Back in New Hampshire

After a long ride home with traffic on the Mass Pike we arrived home late Sunday night only to find that we were without power. Todd got our generator running so we could unpack the car and shortly after that the power came back on. Our neighbors were not so lucky as we could hear generators running well into the wee morning hours. We were all tired and fell into our beds after unpacking the car. The last two days were filled with unpacking, laundry and cleaning. We managed to get into the pool yesterday. Well, the girls did. The water was about 75 degrees which is still too cold for me.

I just went through all my pictures I took while in Ohio and WV. All 388 of them. I will post some of my favorites and put the rest on snapfish. This trip I really focused on all the kids. Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of pictures of the adults. So here are some highlights from our trip:

We spent the 4th of July at Ann and Bob's. So much fun with family and friends!

I just love this picture of Eleanor. The boots were the perfect touch to her outfit and personality!

I love this picture of Julia. We celebrated her first birthday. She really enjoyed her cake!!

Here is Emily and Julia. The girls loved being with Eleanor and Julia. They were so good with them. Emily was the mother hen. So cute to watch.

A huge part of this trip was spending time with Auntie Allison. Allison is so good to the girls and I really appreciate the time she spends with them. Not all teenagers would take so much time to spend with their young nieces.

The day was filled with yummy food and lots of catching up with friends and family. Mama Ann made the day perfect with fun things for the kids to play with and the beautiful cupcakes and so much more. One of my favorite parts of this day is that my family comes and I can enjoy both families together. We ended the day with a beautiful fireworks display thanks to Uncle Christopher!!!

The next day we headed over to Noel and Debbie's house. What a crowd we had there. It was a day of cousins!! Todd's uncle and his kids and grand kids were there. We spent the hot day in the pool and enjoyed great food and catching up with everyone!! The kids had all grown up so much! Here are some favorite photos from that day:

Here we have the Beard cousins!! All 13 of them!!! They had so much fun getting to know each other again and hanging out together.

We ended the day with another fireworks display bigger than the night before. It was huge! The finale was over two minutes long and apparently not everything went off. We all enjoyed watching the show. Thanks Christopher!!!!

My time for blogging is over for today. Check back later for more pictures of our three week trip!

More family time

We have been with my family since last Wed. evening. We traveled to WV to visit with my grandmother and grandfather. I feel very lucky to have both sets of my grandparents still alive and blessed that my daughters have been able to get to know them and form relationships with them. We arrived there Friday evening. Saturday morning we drove out to visit an old teacher of mine when I was about 4/5 years old. This dear lady tracked me down about 5 or 6 years ago and we have been exchanging Christmas cards ever since. She lives about 15 minutes from my grandparents house. Mrs. O'Brien is a hoot. She is a joy to know and full of life. I just love her laugh and I love that she and her husband made time to see us Saturday morning.

Saturday evening two of my cousins (Melanie and Samantha) and their families came over and we enjoyed a great meal and catching up with them. Again....the kids all got along and had a blast together. It was great to see them all. Sunday we stopped to see my Aunt Linda and Uncle Johnny Bob. It was a bonus visit as we got to see another cousin (Jeremy) and his daughters and wife. They just had a new baby and she is beautiful.

All the while we have spent precious time with my niece, Mia. She is such a joy and full of conversations. She is a talking machine!! Emily and Callie have been so good with her. Emily even got her to eat blueberries today after she refused to eat them with me. The things that Mia comes up with to say are so profound to me for an almost three year old. She melts my heart. This morning she licked my arm and then said to me, "You are delicious today!"

Well, that is all for now. Time to head to bed!

Feeling Thankful

I have no pictures to post as I am away from home and my computer but I just wanted to post for my benefit. The girls and I are in Ohio now. Todd was with us but left on Sunday. We miss him terribly. We arrived on Thursday, July 3rd, and it has been a wonderful five days of visiting with family and friends. To think we have so much time left here is wonderful. I have to admit I was dreading the trip a little b/c of all the packing and driving and time away from Todd and my home. But once we arrived all that dread went away. We have seen cousins galore and some old Florida friends and have really enjoyed the time. The girls seem to be handling it all so well. To watch my girls with their cousins, Eleanor and Julia, is just priceless. They were also reacquainted with Todd's, cousins kids. They all got along so well and it was so fun to watch them form relationships with one another.

Today Auntie Allison (Todd's little sis) passed her drivers test!! Yippee!!! She was so nervous before she left and thought she was going to fail but she passed!! Today we also saw some old friends of ours we knew in Florida. My dear friend, Tes, and her family. Her girls and my girls just picked up where they left off and became fast friends again. It was so fun to watch! Emily and Jenny plan to keep in touch by email and weekend phone calls. So sweet! It was so great to see and catch up with Tes!! It was like I had just seen her last week at the play ground. Her son, Josh, is the cutest blonde little boy!! Such a personality.

Tomorrow we head back to Medina with my family. Can't wait to see my niece, Mia, again. She is so sweet and I just love her!!

So until next time........