Our New England Summer

August 2 is behind us now, a date that seemed so remote since we planned our trip to New Hampshire about a year ago.  After being in the Northeast for about ten weeks, and returning home to Colorado- I've been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster as I've reflected on my experience.  My husband came with us for the first two weeks of our time out there but then returned to Colorado for work.  I continued to stay in NH with my parents; spending time with family, visiting with friends, and doing many tourist-y things.  In ten years of marriage, our family has had very few vacations; so the time back in NH, doing fun, recreational things, has felt very novel and special.  I have to admit that my time without Nick there was difficult at times, I had a small taste of what single parenthood might be like.  I didn't get a ton of sewing done.  I did A LOT of fabric shopping.

If you aren't interested in these touristy-family pictures, rest assured that my next few posts will focus on all sewing related things and I look forward to sharing the projects I did complete over June and July as well as my fabric shopping exploits.

The day after we arrived, we drove straight for the beach.  A huge theme of our time in the Northeast was visiting beaches and lakes- any setting with water I guess.

Owen took a nap on the beach that day, doesn't that look so cozy?

Ever since Gregory was a toddler, we visited Great Brook Farm in Carlisle, MA to catch frogs.  We returned there on a humid day and quickly got back to our tradition:

Nick and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary and were able to attend the Boston temple and had a three day getaway in North Conway, NH:

A replica "tall ship" was docked in Newburyport while we were there:

Lots and lots of New England ice cream was consumed during our stay.  I am sad to say that the weight loss I achieved before our trip was undoubtedly reversed:

We attended some community events including the kick-off of the local summer reading program:

Here's Gregory at the 250th anniversary of Deerfield, NH:

We spent lots of time in my parents pool and invited friends to join us as often as possible:

We visited amusement parks and museums.  We had a great time.  Every time Charlotte passed us on this carousel, she shouted, "Mom!  This horse is so pretty!"

A lot of our activities weren't super baby friendly but my little guy has such a laid back personality.  He did really well with all of our travels.

We had a little reunion with most of my really good friends from church, I shed a few tears at the end of the evening, wishing for more time with these great people:

We got my dad to take us for a boat ride on Kingston Lake:

Colorado is a land locked state, so we found ourselves by the ocean as often as we could manage.  The kids weren't very tolerant of the frigid water temperatures, so we spent a lot of time playing in the sand and looking for seashells.

My sister joined us two weeks before we had to head back to Colorado.  She was a big help and I think the kids liked seeing a new face besides mine.

This picture was taken on the day before we flew back to Denver.  It just looks magical to me.

This is Salisbury Beach Reservation:

I definitely have a bit of a "vacation hangover" since returning to Colorado.  I was exhausted for the first few days of our return and the kids were too.  My oldest starts full day first grade tomorrow, my ward (congregation) was split on Sunday and we are in a different stake (big changes in the local organization of our church), and a good friend and family member is currently visiting from Texas.  It's all been a lot to take in!  It's been difficult to try to catch up on life's responsibilities lately.  But I've missed sharing myself in this space and plan to update frequently as I catch up on my sewing and what I have accomplished in the past few months.  Thanks for reading!  I'll be back very soon.