July in NH

Last time we visited NH the pool was chilly and the weather was cooler, cloudier and rainier.

Fortunately, we are having gorgeous weather this visit.  Hot and sunny.  The pool is warm and we have been spending as much time as possible in the water.

In the morning before it is TOO hot, there's lots of jumping on the trampoline:

And sometimes Dolly needs help jumping:

When it warms up, lots of playing in the pool:

Swinging on the swing set is a nice break:

I'm really happy MiniM.E. likes the water.  I'm pretty sure she could spend nearly all day in a pool.  Which is fortunate for me because being pregnant this time around I will require being immersed in water anytime it is over 80 degrees outside!

The highlight of this trip is the new inflatable water slide Gram and Grumpy bought for their pool.  MiniM.E. LOVES it-- not that I can blame her- I wish I could go on too!! (Actually, the first time she went down we weren't really sure how to use it and she kind of went sideways and insisted she was done and I was a bit worried she meant done for the whole week- but we figured it out!).

Sunday my aunt and uncle visited from CT for a BBQ and Monday we had C & H over to play, but both times I was in and out of the water with MiniM.E. and it's really hard to get photos of your kid in the water when you have to be there making sure she isn't drowning.  

Yesterday we went up to Maine to go to York's Wild Kingdom and the beach.

MiniM.E. remembered riding the camel from last time, and that was our first stop:

We fed the baby goats:

And did the trek around the zoo to see all the other animals.  But even though the forecast said it was only going to be 77 in York it ended up being 86 and humid and we all had enough of being out in the sun around the toasty animals after a couple hours.

Driving home in the AC and relaxing in the pool sounded much more tempting than trucking all our stuff out to the beach and sitting in the hot sun near water too cold to swim in, but MiniM.E. was insistent-- "PLEASE can we go to ocean??" over and over... so we drove to Fort Foster where there was supposed to be a small, less crowded beach.

And there was.  And there was a breeze, and a light haze that kept us from the glaring sun and the water was WARM (for ocean water).  I'm really glad she was so insistent- it would have been a shame to drive all the way up to Maine and not see the ocean.

One more relaxing day in the pool before we head back to NY...

Happy 4th of July!

We welcomed the first week in July with a still-under-the-weather MiniM.E.  While we had days that seemed like she was getting better, the fever hung on all week and she just wasn't herself.  Not to mention the weather was iffy and while we made plans for outdoor activities, we ended up canceling the outside activities Monday and Tuesday (even though the weather ended up being beautiful!!) and Wednesday we had another inside day while MiniM.E. recovered.  

Thursday we finally made it out to the Peerless Pool, but MiniM.E. still wasn't herself and after only 20 minutes of playing in the pool and seeming to have a great time, she proceeded to cuddle on my lap in the shallow water and fall asleep for an hour while her friends enjoyed the water.  

Fortunately, she seemed to be on the mend on the 4th-- good thing, since we had a day full of two barbecues!

At the first there was a pool and we had a great time swimming:

At the second, there were a 3 and 5 year old kids (and a baby) and MiniM.E. had a great time following the older kids around, picking vegetables from the garden, running with them, playing in the sandbox and riding bikes.  In fact, MiniM.E. was so into playing with the older kids, that Bob and I had a nice break where we could just sit back and relax for a few hours and talk with our friends (who also used to live in Dresden when we lived there).  I was so into relaxing that I forgot to take photos... next time.

Saturday we spent the morning as a family at the Peerless Pool.  Surprisingly it wasn't busy, even though it was a holiday weekend.  Even though we would have liked to spend the day, we only made it until noon.  An improvement over the previous Peerless Pool visit with the nap though! Maybe next time we'll make it to 1!!

Saturday evening we left for NH, and here we are!  We'll be here enjoying the pool (complete with new toddler slide!), hot tub, kiddie pool and trampoline until Thursday.

The End of June

I can't believe that next week starts July.  June has flown by.  After a looong winter, a stressful spring (especially moving the end of April through the beginning of May) having time to just enjoy as really made the beginning of summer go by quickly.  

We went back to Moreau:

Spent the day at our friends' lake house last weekend:

Went back to the sprayground:

And have been enjoying the weather!

Unfortunately, MiniM.E. came down with some sort of bug at the end of last week, so we had "inside days Thursday and Friday with lots of cuddling (for kitties too!):

Despite being under the weather, after a nap on Friday we had a picnic downtown and rode the carousel:

And went to the opening day of the Peerless Pool yesterday.

MiniM.E. had a blast for about an hour at the pool but it must have really worn her out because after that she was done for the day... hopefully our next Peerless Pool visit will last a bit longer.

We had a relaxing afternoon complete with Dolly riding a cat.

MiniM.E. seems to be on the mend and we're hoping for an exciting week!

Back in NY

The weekend and the beginning of the week were a little rough as I came back from NH with a bug of some sort that left me tired, run down and nauseated.

We still managed to get out and enjoy the weather over the weekend.  Saturday there was a flag day parade downtown which entertained MiniM.E. for much longer than expected.  Afterwards we wandered around downtown and ended up at our friends' backyard to visit for a while.

Father's Day we just hung around the house.  Bob played a lot with MiniM.E. while I tried to recover from the mysterious bug.  We managed a trip to the grocery store and a trip to the mall.  Not a very exciting day, but Bob bought a treadmill, so it was a happy Father's Day for him.

Finally on Monday I was starting to feel more like myself so MiniM.E. and I took our first ever solo beach trip.  We met our old neighbors there and MiniM.E. was super and had a great time.  We will be spending lots of days at the beach this summer.

Yesterday we went to the sprayground downtown with some friends.  MiniM.E. wanted the water to be warmer but we had a nice time anyway...

BUT after all the sun and outdoors, she was exhausted today and requested an "inside day" (with the exception of playing on the deck for five minutes) so we've just been hanging around.  Which is a nice break...

Tomorrow- back to the beach!!