Halloween 2008

Halloween was very relaxed this year. Dinner with good friends and just enough trick-or-treating to fill the girl's buckets, but not the dreaded pillow cases they threaten to carry! A Pirate, Dorothy and Bat Girl...walk into a bar... (insert punchline here)
Check out the ruby slippers on this halloween cutie!

This pictures says it all...childhood joy!!

Pumpkin Festival...it's like going home

This year, we decided to follow the crowds and attend Keene's Pumpkin Festival. For Dan and I, visiting Keene, NH is like going home. It's where we met some 18 (gasp) years ago, fell in love and began our life together. It's where Dan's mom is buried and where some of our fondest memories of adolescence are planted.





For our girls, it's the home of the PUMPKINS...and boy are there a lot of pumpkins...22,586 this year to be exact!

The sheer number of lit jack-o-lanterns is always an amazing sight!

Making our little contribution

Katie enjoyed touching the pumpkins, chasing balloons and warm pumpkin pie!

Lauren enjoyed carving her own pumpkin, face painting and fried dough!

Megan enjoyed the thrill of scoring us a seat in a coveted restaurant amongst the appalling crowds, jumping in the HUGE bounce house and fried onion rings!

Right of Passage

Without our prompting and with lots of bravery, Lauren declared that she was ready for her ears to be pierced...right up until 30 seconds prior, when she totally freaked out and started calling the whole thing off. Then Daddy let her sit on his lap and Mommy held her hands while they pierced one ear and then the other. Not a tear was shed.



She is totally thrilled, and the icing on the cake is the little "kit" of ear cleaner and cotton balls that she must use 3 times every day.

Yankee Candle Factory

To anyone who has even been to the Yankee Candle Factory in Deerfield, MA, need I say more? This place is phenominal!! Room, after room, after room of goodies, half of which are not candles or candle related. Santa's workshop (a.k.a. a HUGE toy/candy store), ranks highest on the list for the girls, as did the horse drawn hay ride!

This was taken in the Nutcracker Castle which even had a waterfall!

It snows (soapy suds) in this room every 4 minutes!!

In addition to making your own scented jar candles and dipping fun shaped candles, they had hand dipping for the kids...this was a big hit with Megan and Lauren!!

What a great day!!

Lauren's Turn

Hot Tub anyone?
Bunny Ears
Lounging in Papa's pool

Lauren and her daddy
Being Chosen to feed and give commands to Dolphins
Lifelong childhood memory
Lauren and her grandparents
Toes in the ocean

Like big sister Megan before her, Lauren was able to get her chance to go on a special father/daughter trip to Florida to visit Papa and Grammie Diane. I've never seen nor heard (for hours, no, days, mind you) her so excited!! I suppose it's just the kind of one on one attention a middle child craves.

Throughout the trip, Dan would text me pictures of all they were doing whether it be swimming, boating, visiting forts, feeding dolphins or arts and crafts with Grammie. Dan said she had the time of her life, but boy did it wipe her out...she slept for what seemed like days upon her return, albeit with a huge smile on her face and the warm glow of sun on her skin.

Thank you Grammie and Papa for the wonderful memories...It's now Katelyn's turn to anxiously await her time for this special trip!

Mystic Seaport

While Lauren and Dan were on their "special father/daughter trip" to Florida, Grammy and Grampy took the rest of us to Mystic for the day. It was a gorgeous autumn day and we enjoyed it immensely. We started off with lunch at Ten Clams located in Mystic Village, then we drove over to the Seaport to explore the olden days and returned later that afternoon to visit all the shoppes at the village.

Katie's favorite part of the day was feeding the ducks at the village, while Megan's was obviously the horse drawn carriage ride. By the way, the horse's name was Little Joe and we will remember him always, or so I'm told.

Katie, all tuckered out!

Girl Scout Badge Opportunity

There is nothing like a big ole' Turkey Leg!!

We couldn't pass up such a fun opportunity to earn a girl scout badge! This Rennaisance Faire had it all; knights, mimes, wandering minsterals, peasants, court jesters, and even an evil queen!! The shoppes we're alot of fun to visit too as almost everything sold was being handmade before our eyes. It was a busy fun filled day and the girls had alot of fun interacting with the cast and look what Megan earned just for attending, watching and learning....