Homecoming

Our view from tailgating

Jane and me

On the mall on campus

a very blurry photo taken in the back of a cab

A few of my friends and I make it a tradition to go back to UMaine campus in Orono for alumni/Homecoming weekend.  This year we had beautiful weather, and lots of good company.

trip to NYC

Grand Central Station

From the top of the Empire State Building

Times Square

I went on a very spontaneous short trip to NYC this month-- my first time in the city!

karate

Guess who passed his purple belt test and moved up to wearing a black gi?!  So proud of this guy!!

And here's Gabby in her own karate pose.  She was quite a watch cat...

lake in october

Swimming in October!

Love how beautiful the lake is in the autumn

Me- annual birthday (Oct 2nd) swim.  It was cold, but could have been worse!

On a field trip to the pumpkin patch

It's amazing how beautiful our weather has been this Autumn in Maine.  The only reason I'm able to catch up a little on this blog is because it's raining out-- it hasn't rained for such a long time.  This is my absolute favorite time of the year, so it's very special to have such nice weather this year.  The year I turned 39.  The final year of my birthday celebrations.  Thirty-nine and holding, thank you very much.

Fall

Spence in the pumpkins

Delivering balloons to open house

A boy and his kitty

Hay ride at Longfellow's

Did I miss September all together?

Trying on Halloween costumes

First day of school

Getting his purple belt

So somehow I missed the month of September.  It proved itself as a very busy month, obviously.  Spencer has become very interested in Halloween and trying on his pumpkin costume.  The boys had their first day of school-- Ben in first grade and Spence in preschool two mornings/week.

And Big Ben had his three-hour long purple belt test and passed!

bike cake

Ben got a new bike for his birthday.

Here is Auntie Sissy's birthday cake for the boy.  Super cool.  And really yummy (coming from someone who doesn't even like cake!)!!

birthday

 A boy and his balloons

 Green cake

And then chocolate cake!

Popham

I always have grand plans to make several trips to the beach during summer vacation.  Here are pictures from our one trip to Popham Beach.  We had a really great day & beautiful weather!

sand angels

 

Making "sand angels" at Popham.

seven!

This guy turned seven this month.  When the heck did that happen?!  

He had quite a fun few days of birthday celebration and now he's getting ready to start first grade on Wednesday.  *Sigh*...  Where does the time go?

some yoga at baxter state park (and nearby)

 While these first two photos aren't *technically* in Baxter State Park (that story to come...), the deep Maine woods and lakes are an absolutely beautiful location to do some yoga.  Thanks to Jay for taking these photos!

Stretching while waiting for water to boil (at 6am)

Boys doing tree pose on the roof of our lean to...

Me and B in Baxter- a very cool place where rocks made a natural water slide!

colors...

 Ben still attends (and loves) karate.  In the summer they have some themed week & this one was red, white, and blue week-- so we colored the hair.  There's also crazy hair week (pictures to follow).  Even though Spence doesn't take karate, he likes to get in on the themes.

Here's my funky pedicure; toes ready for the Phish show in Bangor.

And more colors:  anniversary flowers for me from Jay.  We celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on July 3rd.  

misc summer

This is one cool dude...

Spence seems to think candy is one of the major food groups

At a golf lesson

Spencer's version of putting

Oh.  And these guys like to eat.  All. The. Time.

Spence loves to swim!

Spencer is pretty fearless.  This is why we strap a life jacket on him when we're near the water.  He loves to swim.  Luckily so does Ben-- they spend a lot of time jumping off the boat.

more catch up

 We did one week of swim lessons so far this year-- the very first (COLD!) week and haven't been back since other things got in the way.  (Well, plus Spencer decided he didn't really want to do swim lessons.)  We may get back, but in the meantime I have this sweet photo of Spencer at the public beach, playing while big brother had his lesson...

Here's big brother with some of his tattoos.  He wanted more, but we ran outta space...

 Summer solstice-- I attempted 108 sun salutations.  Here's a photo of me in reverse namaste', gearing up for a day of yoga...

 Shelling native Maine peas-- some of our favorites!

Me and B.

playing catch up!

Ben helping run the excavator!

 I've been quiet lately, so I'm playing catch up.  Sue and Phil needed a new septic, so we had some cool heavy equipment around here.  The boys actually got to take turns operating the excavator & here's a picture of Ben having a lesson...

Lots of playing in the mud during this rainy time we've had

 Spence loves the mud.  And we've had lots of rain.  That's a good mix...

This kid is almost SEVEN!!

 This handsome man will be seven in less than a month-- that's really hard for me to believe.  

Jay and Ben practicing their golf swing

Ben took some golf lessons this summer (and more to come!), which in turn gave Jay the golf itch again.  They both really love it.  Guess I should learn how to swing a club...