Abby on Film

A little dancing


A little talking on the iPhone
I like how she realizes that there is buttons on the touch screen :)

My new favoite photo

Here is my favorite photo right now. I know.....I'm fickle ;) lots of photos I love of her, but then again Abby is such an awesome subject.

Doesn't she look cozy in her towel? Towel is one of her favorite words and she pronounces it kinda funny.. like 'Taw-wool'. Gotta say, it's pretty cute (and I know I'm just a wee bit biased).

Garden in the Woods

We met up with the Cibulskis's today at Garden in the Woods. It is a botanical garden with these giant insect sculptures & a guided nature walk. Abby, Emma and Jack were pretty into it and enjoying being able to roam free for the morning. My favorite sculpture was the praying mantis although the dragonflies in the pond came in a close second.

Last week as I was having a coffee at work I realized that the summer is almost over and in general lately that time flies. It seemed like just last week I was waiting for it to get warm enough to wear shorts and now it's almost September. We only have a few weeks left for warm weather activities like afternoon climbing & swimming. I don't get too sad though because with the going of the warm weather comes other fun things to look forward to. I always love the New England fall foliage, Halloween, Christmas & snowboarding (yay :)).

“And Summers and Winters scattered like splinters And four or five years slipped away”
-Jimmy Buffet

Kathy's house

Kathy & Brian's house is so great for hanging out with kids. Auntie Kathy has this awesome new swing set, it is almost like having your own backyard park.


Auntie Kathy even lets the kids write on her nice walls ;). Um not really. Lance had to sit in the naughty chair for this one. When asked by Kathy what he drew on the wall he answered... " a picture of you mom". Goodness - what's a mom to do with that?


We took a trip to Lake Compounce where Abby and Lance were all about going on the kiddie rides.

One last photo of tromping around Boston's north end. This is Abby's give knuckles trick.

Hawkins Wedding

Here's a few photos of Chris Hawkin's wedding in CT last weekend.

Little Pigtails

When do baby girls stop pulling out their cute hair-doos?
This morning I put her hair up all nice but by the time we made it to daycare - no more pigtails.

I have to say, they were pretty cute while they lasted (bragging mother alert!).

Stop and Go

Happy Abby

Knuckles

Abby has learned some funny things lately. The most recent is - Give Knuckles...

My cousin Sam taught her this and now if you ask her to 'give knuckles' she makes a fist and trys to give the gesture back. Pretty cute, though Pepe doesn't approve of his little granddaughter doing such a thing !

A weekend with three kids

We went to Chelmsford this weekend to babysit for Lance and Lincoln so that everyone else could go to Michael and Jason's wedding. Lance and Lincoln have both gotten so fun lately. Lincoln remembers everyone's name - even people he has only met once or twice. He is also a big fan of the book 'Gruffalo' which I read him twice before he fell asleep in my arms last night (so sweet!). Lance is really into pretend playing and he and I played 'special delivery' for a half hour where we both had to be truck drivers and drop off the food orders to stop and shop :).

Here is - A day in the life of Lance, Lincon & Abby


First we played in the backyard for awhile. Lincoln: "Was I driving too fast occifer?"

Then we had some popsicles & chilled out for a while..

Time to go out for some ice cream

Uncle Bobby met us there and he got a monster size banana split!

The miskell cousins joined in for some ice cream at Kimballs.

Time for dinner with 3 kids, glad they all eat Mac and Cheese (with veggies mixed in).
Bath and Bubble time
How about a hike at Carlisle State Forest? Lance is being the big kid here showing Abby and Lincoln where to go.
Checking out some cows at the dairy farm
Finally, Ice Cream reward :)

Miskell Mayhem

Just thought I would post a bit more about the Miskell visit up north. It was really nice to hang out again with the Miskell cousins. I can't believe how grown up they are all getting. Don't I sound like an old spinster aunt saying that ;)??? But seriously, Sinead is a teenager now and taking a 'transistion year' to travel, Jeff is driving, Sam and Rachel are in Jr high and Brittney has a boyfriend!!

Here are the Miskell kids during the pool contest series. I was playing judge to the various diving contests being proposed (highest dive, funniest dive, biggest splash etc ;)).


The kids were taken with Abby, she was the only baby up there and had all of their attention.



This is the pre-dinner activity at JP's condo. Was pretty hectic but fun at the same time.


We did a lot of waterskiing and tubing out on Pepe's boat. I gotta say, I just love waterskiing, so fun! It has all of the elements I like in a sport, it is outdoors, a bit challenging (i/e you have to work at it), & it is a great adrenalin rush (being pulled behind a speed boat at 3o mph will do that ;). Almost all the miskell teenagers are getting up on 2 skis now as well. We started them just a few years back and its great to see them all improve every year.




We did get to go on one hike up and over the Moat Mountains and ending at the top of Cathedral Ledge. My dad and Earl Sr. went too but then turned back after one peak :).


Here's the view of the climbing route called 'The Prow' on Cathedral Ledge. I can't wait to get out climbing again!