85 Days of Summer

Are we really halfway through already?!? I seriously have to get on planning an end-of-summer vacation at the coast...

Happy toes on Monday (she totally cracked herself up with this one, and me, too.)

Tuesday: No shirt no shoes...scoot!

Some pretty awesome birthday art for a friend's birthday on Wednesday.

On Thursday we tackled the city as an obstacle course.

Full contact chalk drawing on Friday (shirtless, as usual)

To the Mac-Haydn for Jack in the Beanstalk with Grammy and the boys on Saturday (my nephew Andy went, too). He enjoyed it much more than this photo lets on :)

I was sick as a dog on Sunday (and am still recovering...). Tigerlily thought it might help if she, too, was a dog.

85 Days of Summer

Goofing around with Trixie on Monday

Though this heat is making me consider relocating to Northern Canada our near daily trips to the lake have helped us cope.

Rainwater + paint roller + lawn furniture = hours of fun on Wednesday

Nothing like a cleaned up sewing space to inspire me.

Friday night sleepover!

After considering this piece on our last several visits to our local junk shop I finally fell in love and brought it home on Saturday.

Just errands on Sunday, but who says you can't dress up for the grocery store?

85 Days of Summer

Roscoe, Lyric and Trixie snack time on Monday

an overnight at Grammy's on Tuesday (while I did some major paper-purging)

some cuddle time with my favorite boy on Wednesday

bubble blowing after errands on Thursday

picking up the girl at camp on Friday--she didn't want to leave!

some sweet treasures found thrifting on Saturday

our big monthly cleaning day on Sunday (Lyric would rather read)

85 Days of Summer

On Monday I painted some thrifted pieces to add to our home, including this side table and sweet little shelf.

On Tuesday my friend Oli brought over this amazing piece of his work in trade for watching his dog, Mia. She's selling more pieces here.

On Wednesday I finished the kid room re-do. I painted the walls white and the top portion of the brick bright green and Skye built Lyric a real bed.

The kids came home on Wednesday night and on Thursday we spent a good spell at the local water hole in a vain attempt to escape from the heat.

...and Friday, too.

Saturday morning was spent thrifting and in the afternoon we got everything ready for Lil to go to sleep away camp.

Here she is at camp on Sunday! The camp looks AWESOME and she's with a bunch of her friends, but she was still really sad to see us go. I can't wait to hear all about it on Friday!

85 Days of Summer: Vacation!

This week (days15 to 21) was our big summer family getaway vacation at our friends' cabin (and our old home) in Northern Vermont, just across the border from the town in New Hampshire where Skye grew up. It was not quite a peaceful as I had hoped (the kids have been crazy lately and the calm and quiet didn't help things too much...) and it was colder than most summer vacations but we had a lovely time nonetheless. Just look at everything we did!

the house on Baptist Hill, where we lived until Lil was 3

we explored the amazing natural world around us

we saw some old friends

we had a fire every night and roasted countless marshmallows

sparklers, too
we went swimming despite the cold

we relaxed, made art and played games

we went out on the town

we took a walk down the road to a favorite old cemetary

Skye and I have been enjoying a restful few days without the kids--they're with their grandparents in NH until Wednesday night! This is the vacation we've really been needing. Though I really do miss my kiddos ;)

85 Days of Summer

Summer Week #2 and we're still going strong!

On Monday we spent a bit of time outside, including some outdoor painting time.

Tuesday was a busy day with lots to get done, errands to run, and lots of folks in town for NADEC at the Free School. I resurrected the kids' play kitchen with some long-needed repairs and it kept them busy for hours.

Wednesday was my first day of watching Trixie, one of Lyric's bffs. I'll be watching her a couple of days a week for much of the summer. These two crack me up. (Again, the play kitchen. How did we survive while it was out of commission?)

On Thursday we had a friend over and took advantage of the delayed rain by having a picnic in the People's Park behind our house.

We went to the library on Friday to round up lots of books for vacation. My kids are both way into graphic novels. Me too!

On Saturday our family gathered at my brother's house to have dinner with my visiting Grandpa who regaled us with stories of bringing farm animals to weddings. So funny.

And here we are on Sunday, loading up for our week away from it all in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont! We're all really looking forward to this chance to unplug, get away from all of our day-to-day worries and spend some time alone as a family. See you next week!!

85 Days of Summer

Here we are, one week in! It's been a busy one...

On Monday we spent some time at a local orchard, picking strawberries and feeding the animals.

On Tuesday we walked up a couple of blocks to visit the State Museum. We saw our favorite exhibits, rode the carousel, got a hot dog from the cart outside and took a stroll through a newly renovated cathedral on the way home. The kids finished out the day with a bike ride with Dad before bed.

On Wednesday the weather was pretty icky so we stuck around the house, did some painting, read some books, watched Ponyo, and made ricotta gnocchi for dinner. Yum!

On Thursday we did a bunch of errands and played outside a bit.

On Friday we took Skye to work, hung out at Grammy's a bit, and played outside at Uncle Jim's. Lyric loves the forest of blueberries!

On Saturday we went thrifting in the morning, took a bike ride along the river and ended the day with dinner with some great friends.

On Sunday we went out to Grammy and Grandpa's for a Father's Day celebration with my brothers and their families. Unfortunately Lyric kept losing steam until he was deemed officially feverish. This kid never gets sick and I imagine he'll be good as new in the morning but for now I'm enjoying the cuddling!

Summer officially begins tomorrow--here's to a summer full of new experiences and hopefully at least a little bit of relaxing!!