And I had to throw this picture in.  This is in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.  Beautiful place my mom likes to visit each time she's here.  The lighthouse in the background is called the Portland Headlight.

My mom was here for 3 weeks in July.  We had lots of great beach days.

We also went to the Yarmouth Clam Festival.  Lots of seafood and carni rides.

Mom had a little too much fun on the tiltawhirl.

Julia had had enough.  She also had a fever that day and wasn't feeling too well.  

                                      

           

                

Mom's new husband, Mel, came to visit.  It was great getting to know him.  We took him to all of Mom's favorite spots. Old Orchard Beach was one of them.  We had a great time riding some rides and eating some fried clams.  And of course we stopped at the candy store.

               Ella was finally big enough to ride some big rides.  She got a little scared on this one.  But in the end she said she loved it.                      

And of course we had to show Mel how to eat some Maine Lobster.   

I love my mom and wish she lived closer.  We always have a great time when she's here!

My mom got married!  June 7th was the big day.  Here's some pictures from the wedding.  Of course I wasn't able to make it which makes me very sad.  But my mom is very happy.  Doesn't she look beautiful?

My family- missing a few- including me.

Still more

Just a couple more of Julia.

More Julia

Anyone who knows me well, knows that any kid of mine had better like the beach.  I'm happy to say, Julia is a great beach baby.  Or at least she was- until Daddy showed her how fun the water is.  And now she thinks she's one of the big girls, pulling the boogie board down to the water.  I'm now constantly having to bring her back away from the water, which is not very relaxing.  But she does take great naps on the beach, which allows me to have some sweet 7 hour beach days.  Thank you Julia!

Julia

Julia is growing up so quickly.  She started to stand on her own when she was just 7 months old.  And she was walking at 8 months.  She's so much fun. She brings so much to our family.  The older girls just love her!

Fourth of July

On the fourth of July, we went strawberry picking at an orchard about 30 minutes away.  Julia thought she was in heaven.  She kept pulling the leaves off of the strawberry plants and eating rotten strawberries that were on the ground.  I didn't get much picking done.  The kids did most of the picking.  We ended up with quite a few tiny, unripe berries.  

     

 

Hannah was all business!

At night we went down to the beach with our new friends, the Craigs, who just moved here from Arizona.   The kids had fun with their sparklers and we watched all the firework shows, large and small, down the beach.  I love the 4th on the beach- when it's not raining.  Bryan, of course, had to work all day and was on call that night.  

Julia was a little afraid of the sparklers.

Early Summer Fun

We went to a Portland, Maine Sea Dogs baseball game in early June.

We went to Chuck E Cheese to reward the girls for the 558 stickers they got on their sticker chart for doing good things.  I make them work for their fun!