First day of school '09

They have "shining eyes" and brand new shoes... it MUST be the first day of school!!

I got to be outside and snap some pictures ( since I work at the same elementary school that Sarah attends and had no kids that day.. our real first day is tomorrow!! just setting up/meetings etc. to get ready in the past two days..) . The K-12 all get in lines by grade and have a parade around the school before the day begins! A SME tradition!! Here is Sarah with her buds waiting for the parade to begin.

I just noticed my camera shows the wrong date.. the first day of school was the 26th this year.

mixed pics

She loves laying in the bathroom window..

Some fragrant lilies in Sarah's flower bed.

Sarah jumping into Indian Pond. (her usual face-plant jumping position.. she plugs her nose with her left hand while the right hand is reaching out and she starts off pretty straight, then tilts and lands on her face.. she claims this does not hurt..!)

Christian cooling off from this heat wave we're having ! (the blur next to him is Sarah under the water!)

Eric had a tennis tournament yesterday in Hanover. He did great! ( he and his partner got second place) He's warming up here (all the way to the left) before the match began. It was a beautiful building and huge.. I think there were seven courts under one roof and nice open-air places to sit above. Made it easy with the kids!

Eric (second from left for those who don't know..) with some of his team mates.

Here is my scared pup... I was bragging about the fact that my dog is not scared of thunder storms, but once fire crackers can be heard from across the street, forget it! That sound just has to come from something that eats dogs!!! She jumped right up on my back and actually fell asleep there!

"flying Ace"

Our good friend Nancy (Shannon and Liam's momma) asked if we could help her trailer a horse that they found for Shannon, (Sarah's wonderful pal!) back to NH. The previous owner of "Ace" lives in Mass. down near Cape Cod, so we headed down to get him and bring him to his new home! Here are the girls all ready to go..! Ace's owner was looking for a good home for him and I think she did a good job of that. Shannon is going to be a great little horse owner! Sarah and Shannon are posing in front of the good lookin' rig we had to use.

On our way! Shannon is not excited or anything, is she?!

getting ready to go over the new bridge in Boston


We made it! Here is Ace getting all fixed up for the trip by his previous owner.

While Ace was getting all wrapped for the trip Eric patted this little guy.. Eric's favorite kind of horse!! This mini was sooo tiny.. (compare to the dog on the left... !)

getting on the trailer

We made a pit-stop.. bathroom for us and water for Ace.. it was sooo hot outside! It was 97 degrees!

Ace is home! Here are the girls and the sign they made that says "welcome home Ace!".

Shannie and her long awaited horse! It was worth the wait Shan! Ace is so sweet!

Some changes

The kids and I went to get our hair cut this morning. Sarah was really thinking that she wanted a change.. so she got quite a bit cut off and had bangs added! Her hair was down the middle of her back before and she had to wear it in a braid most of the time to keep the tangles out and to just stay cool.. so she went shoulder length! (all her idea.. I was cringing in the corner when they cut the pony-tail off.!) I have to admit though, it does suit her! Here she is holding up her pony-tail.

This is what I came home to today... My mom gave us this swing and we have been debating where (or which tree to hang it from!) to put it.. or it would rain and it just didn't get hung up. Eric surprised us with it today when we got home from our haircuts!

Christian relaxing

Sarah sitting in the chair with her new hair. ( I'm so talented...ha!)

Indian Pond

Christian and I kayaked across Indian Pond the other day. Once we got to the other side it started to pour rain, so we shimmied the kayaks under some trees and waited it out. By the time we got back it started to thunder storm. The weather is so strange! It was sunny when we first started out. We did see a loon though and that was neat! It popped right up beside us, then disappeared again under the water.

last week

What a nice shot of handsome Christian

another nearby brook. Wow.. Sarah really went flying when he let go!!!! ;)

We set up a little camp by the Connecticut river since we missed our camping trip to White lake this year (baseball schedule!) We didn't go far.. across the street on our friends' property. Christian brought along his sling shot.. he would use it (with rocks) and Sally would just wait for them to fall and hop (literally, like a rabbit..!) after them.

Where did it go???

We had some leftover fireworks and sparklers from SC that we used up.

A friend took us out on his boat.. here is his dog with Sally.. queens of the river! :) (I love Sally's ears flowing in the breeze!!!)

enjoying s'mores

Christian and Eric Kayaking on the river. What a gorgeous day!

flat rock

The kids and I went to "flat rock" a couple of days ago to cool off. It's a spot along a brook nearby in our town. Sally came too. :)

Wow, we've had a lot of rain!! I've never seen the brook going quite this swiftly... Christian found a nice safe place to cross (don't worry Mom..!) and climbed up the big boulder.

We thought Sally would be okay since she HATES the water.. but once her boy got in, she got all worried and jumped in after him! Poor girl was clinging to a nearby rock! Christian pulled her out.

on the flat rock!

my babes. They've gotten along wonderfully well this summer!! :)

Sally's halloween costume for this year??? (she DOES go trick or treating with us you know!)

Sarah's flower bed is coming along! Sunflowers aren't quite open yet, but they're on their way! We threw some tomatoes in there this year and they are doing great too. (tomatoes are usually very tough for us!) The purple coneflowers really sprung up very tall this season.