday since I tried to get this done yesterday, so... Happy Tuesday! ;)

Our Visit to the Sunflower Fields at Colby Farm, MA

Hey friends! I just keep falling more and more behind, and life just keeps moving on and on. So much to catch up about! Today I'm posting about our very last summer hurrah. I missed the chance to visit one of NH's best sunflower fields with a dear friend this summer, and it had been on my wish list since forever...okay, since two summers ago when I first started seeing pics on Insta, ha ha... so the day before school started, we took a little road trip to get this things checked off my list. :)

Aside from the fact that we were legit melting, it was such a fun day. The field did not disappoint- it was incredible. While seeking out some shade, we lucked out and a tractor drove past, which thrilled little Levi. The driver was friendly and waved back at him too, always a plus in my book. Then we visited the store/shop, which was really cute, but we were so hot and sweaty, we didn't really look around very much. We settled on a cinnamon bread from a local bakery that smelled like heaven. It was still warm! But then again, that just made me sweat more, ugh. ha ha

The plan was to grab a little lunch somewhere in downtown Newburyport, so we headed out after I blasted the AC for several minutes. The town is so pretty, gorgeous, really. But as the temp gauge kept inching up near 100, I just couldn't do it. I decided we'd try again in a few weeks when we have the chance to walk around, explore the parks, and enjoy it. Maybe this weekend... :)

Fall Trips to our Favorite Farms

It was an interesting start to the week yesterday.

It was my birthday, we woke up to no power because of furious wind and rain, and a school delay-turned-cancellation.

Let me tell you, nothing says Happy Birthday quite like waking up to darkness and not being able to take a shower, and basically looking and feeling like crud all day long, AND dealing with grumpy people. Lots of grumpy people, ha. But you know what? These are temporary circumstances, and I couldn't help but think of those who underwent so much worse than me all during Harvey and Irma, and who are still feeling the effects. Today the alarm went off, I even got myself a cup of hot tea, and it feels pretty darn good. I'll write more about the day later, but for now, I wanted to post about our trips to the farm and orchard before I blink and it's Christmas!

Caleb was really sick two weeks ago, poor guy, but he'd made enough of a recovery by the third day that he felt okay taking a little road trip. It was such a gorgeous fall day, the kind you just want to drink and in and savor forever.

We had the place to ourselves for the most part since it's past peak season, but this is a strange year for bees and wasps- they were everywhere! We couldn't get away from them and we hadn't even gotten the cider donuts yet!

That's partly the reason I took pictures super fast- I was terrified of poor Levi getting stung!

We think he liked his vantage point from up here. :)

I was going to back up and snap a few, because it was so, so cute, but again, cute picture VS. nasty bee sting, and it just didn't make sense to take the risk.

There's a fantastic play area for children there. I can hardly believe I've been taking my kids to this place since they were Levi's age. That's a lot of years!!

Clearly Levi is thrilled to share this with me, ha ha. Just kidding, he had lots of fun.

Such a great big brother!

 Levi was trying his hardest to pick up the heaviest pumpkins. Then he started patting them- I think he liked how cool and smooth they felt against his little palm.

The leaves were just beginning to turn then, but it's still such a fabulous view.

Love these two so much!

I think his feelings about posing with pumpkins at this point are pretty clear. :)

Then on Saturday, we brought the youngest three to one of our favorite family farms. We had visited the weekend prior, but there were cars parked all up and down the road for half a mile, plus the entire lot next to the farm was entirely filled up. Hello, we are Bill and Bethany, and we do not handle crowds well. There, I said it.

This gem greeted us on the way in.

He had just had an encounter with an overly-friendly/ambitious goat, and he was still reeling from that a bit here. ha ha ha

We've been visiting Sunny the Pony for over a decade now. She's so sweet.

  

Moo

Say hi to a little sheep. Clearly the sheep is not returning Levi's friendly advances.

Ah yes, the goat. We took some video of their squabble, it was hilarious! Levi just started scolding (in his own unintelligible language) this goat, who had gotten a bit too close for his comfort, and the expressions on his face and the tone of  his voice was hysterical. I wonder where he's seen that modeled before, hmm...

 I think the goat does look a little sassy. Don't you?

I thought this was such a sweet scene

I may have posted this one before, but it's worth repeating. Those are the poster faces of someone who is over it. ha ha Except Isabelle, she can be in the middle of a screaming match and then whip out the prettiest smile you ever saw. Girls. ;)

After the storm yesterday, the trees are quite bare now. I'm glad I took the pictures I did!

