Sunny Days, Science, and More Swimming

For the first time, we went to the beach at Salisbury State Reservation.  That beach is incredibly clean with great sand.  It was a nice day trip for all of us, and it obviously exhausted poor Ben.

Mairead and I met up with our friends, Kacey and Kacey's mom (Lisa).  It was fun to have a little 'girl time' and to see Mairead interact with another little girl her age.

 

 

Another first for us was Bradley Palmer State Park.  It's a GREAT set-up with a wading pool for the kids that is about 2.5 ft at its deepest, and is a 'wade-in' pool so even little ones can splash around.  It is entirely fenced in, there is a playground area, and the ice cream man comes around every day.  There are bathrooms and you can bring a picnic lunch, etc.  The only drawback is that they only allow a certain number of people in, so you have to make sure you get there early and line up to be allowed in.  It was a great spot for me to take the kids on my own and we had a really nice day while Dave was at school working on curriculum.

I love this.  I find them this way many nights and I still just think it's the sweetest thing.  We want to put them in 'big kid' beds and maybe move them apart, but they don't want any part of that.  They love their little beds and want to be together forever.

Spinners and Vacation Bible School

Summer was full of a lot of different activities for us, but we did manage to find some quiet moments.  I love to find the kids reading, and I think it's really cute when they are reading comic books just like Daddy does!

Another fun annual event is my MoM's Club's trip to the Lowell Spinners games.  The Spinners are a minor league ball park in Lowell and it's great to get a bunch of families together.  This year, the tickets happened to fall on Superhero night, so our favorite little superheroes had a good reason to go in full costume! 

The baseball itself is secondary to the snacks, especially to the ice cream.  Mairead likes the music, the clapping, and the excitement.  And the ice cream.

This is the first summer we have tried Vacation Bible School and the kids had a great experience.  It worked out perfectly because my friend, Sarah, is actually the religious education director at a church and she runs this program.  I knew they would be in very good hands, and Sarah is great with kids.  They had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and made new friends.  And, Dave and I were able to spend time together while the kids were at camp- it was great!  Thanks, Sarah, for such a great opportunity!

Water Babies

Ok, they aren't really babies any more, I know.  But we were in or near the water a LOT this summer.  It felt like if we were not in the pool, we were at a beach... which was fine by me!  My MoMs Club had its summer party at Springs Brook Park in Bedford this year.  The kids loved it and I thought it was a great set up.  A man-made lake, spray park, sandy beach, waterslide, basketball hoop, grills, and snack bar.  Not bad!  The kids had fun playing with other multiples and siblings, and it was a fun family day.

This is my Ben and another Ben (who is a triplet).  It's funny because at every event for our multiples group, they find each other and play together.  Ben and Ben strike again!

 

 

 

The day after that party, we headed up to Maine to visit the Estee and Bouvier families.  Jaime's family (I mean, her ENTIRE family) goes to Maine every summer and we have a tradition of crashing their family affair to get in some beach time with the kids.  It's funny- we have been going up there a LONG time.  I was single once or twice, engaged, then married.  Dave started coming up once he and Joey became friends, and then we brought Mairead up when she was a baby.  Jaime's parents babysat once or twice when Mairead and Connor were little.  Now, we have three kids, they have two kids, and we spend the day building sand castles and eating snacks until the kids crash and we head home.  We love this tradition and are grateful that the family is so welcoming.  The Estees are very important to us and we hope that we have many more years of beach days to look forward to!

Jaime taught Mairead how to boogie board and she freaking LOVED it.  Thanks, Jaime!  The looks on her face were just priceless.  She couldn't get enough of it!  I guess we will need to do more of this next year!

Aaaaannnd, we're done.