Fun Raking Leaves

We are having some wonderful weather here in New England. Probably what some would call an Indian Summer. Not me...I call 80 degrees an Indian Summer. Nonetheless, it has been unseasonably warm the last few days. We have wrapped up soccer as of Saturday with a playoff game for Emily's team and an all star game for Callie. Last week was Operation H1N1 at our house. Both girls came down with what we all think is probably the H1N1 flu. Callie was home all week and Emily just a couple days. We seem to be back on track as of now. Callie was slow going this weekend and stayed home today b/c of a stomach ache and feeling weak. But after some more sleep and finally some food, she is feeling much better. We just took a nice walk without jackets. Nothing like that to brighten your day in November in New England.

Before all that happened, we had a nice day in our yard raking leaves. It wasn't as warm as today but working hard raking and hauling leaves it was perfect weather at about 50 degrees.

Everyone got in on the act!

Here are the girls in the middle of our HUGE pile of leaves. They wouldn't stop raking until it was high enough to sit in it with just their heads sticking out.

After finally getting a great smile out of both of them, Emily decided to goof around with her sister.

Poor Callie is still trying to give me a smile.

Well, no more smile but they were having fun.

Then Emily took it to the next level and started throwing the leaves at Callie. All I could think of was all the re-raking we were going to have to do.

Now they are getting serious about throwing leaves.

They had a good time with some fresh air. We spent the rest of the day raking and hauling the leaves. The girls pooped out about 1/2 an hour after I took these pictures. Todd and I were at it until dark.

Yesterday, we took a beautiful walk in the woods. We went to Mine Falls Park where they have some great paved walking/biking paths. There are also non paved paths you can go on. It was such a beautiful day and of course I took some pictures. So next up will be our Fall Hike.

Halloween Fun!

Happy Halloween to all!! We had a very nice Halloween here in New Hampshire. We have been very lucky the past 6 years we have lived here to have a warm trick or treat night. We have heard horror stories of frigid temps and lots of rain. We had a few sprinkles this year but the daytime temps were close to 70 degrees if not warmer. By the time trick or treat started all I needed was a light fleece jacket but no gloves this year! With the exception of the clouds covering up the full moon (or almost full), the night was perfect for Halloween with the wind howling, leaves blowing and the shadows of the trees blowing on the houses. Ooooooooo!!

Callie wanted to be a ghost but couldn't be a ghost for her school party since it would cover up her face. So Callie and her friend, Courtney, decided to go as twin nerds for their school party. Callie came up with everything herself with Todd's Napoleon Dynamite wig, Todd's old suspenders, glasses with tape in the middle and a button down shirt with a pocket. She even put a pencil behind her ear and a pen in her shirt pocket.

Here is Callie with her friend, Courtney and their Teacher, Mrs. Vermilyea.

The Nerds!!

We were going to buy her a ghost costume but decided to make it ourselves. Here is our little Callie, the friendly ghost. She kept telling me that all she got was a rock when we were out trick or treating. She actually showed me a rock that she pulled out of her bag. Remember the Charlie Brown Halloween special?? All Charlie Brown got was a rock and he was dressed up as a ghost.


Here is our Vampiress, Emily!! That morning she had a very intense soccer game. She wore the stripped tights to keep warm. She was tripped during the game and scraped her knee, making a big hole in her tights. (She fell on the part of the field that was part of the baseball diamond.) She got up and shook it off and then ran down the field to score a goal. Very exciting!!!

Here is Emily scooping out the guts of her pumpkin. It is very nice that the girls can carve their own pumpkins now. I just get to take pictures.

Emily's vampire pumpkin

Callie concentrating hard on one of her two pumpkins.

Callie's pumpkin

A couple weeks before Halloween, we went to the Keene, NH, Pumpkin Fest. It is about an hour away from our house. Every year they collect as many carved pumpkins as they can to beat their record and Boston's record. This year they beat their own record (sorry I can't remember what the final count was) but not Boston's record. It was a very chilly night but we had a great time. There were pumpkins EVERYWHERE you looked. All lit up.

Here we are in front of a huge tower of pumpkins!