How has your fall been?

When the Kids Go Back to School...

...the Mom and Dad spend the whole day together, doing whatever we want!

Granted, we had an adorable +1 this year, but it was a really great day. 

For me, one of the biggest treats about this day as that I'm not a single mother in the morning. For nearly fifteen years now, Bill heads out the door by 4:15, for a multitude of reasons, and so it's just me. Most of the time, it's totally fine and I don't even think about it because that's just the way it is. But on those days when he is home, I feel like I've won the lottery. 

And he makes the waffles around here, so...win win!

I shared some pictures of our beautiful children in this post. It was a smooth, rather peaceful morning. After the last one had gone- Isabelle has the later start this year- I walked around the house in a kind of daze and found myself smiling at the stillness. Not gonna lie, the quiet was so, so beautiful. :)

Oh wait, did I say quiet? We still had THIS nugget on our hands!

We always think beach when we have some free time, so that's where we went. It was quite cool and foggy when we got into Portsmouth, but it actually felt terrific. We parked over on Pierce Island and walked along the water's edge, then walked over the little bridge to Prescott Park.

If you've ever visiting the Portsmouth area, you should visit Prescott Park in the summer or early fall. It's spectacular! Every summer they put on a play during the weekends, and you can rent tables and buy dinner, or spread out a blanket and bring your own picnic. It was Mary Poppins this year and I wanted to go SO badly, but we just could not make it work with Levi's bedtime schedule. (Now that he's sleeping better, no, we don't mess with his schedule!) The plays are free to the public but of course they gladly accept donations.

 checking out the bumble bees and other bugs buzzing around the gorgeous flowers

 someone doesn't look too enthused about all the pretty flowers

such a neat little treasure!

Also, all you're really going to see from here on out is pictures of Levi playing on the playground, and Levi eating lunch, and Levi crawling on the sand. Don't say I didn't warn you, ha ha, so feel free to skip ahead. :)

This is back on Pierce Island. It's a beautiful place to bring a picnic and a book and spend a couple hours. Or a soccer ball and frisbee to play in the wide open areas. It's just a great place to visit.

Levi went through an entire battery of emotions here at the top of the big slide. Confidence, uncertainty, determination, fear... sweet little guy. 

Mommy went through an entirely different set of emotions: where has my baby gone?!?!? Waaaaaah!

 and those wispy hairs slay me :)

 He did it!

I have some videos of him going down all by himself...my big boy!

In the past, we've walked through downtown Portsmouth and eaten in the restaurants overlooking the water. But we thought it best for our +1's sake to grab something and eat at the beach.

 we had some subs and maybe a cannoli or two, Levi got fries and nuggets- ooh la la

Do I look windswept here?

Crazy wind, but it was warm and sunny so it felt nice.

baby yoga :)

Levi has been doing this all week and it has to be the funniest thing I have ever seen.

He is fully aware of the reaction it gets him, so of course when he's being naughty and caught in the act, he will flop flat to the floor and then raise up like this, just waiting for all to be forgiven.

ha ha ha ha

Thankfully he slept a little on the way back home, and then we heard tales from everybody's first day- all good, which was so nice to hear.

This was such a wonderful day, but truth be told, it has been a very sad week for me. I know there is so much suffering in Texas, and that's been hard to read and hear about, and also, one of my best friends just said goodbye to her mother rather suddenly. Our families have been friends for ages, so I grew up going to their house and vice versa. Last Saturday, early in the morning, I got a frantic call from Trisha, my friend, that her Mom was admitted to the hospital the night before for some tests and things- she had had a slow-growing cancer that had recently flared up, as well as complications from Lyme Disease- but that doctors had actually discovered several new cancers, all stage 4, and one was causing severe clots, and so she suffered several strokes, which deteriorated her condition quickly. I'm so thankful, though, that she had moments of clarity and was able to say goodbye before she died peacefully early Thursday morning. She looked me straight in the eyes when we visited, and I know she recognized me, and I was trying so hard not to break down and cry, because it's all just devastating watching someone you love suffer and watching their loved ones suffer through these final goodbyes. It's so hard growing up and losing the people who were always just there, always a part of your life. And maybe I just figured that they always would be. But of course that isn't how life works. Time marches one. People grow old. And they leave us, for now anyway.

And he who was sits upon the throne says, "Behold, I am making all things new."

And he also said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."

Revelation 21:5