End of Summer Fun

Just a few pictures from the end of our summer. Audrey had fun celebrating her friend's 16th birthday at IHOP and the skating rink. These are all such lovely girls!

We took the kids to the Coldplay concert. Best idea ever.

The Tidwell cousins swept through town, leaving fun and memories in their wake! We always have a great time when they are here!

First Day of School 2016

This is the picture we take every year of the kids with Neal after Father's Blessings. Love!

 Tenth and fourth grades.

Eighth! Parker has grown so much taller this year. I think he might surpass Audrey by year's end!

Time in Littleton

We were able to spend a few days with the Parkers in Littleton on either end of our trip to Maine. We had so much fun and of course, left with many new wishes.
1. That Massachusetts and Texas were closer.
2. That we all worked for airlines.

We spent a couple of nights at the Parkers' house when we first arrived in Boston. The kids had fun on the slack lines outside.

We went to Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, New Hampshire for a late breakfast one morning. Yum! Miles and Sophie were nice to pose for a photo for me. 

On the way back, we stopped in Hollis, NH to pay our respects to our ancestors who used to live here.

We also had a blast with cousins at Kimball Farm. What a fun place to have so nearby! A couple of the kids even got Holes-in-One, which was super exciting. Later that evening, the adults went to dinner in Groton at Gibbett Hill Farm, which was lovely. Elliott retold us the story about our Nutting ancestors who lived in Groton and were attacked during King Phillip's War in 1676. John Nutting was killed by the Indians and his family sought refuge at their neighbors' home. Those neighbors were named Parker and they are Ginger's ancestors.

Ginger and Sophie were so nice to make Miles a birthday cake, since we arrived back at their house after our time in Maine on Miles' 10th birthday! Celebrating birthdays with family is a novelty for us. It was such a nice change!

After dinner that night, we took a walk down to the little lake behind the Parkers' street. Littleton is so pretty; we can't wait to go back!

Maine, Day Six

We spent Day Six driving through Acadia National Park some more and stopping to enjoy the sights. We climbed down from the road and found this neat cove to explore. The kids went all the way in.

We found a few blueberry patches along the way. They tasted amazing!

Back in Bar Harbor that night, we did some strolling with the crowds, one more lobster dinner for Neal, delicious ice cream and a bit of rock skipping for the road.

So long, Maine! We'll be back!

Maine, Day Five

We spent all day on day five hiking in beautiful Acadia National Park! It was super foggy all morning, so the views weren't ideal when we first started out, but it cleared up throughout the day and we managed to stay nice and cool while hiking by knocking the raindrops off the trees that covered the paths. What a fun day!

We started out at Sand Beach, arrived before most of the crowds and enjoyed some quiet time with the waves.

We headed inland a bit and found the Beehive Hiking Trail, which was formidable. All of the hiking in Acadia is pretty extreme, but we did it all day anyway.

A view of Sand Beach from the top of the Beehive.

From there, we found more trails and more beautiful vistas.

This is the Beehive summit from the bottom.

A view of Echo Lake from the top of a trail.

The pretty Bass Harbor Headlight, which we found as sunset was approaching.

All along the Park Loop Road, there are places to stop, park and get out and walk around. We did that quite a few times, usually making our way down to the water.

Fun times in Acadia! Excited for day two!