New Hampshire

There was one of the many mornings we played on the porch.
Piper contemplated the meaning of life with a plastic spoon.

And she probably got some sort of poisoning from chewing on this 80's-era Army man.



And she and Sam became more acquainted.

There was arts and crafts one morning. Yes, the big kids played too.
And believe it or not, that construction paper is from Erik's own arts and crafts bin as a child.
I don't think it used to be neon colors.

 

There was cookie baking with Auntie Andrea.

And the sweetest little napper you'll ever see.
Don't worry, she doesn't usually have covers. I had that sheet over her bed to darken her sleeping area, but she got feisty one afternoon and pulled it down.

And we did chalks outside one day, and played in Grandma's garden.

And we might have hosted a mini-parade.

We worked on the door with Papa.

And picked the most gorgeous strawberries on the planet.



Seriously.

 

When we came home from strawberry picking, I thought it would be cool to crack my phone screen.
Luckily it had one foot in the grave already.

  

And there was a trip to the beach.

 

 

Which also had a playground.

 

After the beach we stopped at an ice cream place - NH is littered with them.
A few years ago, this "tween" decided he wanted to start an ice cream stand, and his dad said once he saved up x-amount of money, he could - so he did. This was a few years ago, and now they have the stand, some animals to pet and a HUGE play area with a sandbox, two play houses and lots of room to run. It's AWESOME!

 

Sadly, later that day G fell somewhere and got the biggest splinter I've ever seen. We tried to get it out, but the 4 adults couldn't manage to get the job done because we couldn't keep him still. I was so worried (he couldn't walk) that I took him to the doctor, who just said to soak it until he went to sleep and then cut it out. Um, my kid doesn't sleep that hard. So the next morning we managed to dig about 2/3 of it out and I'm hoping the rest just comes out on it's own. It's been awhile and it hasn't happened yet.

 

And there was the day that Erik and I found an app that allowed us to text while he's in Thailand and we sent the day sending ridiculous face pictures to each other. Grant thought it was hilarious.

 

My in-laws do "Champagne Friday" each week (usually it's just them, but this week there was company).
Auntie Andrea made us several types of bruchetta to go along. It wasn't terrible.

Baby's first bruschetta is a big step in our family. She's a fan!

And one day we trekked up to the childrens museum in VT.

It wasn't super great, but it killed an afternoon.

P got familiar with the zebra rug. Yeah, it's real. And it really sheds.
You ever picked zebra hair off your kids pacifier?

And we worked on a tooth that still hasn't come to the surface.

So, pretty fun - minus the tooth situation. Now we're counting down to Dad coming home. We're even making a paper chain this afternoon. He hasn't been gone that long (all told it will be about 7 weeks), but it's been excruciating for Grant, so I tapped in to all my FRG Leader skills and we're making a party of the countdown. Not too much longer!