Life Plus Two: July 2017

Rockport

The weekend after the 4th and before heading out to Utah, we drove up to Rockport. I've loved exploring all the little seaside towns and this trip was particularly fun. We walked around the town a bit, saw Motif #1 which is one of the most painted/photographed buildings in America, ate some ice cream cones (because what else are you supposed to do in a seaside town?), and got caught in a crazy downpour. It think it was one of my most favorite days since we came to Boston.

Atticus found some nasty crab shell and was quite pleased. While Jonny has been obsessed with Moana, Atticus has taken a liking to Tamatoa, the giant crab in the movie. So he decided to bring the gross thing home with us.

Motif #1 and the large storm coming.

I love this picture because of their outfits. They both picked out their own that day. Jonny's is coordinated perfectly (the collar on the poodle is the exact color of her shorts) and Atticus is wearing red stripes with orange and green plaid shorts. (Not to mention his shirt is tucked into his underwear.)

Good to the last drop.

On our walk over to the actual building it started to rain. By the time we walked around to the other side after this picture, it was pouring. Torrential rain. It was useless even trying to get to any kind of a shelter. By the time we got to the buildings off the wharf, we couldn't have been wetter if we jumped into the ocean. So Atticus and I danced, and jumped in puddles, and laughed our heads off as we made our way back to our car past the other people hiding inside shops and ducking in doorways. We even had a few people cheering us on and laughing with us.

We ducked into this doorway for a picture. It's probably too hard to see but, you might be able to tell how much rain is coming down and how soaked we were. There's even a drip coming off Atticus' chin.

We had to open the back of my car to stand under it while we stripped down as many layers as we could, wringing them out as we went. And my kids rode home in their sopping wet underwear.

Boston Independence Day

We had our first 4th of July here in Boston. And though we didn't take advantage of most of the many, many awesome things you might imagine are happening in Boston and the surrounding areas on such a day, the day still did not disappoint. I look forward to doing it again (and maybe some additional activities) next year.

The morning of, we were invited by our friends Sarah and Sterling to their house for a breakfast with a bunch of other people from our ward, so that was a lot of fun. Then with more friends from the ward we headed out to see Boston's firework show. Boston shoots off their fireworks from a barge and a bridge on the Charles River. We wanted to be able to be right on the river across from downtown so we had to get there super early. Like, hours and hours early. I don't remember the exact time, but I think we got there between 2:00 and 4:00 PM. We were able to get an awesome spot right in front of MIT, very close to where they shot them off. And then we just hung out there together all afternoon. It was actually a lot of fun. I love fireworks and I kind of had to giggle at all my Utah friends who had been posting videos, etc of the fireworks they had been to the night before, because they had nothing on these Boston fireworks. And even though we didn't get home until midnight because even on slow day, traffic out here sucks, (And of course my kids didn't sleep until they were home in their own beds) it was totally worth it.

Jonny at our breakfast.

And with her cute friend, Thomas.

There are so many beautiful houses around here, but this one is my favorite. Not sure what I love about it so much, but it's perfect. With it's flag out flying, I thought it looked perfect for the day.

Our spot for the fireworks.

We went for a few walks to pass the time. Atticus and Christian are such cute friends. I love these sweet little Hanson boys.

(Thomas was covering his ears from the cannons going off across the river at the Boston Pops concert.)

I put these two pictures of me with my kids just because Jonny amuses me in both.

Our changing view through the day.

This is my cute 5 year old son, who is wearing the same 18-month-size shorts he's worn for five July's in a row.

My babies.

Still waiting for fireworks.

The aftermath around 8:30 the next morning. Atticus is the only one fake sleeping here because the boy wakes up with the sun. And Jonny is still in her dress and the stickers she decorated herself in from the night before

Roll Out Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days

We packed in a whole bunch of Summer fun in June-ish. Unfortunately it was also towards the end of June that my phone just completely died and I lost some pictures and other things on my phone that I'm still sad about. (Not that I don't still have a bunch of photos to post here)

My kids are so scared of slides. I don't know what the deal is. I can't coax Jonny down even a baby one without someone with her. Atticus has gotten much better in the last year. Also, can I say I love going to the parks in Newton and trying to count how many different languages we hear from the other moms and kids? I think it's so so fun.

I maybe spoiled them a bit and bought them 45 dollar popsicles.

Atticus and I went to our first major league game. I had a lot of fun explaining how the game was played and watching with him. In another life I think I'd love to go see major league games all over the country. Or maybe I should make that a new life goal. I have to admit that I'm kind of feeling less dislike toward the Red Sox now. You can't exactly experience a game at Fenway Park and not like the Red Sox. Unless of course, you're Atticus...

We happened to be at the right place at the right time at the end of the 6th inning and they asked Atticus to come throw peanuts into the crowd while the crowd sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch. So there was my 5-year-old Yankees fan not understanding how awesome it was that he was standing on the field at Fenway. Afterwards I said that he basically had to like the Red Sox now that he'd done that, and he buckled down on his dislike for them to the point of starting to only cheer for the Phillies, who were the opposing team that night.

So many trips to the splash pad. And I love this one of Jonny.

They really do just adore each other. I often walk in on scenes like this.

The Carousel at Boston Common.

Atticus had had his final soccer game that morning and so wore his medal all day long.

Miss Moana here wanted the chicken because it was like Hei-Hei from her movie.

And the swam boats. This boy sure is handsome.

And this beauty sure is a stinker.

Make Way For Ducklings!

Massachusetts State House

Jonny's first trip the dentist. She was super brave. Especially since at our dentist they don't have the parents come back to the exam room. (There's no room for them anyway). They had a quick question for me so I was able to snap this picture real fast before I left the room.

Jonny also got her first tick. They are pretty bad out here and I've been paranoid about them. Our doctor even warned about them during Atticus' well visit back in March and about doing frequent tick checks through the spring and summer. It's just expected you'll get a tick or two or three each summer just from walking around your yard. Plus it's been in the news this a lot lately about how extra bad they've been this year. Fortunately this is the only one any of us has had thus far. (Though I did brush two out of Atticus' hair after he'd been outside one afternoon.) But look how tiny that thing is! I tugged it out pretty easy and then had to squish it with my tweezers very forcefully to kill the dang thing. Oh, and that's a leg roll in the picture, not her bum.

We went strawberry picking because that's obviously what adorable New Englanders do in the summer. And then we made tons of jam because I'm a Mormon mom.

Jonny in that hat though.

The farm we went to had a cute old playground to play on after our hayride out to the fields and back.

More time at the splash pad.

Kite flying at the neighborhood elementary school.

So we've had a few trips (and hopefully many more to come) to the beach so far this summer, but this trip we took with some ward friends to Walden Pond. How weird is it that my kids can just go swimming at Walden Pond? Anyway, they love playing in the sand and water. It is definitely one of their happy places.

(And of course little sass-pants here.)