Family Camp Fun

This past weekend we went with 85 other families from our church to Camp Laurel in Maine. it was a great experience. Each family has their own cabin, complete with bunk beds, electricity, bathrooms, and no privacy (lots of windows without any curtains!) All our meals were prepared by the camp staff and we had great food. Mostly it was camp food, but it was great because it was made for us!

The kids. Ethan, Sydney, Simon and Isaac.

SJ had a lot of fun. We did kayaking, canoeing, swimming, slip and slide, and sand play. SJ enjoyed having friends Ethan and Isaac, Clover and Simon, and Isabella and Victoria as neighbors. We also got to met other families from our church that live in Arlington (which is where we are moving next year. More on this in a post later to come.) We also had large group meetings with music and songs where SJ liked to dance around in the middle of the gym floor while the adults stood in the bleachers. (Hopefully we can get a video of this up soon. It's really cute!)



SJ went 3 straight days without a nap. The first day we tried for about an hour to get her to fall asleep, but it was no use. You can lead a toddler to a bed, but you can't force her to sleep! So, the subsequent days we didn't even try. The last day we were there SJ's sleep deprivation came to a head and she had about 3 huge meltdowns before we left camp. She took a great 2 hour nap on the drive home and then was much happier!

SJ discovers swim goggles.

Views of Lake W

We were very fortunate to stay in a great, newly built, house right on Alton Bay of Lake Winnipesauke. In the picture below ours was the yellow house. We all had a great time relaxing and having fun.


The view from the front windows of the house. Nice and quiet and peaceful...ahh....

The water didn't actually look this green while we were swimming in it, but it sure looks pretty green in the picture. SJ had a great time swimming by herself with her life jacket. She really had fun swimming out to the floating dock with her Daddy.

More fun and games

Another day on Lake W was spent visiting Weirs Beach. It's more of your typical beach town with arcades, mini-golf, go-carts, and a drive in theater. This particular morning we spent having fun at an arcade. The first thing SJ did was mine for rocks. It was a little over priced, but SJ seemed to enjoy it. You pay $8 for a bag of sand that has mixed in various gem-like rocks. You dump some sand in the sieve, dip it in the water, swish it around, remove the sieve and you have gems! It took all of 5 minutes.


Next, we went inside, got lots of tokens and played arcade games. We totaled just over 300 tickets, spending nearly $30 for tokens, and got SJ a floating ring toss game. Probably valued at about $3. Well, it was a lot of fun for all of us and we all got to feel like kids!

The final stop was at a go-cart track. Another over priced activity. SJ had to watch with Grandma and Grandpa while the rest of us gave it a try. Nathan was the fastest and nearly everyone lapped me. I guess I'm just more of a conscientious driver!

More From Lake Winnipesauke

One day while on vacation we went to the town of Wolfboro, NH. It's known as America's First Summer Resort. There were lots of little shops, great ice cream shops, and even an artist's fair. This is where SJ had a great time learning how to weave a blanket:


After the artist's fair we went on a boat ride around the Lake. It was on a 1920's boat named the Millie B. It's a speedboat made out of all mahogany. Our Captain, Dick, gave us our own tour of the lake. We got to see Mitt Romney's summer house as well as the house where the President of France is staying while on vacation here.

After the boat ride we went for a Trolley ride. SJ had lots of fun on Molly the Trolley because it looks a lot like the one on Mr. Rogers, one of her favorite shows. She even got to ring the bell several times!

On Lake Winnipesauke

Last week SJ, her parents, and both sets of Grandparents spent a week in a house on Lake Winnepesauke in New Hampshire. We were glad to have Aunt Emily and Uncle Ben and Aunt Ruthie for 2 days as well. SJ got to do all kinds of fun things: swimming, sand castle building, boating, canoeing, swinging.... There are lots of good pictures to share, however, we are leaving again for another vacation. Tonight we leave for Echo Lake in Maine with our church. It is Family Camp time. Thankfully their version of camping includes private sleeping cabins with bathrooms and showers. We also get 3 meals a day provided for us. What more could be better? So, I will leave our faithful blog followers with just a few pictures from last week and there'll be more to come when we get done vacationing!

On the Mount Major hiking trail with Papi and Aunt Emily.

On the Lake Winnipesauke historic railroad with Grandpa and Grandma.

Playing on the beach with Grandpa and Mommy.

My Own Personal Beach

Yesterday was Nathan's company's Summer Outing. This year they rented out a private area at Crane's Beach in Ipswich. It was awesome. There was a nice lawn area with a tables under a tent for the BBQ. Then you headed to the private beach where there was lots of sand and nice warm (64 degrees) water. Because the water here is an inlet the waves were nice and calm which made it really nice for all the kids.


SJ had a great time meeting new friends, watching hermit crabs, swimming, and playing in the sand. The beach was staffed with 2 life guards. Can't see 'em? They are the 2 tiny specks lounging in chairs as far back from the water as you can get. Obviously they are not worried about a supervisor checking in on them!

By the way, notice SJ's new hair cut, including bangs! She had her second only hair cut on Wednesday. She looks so old now!

SJ is now ready for her family vacation at Lake Winnepesauke in New Hampshire. So, we will take a week's hiatus from the blog for some good, old-fashioned, R&R.

"I'm a big kid now!"

SJ has gone ahead and decided that she wants to be potty trained. I'm not exactly sure how it happened actually. She's doing pretty well overall and is really enjoying walking, dancing, and running in her underwear.