Summer in the City

Last weekend, Elizabeth and I spent two days in New York City visiting my dear friend Melissa.  It was Elizabeth's second trip to the City and she behaved like an old pro.  Melissa lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which is where we spent the majority of the weekend, and Elizabeth was completely unfazed by all of the subway rides - in fact, she seemed to really like it.  We did some really great stuff on our visit, including a trip to the Prospect Park Zoo, dinner at Two Boots, a short tour of Central Park, a great craft project (fairy wings) - Melissa and Mark have a two year old niece, so they are up on all of the great kid activities in Brooklyn.  We had a great trip and can't wait to go back.  Below is a slideshow of pictures from our visit.

Click on the four arrows to enlarge the slideshow; turn up volume.


P.S.  If you clicked on more than 1/2 of the links in this post, you are truly a cyber-stalker.

Fun in the Sand and Surf

What better way to end vacation than with some good old fun in the sand and surf!  Elizabeth and Emily just loved playing in the water and loved playing in the sand.  What a great vacation!

  

  

  

Daddy buried Emily in the sand....

Don't worry NaaNaa, I'll save you...

Grandparents on the Beach

Our last visitors of the week were Grammy and Grampy, who took us to breakfast at the Golden Egg and spent the day hanging out at the beach with us.  Elizabeth enjoyed playing in the water with Grammy and Emily liked chilling back at the blanket and beach chairs with Grampy.

Elizabeth and Grampy, checking out the sea life hiding in the rocks and seaweed.

Lee, Emily and Grammy

Emily and Grammy

Emily and Grampy

Elizabeth and Grammy in the waves

The girls were intentionally "annoying" Lee, so when they weren't paying attention, he grabbed them both and ran down to the water, as they screamed all the way....

Family and Friends

The first full day of our vacation, Auntie Kathy, Miss Karen and Emily from New Hampshire spent a good portion of the day with us - playing in the water, playing in the sand, hanging out in beach chairs and eating (Auntie Kathy brings the best snacks).  We all had a great time hanging out (although Lee was sorely outnumbered by females 6 to 1) and it was a great way to kick off our vacation week.

Elizabeth and Emily, playing in the water.

Emily

Elizabeth and Auntie Kathy, playing in the waves.

I love the look on Elizabeth's face in this picture.

Parrots on the Beach

Early one morning when we were on the beach searching for sea glass, a woman randomly walked up to us with two parrots - and the girls were immediately enthralled.  I have to say, of all the things that could possibly happen on vacation, we really were not expecting a stranger to walk up to us with two parrots hanging off of her shirt.  They were relatively friendly birds and while the girls were too skittish to hold them, they did pet them - Lee (the pied piper) held them, of course.

Elizabeth and Emily were clearly totally into the parrots and are still telling people about them.

Tradition

For almost fifty years, my parents have been taking their kids to Brown's, a lobster pound in Seabrook, New Hampshire.  My dad has spent many a day teaching my siblings and me the fine art of eating a lobster - how to efficiently and properly take the tail out the shell, how to find big chunks of lobster meat in little nooks and crannies, and how to crack open a big lobster claw.  As a result, we all love lobsters.  This is a tradition that I want to pass on to our children so each year when we go to the beach, we always make sure to visit Brown's at least one night (sometimes two!) and this year was no exception.  My parents spent part of last Wednesday afternoon at the beach with us and then we made the trip down the coast to Brown's.  Elizabeth has tried lobster before, but this year was the first year that she ordered her very own - and ate the entire thing!  She and Emily also at a bunch of steamers, which surprised all of us.

  

Elizabeth with her very own lobster.

Lee and Emily checking out the live lobsters, waiting to be cooked...

Elizabeth eating steamers

Emily eating steamers

Elizabeth eating her very first lobster

After we left Brown's, Lee and I took the girls to the Beach Plum for ice cream.  When I was a kid, the Beach Plum was called Pope's, and we used to go there for ice cream every night during our beach vacation, so hitting the Beach Plum on our ride home was the perfect way to finish off our tradition.

As soon as they saw it, the girls wanted to have their picture taken with this lobster.

Lee's ladies....

A Day with Aunt Denise

On one of our first days at the beach, Aunt Denise - who Lee and I love and the girls simply adore - came to spend the day with us.  Aunt Denise is so much fun and the girls had a blast playing in the water with her, building "wedding cakes" in the sand and just plain old fooling around.  We had a wonderful day with her and can't wait to see her again!

Aunt Denise (the fastest head kisser around!) and Emily

Making "wedding cakes" with the girls.

In the ocean - and it was seriously cold.

Aunt Denise and Elizabeth

Daddy got Elizabeth to go out deep with him.

Old Friends...New Generation

One of the best things about vacationing in New Hampshire is that we have the opportunity to catch up with some old friends and this vacation was no exception.  On Sunday evening, we met our friends Scott and John and their families for dinner in Wells, Maine.  After dinner, we went to a nearby playground to let the kids burn off some energy while the parents talked.  As John pointed out, it is a bit surreal that we have been friends for more than twenty years, and now our children are playing together.

Tristan, with the football glass that his father "borrowed" from Mike's Clam Shack.

Jack scales the jungle gym.

Michael and Elizabeth

The next generation...

On Tuesday, my friend Janet (who I have known since seventh grade but Lee has known since kindergarten!) and her two boys - Ethan and Owen - came to visit.  Ethan is Elizabeth's oldest friend, as they were first introduced when they were both less than one month old.  They get along famously and it is great to watch them have so much fun playing together.

Ethan and Elizabeth in the water.

Janet and Owen

Owen

Ethan and Elizabeth were fearless in the waves!

Early Mornings

Elizabeth and Emily are early risers and being on vacation means nothing to them in that regard - so we were up before 6 am every morning (making for early nights for Lee and I!) and on the beach before 7 am.  While we were never early enough to see the sunrise, we always had the beach to ourselves.  We spent our mornings search for sea glass, looking for snails and crabs, flying kites and playing in the water.  These were the best times of each day, as the girls loved exploring and we loved the peace and quiet and beauty of it all.

  

  

  Playing in the sand.

  

This year, the girls each had their own kite - this particular morning, the wind was great and they were able to fly them all by themselves.

Looking for crabs, snails and starfish among the rocks.

Love this picture of the girls following Lee....

Summer Vacation

Last week, we had our annual summer vacation at Wallis Sands in Rye, New Hampshire and we really lucked out with fabulous weather every day during our trip.  This year, we did had a technology "detox" - no television or computer for seven days; only one cell phone call; and just one check of my work-issued blackberry each night (it was helpful that I didn't have service at our place!).  I think that it really did us a lot of good to be so out of touch for a few days and we really enjoyed our time together as a family.  It was tough to leave at the end of the week, but we know that we'll be back next year.  Over the coming week, we will try to do posts that capture our week of friends, family and fun.