Friday, August 19, 2016

Family Bike Ride

July 31
The weather was beautiful so we decided to go for a family bike ride!  We were a little apprehensive about Nora riding her no training wheels bike, but she proved us wrong!!  She did amazing!  And so did Ethan.  We rode to Ethan's old school playground to play and then decided to continue on the bike path to another playground.  In all, we probably rode about 4 or 5 miles and there were NO meltdowns or wipeouts!  We will be riding again soon, I hope!
Going over the railroad tracks
Mama, Atley selfie
Such a big kid!
Nora, Atley and I coming down the hill.
The bike trail is so pretty!  (With a nice downhill and a BIG uphill) 
Family selfie on the bike trail
Atley just hanging out at the playground :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Bowling

Ethan woke up on July 24 and decided he wanted to go bowling.  We didn't have anything else going on, so we went!  It was really fun and the kids all did great!  We should have stopped after 1 game though...
Action shot!
His socks matched his ball :)!
Nora used this handy helper!
Cutie!
Getting a little aiming help from Daddy
Atley had a blast too!  She's getting a little help from Ethan here.
Captivated watching the ball roll down the alley.
Just enjoying the view :)

Around Town

July 20:
Decatur just recently put in a new sculpture park between our zoo and children's museum.  So, the kids and I decided to check it out on our last visit to the museum.  It was really cool!  We also walked through the Japanese garden.  The kids loved exploring some new spaces :)!
Sculpture park!
Checking out the waterfall in the garden
Japanese Garden
July 22:
Just taking Max out of a stroll.
First time for shaved ice!
July 23:
The kids were wanting to go to the pool...and we were too lazy to pack up and go anywhere.  So, this is what we managed :)!
Backyard pool!
I mean, seriously!
As you can see, they loved following the sprinklers with their behinds.


Monday, August 8, 2016

New England Trip

***Long post ahead***
July 14, Jared and I (kidless!) headed for Chicago to catch a flight to Boston!  Jared's cousin got married in New Hampshire, and we decided to make it a fun little getaway.  We had a blast and crammed a ton into the 3 and a half days we were there.  We got into Boston on Thursday evening, found our Airbnb and found a place to eat dinner.  We planned to spend Friday on Martha's Vineyard, so we went to bed to rest up for a busy next day!
Picking up our Ford Fiesta rental car!


Friday:
We drove an hour and a half to Woods Hole, MA to catch the ferry that would take us to Martha's Vineyard.  The ferry ride was so fun and about 45 min across.  

The ferry

On the ferry
This is coming into Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard.  So so beautiful!
It was about lunch time when we got there, so first stop was fresh seafood!
This lobster roll was amazing!  (I wish I would have ordered it!)
Martha's Vineyard is an island that's about 100 square miles with several little towns.  Our ferry docked in Vineyard Haven and we walked to the visitors center there (after lunch).  The nice lady was so helpful and we decided to get a days bus pass and ride to a couple of the other towns.  First on the #13 bus line was Oaks Bluff.  From the beach to the huge green grass park to the amazing houses to the adorable gingerbread cottage community, Oaks Bluff was so beautiful!







Edgartown, MA was the next on the bus line ;)!  This was my favorite place on Martha's Vineyard we visited.  And I can't really explain why.  It was just so pretty and maybe it's because I wasn't hungry or hot...who really knows?! Ha!  The whole island is amazing!  We learned that JAWS was filmed on Martha's Vineyard and we drove over the famous "JAWS bridge".  (We had to watch the movie when we got home, to see all the locations!)  I would have loved to jump off the bridge (that's just what you do!) but we were not prepared for that, since it was just a day trip.  
We sat on the harbor dock for a while just enjoying the beautiful scenery!
Gorgeous harbor!

Having some Mad Martha's homemade ice cream!
Saturday:
Saturday was wedding day in New Hampshire.  So, we got up and left the Boston area and headed north.  Everything is so close together in the New England area, so we decided to go into Maine.  I love love love Maine!  It is breathtaking!  We drove into Kittery, Maine and followed signs to Fort Foster Park.  There were a couple small beaches, a long pier out over the water, views of an old lighthouse and a few military fort remnants to explore.  It was definitely worth our time!

Old lighthouse and remnants of an old hotel...I think.
Maine Selfie :)
View of the beach from the end of the pier 
View of the pier from one of the old military forts
Checking out the fort.  I'm guessing I was standing where the gun would have been.
And you can't go to Maine without having fresh lobster.  On our way to the park/beach, we saw a sign for a lobster shack.  And that's where we decided to stop for lunch!  It was our first experience with a whole lobster and it was such a fun experience!!
Here's the sign we saw... but couldn't see the actual restaurant since it was down the hill on the creek/river.  And "restaurant" is a loose term for this place.  It was all outdoor seating on picnic tables :).
We picked our lunch from this tank!
And 20 minutes later, here he is!
Jared and the lobster!
It was pretty tasty!
(I would go for the lobster roll next time. But this was so worth it for the experience!)

After lunch, we headed to our hotel in New Hampshire to get ready for Logan and Tori's wedding and head to the church.
This makes state #3 in 3 days!
Logan, watching his bride walk down the aisle :).
The happy couple!
Jared and I clean up nicely ;)!
Sunday:
On Sunday morning, we went to church where Jared's cousin (Logan) will be on staff.  Logan and Tori were, of course, not there but we met the rest of the family for a great service.  Then Jared and I went to lunch with his parents before they headed north towards Vermont and we headed back south towards Boston.  We made it to our hotel in downtown Boston (with great views) and explored the city for the rest of the day!  I loved Boston and would gladly go back to see all that we missed!
Driving into downtown- The Old State House
The view from our hotel room. (If you look if the lower left corner, that's the State House from the previous picture)
We're ready to walk the Freedom Trail
Following the red line through the city (This line is how you know where the Freedom Trial goes- it's so awesome!)
Loving our time in Boston!!
Inside Faneuil Hall
We happened to go in right when a reenactment was about to start, so we sat in on that.  It was so fun!  Jared even stood up with a speaking part!
This is The Old North Church where the 2 lanterns were hung to signify that the British were coming by sea. 
We found some amazing cannolis from Bova's Bakery in North Boston!
Boston Harbor
Hanging out at the harbor
Regina Pizza...also know as AMAZING!
There is always a line out the door.  Jared says it was the best pizza he has ever had (and we've had a lot of pizza!)
Monday we headed back to the airport to fly home.  It was such a great trip.  And I would love to spend more time in each place we visited!!