Here are the girls with our friend, Kate. Kate if the one who told us all about the pumpkin fest. She is a first grade teacher and has her kids and their families all carve a pumpkin and she brings them all to Keene. Kate is the one that we do the ski club with. She patiently taught me how to ski.

Here is one of the two huge towers of pumpkins. See the huge jack o lantern on top?? The shadows you see are people's heads that were right in front of me.and the street lamps.

Some shelves with more pumpkins. I had never seen so many jack o lanterns in one place before. Actually, I don't think I have every seen that many jack o lanters period. The town of Keene is a small college town. The downtown area was pretty neat with some really cool shops. They even had an old theater that we went in and for free they were showing old Warner Brother's cartoons. It was nice to get out of the cold for a bit. We want to go back sometime when all the shops are open and walk around.

That is about it for our Halloween Fun. We are almost done with Soccer. Emily's team starts the playoff games this week. Her first game is Wed. night. As I said, Saturday's game was very intense so this one will be even better!!!! Callie's regular team is done but she was chosen to be on an all star team so she will play one more game this next Saturday.

I will leave you with this last photo of the beautiful leaves along our rock wall and my favorite tree. All the leaves have fallen and we raked them up yesterday. So next up.....Fun with Fall Leaves!! Then the Soccer Highlights. So stay tuned!!!

We are ants!!!

Every year about this time, Todd retells the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper to the girls. How the grasshopper goofed around and played all Summer and Fall while the Ant worked hard to put away food for the long Winter months. Fall for us is Soccer, apple picking, pumpkin carving, trick or treating, raking leaves and of course hauling and stacking wood to keep us warm all Winter long. It has become a family event here at Camp Beard. Here are some pictures to document our day.

We think it was two cords of wood. Mysteriously, there was more wood there days after the load was delivered. Hmmmmm......could it be the wood fairy??

Callie gets serious about this and is a very hard worker!!
Here I am loading up the wheelbarrow for yet another trip to the back pile.

Even Emily gets in on the act!!

Here the girls are still happy and willing to work!!

The pile is getting smaller!!!

Here is our finished work. We also have a large pile in the screened porch and another couple piles around the house. After all this work we STILL have a small pile yet to do in our side yard. But we are ready for the Winter......WE ARE ANTS!!!!

Our weekend in Cleveland

I haven't blogged since August 24th. Hmmm......before school even started. It has been awhile. But I have to say that it is hard to sit down and blog about our adventures in New England when I have three wonderful friends in Europe blogging about their fabulous adventures over there!! Not that I am upset about that....but as my friend, Barb, always says........I am just saying!! So I sit here this morning thinking about our weekend in Cleveland.....yes that is in Ohio.....for Todd's youngest, brother's wedding. Chris and Erin got married in downtown Cleveland. I did most of my growing up outside of Cleveland with lots of trips downtown. Spent many evenings as a young adult there as well. So needless to say, I have a lot of great memories of this little city. A city that hosts the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and sits on the coast of Lake Erie. As a mother I have started to create some memories in Cleveland with my two girls. During our Summer visits we take the Rapid (train) downtown to Terminal Tower and watch the dancing fountain, shop, eat, etc. As we pulled up at our hotel for the wedding the girls were amazed at the size of the buildings surrounding them. I guess they are not city girls. Callie said to me as we walked from our hotel at Key Plaza over to Terminal Tower, "This is the biggest city I have ever been to!" Hmmmmm.....She has been to Boston but I think maybe not in the heart of the tall buildings. Cleveland may have grand memories for me but it is on the smaller side of American cities. I have to add it is home to the Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Browns and even when they are playing awful.....I still love them!!!

Chris and Erin's wedding was September 12. It was a beautiful September day in Cleveland. With plenty of sunshine and some fluffy white clouds in a bright blue sky. The wedding was beautiful, elegant, fairytaleish (is that a word?), classy and most of all fabulous fun!!! It was so great to see all our families and some friends all dressed up in the same place. Here are a few pictures (out of over a hundred I took) from that weekend.

This is the view outside our hotel window. It over looks Key Plaza. When we looked to the far left of our window we could see the lake. Pictures were taken down at the fountain there. Lots of great photos!!

