Alisha's Visit

Kelly and Luke's college friend Alisha came to visit.  Luke was in Minnesota for Uncle Drew's football game for most of her visit, so it was Henry and his harem, once again.  ;-)  Some highlights were Henry's huge grins in the self-portraits he and Alisha took, a rainy walk under a beach umbrella with former New Yorkers Kirsten and Peter, and Henry's adorable interpretation of "A-li-sha", "SHA!!!!"

An update - a long time coming.

I'm currently working on blog posts with the following titles: 

Alisha's Visit

Apple Picking and the Pumpkin Patch

Great Granny and Great Grandad's Visit

Grampa's Visit

Henry's First Trick-or-Treat 

Please stay tuned!  Hopefully "better late than never"!  

Grandparents Visits

We have been blessed by seeing most of the grandparents in the past few weeks!  Grammy came through Boston due to a last minute trip to Connecticut, and Granny and Grandpa Gary were able to spend an entire week tagging along on our Boston adventures.  We are anxiously awaiting Grandpa's visit in October, and hopefully Gramps will get to return sometime soon as well!

Grammy gives Henry a "horsey ride".  Her rhyme is a family classic - this is at least the 3rd generation of use!

In addition to getting a horsey ride that day, we took a swan boat ride in Boston Public Gardens.  It was a gorgeous day!

Henry tried to swipe the camera.  He wanted to take more pictures of ducks.  We think...

Grammy's musical abilities inspire Henry as he tickles the ivories.

Next, Granny and Grandpa Gary visited!  We had tons of fun exploring the city and otherwise enjoying ourselves.

We packed a picnic (there is a theme with picnic packing in this blog!) and headed to Amherst.  Yes, discing was involved.  As was Emily Dickinson.  A perfect match.

Here we are exiting the Emily Dickinson tour.  For an hour and forty-five minutes we heard about the life and times of the famous poetess.  Grandpa Gary, meanwhile, wrangled a sleep-deprived Henry.  I don't know who was in more agony.  Just kidding, English and poetry lovers!!

Because it was within a month of the actual date, we decided to celebrate Auntie Kelsey's 22nd birthday with a Petsi Pie!  Yummmmmmmm!

Henry is anxiously awaiting the next grandparent visit!  Hurry, Grandpa,  hurry!

End of Summer Fun

It's hard to believe that this summer is drawing to a close.  Before it does though, we decided to squeeze in a few last adventures before the leaves turn.

Auntie's first trip to Walden Pond.  Henry, like that "other" Henry from the region, has a great deal of passion about Walden's sandy banks, tree-lined shores, and pebble carpeted paths.  He also likes to eat pretzels, just like Henry David Thoreau.


Any Labor Day/End of Summer activity must involve Disc Golf in some shape or form.  This was, of course, no exception.  We all packed up and headed to Borderlands State Park for some picnic-ing, exploring, and discing.

I promise we were enjoying our lunch!  This is a very interesting moment of mastication, evidently!

Henry loves a good "grinder".  (Grinder -  informal another term for submarine sandwich .)

A boy and his lovey, alone in the wilderness.

Before it closed for the season, we decided to check out the spray park.  Henry LOVED it!  We will definitely be heading back there next year.

Because he enjoyed the spraying and splashing so much, Auntie let him experience a more Walden-esque version of the spray park in the gutter.

Henry loved all of our adventuring this summer!  Thanks for following along!

Peach Picking

Who knew that peaches grow in Massachusetts??  We picked an entire bushel of them, and though I intended to freeze most, peach cobbler, crisp, pie and of course peaches for eating consumed them all in about a week!  

Auntie and Mama took turns carrying Henry around the orchard in the backpack.

A bushel of peaches gets heavy!  But not as heavy as the Henry-man.

Henry's best friend, Anna (aka "NaNa"), examines the fruits of our labor.  

The farm has lots of fruit (we have been there to pick blueberries, peaches and raspberries) and they also have goats to pet.  Henry was very intrigued by the goats.  He especially enjoyed feeding them and feeling their tongues tickle his palm!

Henry's Parents' 5th Anniversary

Auntie Kels took on full-time Henry duty for 2 days and nights while Mommy and Daddy (aka Kelly and Luke) took off for Vermont to celebrate 5 years of wedded bliss.

Our actual anniversary (August 2nd) was spent with Henry, touring the Lexington and Concord battle road (after all, love IS a battlefield...)

Henry particularly enjoyed the picnic lunch on the battle green. We decided to save the lessons of bloody warfare and struggles for independence for his NEXT visit.

That night, our celebratory dinner consisted of fine Moscato d'Asti wine (our favorite) and BBQ. A strange combination, perhaps, but tasty nonetheless!

The following weekend, we celebrated our quint anniversary with a little getaway. For Luke, this meant disc golf. (Please see Luke's website, disctrips.com for those pictures. Since this blog is created by me, Kelly, you won't see many disc golf pictures here.) ;-) For ME, this meant that we would eat our way through our trip, balancing my love for fine food with Luke's love for not going broke.

Our first eating stop, The Fabulous 50s Diner. Luke's choice. I had a helluva hot dog and some sweet potato fries. Luke ate burger #1 of the trip.

In addition to his quest to play disc golf in all 50 states, Luke is also hoping to see the top 100 private colleges through our travels. We peeked in on Dartmouth during what was perhaps the most beautiful afternoon ever. No, this is not a photo from their admissions packet, WE took this! Gorgeous!

Following our brief stay at Dartmouth, we went to the Queechee Gorge. It is an amazing view and we took a trek down into the canyon.

The obligatory "New England Covered Bridge" photo. Our light was waning, but it was picturesque, no doubt!

The next day, we went to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. It involved a farm, a mansion, and a large wildlife area for hiking. Located right outside of the GORGEOUS town of Woodstock, VT, it was a perfect destination.

Hanging out with the "cow-kitties".

We hiked to "The Pogue" a pond tucked on the side of a "mountain".

Then we continued on to the top of "North Peak", overlooking the town of Woodstock. "Picturesque" doesn't even BEGIN to describe it. Absolutely gorgeous. It was the most quintessential, peaceful New England town I could ever imagine.

On the way back down, Luke chose the "Precipice Trail". I did not know it was called this when we began our descent. Even for Colorado Mountain-climbing Luke, he was surprised to see GUARD RAILS along the trail! That, combined with the extremely muddy conditions we came across in some areas made me glad to make it down in one piece.

After Woodstock, we headed to Grafton, a historic, small, sleepy town in southern Vermont. The historic inn there has hosted such famous people as: Henry David Thoreau, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Woodrow Wilson.

Don't be fooled by the events calendar. Far less was going on than it seemed like. We decided to embrace the sereneness of the Inn, and go with the flow... We tried tennis (evidently the first people in years to request balls and rackets), ate dinner at the inn and people watched the other guests, and played an after dinner game of chess. No television caused us to miss the Olympics, but, hey, we were experiencing tranquility.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip, planned by my dashing and thoughtful husband. We have been blessed with five amazing years, and can't wait to see where the next five will take us!