Back to the Ocean

We have decided that after school starts is a great time to go to the ocean!! Don't get me wrong, there were still people around here and there but not nearly as many as there are during the "summer" busyness!! It was great! We enjoyed the day with our friends the Thornes and their generous hospitality! Here are a few pics of the beautiful lighthouse at Ft. Williams State Park.

I caught this one just as a tugboat was pushing a large ship past! It was a neat sight for all of us!!

The boys enjoyed playing military games at the old forts, I convinced James to stop for a quick pic before heading back to "war".
Mollie and Chandler were so cute in the stroller together!
After walking around the park and exploring the old forts we made our way to the playground.
Emmy and Eliza were making some sort of something to eat???

Mollie and Chandler wanted to hang from the monkey bars over and over! I caught Mollie just as her arms gave way!

Chandlers turn!

Here's the gang on the slide with the ocean in the back! It was so cool to play at a playground with an ocean view!!

Later we headed off to a small beach down the road to explore the tide pools! Mrs. Thorne was great at finding sea creatures!! What do you suppose is under this rock...

...two little crabs!

It was a chilly evening but that didn't stop everyone from striping their socks and shoes to feel the cool sand on their toes.

James actually decided to wear his sandals into the tide pools so that none of those cute little crabs could pinch his toes!

This pic was captured as the sun was setting and was hitting the kids just right so that they glowed just a little!

This tide pool was full of fun creatures! Mostly hermit crabs!! They were everywhere and the kids had a blast catching them all and moving them into a little pool until the big "race"! Yup, you guessed it, the hermits had to race before being released back to their peaceful home!!!

The sunset was beautiful! It was around 7pm or so, such a peaceful and quiet time to be at the beach!

Emmy found a nice little orange rock that she really wanted me snap a photo of.

The boy's were also eagerly looking for sea glass... none found though!

Eliza made a fun discovery that when you lift a piece of seaweed from the sand it leaves a "tree" shape in the sand! It was so neat, she tried it several times forming more and more "sand trees"!

We are so thankful for a wonderful day with our friends and a chance to enjoy Gods beautiful creation! We are hoping to go back again very soon!!

Soccer and Static Hair

James and Ethan started soccer at the Conway Rec. a couple weeks ago.
I snapped a few pics on their first day:

The first couple day's were practice and drills, now the boys will be playing real games on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons if anyone want's to come and cheer them on!
Here is James (in the red shorts) driving the ball up the field.

The boys homeschool pals Thaddeus and Kevin are also playing at the rec this year! They stopped running long enough for me to snap this shot:

While the boys played the girls were having fun on the playground with their friend Eliza! The cold dry air that day sent the girls hair flying as they came down the slide!!

They went down over and over and the hair just kept getting bigger and bigger!

Mollies static personality matches her hair in this photo!!

Summer Fun...catching up!

I know I've been a major slacker this summer with keeping our blog updated so here is a jammed packed post full of some fun stuff we did over the summer.

We joined the library summer reading program for one of their weekly activities. This one was on butterflies, dragonflies and other flying insects. After the presentation we were able to make t-shirts on the lawn out back. Here Emmy and Carrie pose with their t's with Mollie and Wally in the background.

Ethan chose bat's for his t-shirt! Black with bat's... such a boy!!

James and his dragonfly shirt.

Mollie and her shirt...created with a little help from Mom:-)

They even gave out popsicles at the end!!

Here the "big kids" were having fun posing for James' camera! I stumbled on them while looking through pics on his camera. I thought they were too fun not to include!

We were able to join the Everitts at Muria's sisters house to see her horses (and other animals too)! It was sooooo hot that day but it didn't stop the kids from having a great time learning about these animals. First it was time for a good brush down.

This was as far as Mollie got! She didn't want anything to to with riding!!

Muria demonstrating how to clean the hooves.

Emmy is looking a little unsure in this pic but she did have fun!

Ethan couldn't wait to get on! He loves being up there!

James' turn!

We took a fun field trip with the homeschoolers to Dole's Orchard in Maine. They must have every kind of fruit you can grow here in New England! We were able to pick raspberries, blueberries and peaches! Yum!!

Here are the kids with our bounty! Mimi and Auntie Sarah (oh and little Benji too) were able to join us and share the delicious tastes of summer!

Also check out pics from our camping trip in Vermont with the Everitts on their blog:
Camping
Shelburne Farm