Commons

 We made the trip up to Boston again today. I got to meet up with some of my Boston friends and it was lots of fun. Of course I didn't get any pictures of us adults. 

We made it to the swan boats.

 The frog pond

 Jack was a big fan of this place. He didn't want to get out. I told him to smile, and for the first time ever he smiled for the camera. He didn't LOOK at the camera, but he smiled.

 Pulling up to the park we saw this cool bubble guy.

 I don't think that they ever wanted to leave. We probably could have just spent all afternoon in front of this guy. Jack was beside himself with excitement.

 I know it is a lot of pictures of bubbles, but this one was my favorite. If you click on it to see it bigger you can see Ali's graceful jumping. It looks like she is dancing with bubbles.

 Of course we had to stop by and see Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings.

 

 Here is Jack, on Jack. (well, one of them is Jack, and since Jack decided to sit on this one then I dub it 'Jack')

 

 Finish off  the day with some balloons and a trip to see Jim, and this has been a great day!

Find Joy

 I miss California. I will start by saying that when I moved here I was very negative. I missed my friends and I missed Gaby and her boys, and I didn't want to like living here. I am not sure when my attitude changed, but I decided that I am going to make the best of living here. To start enjoying this new life of mine, I have to start by loving my house. It is after all a house!

 And now we have a nursery! I never had a nursery before and I am so excited. I bought a sheepskin rug because Jack loved it so much in the store. Now every time he gets out of bed he lays on the rug and snuggles it. This picture is from the first day we got it. The kids were so very stoked to be able to see Nick because he rarely gets home before they are asleep.

We also have an amazing yard! One of the trees in our yard has been designated "the butterfly tree" because it is always covered in butterflies. My girls found this one with its wing ripped off and were determined to heal it. We also have frogs in our yard which the girls have caught and released into the stream that runs through our backyard. Honestly how could I have been so negative?!?

 

 To top it all off, we have a great beach near here; it's only a 20 min drive to this cute beach. It is no Manhattan Beach that is for sure, but it is decent. Also, since it is along the Long Island Sound, there are the tiniest waves so the kids could actually swim in the water (plus the water is warmer here!)

 

 The girls loved digging in the sand and building a swimming pool. Not sure they can do laps in it, but they had tons of fun anyway.

 One huge difference about the beach here is that it is very rocky. The sand here is littered with millions of rocks. While it is painful on feet, Jack was in heaven. It is his ideal world, a world full of rocks that he is free to throw into the water at will.
I still miss California. It still hurts that I can't see Gaby (especially her boys) or any of my friends but I think that Connecticut might be a great experience, and if I have the right attitude it will be.

Sleeping Giant

3 miles from our house is a small state park called Sleeping Giant. It is called that because from an aerial view the landscape resembles a large man laying down on his back. It is a great little park, and there is a trail that is about 2 miles that leads to a "Castle" or more accurately a tower. Today we all made the climb since Nick had off work. Jack was in the stroller, and it is a pretty steep hike, so Nick and I were dying by the time we got to the top.

 The girls, however, seemed to have endless energy, and immediately ran into the castle to explore. Kat seriously makes THE craziest faces!

 I did finally make it to the top, and it was such a beautiful view. Connecticut is just so green!

 Here is all of us. Not the greatest picture, but at least we are all looking at the camera. (note to self, next time ask an adult to take picture)

It should have been a relaxing walk to the bottom (all downhill), but between Jack needing to stop every 2 seconds to pick up and change the rocks in his hand, and the girls falling while running down too fast, it was surprisingly much harder than the hike up. A little bit of wipes, and a few bandaids, and the girls were as good as new. Getting Jack to put down the rocks... not as easy.

Boston and Jim

 When we found out that Nick got into fellowship here in Connecticut, one big bonus was that we knew we would get to see Jim (oh and Boston).

 We had such a great trip up; it is only a 2 hour drive! I plan to make the trip many times. Pulling off the 90 freeway into Brookline almost made me cry since I miss it so much. Boston is a great city, and the people I met there are lifelong friends.

 

We arrived by 2pm and went right to our park. Of course Ali got Jim to push them on the swing. She can get him to do pretty much anything. Did you see that she got him IN the tire swing!?!

 Pure love

By 6:30, after some famous chicken, we headed home into this beautiful sunset.  The trip home would probably have taken 2 hours too, except that I missed my exit and almost ended up in New York. The freeway exits here are not very forgiving.

Moving

 At the end of June we moved! Of course I packed up my camera, so I have absolutely no pictures of any of what I am about to tell you, but it was an adventure nonetheless. Before I go into my adventure I will share a few pictures I took before the move.

To start, Kat graduated pre-school. Which to be honest it's more of a "let's show off how cute these kids are" type of thing, and less of a congrats kind of thing.

Kat also had her last violin lesson. Thank you to the wonderful Ms Eileen, who made the violin such a fun instrument.

And lastly, goodbye to Avocado Tree. I grew this thing from a seed, and to those who know my skills with plants, well, lets just say it is a miracle how big it grew. I passed it on to my sister. 

Now on to my adventure. It started with a lot of packing. Once we packed up all of our stuff movers came and loaded it onto their truck. The next day we flew out to Colorado. Staying with my mom for a week was so wonderful. I slept in everyday and my mom took care of my kids until I got up. My parents own a house in the middle of nowhere (no picture necessary, just picture a large house in the middle of a lot of empty grassland), so my girls did a lot of exploring. I don't mention Jack exploring because he took one step outside and then ran back in. He is not a fan of nature. 

 It could also be that he got 3 new teeth these last two and a half weeks but the whole trip he looked a lot like this. (ps this picture is the day before we moved, but you get the idea.) After the week in Colorado we flew to New York. It was a late flight, (to arrive at 10pm), but with the time change I thought my kids would be fine. After landing almost an hour late, we sat on the runway for over an hour and a half waiting for a gate. With no air conditioning, because the engines were turned off. Kat managed (half an hour before landing) to get a fever too, so that was lovely. Nick's folks picked us up and by 1:30 am we were headed toward Philadelphia. Two days of rest there and Kat was feeling better. Our car had been shipped to Philly, so we loaded all of us up including Abuelita and drove North. Surprisingly it was a very fast drive with little traffic, which was good, because the last hour of it Jack was screaming that he was done traveling. Once here in Connecticut things moved fast. Our furniture arrived the next day, and Abuelita watched all the kids at her hotel while I oversaw the movers. Besides losing the larger of our two couches, moving went pretty smoothly. Abuelita left after a couple more days of helping us, and now we are sort of settling. It has been hot and humid here.

 But a little ice cream solves that problem.

During a break from unpacking

Hula

Ali was part of the talent show. She is on the far left. She just might be the cutest hula dancer ever (no bias at all).

18 Months!

 This little guy is 18 months old today! To celebrate his tooth finally broke through, so he was especially happy at the end of the day. He escaped bedtime and made for the piano. He was so sweet I picked up my camera.

Natural talent? Jack loves to sing. He can't actually talk yet (he only has about 5 words in his arsenal) but he constantly hums and mumbles songs. It is pretty cute, and when he sat down to play he was singing the whole time.