Live Free or Die!

After a visit with Grammy in Cohasset this summer, we got back in the car and drove to New Hampshire to spend a week with Nate's parents. Auntie Jess and the kids were there that week, too, so it was a cousin party! Mimi wins funnest grandma award. One morning by the time Jess and I rolled out of bed she had made a skirt for each of the three girls as well as made breakfast and probably solved world peace, too. Here are some of the fun times we had during the week...

The time Colby grew a mustache and Anna got a black eye.

The time when Anna got really deep with her artwork.

The time we went to the NH Craftsmen's Fair and discovered people can stack rocks in really impressive ways. I mean, seriously, how cool is this?

The time the kids made paper beads at the fair.

The time where I really truly wanted to spend $500 on jingle bells.

Side note: one day I WILL have one of these pieces of wood art in my home. They were beyond beautiful.

 The time Mimi made donuts that looked like turkey legs but tasted even better.

The time Colby was the sous chef and was sooooo cute.

More of the cute cook.

Even more of that cute cook.

How much is that doggie in the window? Ruff ruff ruff!

The time we made the kids explore a cemetery and Anna was literally bored to tears.

The time Cate turned into a miniature person and started walking along the tops of gravestones.

Even if the kids thought the cemetery was kind of boring, Pat and I thought it was really interesting. Hillsborough Center, NH - you should totally go.

The time, and another time, and another time that we went to Gregg Lake. The kids couldn't get enough, and with good reason.

The time when the kids posed for a picture out on the raft…

…and then Jane yelled, "Okay, now everyone jump!" and, not surprisingly, they all jumped into the water, even though Jane just meant for them to jump straight up in the air. What were the kids thinking?

The time Pat called back to shore, "Jane, what were you thinking!?!?"

Thankfully, no one died.

The time that we arrived at the lake and Owen immediately stripped off all his clothes and acted like he owned the place.

The time that I captured my most favorite photo from the entire vacation. 

The time Grampa Herms took everyone out for boat rides! He rowed the whole way. Okay, not really, but he would have if he had to!

The time Anna caught a frog that still had a tail and loved the poor thing to DEATH.

 The time where the Keene movie theater sign was in French and you got to choose-your-own-rating.

The time Mimi and Cate rocked the 3-D glasses.

Thanks, Mimi and Grampa Herms!

A Visit to the Gulf

I'm finally sitting down to finish sharing photos from our summer vacation!

After New Jersey, we headed to Cohasset for a few days with Grammy McCarthy, just me and the kids. It was a perfect weekend with Grammy. The kids were so happy and content and Grammy was a wonderful hostess and the time went by far too quickly.

Here are the munhkins with Grammy!

There was a lot of this going on. Grammy and Anna are like two peas in a pod.

None of the photos I took of Grammy playing with the kids were in focus, but I have to share this anyway. It does my heart good.

Of course we took a drive through Cohasset with a quick stop at Sandy Beach.

Finally, has anyone in the world every looked so cute eating toast?

Thank you for a marvelous visit, Grammy! We love you!

our visit to new jersey, summer 2013

I can't believe how long it has been since I've posted on our little family blog here. of all the blogging I do, this is the blog I care most about, as it's the journal for our family. I've updated the template so that the photos can be bigger and I'm hoping I can get into a better habit of writing on here, rather than just updating Facebook. we'll see how it goes!

we had a VERY busy summer this year! we kicked things off by moving into our new house, then the girls did some summer day camps (cate: soccer, tennis and cooking; anna: fancy nancy, little chefs and high fives). then we were off to the east coast! first we hit new jersey, where I dropped off the kids to spend time with grandma phyllis while I went on a business trip to chicago. I rejoined the fun, spent about a week in new jersey, then we headed north to new england.

here are about a billion photos of our visit in new jersey. the kids loved staying with grandma and grandpa, especially when I wasn't there to stop them from eating too much candy! lucky for us, cousins maddox and sophie live in new jersey, too, so we got a lot of great wallin family time in!

Evidence of grandchildren eating too much candy.

When we visited last summer, we took some cute photos of Owen and Sophie hanging out in their diapers. We recreated the shot this year.

Owen in focus...

Now Sophie in focus!

Much to his dad's surprise, Owen learned to surf in New Jersey!

We had some fun with my wedding dress...

Grandma dug out all the old Barbie clothes for the girls to take home to California, many of the clothes handmade by Grandma Blomquist. The girls were in heaven.

We spent a lot of time at the super awesome hotel pool by Grandma and Grandpa's house. I didn't get many photos, we were having too much fun!

Why, yes, Owen is 3 months older. Why do you ask?

Oh, Sophie...

We spent a day in Morristown, visiting Washington's Headquarters and Jockey Hollow, where Washington's troops stayed for the most brutal winter of the war.

This house was the "Pentagon" for about 6 months of the Revolutionary War.

Some big-time hijinks occurred in Jockey Hollow, involving otherwise innocent-looking children stuffing a body into a trunk...

The Happy Captor!

Anna always makes sure her captives don't have a fever. 

It's always exciting trying to get a picture of all the kids together...

Pretty good for the first shot, but let's see if we can get the Wallins in the game. 

Wait, Owen, we're trying to get the Wallins in the game! 

The money shot! 

"'Money Shot' is over,  I'm outta here," says Owen, even though Maddox is looking especially cute for this shot.

Sophie: Hmmmmm.... Cate: I'm such a good helper! Owen: You guys stink! Anna: I'm definitely the best at posing, right? Maddox: What's up with that kid?

Maddox isn't so sure about his new job as water boy...

Our little Linus...

I think the girls' most favorite thing we did the entire month we were on the east coast was going to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. They were SO excited the entire time and everything they saw was a delight. Coincidentally, we had finished reading the book "Wonderstruck" the week before - the story centers around a wolf diorama at the museum that we were able to visit. It was like magic taking the girls to see the display. (Also, the display is way cooler in person because it's dark and not lit up by a bad iPhone flash.)

I didn't take my "real" camera out at the museum, so we're stuck with lame iPhone photos, but it's better than nothing!

A rare moment where I get Cate (who never wants any attention drawn to herself) to pose for a silly photo with a dinosaur eating her head!

Amazingly both babies took a nap at the museum!

This giant meteor was also in the book "Wonderstruck," which I had forgotten but the girls recognized it instantly.

For whatever reason, Anna loved the coyotes. She and Maddox stood and howled at the glass for a good 2 or 3 minutes straight. Also, kids love taxidermy, in case you were wondering.

New York in the rain!

Cutest bath of the vacation!

This is what happens when you combine short people with deep bathtubs.

THANK YOU GRANDMA PHYLLIS AND GRANDPA HANS!