A Day Trip to Newport, RI

Last week, we realized that Saturday was going to be a rare day where nobody was scheduled to work, and decided to pack up Vanna White (our new Ford Transit) and drive to Newport, Rhode Island with the kids.  

We hit Easton's Beach because it has bathrooms (so many beaches around here are open, but the bathrooms are locked up...not great with lots of little bladders) and waves, unlike our local beach.  Unfortunately, there was also a lot of seaweed.  Phil researches the best waves in the area like it's his day job, and knew the swell was about 2 feet, but there's no way to tell about seaweed until you get there.  The kids love boogie boarding, but came home with TONS of seaweed under their suits.  Blech.  I love the ocean, but from my perch on the shore, for this seaweedy reason in particular.  

And sharks.  

And salt water.  

And sand.  

Geez Colleen, you have a strange love/hate relationship with the ocean.

Yes, I SEA your point.

Hehehe.

Anyway, some photos of the day...

Maximillian Kolbe: The Saint of Auschwitz (and the Man Who Changed My Life Forever)

When I was sixteen, growing up on Cape Cod, my mom was the coordinator of the Apostolate Alliance of the Two Hearts (a Catholic organization that promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart).  We just called it the "Alliance" and knew it meant that my mom (and dad) were always having prayer groups, saying the family rosary, and going to daily Mass.  Priests were in and out of our home on a regular basis, and the "headquarters" of the Alliance was in a room above the ice cream shop my family owned and ran.  We would be working a busy shift, run upstairs for another box of sugar cones, and bump into a group of friars praying for the conversion of sinners.  No biggie ;)  My parents had become Third Order Franciscans of the Immaculate when I was about twelve, and truly, I didn't realize how weirdly Catholic we were until a friend came to my house when I was in high school, and pointed out how many images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints we had.  She (lovingly) started referring to my home as the Jesus House.  Ha! 

So it might come to no surprise to anyone who knew us back then, that my mother was somehow involved (perhaps initiated??) a speaker to come from Poland to give a couple of talks about St. Maximillian Kolbe.  St Max was the founder of the Militia of the Immaculata, which promoted evangelization of the faith through consecration to Our Lady.  She was a Third Order of the same Franciscans that he founded, after all.  What WAS surprising was that the speaker was 93 year old Franciszek Gajowniczek...the man whom St. Maximillian Kolbe had saved by taking his place in the concentration camp! 

7QT: Friends, Mass, House Projects and a Break Up

Happy Friday!  Linking up with Kelly and the rest of the faithful bloggers.

1)

I am in great spirits because we have events on our social calendar this weekend!  After almost 3 months of not having social interactions, even this introvert is dying for some friend time.  Tonight, a friend is coming over to our house for dinner, and then on Sunday, Phil and I are going out to eat with another friend at an outdoor restaurant in Rhode Island.  I can't even remember what going to a restaurant is like!!  I hope I behave :)

2)

WE WENT TO MASS!!!!

We were all there, JP was taking this picture, and Phil was inside talking, and talking, and talking to Father.  (I told you we were starved for attention).  My four oldest boys served Mass, Maggie was the sacristan, and the little two boys seemed to whisper much louder behind their masks in the pew.  I thought I would cry upon receiving Our Lord for the first time in months, but I was too busy thinking about the logistics of being told when to go by an usher, bowing, pulling down my mask, and receiving by hand (I never receive by hand), that I didn't have time to be too emotional.