Nap time

I never know what I am going to find when I go in to wake Hannah up from nap time...

A few weeks ago, I found her at the bottom (middle?) of her bed with the duvet pulled up over her, feet hanging off the side. Hannah had very nicely put Angel (the pink cat) at her place in the bed and well, with all of the other stuff she brought in with her....books, stuffed animals...there was no room for her.
But today was the best. Hmm...where's Hannah? She usually plays in her room for a bit before finally settling into her bed to nap. She was playing in her closet before nap time and never did I actually think she would fall asleep in the closet.
Sleeping like an angel.

Earth Fest and Bucket Brigade

Today has been a busy day and it's only 3 o'clock! We started out our morning trying to volunteer at the 5th Annual Herring Bucket Brigade. This is an annual event where volunteers come to help herring from the lower Mystic lake to the upper Mystic lake to spawn. There is currently a dam between the two and the herring will literally kill themselves trying to get to the upper lake. Unfortunately, nature can not always be perfectly timed with these events and there weren't many herring today to help. (Last year, 19,000 herring were moved by volunteers). So instead of moving herring, we took a few pictures and came home.

Then onto our next outing of the day, Earth Fest, an all day event put on by Whole Foods and a local radio station to celebrate the earth! It was along the Charles River in Boston. I couldn't believe all of the free stuff that was being given away...healthy foods of all sorts, pictures, plants (we got an acorn squash), reusable bags (and I needed more for groceries!), face painting,....

Our little super kitty! We stopped on the dock so Hannah could eat her yogurt

At the DCR Hatch Shell, the main stage of the event. The music was just getting started as we were ready to go (we had a little kitty that needed a nap), but we heard the Bo Deans play a few songs.

Now naps and the rest of our weekend....getting the patio finished!

Horners' visit

My cousin, Jen, her husband, Joe #3, and son, Ryan just came for a long weekend to visit us all the way from CA. Hannah was very excited to see her cousin Ryan! They got along really well and it was very cute to see Hannah try to imitate the things that he did.

I picked them up from the airport on Thursday night and Friday, we were off to the Children's Museum. Here are the kids dancing in a video (well, watching themselves in the video monitors is probably more like it).

Saturday was Belmont Town Days (a small local fair) in our town center that we went to in the morning (before naps).Hannah's first carnival ride. Daddy was smart and faced her towards Ryan. We thought she might be a bit scared, but she just loved it!
Cool kid.

Hannah's 1st pony ride. Again, she really liked it.


After naps, we went into Boston. First, Faneuil Hall and then North End for dinner. Here's Ryan in the street performer's show. He did everything the guy asked him, including taking a bow at the end. (Oddly, I was next in the show, but had my camera in my pocket...but Jen has pictures somewhere...I helped the guy put his straight jacket on...hmmm).

We rode the T there and back, which the kids really liked. This was way past their bedtime, but they both did great!!!

Sunday, park in the morning and Harvard Square/Charles River in the evening.
How cute are they?

We had so much fun having them here and when they left yesterday Hannah said "Hannah sad Ryan bye-bye." Aaahh...

Mother's Day

The first part of Mother's Day was spent with a light breakfast, coffee, the paper, a card, and chocolates in bed. Joe then took Hannah downstairs for breakfast so I could relax and read the paper. After a few minutes, Hannah came back up and wanted to share some of the chocolates. Chocolates she had told me about the night before at dinner when she asked to eat the chocolates now and Daddy said she wasn't so good at keeping secrets.

Anyway, we then drove to Portsmouth for lunch with the family to celebrate Mother's Day. Hannah especially loved the dessert. And yes, her dessert matched her sweater which she pointed out.

The second part of the day was spent outside on our newest project, the patio (currently a mud pit).
Saturday, we picked out the pavers at the stone yard and 5 tons of gravel (needed as the base of the patio) was delivered. Ever wonder what 5 tons of gravel looks like? Hannah's in the picture for size (p.s. she is now into dressing herself).

She quickly realized she could climb to the top of the pile and slide down.

My project was rock borders. With all of the digging we've been doing, we've been finding a lot of rocks (in all sizes) that we've used as a border for some of the flower gardens. I started it last year around the flowers in the backyard and have been building it up this year and then moved onto the front yard with some of the bigger boulders. Some of the rocks Joe told me I couldn't move and well, I did (to prove him wrong) and am now paying for it today with a sore back...I'm still not entirely finished, but might wait a few days before I move any more.

Road trip - Virginia

The reason for our road trip...Auntie Sarah's graduation.
Before the graduation pictures.


Hannah at the graduation...she did very well thanks to her Daddy.

Yeah for Auntie Sarah!

With Aunt Tomi at Chili's after the graduation (Hannah did great as this is now almost 3 hrs after her bedtime).We all stayed at Roland and Lupita's (friends of Nana and Papa's) timeshare in Massanutten, VA. Hannah was the only child and just loved all of the attention (and Joe and I loved the break). On Saturday morning, while we were all sitting around the table talking, Hannah brought in all of the furniture from the patio and made a train in the living room. She then proceeded to pick adults and show them where they were sitting on the train.

It was pretty funny.

In the afternoon, we headed to the park for a barbecue provided by Uncle Sean and Aunt Tomi.

Don't forget the bug spray!
The playground and stream nearby provided Hannah with lots of fun opportunities.
Hannah and Lupita at the top of the slide.


Wee. Looks like both of them had fun! The funniest was her taking her shoes off, getting into the stream, bending over to roll up her pants as to not get them wet (?) and literally sitting in the water to do so.

Talking to Papa.A super fun day! Sunday we headed home in the morning and made the 9+ hr trip in 1 day. Hannah was quite a trooper watching her movies and taking a near 3 hr nap in the car!

Road trip - Pennsylvania

This past weekend we took a road trip to Harrisonburg, Virginia for Joe's sister's Master's graduation. We left Thursday and stopped along the way in Hershey, PA for a night's stay to break up the 9+ hr drive and for some fun for Hannah.

Our first stop, Zoo America. A small zoo with animals from North America. Hannah really liked the animals and only she would say a crocodile is "so cute". Not exactly a descriptive word I would use for a crocodile, but whatever.
Trying to show Hannah the owl. Hmm...don't think she's found it quite yet.

It was the perfect size zoo because after a while she liked the running from animal to animal better than seeing the animal. We would get to the cage, describe the animal, and then she would say "all done" and be ready for the next. After being cooped up in a car for 6 hrs, we couldn't really blame her.

After the zoo, we went to Chocolate World where we got to see how chocolate is made (via a Disneyland type ride and animated cows).

Let's not forget the free chocolate sample after the ride.

After Chocolate World, we headed to our hotel and then out to dinner. Our first day of our road trip had gone remarkably well!! Hannah traveled like a champ! The next day we went to Harrisburg, PA to walk around and get some energy out before our 3 hr. drive.

Here's Hannah and Daddy on a bridge in Harrisburg. Hannah liked that you could see all the way down to the water directly underneath your feet while Mommy preferred to stay on the cement sidewalk.Then it was onto Harrisonburg, VA...