Loons

We have a pair of loons on the lake....and we do mean BIRDS not crazy neighbors. It turns out that there is usually only ONE set of Loons on a body of water at a time. They don't like to share. Anyway, the pair on our lake happen to like to appear over by our dock quick frequently. Last night, while we were fishing off the dock, they came around and made a bunch of noise and enjoyed some fishing of their own. We are seriously in a sweet spot for fishing! This morning, they were even closer, but I didn't bring my camera out so this is a photo from last night. The kids are entertaining names for the birds (because they name EVERYTHING). If they decide on anything, we'll let you know.

Oh, what do you do in the Summer Time....

My kids have discovered the joy of fishing. Their dad isn't much of a fisherman. (Understatement) I grew up fishing with my dad and have very fond memories of frying up our catch and desperately trying to eat the trout without swallowing a bone as well. Our kids don't want to eat what they catch, but are THRILLED to be able to catch and release the small perch we have swimming in abundance around our dock. The little guy in the photo below was literally caught without casting. Brogan just dangled the worm on a hook over the side and watched as a fish crept up and took the bait. He was thrilled at the catch, and equally as happy with the release....after which he determined to try and catch it again.

The photo below is what SUMMER is all about. KK likes to cast and real. She is convinced that every little tug is a bite. I have a rather entertaining video of her bringing in what she is certain is a very large fish...and is disappointed to discover that she has actually managed to snag a rather large branch. Regardless, be it branch or fish, my kids LOVE this activity. We were back on the dock early this morning. I am only relieved that our neighbors on each side are not visiting right now...and were not subject to the early morning squabbling.

Cassidy at Art Camp

One final week in NH Cassidy spent at Kimball Jenkins Art Camp. It was Fantasy Week. She has a lovely time and made some wonderful items.

In the photo above, Cass is modeling her jet pack. You can't see it, but she made two buttons that say "Super Fast" and "Super Slow". Super cute! Below she is showing her magic wand and hanging at her side is the terribly cute bat (I suppose if you must make a flying rodent, this is a good choice.)

Her favorite item (and probably my least favorite based on mess value alone) can't be seen in this photo. But, in the little white cup she is holding is the wonderful creation of OOBLEK. It looks and feels just like it sounds.
She enjoyed her time and met even MORE friends. This week (July 25th-August 1st) Cassidy is at her very first sleep over camp called "Camp Chateaugay". She's been at camp since Sunday night. Today is Wednesday. We miss her. I'm certain she is having a wonderful time but she didn't take a camera and will probably report that she didn't "do anything" when she returns. Which I know isn't true. I sent her with a journal and request to write down one thing that she enjoyed doing every day. We'll see if she was too excited or exhausted at the end of the day to comply with this request. But...a mom can hope. :)

Saying Goodbye.....

...or more accurately, "See you later." So the kids and I start the first leg of our move to the West Coast on Saturday morning. We are only go as far as our Lake House in New York though. While there Cassidy will attend wonderful "Camp Chateaugay" and KK and Brogan will play on the beach with me. Brian will still be at SPS wrapping up the summer program. On August 1st I will come back long enough to collect him, load up the car, and depart. We will spend one week at the lake house and then, on August 9th, we will officially leave the East Coast. But, we are only leaving for a year. So it has made saying, "Good bye" rather interesting. 'Cause it isn't good bye....for the most part....it's just "see you next year". But some of our friends will move while we are gone, which means that we really are saying, "Good bye". This week, rather then keep the week free of appointments and spend the time focused on packing, I filled the evenings with final play dates and visits with friends. Cassidy will be turning 8 just after arriving in WA. She won't know anyone there so a birthday party with friends might not work out. We had a surprise party for her here in NH. I decided to do it about 48 hours before the actual event. (In my defense, I was sort of preoccupied with packing tape, bubble wrap and other such distractions.) I was able to invite 4 of her sweet friends from school who she will miss quite sincerely. She was completely surprised. I am so grateful that she has such good, kind girls as peers (it helps that I adore their mother's too!). I wasn't quick enough to invite Teagan to the party, so instead Cass and I met up with Teagan, her mother, and her younger sister for mini-golf at "chucksters" . It was a riot....and the perfect way for these 2 to say, "Bye...for now." We are looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone via email, post card, and a good old fashioned letter. Bring on the pen pals!

A girl and her horse

While Kayla was busy searching for buried treasure (see previous post) Cassidy was happily exploring life on the ranch. Milestone Farm, to be exact. A charming horse farm in the sleepy and beautiful town of Dunbarton, NH. Here Cassidy met and fell in love with a horse. Her name is Mini. She is for sale. And although you can SEE the LOVE, money just can't buy this sort of adoration....it's that "first love" adoration. The kind that would eventually wear off after too many early mornings of mucking the stall. However, for one full week, THIS was Cassidy's dream come true. From 9am (a respectable time) until 4pm every day, Cassidy learned about caring for a horse (yep, she mucked a stall, cleaned water buckets, and groomed the horses as well) and she also learned how to ride. She was in Heaven. I have no doubt that if we would have let her, she would have moved right on in. I think there may be many more horse camps for us in the future. And I'm quite alright with that. (The Brown horse in the photo's below is Mini. The white one is Silver and Cassidy rode her during the horse show. She was assigned to ride Silver, if it had been up to her, Mini would have been her mount the entire week.)

