Four Months!

Little man turned four months old yesterday.  His big sisters still love him to pieces; this morning there were tears over who could hold him/sing him "I'm a little teapot"/play pop-goes-the-weasel with his feet.  He is a pretty good sport about it all, and rewards attention with big smiles.  Lately he's found his toes and his thumb.

 Sometimes we both fall back to sleep after nursing in the morning.  

August misc.

More baby snuggles, time at the pool and playgrounds.  

 dinner with the Matters & Chens at the playground

  

 toes in the pool for the first time!

 Alasdair brought the girls to the office one morning so I could work at home

 Emily's dentist appointment

A big highlight of August was Emily starting to swim without her floats.  Of her own accord, she practiced for awhile in the shallow part of the splash pool, and before I knew it she was paddling around in the deeper section.  So proud of her!

a spur of the moment dinner date on a night Daddy worked late

Friends at the Lake

We filled up the Big House with good friends last weekend and had so.much.fun.  The girls were very excited to stay there, and to show their friends Westport.  We have amazing friends with great kids.  One the first day the older kids mastered the paddle boards in a crashing south wind and Emily caught her first fish right off Boathouse Point.  The second day was calmer water; my dad pulled everyone tubing and the kids ventured a lot further on the boards, kayaks and tubes.  

We all sat around and laughed for hours after the kids were in bed.

Attempted hike up Merlin's foiled because I couldn't find the trail.  Oops.

 Emily has always been fascinated by fishing, and my mom has been saying for years that she's going to learn to fish again so she can teach the girls.  On Friday she pulled out Nick's old fishing tackle and got some new things, and practiced up.  Saturday she brought out the gear and low and behold, Emily (with help from Papa) pulled in a perch on her first cast!  Of course the person she had to go tell was Uncle Dave. :)

The other kids got in on the action too.

 All the kids, tired out after a hard day of playing!

Some calmer waters on day 2.

 All five families had a kid going into Kindergarten, so it was fun to see them all playing together.  Mallory & Graham will be in Emily's class this year.

 It's amazing how long they are entertained with some rocks, water, and their imaginations.

 Love having friends who love my kids.

  

 The closest we got to a group shot. 

Alden & Taylor Visit

After the lake, we got a special visit from Alden & Taylor!  We had so much fun with them, and the girls loved Taylor.  We did some of our favorite things -- walking along Mink Brook, swimming in the river, pizza on the Green, ice cream cones and a new adventure -- hiking Mt. Cardigan.  

After Emily's successful hike at Westport, we decided she could give this a try, and she again did great!  Never needed to be carried, and had a good attitude the whole way.  

 Emily said, "Instead of you two holding each others' hands, you can both hold one of my hands!"

and of course the brothers' basketball game

Birthday Week at the Lake

We spent a much needed low key week in Westport with my parents the first week in August.  It was so good to get away from the swirl of life for long enough to really unwind.  We are so lucky to have this place and I love watching the girls thrive there.  Becky & Brian came up to visit one day (because they are amazing at making long drives to see us!).  Other than that, the week was spent on all the regular Westport stuff -- lots of time on the palace rocks and in the lake, some boat rides, catching frogs in papa's pond, a few hikes, pedicures by mimi, whiffle ball, sandbox time, reading.  Alasdair & I went to a birthday dinner at the Bistro where we sat by the lake and most of the tables around us were filled with people speaking French.  So lovely.

The highlight of the week for Emily was bonding with Uncle Dave.  He let her watch him clean fish one of our first days there, and she spent most of the rest of the week keeping an eye out for him so that she could see more fish.  He found a crayfish in the belly of a bass he was cleaning, which he gifted to Emily (lovely), and then later in the week gifted all of us a bag of perch (all cleaned and ready to eat) and some salt pork.  Such a treat. :)   

Adara's highlight was tubing behind the boat!

My birthday happiness - coffee and an Ernie's apple cinnamon muffin on the lower deck, and playing with my kids on the Palace Rocks:

 my children have fallen asleep in a lot of places this summer.

beautiful shots by Brian:

Hike out for a Rose Point picnic

Everybody tries perch for the first time!  Adara was not a big fan, but Emily did pretty well.  Alden just watched. :)

Frogs. Emily played with this one all day.  See the tears as she had to leave him behind when we left.

We joined up with "Trails with Charlotte" (one of my dad's old soccer players) and Emily did the whole 5 mile walk!  We were so proud of her.  

I cannot imagine anything better than this: