A Fun-Filled Day

We had such a fun family day on Saturday.  After a trip to the dump and the hardware store, we decided to swing by the little historical society located in the old train station in town.  We were bummed to see that it didn't open until 10:00, but a nice woman  opened it up for us early (we only live about 5 minutes away, so we easily could have come back, but we appreciated the gesture none-the-less).  The boys love visiting this old station, climbing on the caboose and looking around the old village store that has been kept in tact.  I love it too.  Some how it brings out the Anne of Green Gables lover in me. 

An old painting from 1900 depicting the hustle and bustle of the Potter Place station.  This place is extremely quiet now-a-days in comparison. 

 See them peeking out the windows?!?

 We are so lucky that the old train tracks have been transformed into the beautiful Northern Rail Trail where we walk, run and ride our bikes nearly daily. 

 This image shows the old train station in Andover just down the road from our house.  Now there is little community ball field and playground with the rail trail running along side it. 

 Here's the Potter Place station that we visited on Saturday. 

 Some interior shots of the beautiful general store...

 Playing checkers...

 After our visit to the historical society we ventured off for a spontaneous trip to the Danbury waterfall.  This is one of my favorite places to enjoy in our area.  We used to come here all the time as a family when I was younger and it always brings back memories of my childhood.  It's so fun to see my boys enjoy my old stomping grounds, although this waterfall will be much more fun when they're a little older and I'm not freaking out about them falling in and being swept away!

 Handsome boys...

 Love him!

Here I am with my sister and parents at the waterfall long ago!  Apparently, I wasn't so happy to be there!

 After our morning adventures we headed over to my parents for a little lunch birthday party.  My Aunt and Uncle were visiting from New York with two of my cousins (their sister Emily goes to Duke and happened to be going to Clara's birthday party on that same afternoon!  It was almost like we were all together in some weird way). 
Our boys had so much fun with Lizzy and Andrew...

 Aunt Lenore and Uncle Ken visiting with my Dad and Scott on the front porch...

 Aunt Lenore is so good with my boys.  They love her!

 They sang "Happy Birthday" to me!  Yay!  (I can't believe I'm turning 30 tomorrow - another post on that coming up soon). 

 Lizzy and the boys...

Phew!  And all of this happened before nap time!  That evening Camden learned to ride his bike with no training wheels!  I think I need to dedicate a whole post to that milestone!  Stay tuned!

Pooh Sticks and Black Flies

I'm so depressed that the five day forecast looks like this:

We've actually been enjoying some beautiful sunny weather this last week.  We spent lots of time outside - playing on the playground, running around with friends and family, blowing a lot of bubbles and getting eaten alive by black flies.  Mother's Day through Father's Day is miserable in New Hampshire with swarms and swarms of black flies.  I literally have been unable to sleep the last couple of nights because all my bug bites are itching me so bad.  Grrrr.  One of the things I truly can't stand about summer.  For some reason ever since I was a little kid, I seem to be the only one the bugs actually bite and I get so itchy and bumpy and yucky...just not fair!  Oh well, I'm still glad summer/spring and sun are here (although the rain the next five days will give me a little respite and an excuse to stay indoors away from the black flies!).


A couple days ago we went for a walk with my mom down to the meadow and played on the swinging bridge.  Camden loves to play "Pooh Sticks" and we played until we couldn't stand the bugs anymore!  It's such a blessing living close to family.  Here are a few pictures of our time at the river...

 Budding trees - after this upcoming rain the leaves will all be out!

The black flies seemed to like Micah too.  He has his first-ever little bite on his face  :(

I happened to have my camera with me that night as we walked home from dinner in the dining hall.  I couldn't resist snapping this impromptu snuggle session on the baseball field!  My boys are cute!

Looking at an airplane