Lot going on since the last post.

Well, it's been 4 weeks since my last post and this coming Friday is the 8 week anniversary since Tricia and I pulled into town. Since my last post we have had welcome visitors to our home and unwelcome (Irene) visitors. We have had time to enjoy some area attractions like a Boston Red Sox Game and a County Fair. Instead of writing off of it in one post I will take it one moment at a time, which may take more than one blog post.

I wrote the last post on August 13th and on the 16th my Dad and Patty rolled into town. They were visiting quite a few people. Their trip started in Cleveland visiting Jordan, Kelly, and Hayden. Next they drove to my Uncle Greg and Aunt Nancy's house, which is about 3 1/2 hours from our house, so since they were so close to us they decided to visit and see our new house.

First we showed them the house, then we took a walk to show them the Connecticut River. It was a fun time. We posed for pictures, and then had a rock throwing contest.

Here are some of the shots:








We all had fun throwing rocks in the river under the bridge. Here are some shots of the rocks hitting the water:




Then we all get competitive and my dad throws it all super hard and rock hits the underside of the bridge and shots straight down on the bank, didn't even make it in the water. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Here are the kids taking cover after it happens:




Here is a short video of the kids throwing their rocks:



We live by a mountain called Mount Sugar Loaf. We hadn't been to the top. There is a look out at the top, so we headed on up. Here is what it looks like from down below. That is the look out tower at the top:



Here you can see our house if you look closely. If you look across the street from the church, we are the white house with the chimney in the middle.





We took some pictures from the top of the lookout and of some of the beautiful flowers up there. Enjoy.













We live right around the corner from theYankee Candle Flagship store, so it seems that everyone that visits wants to go, well, my step mom anyway. We got to the store and almost immediately we couldn't find my dad, Keith, Parker or Tricia.


We found them sitting having a refreshment waiting for Patty and I well we shopped.


There were a lot of picture opportunities around the store. Here Tricia and Papa are posing by a cool truck in the Christmas section of the store.


Tricia liked this wall hanging and said to me, "Mom this is cool. Oh, Never mind. It's too expensive." Grandma: "Tricia, it's not too bad. It's only $59.99." Tricia: "Um, Grandma that says $599.99." Me: "Um, Tricia I'll take a picture for you."



Here Dad and Patty are shopping for an an ornament in the Christmas section.

Here Tricia and Parker are reenacting the Titanic scene in the candy section of the store.

One of the tourist attractions is that you can make wax hands. Tricia rocked out while Parker gave a thumbs up.



After we hung out at the Yankee Candle store we went to their restaurant called Chandlers. It was really funny because Patty, me and Tricia sat one side of the table and then the guys sat on the other side. I have Crohn's Disease, my step mom has allergies, and Tricia is a vegetarian. It took our side of the table forever to order and the guys a few seconds. HAHA. Here is a picture of us at Dinner.


After dinner we headed back home and they had to leave the next day, but before they did my dad and Keith hung some pictures around the house. It is really starting to feel like home.





After hanging out the morning of the 18th, Dad and Patty had to get back to Cleveland, so they could fly home. On their way out Darlene was flying in.

Coming up next: Darlene's Visit and my first triathlon on the East Coast.

Another fun week

Today marks three weeks since Tricia and I pulled into town and 4 weeks since Keith and Parker came to town. We are having a lot of fun livin' the small town life.



As I mentioned in the last post we have been going to a farm to get our veggies. Here is a picture of Tricia and Keith making a cheese and broccoli quiche. The reports were it was fabulous. I'm not able to have broccoli, so I took their word for it.

We are making a habit of taking after dinner walks. Here are some pictures from our neighborhood. Enjoy.






On our walk we headed over the bridge that is right by our house. Here is a little background. I don't like bridges, so as we started over it I decided to stop in the middle and wait for Keith and Tricia to come back. As I was in the middle of the bridge, which I do not like, I leaned on the railing and realized the bridge was infested with spiders. If you don't know, I HATE SPIDERS. While I was freaking out and waiting for Keith and Tricia I took this pictures. Enjoy or be grossed out. You decide.






I've been trying to cook and bake more from scratch. I made Cookies this week and this beautiful chocolate chip banana bread. Everyone loved it.



We headed back to the farm again this week. We got all our veggies for the week. We got to pick green beans again. Enjoy the farm pictures.







After we were at the farm we met Keith at Douglas' Auction house. There are auction houses everywhere here. We ended up getting a few furniture items and a couple rugs. It was fun. I remember going to auctions with my mom when I was very little in Colorado. My one memory is wanting my mom to win me a sit-n-spin and crying when she didn't win it for me.


Today I ran my first 5k here in Massachusetts. It started at the Yankee Candle Flagship store that is right around the corner from our house. There is a part of the store that is Christmas year round and Santa is there, so he was at the race today to see us off and greet us at the finish line. It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed it.




There were a lot of beautiful flowers outside of the Yankee Candle store.





Here is the goodies I got at the race. I got a Yankee Candle, Yankee Candle Car Air Freshener, trail mix, coupons for the Yankee Candle Store and restaurant, and a t-shirt all for $15. Races are a lot cheaper out here. It was a lot of fun. I also won a David Cook CD from a radio station that was there.


While I was at the race Keith took the kids to a Crew rowing class. Tricia is interested in rowing in High School, so Keith took them to learn the basics. Tricia ended up not being able to do the class because she didn't feel well, so Keith and Parker did it. They liked it, but said it was a lot of work.

After that we met at Lowe's because it was tax free weekend here, so we got a new fridge. Then we went out to lunch.

This has been a great week and I look forward this next week as we have our first guests. My dad and Patty come in on Tuesday. They leave Thursday after lunch and Darlene comes Thursday after lunch for almost a whole week. I can't wait to see them and see what adventures we have in store. Stay tuned and see how we continue to learn to love livin' the small town life.