Thursday, July 30, 2015

Fun with Friends

This summer has been jam packed. On Saturday, after a morning run with the boys (Raf on his bike, Charlie in his stroller), we headed up to Bradbury Mountain to go hiking with the Neumann/Perluts. It was a fun walk up, though Charlie was super tired after a week of swim camp, and I was relieved that Rich was there to pick him up for some of the walk. 




Thanks, Stacey, for the family photo!


We then scooted to Freeport, just a few minutes down the road, to enjoy the free LL Bean summer concert. It was a lot of fun, though Charlie by this time was thoroughly shattered, and I think he must have fallen over 10 times and hurt himself as he could barely walk in a straight line.  Hatts of course slept most of the time, but she enjoyed having a little kick around on the rug.


Raf is seriously into dancing...


The kids were very boisterous so we took them to the car park where they could run around like lunatics without annoying too many concert goers.


Mind you, the boys were a source of entertainment... as you can see below, people were actually turning around to watch their moves!


Sunday, July 26, 2015

Sweet Hattie.

Harriet is 12 weeks old (we're getting ready to celebrate the full three months in just a couple of days). All of a sudden she is sprouting up, becoming more interactive, and has quickly outgrown her 3 month old baby clothes. This is all at the same time phenomenal and lovely as well as heartbreaking and sad as there will be no other baby poppets after Hattie Rose. She's so funny and sweet, though.

Here she is doing some tummy time with Sammy.



Then just hanging out in the moby as we walk the pups.


A quick plank whilst changing...


And then some big smiles as my mummy and brothers chat to me.


Bed time is going well.


Though she thoroughly enjoyed her hike, sleeping through the majority of it.


Resting


being cute.


Being grumpy as we wait for the Triple A people to rescue us from the beach on a very late Friday evening after someone left something on in the car, draining the battery.


First time in the Moby with her Dad!


And being incredibly cute and darling for my friend Margaret who captured this for me as I was getting one of the boys changed at swim camp. 


Adventures With Three Poppets/

July has been flying by. Rich has been working lots so I've been spending lots of time with the three poppets. I keep thinking that this will be the only year where we'll be spending so much time together over the summer as I imagine that Raf will be more interested in going to camps next year, so I've been trying to make the most of it. We've been cramming in a lot.

We have season passes to the Kennebunk Trolley Museum as well as the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Portland, so we go to both fairly regularly. Here we are at the Trolley Museum... 




And then after our ride Hatts and I watch on as the boys play with the trains there.


A very kind and lovely neighbour left a $5 bill in Raf's birthday card so he was lucky to be able to pick out a present for himself. (And Charlie did, too..!)


Feeling brave, I took the children into Kennebunport for a sorbet 'ice cream'. It was so lovely just lounging on the grass outside the ice-cream store as the boys ate their sorbets and played with their new trains.



Hattie catches some rays.


A couple of days later we hit the Narrow Gauge Railway. 



And then feeling very brave, I took the children hiking up Bradbury Mountain on my own. I was completely relying on Charlie being able to walk up and down the Mountain on his own, though I had no reason to think that he would or could. Up we go...



Raf helps his little brother.


And amazingly we made it to the top.







And we made it down again! Miracle. The boys were exhausted and fell asleep on the way home, but I did stop and woke them up to get them another ice cream (non dairy frozen yogurt... another miracle in itself). Yummy.




And of course lots of trips to the beach. Getting on and off the beach (especially the latter) is a picture of torture as I try to wrangle Hattie, Charlie, and all of the things the boys think they need. Raf is a super helper, though. 





Then the week begins again and we're off to the Trolley Museum AGAIN! I wonder when it will get old for these kids.




Thursday, July 23, 2015

Early July Fun!

July is going very quickly... just a few pics from the early part of the month. 

Beth and Scott visited us on the eve of July 4th with some fun gifts for the children. A lovely hat for the Hatts, and some fun beads and paper hats for the boys, as well as a very cool old train book. There were some tears as Raf ripped a bit of his hat, but the boys were chuffed with their swag. 



There have been many trips to the beach...


With fun and racing.





There is always a lovely parade nearby on July 4th, and the boys were very excited. They had their beads on, too.


And here we are on Candy Corner... the best place for the candy that's thrown from the floats.




Our favourite chippy had a float.



So many sweeties.


And then it was off to a neighbourhood party. Lots of fun.


A very late night but it meant a lovely cuddle with the children in the morning. 


And then of course it was Raf's big birthday week, which ended with a trip to OOB for some fun on the fairground. It had been a washout on his actual birthday and we were glad we waited. The boys had a blast.









Charlie watching his big brother.




And then we had time to play on the beach.