Look out, Look Park, here we come!

I can't believe after all the years of living here with kids that I had no idea Look Park existed. We had a brilliant day with friends and can't wait to go back.

Echo is not only amazingly cute in her own right, but is a constant incredible reminder of what a difference a year makes. Here she is wearing a cute little gingham number I remember another small girl wearing this time last year. Sadie looks like a giant in comparison. 12 months sure do go by quickly.

It's always so amusing to me how our boys can see Luke twice a year and it's as if they are long lost best friends who meld into one crazy boy group instantly each time we see him.

Doing something naughty at the water park, it seems, from that smirk!

Echo and her Mama.

Single-handedly trying to drink all the park water?

Exquisite joy.

Echo and her Daddy.

Wild and free and it doesn't hurt to be soaking wet too.

Picture perfect fairyland.

"Swing" and "Higher" were the new words that week!

Great feats of strength carried out by the river.

This is the Summer of Water for Eamon. Finally enjoying it in all its forms.

Practicing in case he wants to be a fireman someday.

"I can do anything the boys can do!"

When the tongue comes out, you know he's concentrating super-hard.

When his tongue comes out, he's just being silly!

Daring each other to see who can get the closest to falling in, I'm sure.

One if by rail, two if by sea.

We spent a fun day in Essex, CT. We surprised the kids and didn't let on where we were going and they had a great trip up and down the Connecticut River first on the steam train and then back by boat.

All aboard!

Ready to head out of the station.

Railway dreamer.

Sitting still is not Sadie's forte. Looking evil is.

Colin was the master I Spy, Train Edition champion.

We made it to the boat landing!

All hands on deck! (or at least half of them)

Sea dreamer.

Gillette Castle. An adventure in itself we'll save for another day!

Spotting the wildlife.

Flat Stanley takes a dip.

For his end-of-school project, Colin's class read the book Flat Stanley and then had to take a paper Stanley with them somewhere to photograph their fun together. We originally wanted to take him to Mystic, CT but since we forgot him on the kitchen table (it's so much harder to remember to bring two dimensional kids, alas) we had to make a back-up plan. Grampy had just opened the pool and the boys braved the chilly water temp and dove right in. Flat Stanley seemed to enjoy it... while he lasted. We discovered that Paper Kids are not very resilient after all. Good thing our 3D kids are made of tougher stuff!

Busy Summer = No time to blog!

I'm going to attempt to play catch-up around here. Radio silence does not equal a lack of activity, we've actually been so busy enjoying summer that I've fallen hopelessly behind (in all areas of life!)

We spent an entire afternoon camped out in our front yard watching this Mama raccoon try to save her babies. They must have gotten separated on either side of the street and she was trying to get the whole litter back together. Every time she would leave either set of babies, they would screech and wail for her.

Once she realized we were more interested in taking pictures than harming her little ones, she got a bit more brave in her travels back and forth the street. Raccoons are shifty looking animals, even at the best of times!

But their babies sure are cute!