Happenings and Goings On

It's hard to sit down and write in the summer time.  When I'm not working, I want to be outside doing stuff with the family like the rest of you.  But, every once in a while I need to document things so that my yearly blog book holds all the memories.

So, first up is the most important thing that's happened recently...Eamon served his first Mass!  He attended our parish's Altar Server Bootcamp for three days, and now he is allowed to serve with his big brothers who gently lead him around the altar and whisper his duties.  It is so beautiful to see.  Eamon has a Godly heart and I think surpasses me in his holiness already at age 8.  

Even better, his cousin and bestie, Tommy, became a server with him!

Declan is finally getting his molars, so that's been...fun.  When he's not crabby, he loves being outside, which is great because between all the sports practices and summer activities we do, he's outside a lot!  

We've had a few cooler days here recently, so I've been able to run after work, and look at my view yesterday while I was running around the city park.  I had to tiptoe through those feather brains and their droppings because someone was feeding them bread.  Don't feed the birds!  It's bad for them.

On the subject of feeding, Phil and I are trying to eat healthy because we both noticed some winter insulation that never got the summertime memo.  So it's been lots of greek yogurt, grilled chicken, and salads for us.  But we have so many reasons to break the diet (birthday parties, holiday parties, we lost a pound parties) that we're not really losing any weight.  

Maggie got her haircut!  I had cut it about a month ago, but it wasn't straight and was driving me crazy, so I had it professionally done.  It came out so cute that I want to cut mine the same!

I don't know why I don't have any photos of Xander, the resident comedian, on my phone, but I'll leave you with a Xanderism:

(Seeing Phil give me a kiss)

Xander: "Why you guys always marrying each other???"

Because we like it ;)

Have a wonderful Fourth of July, here's a video from a few years ago of the oldest parade in the country in Bristol, RI:

#MartinsOnVacation

We don't do vacations often, but when we do we try to pack lots of fun and adventure into them.  Big family vacations can be super expensive but we try to tight walk across the line of normal thriftiness and vacation splurginess.  This past weekend we took a trip up to North Conway, NH for some "Kids did awesome in school this year and Dad's done teaching until the Fall" fun.  

We left on a rainy day, and stopped at Funspot for some indoor activities.  We timed it just right that we could take advantage of their Sunday bowling deal of $2.50 per person plus free shoes.  Then we gave the kids some tokens to play in the world's biggest arcade.  Xander just rode these cars until his tokens all ran out!  

I let Phil enjoy Father's Day and chased Declan around every blessed staircase in that place.  It was a great way to tire him out on the long car ride.

Stairway to Napping Heaven.

As we drove into North Conway, the rain stopped!  We checked into our inn (a Groupon deal) and then headed right to Story Land, where one ticket gives you access to the park for an afternoon and then a whole day of fun.

Xander's face was so fun to watch while we went on rides.  This place is truly magical for a little kid!

They let unlicensed peeps drive up here...crazy!

Declan gets the best seat in the house when he's awake...

...and when he's asleep!

Declan loved the balls, being a boy and all.

We watched a magic show that I thought would be pretty cheesy, but was actually really funny!

Driving Miss Daisy

 We had a pretty terrible night's sleep in the loft (squeaky pull-out sofa + tossy-turny kids + fire alarm going off at ten pm = sleepless night for me) so Phil took them all out early in the morning to see the view, a.k.a. let Mom sleep for an hour before she lost her cool for the rest of the day.  Smart man, that one.

 We ate the complimentary breakfast at the inn, packed up a lunch, and took off again for Story Land bright and early!

They have a new ride this year, the Roar-osaurus, a big rollercoaster (see the wooden tracks in the background?) that was a huuuuuge hit with our big kids.  We were worried hat JP, at the ripe old age of 12, would be bored, but this ride was great for him.  

 Xander and I loved the water rides, they were just our speed and just scary enough to make us scream-giggle.

Maggie wanted to ride in the Pumpkin Coach to Cinderella's castle, and the older boys, unsurprisingly, did not.  So I took my princess and my Batman to see her royal highness.  On the way into the castle, Xander asked "What's Cinderella?" and then immediately fell in love...

Hey there, Cindy, you come here often?

There were pirate rides, spinny rides, flying rides, and funny cast members from all over the world (really! their countries were listed on their nametags!). 

Andrew and Eamon were smiling and enjoying themselves the whole day.  It was great to sea (get it, sea? boat? I'll be here all night!)

We ate our picnic lunch (Story Land is so cool about letting you bring in food and drinks, we didn't buy anything there) and Xander found a chipmunk friend!

Twinsies.

More rides...

I have so many kids, I don't know what to do...

 My wee Irish lads and lassie:

If you didn't catch it from the photos, Story Land is storybook themed...Mother Goose style.

London Bridge

Hey Phil, your tourist is showing :)

Every time we go, we have to take this photo on the bench!

We left Story Land and drove to Diana's Baths.  Diana's Baths is this gorgeous are with waterfalls, and small pools of water, and rocks and a rail that you can hike up and around.  The half-mile hike to get there is quick, but felt really long with a tired baby and a toddler who was on a bear hunt.  But so worth it!

Work it, work it ;)

The littlest frog in all the land.

We had just one more stop to make in town before the day was over.  To Zeb's country store we went for some candy and chocolate!

Another obligatory photo with me and my cubs.  Hardy har har.

Bear with me, my mom's a blogger.

We only had to eat two meals out, and one of those times we took advantage of a Kids Eat Free when the Red Sox win at a local chain restaurant.  I told ya, we know how to roll on the cheap and fun.  We really lucked out with the weather, both our driving days were rainy but the time spent in New Hampshire was beautiful.  God is so good!  I can't wait for our next little getaway :)