Beach Week

Beach Week finally arrived!  My family has been going to the beach for a week ever since I can remember.  We always had a great time during beach week.  There is a period from about age sixteen to twenty five when we weren't interested in beach week but once you pass that phase of life you realizes how much enjoyment is found hanging out with family for a week.  Since we were in Europe for the last four years we have missed out on beach week.  I did require a week at the beach in Spain every year but that wasn't the same as "beach week".  The girls were really looking forward to going to beach week as well.  I had talked it up a lot and they were excited to be with their cousins.  We had a great time going to the beach and the pool as well as mini golf, go karts and bumper boats.  Having breakfast every morning at my aunts house (the family all stay in housed next to each other so you can go from one to the next easily).  My aunt was amazing and was a short order cook...eggs fried or scrambled, bacon toast, or waffles.  Pretty amazing given there were probably 25 people coming through in the morning!  I'm glad the kids get to experience the big family atmosphere that they have missed out on for the last four years.  It was nice to see they settled right in.

Johnathon's Arrival

Taking a break at the playground along the bike path

My nephew Johnathon came to RI to stay with his Dad (my brother) for two weeks.  I was very excited about his arrival since I haven't seen him in years.  Since Johnathon lives full time in Ohio with his mom his trips to RI never coincided with our trips back to the States.  While I've heard about his life from my brother and seen pictures on Facebook it just isn't the same as being with someone in person.  Once he arrived the girls and I headed down to spend the day with my brother and his two sons.  We had a great day together.  We went for a nine mile bike ride on the South County Bike Path.  This path was great b/c it was long and flat.  I wasn't sure about the distance since our kids have never biked that far but paved and flat is much easier than the slightly hilly trail through the woods that our girls are used to biking so it all went fine.  Johnathon is quite a talker so the two of us actually spent the majority of the bike ride side by side chatting.  It was a great chance for me to get to know my nephew and for him to get to know me.  By the end of the ride he was comfortable enough with me to try to splash me going through a puddle. 

After the bike ride we headed back to my brother's house for lunch and then playing outside.  We played basketball and frisbee and the kids played together on the swing set.  Basketball was a lot of fun since we just played Around the World.  Our girls have never really played basketball so it took a while to get it in the net but they eventually figured it out.  Ali seemed to really enjoy it.  We will definitely need to get a hoop for our own driveway soon.  Frisbee was fun as well since my brother had this giant soft frisbee.  There was no need to worry about hitting anyone with it b/c it was so soft.  The kids all played well together too.

We stayed until my parents arrived and we all had dinner together then we hit the road for our drive back home.  It was a fun filled day!

Busy Busy Busy

Sorry for the delay in posting.  Life has been zooming past at high speed.  So, What have we been doing??

Croquet in our front yard

Well, we have played croquet, been to our town beach a few times and down to RI for some ocean beach time as well.  The kids finished off their tennis lessons and played outside on the swing set and in the basement with their toys.  We went to my nephew, Nathan's, birthday party.  The girls had a blast seeing their cousins and swimming in Uncle Pat's pool.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pics while at the party.

Ali, Sofia and Michael at the Wickford Art Festival

On the weekend we all headed down to Wickford with my Mom, Sister in law, Jen, and my nephew Michael to browse our way through all the tents of the Wickford Art Festival.  The kids actually seemed to enjoy looking at all the different artwork on display.  We took time to have lunch and then Dell's lemonade.  Dell's is just so delicious that it is one thing that I just can't say no to when the kids ask since I enjoy it just as much.  We had to laugh because at one point Jen was showing Michael how to get the lemonade out of the bottom of the cup and a women walking by commented that we were obviously Rhode Islanders since we were teaching our children the proper technique for drinking a Dell's and that only an out of stater would use a spoon with a Dell's.  She was so right!

Blueberry picking at an organic farm near our house

With the weather continuing to be hot I was keeping my eye on the pick your own blueberry farms.  There is an organic farm near our house so we went blueberry picking and picked about 6lbs of berries.  I've made blueberry jam, muffins and cake as well as freezing blueberries to enjoy later.  This was the first time I've made blueberry jam and it turned our delicious.  I will definitely be doing this every year!

All this while also maintaining the daily to do lists such as grocery shopping and mowing the lawn.  Fortunately the kids enjoy going grocery shopping with me now since the grocery store we go to has small carts for the kids to push around as well.  They have fun pretending they are adults doing their shopping.  Little do they know I'm looking forward to when they will be capable to go to the grocery store on their own with a list from me!  I consider this time the training period!