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.

A trip to the Cleveland Zoo!

While in Ohio we took a trip to the Cleveland Zoo. If you ever find yourself in Cleveland and are looking for something to do (weather permitting) check out the Cleveland Zoo. It is my favorite zoo next to The National Zoo in Washington DC. Matthew (my brother), Sara (my sister), my dad, my niece, Mia, all went with us. It was a HOT day (very few that we had in July) but lots of fun. The animals were very cooperative with the camera and I think I got some good shots of them.

Here is Grandpa Yogi and Emily riding the tram.

One of my favorite animals to see at the zoo!!

Here are the girls cooling off in the Rainforest. I was playing around with the settings on my camera. Wanted to see some black and white photos.

Here are three exhausted girls getting ready to leave the zoo.

Uncle Matthew and Emily riding the tram up to the top of the hill to see the gorillas.

Mia and Callie on the tram.

Once at the top and after going through the primate house we had a picnic lunch near a playground. Here is Mia and me sitting on a (not real) camel. She kept calling the camel Sally from the song that Barney sings. Something about Sally had one hump....

Here are all the girls with "Sally".

It was a fun day and we were all tired when we got back to the car. I couldn't find a Starbucks fast enough so I could have an iced coffee. Mmmmmm...it tasted great!!

Here is my friend, The ostrich. He/she was a bit intimidating but I loved watching these creatures. They are huge!!

The snow leopard. A favorite with my girls. He/she was sleeping and very far away. I zoomed as much as I could and I think I got a pretty good shot. I thought for sure it would be blurry.

The leopard. We watched this guy for a LONG time. He prowled around his area and was very cooperative with the camera. I got a lot of pics of him.

This was one grumpy guy. We watched him throw this sack over top of his head. He was fun to watch.

The koala sleeping. Very cute.

Isn't this a beautiful animal?

And, of course, the zebra.

That is all for now. More to come from our Ohio trip.

Lunch at Miss Molly's

Our visit to Ohio was not without a trip to Miss Molly's Tea Room. It is a quaint little restaurant in Medina. I have been taking Emily there since she was just a baby in my arms. Mama Rachel, Mama Ann, Auntie Allison, Aunt Boo Boo and Mom came with us. It was a fun afternoon!! The lunches are yummy and light and even the kids get their own teapot and tea cup no matter what they order to drink. They have an adorable gift shop and we always end the visit with a trip across the hallway to a fabulous toy store.

Our table at Miss Molly's

Here is Mom and Mama Rachel. Can you tell they are mother and daughter? It was so much fun to have Mama Rachel with us. We played rummy for hours and hours and laughed a lot!! Lots of belly laughs!!

My niece, Mia, with her teapot and tea.

Here I am with my wonderful mother in law, Mama Ann, and my sister in law, Auntie Allison. Allison, Todd's little sister, just graduated from high school and is heading to Ohio University on a full academic scholarship. Way to go Allison....We love you!!!

Here are the girls with Aunt Boo Boo, my beautiful sister!!! We always enjoy our time with Sara.

Emily, Callie and Mia in the toy store.

Here are the girls with my fabulous grandmother, Mama Rachel! They were saying goodbye to her as they were headed to Mama Ann's for a couple days. Always sad to say goodbye.

It was a great afternoon filled with chatting, laughter and beautiful, wonderful women!!!