On our way over to Terminal Tower to meet up with my parents and brother and sister for a quick visit and brunch, we stopped at this fountain and took a picture.

I don't know the name of this church but I thought it looked so pretty in the middle of all these tall buildings. Someone reading this may know the name.....anyone????

The tallest building in this pic is Key. We stayed in the building behind it at the Marriott. Great hotel!!! Todd and I have stayed there a couple times before.


Here are the bride and groom.........I just smile when I see this picture. Erin is a great addition to the family!! I feel honored to call her my sister in law!! They looked very happy and aren't they just the cutest????

Love this picture!!! This was taken as they walked out to the dance floor when they were introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Beard.

Here are the three Beard boys with their beautiful little sister, Allison.

Jason, Chris, Allison and Todd.

Here are the girls with Mama Ann (Todd's mom) and Papa Bob

The girls with Grandpa Buck (Todd's dad) and Grandma Dee Bee

Here are the girls with my parents.

The bride and groom with Grandma Dee Bee's parents.....Mr. and Mrs. K.

Jason (Todd's brother) and Colleen just had their third daughter. She was 13 days old the day of the wedding. Here is Todd and I with Caroline at the rehearsal dinner. It was great to meet her and hold her.

Family Picture

Jason and Colleen with two of their daughters. I am sure someone was enjoying their time with Caroline!!

Jason, Colleen, Eleanor and Julia.

Eleanor and Julia were the flower girls.

Emily, Callie, Eleanor and Julia.


I mentioned my family came down to see us for brunch. My brother brought my beautiful niece, Mia. Here are the girls with Mia.

My sis and I in front of the dancing fountain at Tower City.

Here I am with my sister Sara and my brother Matthew.

Thank you guys for making the trip down to see us. Thanks to my parents as well. They made two trips. They came to the wedding as well.

So that concludes our Cleveland trip. All is well in New England. It is turning colder here but we are going to have a fabulous Fall this year. Very colorful as we have had really cool nights. So if anyone wants to take a "peeping" trip to New England...come on up!!!

We are full swing into Fall Soccer now and girls are up to their eyeballs in homework. I hate homework.......just thought I would add that in!!!! But they seem to like their teachers.

I mentioned my three friends in Europe that have blogs. If you would like to read of their adventures you can click on their links on the left side of my blog. The Suttons, Belgium Barb and Valarie. They have some great pictures and are great bloggers. They do a great job documenting places they go and their adventures of learning a new country.

Until next time.............

Hurricane Bill on the New Hamshire Coast

Hurricane?? In New Hampshire?? Yes, Bill came by for a visit. He didn't actually come to us but sent us some rain and wind and waves. Yesterday, early evening, we decided to take a ride out to the coast. The tide was on its way back out but we could see how high it had come up. The waves were beautiful and there were a lot of people about. The first picture was taken at our favorite spot north of Hampton and Rye. We have taken many pictures out here and even spent the day one year for Emily's birthday. Some of you may recognize it as a spot we have taken you. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the lobster trap and buoy. It looked so New Englandish sitting there on the rocks with the waves behind it.

Our first stop was Hampton Beach. This is what we found there. Cloudy, not raining, a lot of people and some crazy people in the water. There were a lot of surfers!! A busy place.

The waves were pretty big and kept on rolling in one after another.

Our next stop was a favorite place, the "Rock Beach"! By now it was raining off an on a bit. It was a little brighter here, North of Hampton. The waves were not as big and the tide was further out. Here are the girls before walking out onto the rocks.

These two pictures were taken way out by the water on some very big rocks. It was beautiful!!!

I took this last picture as we were leaving. The pictures just don't capture how beautiful it really was.

After leaving the "Rock Beach" we headed over to a local joint called, Rays. (Not to be confused with Rays Place in Kent.) We ate dinner until it became dark and started to rain hard. It was a great way to end our weekend.

The picture at the very top, behind the blog heading, was taken out on Cape Cod. More pictures of that trip later and I still have more Ohio pictures to post. Just wanted to get these out while Hurricane Bill was all fresh in our minds.