Shiver Me Timbers.....

Kayla attended a week long day camp with a PIRATE theme. For the entire week she was called "KK the Sweet". When I picked her up from camp the first day, she informed me of her pirate moniker and I jokingly asked her, "Are you sure it shouldn't be KK the Sassy?" She gave me a look that was anything BUT sweet and mostly quite sassy and with exasperation gave me the dreaded, "MOOOOOMMMMM!" complete with eye roll. Kayla took to Pirate week all too well and the next morning she came down dressed in a spiffy little outfit with a pirate bandana, one clip on ear ring, every bracelet she could find and tacky plastic ring (all of which she called her Pirate Booty) and a scarf tied around her waist. It was a riot. But she was serious about her look. During class the kids made a very large pirate boat. Here KK is demonstrating her fierce pirate look (HA! It totally cracks me up.) and showing off the boat and her fashion savvy. Enjoy....

Sleeping Sisters

There is NOTHING like a long day full of fun to exhaust these 2 little ones. And there is nothing that puts a smile on a mommy's face then coming in and finding that the two of them have snuggled together in the same bed and fallen asleep. SWEET!

Bear Brook...spa?

On July 5th we were treated to a SURPRISE going away mini-party at Bear Brook State Park. It was lovely fun. Miserably hot, so the perfect solution was a dip in this pleasant water. The kids found clay and decided to cover themselves from top to bottom. Check it out:

We had SO much fun on the 5th that we decided to take the whole family and some more friends back on the 7th. Cassidy was thrilled to bring her friend Mia. I think she will be missing little Miss Mia quite a bit this next year. Hooray for internet though! And although I don't have a photo of it, my mother is here with us...visiting from Washington State to help us pack up and prepare to move. Thanks, Mom!!!

July 4th

I think there is some sort of general Blogging Rule that demands a post for any major holiday. And so, here is our 4th of July post. The kids all got dressed for church today wearing red and white. (They chose blue and white for me...and had Brian wear a red tie.) They looked so charming. Cass and Brog were ready for the photo below...but Kayla wasn't quite set.

Fortunately we almost always take 2 photos and the second shot caught Kayla with a smile and the other 2 as well. Such cute little kids. They are getting so big!
We were able to share a lovely meal with our friends at church, and then return a few hours later for some amazing and colorful fireworks. Brian wasn't able to go with us (we missed him) so we don't have any photos of the event. I spent a lot of time chasing Brogan around and trying to keep tabs on the other 2 (single parenting is exhausting). The kids had fun running around with all their friends from church, playing games, doing "pops" and making a lovely 4th of July theme hat. If any of them survived the furiously fast pack-up job I will take a picture and try to post it later. The hats are really quite cute. All 3 kids were awake the entire time and only Brogan was sleeping when we arrived home at 10:30pm. It was a lovely evening. Our only incident came when Brogan decided to jump out of the back of the van (which was parked with the trunk open) and bonked his noggin on the parking lot. It was just a graze though...far more scary then damaging. It taught him nothing though...because he was right back at it a few minutes later. Oh well. Boys will be boys. Or something like that. Hope you all enjoyed a happy 4th as well.

Swim lessons

We just finished our first (and only) round of swim lessons for the girls this year. Kayla enjoyed a wonderful year. All the other parents would tell me, "She's too good for this age group." The community pool though determines what class you are in by your AGE at the time of the class and not you SKILL level. So, she was with a young class. She had great fun though. At this age/level it's all about teaching kids to be comfortable in the water. We are hoping for swim lessons in WA this next year that will challenge her a bit more.

While Kayla was busy swimming, Cassidy was busy playing on the park right next to the pool. She met a sweet girl named, Nell. They were in the same class (and Nell's sister was in Kayla's class) and even had matching swim suits. The 2 of them became very good friends and are hoping to spend some time together before the end of the summer.
Cassidy had a successful year. She is swimming with more confidence and prefers to float on her back and swim backwards. Her favorite part was jumping in the deep end. She really enjoyed her lessons this year and it helped that she had a new friend or two. There was also a sweet boy named Connor who gave her a bunny "silly band" on the last day of class. Those of you who are aware of the silly band craze sweeping the nation can understand the IMPORTANCE of such a gift.
And Brogan got to play on the park the entire time both girls were swimming. He is a very confident climber. It makes me nervous at times but he has yet to fall and get hurt so he must be doing something right. If he isn't climbing, he is in the swings. I think he could spend all day in a swing and be very content.
All in all...a wonderful experience. The session only lasted for 2 weeks, M-TH. The girls are sad it is over, but are excited because Grandma Harmon arrives this week and then NEXT week they are onto even more fun and summer camps. It's going to be a busy summer. We signed the up for Summer Camps because we know that I'm going to be packing up the house and can't spend a whole lot of time entertaining or organizing activities for them. This way, we ALL get to do things and be happy. It's a win:win situation.