Swim Suits

Every Easter "Nanie" (Jay's mom) gives the kids swim suits (which they wear at the lakehouse when we visit each summer) and we finally got a day warm enough to break them out in the yard!! (The Frog and Peach have already worn them several times at the pool...)

I was particularly excited for Hazel to try hers on, and since the neighbor kids were over, I thought it would be fun to get a big group shot.

As you can see, Hazel's sitting position isn't exactly reliable yet...

No biggie.  I'll just ask The Frog to hold her. He does it all the time...  (and our neighbor, S., lost interest...)

Me: "Can you look around her so I can see you?"

The Frog: "She got too heavy."  :S

I gave up and went for a solo shot in Hazel's "happy place".  (once she had regained composure after being dropped on her face....)  As you can see, no permanent damage was done to this cuteness :)

It's hard taking decent pictures when you're watching 5 kids under 6!

Swimming with Daddy

I got a wicked deal on Seven Peaks' "Pass of all Passes" and since both kids were still young enough to be free all summer, I thought we'd try it out and get a feel for Seven Peaks.  However, that's not the kind of place I want to bring my camera...

Today, it worked perfectly for Jay to take the kids swimming in the afternoon while I ran some errands and I thought to bring my camera so I could finally get some shots of them there.  However, I did only show up for the last 15 minutes or so (and thank GOODNESS, it was soooooooo HOT!) so I only got a couple.

Jay has really done a great job getting Peach to be more comfortable in the water. I took the kids alone a few times in June, and she wouldn't let me let go of her the whole time.

Daddy's much more fun in the pool than mommy.  He lets them knock him around. :)

Jay took the kids to the wave pool while I cooled down for a bit in the shade.  I was expecting them to be holding hands, jumping waves together in the shallow end...  I about had a heart attack when I saw how The Frog liked to swim ALONE in the deeper parts of the wave pool.  See that little head below?

That would be my not-yet-4-year old son.  I have horrific childhood memories of being in the wave pool by myself and feeling like I was going to drown from the commotion and those darn tubes clobbering me.

Sometimes he still does like to be held too :)

Mass trip- Lakehouse with the McCarthy's

We got back to the McCarthy's and had a day to do some laundry, and re-pack to head out to the lake house the next day.  While loading the car, Peach discovered this little jewel in the garage.  Wouldn't she be adorable riding around on her own moped?

After arriving at the lake, we lost no time in slipping into swimsuits and searching out wildlife :)

The Frog holding a frog

Jay's older sister, K, brought up fixin's for "camping cones" which are waffle cones loaded with marshmallows, chocolate chips, strawberries, caramels and/or any other goodies you can think of, wrapped in foil and roasted in the fire.  Kind of clever, and a bit more little-kid friendly because they don't get to play in the fire. (Which I appreciate)

cooked camping cones

oogling the finished product and humoring me with my camera

endulging

Most of Jay's relatives were there that Saturday.  It was nice of them all to drive out so we could say hi and we treated it like our own 4th of July celebration.  (it's tricky having it mid-week if you want to go somewhere to celebrate...)

Peach playing with Jay's cousin M

Peach got right in there with the salamanders.  She had no qualms picking them up and showing them around.

Of course, there's always the cartwheel contests off the raft.

I can't believe what a great swimmer The Frog is turning out to be. He must have a great tutor (Jay).

my boys as fish

Peach L.O.V.E.S. dogs and cats and so she could often be found chasing Mickey around.  If ever found crying over something, one way that always worked as a pick-her-up was to suggest to go see Mickey.

Jay's mom, of course had to show off her specialty- pie.  This particular one is one of my favorites- strawberry rhubarb.  Doesn't that crust look professional?  Nobody does crust like her.

lookin cute in her suit

When everyone is in the water, Peach wants to get in there with the rest of them.

I was amazed she would just jump off like that.  But then again, she really likes jumping off anything lately.  (it's the cutest when she'll stand on something really flat, like her blankie and jump off that and proudly proclaiming, "see that, mommy? see that?!")

After getting in, I think she was a bit unsure about the initial shock of the water temperature...

I love this pic of The Frog jumping in

I tried to get a picture with everyone on the raft, but people kept jumping in.  (give you 1 guess who the first to jump in was while trying to take a picture...)

Not sure if she was warned, but Jay decided to expose Peach to the wonders of jumping off the raft.

Peach's hair makes them look like they're falling super fast

her little head, pre-submersion

I think she's not a fan:

I realized Jay and I hardly ever get pictures with each other, so I had his little sister, K, take a few.

Mass Trip- Cape Cod Day 3

Today, my sister, N, planned for us to head out to Heritage Museum's Hidden Hollow in Sandwich, MA.  It was super cool, and I feel like I could have easily spent all day there, if we didn't have to get kids back for naps.  We didn't get to see the antique car museum or the special Porter Rockwell exhibit they had going on.  The grounds were also very extensive and beautiful and I feel like we only really saw a small portion, but such is life when you have young'uns in tow.  We'll just have to go back again :)

Packing the picnic- the sandwich line up

 We spent most of our time in this kids' play and explore area where there were all sorts of great nature-centric fun activities for kids.  I HEART that the whole place was well-shaded and I was very inspired by some easy activities we could maybe do at home.  Some things not pictured are a playhouse, a puppet show area, binoculars for animal watching, and so many other stations I can't remember.

The hut building station was especially cool.  They had 3 large sticks that were sort of permanently tied  into a teepee, and then a pile of others for you to add onto it any way you wanted, with a bunch of fabric strips to use to cover it.

Uncle J and cousin L's fort

They had wooden blocks, and here, The Frog is looking at the "blocks" made of thick sticks, sawed into about 1-4 inch pieces.

And here's peach building towers with them.

 Our family set up a picnic right there so we could eat and watch and the kids could come and grab bites and run off again, kid style.

 They had several really cool xylophone-like instruments made of wood, in several sizes.

 We overheard another family talking about riding the free carousel again and we decided we had better check it out.

Cousin A, Auntie E, and cousin L

We, of course, couldn't leave without riding it about 4 times...

Peach, Daddy and The Frog

Cousin C and Uncle J

The Frog usually wants to sit in these on carousels, which I think is so funny.  For me, I always wanted to ride an animal that wasn't a horse.

This place was sooo big and thankfully, they had a "shuttle" that would take you back to the entrance when you were ready to leave.  We miraculously all fit and I made everyone sit tight for a picture.

 Of course, The Frog didn't want to participate and jumped off...

the runaway

 After naps, The Frog convinced Jay to swim with him again in the salty water.

 And after another delicious dinner (Auntie E, I meant to ask you for that recipe...) some of us went out for ice cream.

This is how he looked right when we sat down.  By the end...  **shaking head**

Jay always goes for a vanilla malt

Cousin L is always generous with grins

Peach let me "help" her with her potential drips, so she actually stayed pretty clean...

Peach on sugar, in the car ride home

 More random play ensued on the front lawn

 And we somehow managed to get all 6 kids in a photo together:

Watching the fun

 I thought this was hilarious...  Apparently, ticks are a major threat at the cape, and the D-family has discovered that Uncle J's lighted bike helmet is the best way to find them.  Here's Auntie N performing the nightly tick check:

And that wraps up the first part of our trip visiting family in Massachusetts.  The next morning, we all just packed up, cleaned out, and went our separate ways, though our vacation was still just getting started.

To be continued...