birthday party!

It's hard to believe that Gage is turning 4!  Today we had a party to celebrate.  Of course, we went out to feed the cows with cousins Matthew, Elizabeth, and Ryan.

 Gage was so excited to blow out his candles that he didn't even wait until we started singing happy birthday!

 Although he really wanted a Captain America shield cake, he decided the ice cream cake was yummier. Look at that face!

 Present time -- the fart gun was hands down the life of the party. There was a lot of farting going on

 

 And then...it was pinata time.  The kids took turn after turn after turn, but that was one tough pinata

 Gage started getting mad!

 We finally stabbed it with scissors and let him rip it open

 actually, we let all the kids join in to rip it open. Seriously...Target must not get their pinatas from some cheapy mexican factory -- no siree...solid multilayer cardboard construction

 But...finally...they got to the good stuff!

 

 And Gram found a 4 leaf clover -- pretty good luck for a boy's 4th birthday, I'd say

 

build-a-bear

We had plans for Quassy that were rained out, but we decided to go to Build A Bear workshop with Elizabeth instead!  Savannah chose a leopard, and got to watch it be stuffed, and to put a special heart inside. Gage chose a dino, and Elizabeth picked a kitty.

 

 After all three were stuffed, they gave them a bath with the air sprayer thing. Elizabeth scrubbed the heck out of her kitty!

 And then...it was off to have ice cream and ride the carousel. These two took off holding hands the whole way :-)

 

 

 And finally...downstairs to throw coins in the globe fountain

 Lots of snuggling going on...

 and...a lot of messing with the water. I'm surprised neither of them fell into the water!

NH | out and about

The house we stayed in was just outside Franconia Notch State  Park and the White Mountains Nat'l Park.  The area is so full of trails, waterfalls, rivers, swimming holes, etc. you could never do it all. One day we did The Flume Gorge because we were looking for a short hike. Surprise -- it was 2 miles long! But beautiful. This was table rock, a smooth rock "hill" that the water just glides over..

 This is where we started getting into the gorge -the air got colder and the walls were getting higher.

 Walking further into the Flume - tons of waterspray, and water dripping from the rock walls above you

 This is looking up at the ruck walls of the Flume.  I loved how there was so much greenery growing on the walls.Beautiful

 Avalanche Falls at the end of the Flume.

 We found a bear  cave to explore

 and just took in the beautiful, green, lush scenery

 Savannah and I went into the Wolf's Den, which is a tunnel. Our friends walked around to meet us at the other side. It took us a while. Smack dab in the middle of the very tight tunnel, the girl in front of us got scared and wouldnt' move. But...we finally made it out!

We also had dinner out at Lovett's Inn one night -- about 15 of us -- to celebrate Nate & Ang's anniversary (we were at their wedding there 3 years ago). After dinner, I snapped this shot of them on the stonewall. Then, Gage said he had to pee, I pulled him off the wall, and a rock came with him and fell on my foot, spraying blood everywhere, causing Savannah to freak out, causing Mommy to tell everyone to remain calm while I tried to fix my foot up with diaper wipes and kid bandaids, while Gage pulled his pants down to pee, got "it" stuck in his shorts, and started peeing straight up in the air, which Mommy tried to help with on one foot while trying to stop the bleeding. Wow. It was one of those moments. Thankfully, my foot is not broken!

 This is just some of the scenery around Franconia

 We also stopped by a few swimming holes to play and splash

 We may have chained Adam to a tree.  Surely he deserved it!

 Although whining to be carried many times on the 1 3/4 mile way in, he did the whole hike by himself on the way out.  Probably only because I reminded him 100 times that if he walked all the way he could get any ice cream he wanted at the shop on teh way home

Giving up before we made it to Bridle Veil Falls (we still had a along way to go, we stopped to splash in this VERY cold mountain brook). Brrrrr....I think Gage is turning into a popsicle here!

Another day we went to the Basin, and saw these beautiful stepped falls, along with the beautiful basin that's 33 feet around and 15 feet deep.

 

 

NH | around the house

We rented this beautiful lodge in Franconia, NH for a week with UConn friends and their families. We had 20+ people & kids there.  The house is nestled in the mountains in a perfect setting. There were two wings of the house connected by a big covered deck.  It was such a beautiful setting.

This was our of the mountains and the yard from the covered deck.  The yard was full of blueberries & raspberries. We looked at the back of Cannon Mtn, and despite checking constantly, we never saw the moose, baby black bear, or mountain lions that are reported to live nearby. There was a firepit that hosted giant campfires daily, lots of room to play bocci, frisbie, tag,

We loved watching a few storms move across the mounatins

 

 Despite the fire being so hot it was nearly intolerable to toast a marshmallow, the kids made some yummy smores...A LOT of yummy smores

 

 

 

 Right behind the huge stone fireplace, there was a little nook or sunroom that look out over the mountains. It had rocking chairs and a piano, so there was  a lot of banging that actually sounded like music.  Are piano lessons in order?

 We didn't let a rainy day keep up inside. Although Mommy forgot to pack rain gear, a trashbag and Grandpa's old hunting hat did the trick!

 It was great to spend time as a family, and with our friends and their families.

 

We just may have an annual tradition on our hands, it was a great great trip!