Auntie LaLa arrives & Estelle's (real) birthday!

Monday July 16th:  Lisa & Dan leave for Nantucket!

 and Auntie LaLa arrives to help manage in the wake of Mom's fall.

Someone else made a star appearance late Monday night, and so when the girls woke up Tuesday morning: Auntie JoJo!

Soup had to be made.

Calls needed to be placed.  Lot's to discuss, watch the video and you can catch up on who are you?  something about heather & Cole's house, advice on watering your flowers and the bees, and clarifications on baby chairs vs. booster seats, and "blue-picking" a.k.a. blueberry picking.  It's a scattered conversation, but then again, reception on a banana just isn't what it used to be.

Wednesday, July 18th - Estelle's 6th birthday!   It began with a trip down to Story Hour at the town library.  So fun!  Not only did everyone sing happy birthday to Estelle, we also got to use this GREAT parachute - just by chance something Estelle has always longed to do.

This is when all the 6 year olds got to go under.  Estelle grinned from ear-to-ear when she realized SHE was in the 6-yr-old group!

Cat in the Hat!

Poor Auntie LaLa, she certainly got her workout keeping up with my girls.  This game was Madeline in Paris!  Estelle corrected Auntie LaLa's pronunciation when necessary.

That's a lot of loot considering we weren't even supposed to be in NH for her birthday!  Not bad.

Thanks Lisa & Dan & Anna!

Punch balls - so fun!  thanks LaLa.

Pascal and The Red Balloon?

After dinner:  the best thing anybody could have on their birthday:  A creemee, with sprinkles.

This creemee/farm stand in New Boston had all kinds of fun things besides a little petting zoo, there also toy tractors:

And REAL ones too!

Yes that is a real peacock in the background - 2 of them, in fact.

Getting ready to shift?

JUMP! 

The next day, more gifts arrived in the mail - Lite Brite!  So nostalgic!

Thursday night we enjoyed some great corn on the cob!

How wonderful for Estelle to spend her birthday with Grammie and Auntie LaLa!  What a special few days we all had together.

July 12- July 15th in New Boston NH

After the departure of Auntie LaLa, Caitrin & Co, things quieted down a little:

 Until Lisa made some M & M cookies:

 And there was always the pool of course!

 If she could have eaten them all, she would have, believe me.

 Léna, who refused her usual nap, collapsed on the couch at 6 p.m.

 Friday July 13th - Story time with Grammie:

 Playmobil:  it never gets old.

 That morning we went blueberry picking!

 Léna, at one point after I told her they were like BonBons, ate 5 berries in a row.  Then she never ate any more!

 Time to cool off again:

 The ritual:  making blueberry jam with Lisa:

 Special earrings from Aunt Darlene:

 Unfortunately Friday the 13th really WAS bad luck - in the night Mom had a bad fall. Thus no photos at all from our Bastille Day/July 14th.  But we did meet lovely Dr. Roy from Vermont, an even lovelier PA named Jimmy (#2), and I got to "nick" a few choice items from both hospitals we were in that day.    Once Mom had had a few bags of IV in her, we had some good laughs.  And in the end, Mom has survived and many good things came out of her fall!  But let's not go thru that again, right Mom?  :-)

 Sunday July 15th:  We went to nearby Pinardville to meet up with one of my best friends in my life, Mary Samson. Her parents live in Hookset which is close to Lisa's and so they were there from CT so we all met up for part of the morning.

 Above:  Estelle & Noah on the monkey bars, and below, Ter with Miranda.  Great kids!

 Look at these two SMC gals?  We look pretty young, right?  It could be 1992 and we could be on the Cape! :-)

 After a swim back at Lisa's, time to try to not break Anna's porcelain tea sets.

 A little quiet time with a CD book from the Whipple Free Library.

I won't forget that weekend anytime soon.