Doggie Happenings

Windham's annual Doggie Costume Parade was last weekend. Genevieve and Gwynnie made quite the pair in their matching ladybug costumes. (Although I had a bumble bee costume ready for Sebastien, he chose not to partake.)

 Here are the girls getting ready to walk around the park in the parade. Mommy ended up carrying Genevieve and holding Gwynnie's leash do we bowed out of the parade halfway through.

 Gwynnie also had her annual vet checkup this week.

In non-dog-related news, Genevieve is FINALLY old enough to participate in soccer classes. She is loving it. Here are the kids (Sebastien in blue and Genevieve in red) warming up.

Fall is here. Sebastien loves his scooter and almost never rides a bike these days!

He also LOVES anything outerspace. He drew this picture of the solar system and labeled the planets with their first initial. (I still think it's sad that Pluto is no longer included.)

Proud face?

Avalynn and Sebastien cart Genevieve around.

Constitution, as in the ship

This weekend we took advantage of our proximity to Boston...and our siblings who live there, and visited the USS Constitution. My dad would be proud. It's a wooden war ship that was used in the War of 1812 and is still commissioned by the Navy. Sebastien and Genevieve just thought it was a pirate ship. There were many references to Captain Hook throughout the day. We had beautiful weather in the high 70s, which I'm wondering if that will be the last warm day for the year.

 Steering the ship

 Jaclyn shows Sebastien how to fire the cannon.

 Below deck

 Looking out towards Boston

 Jaclyn & Sebastien ahead and Genevieve walking the Freedom Trail after visiting the ship.

 We had a yummy lunch, then visited a park by the river. Dan and Brian relaxing.

 Sebastien and Jaclyn at the park

 So the next day (Sunday) was rainy and boring so we thought, "hey, let's go back to the Constitution and go to the museum since we didn't get a chance to go yesterday." So we did! (and luckily all this stuff is free!)

Here are Sebastien and Daddy pulling a goat onto the ship.

 Genevieve practiced sanding the ship deck...

 ...and sleeping in a hammock.

 They even could play with this while we looked around the museum.

Since we had some more time, we stopped by the Boston Children's Museum for a couple hours before heading home. Needless to say, the kids were spent!

Deerfield Fair

We look forward to the Deerfield Fair every year. This is the second year that we had to deal with some rain, but actually it wasn't too bad once we got there. The kids have their nifty new rainboots so puddles were not a problem.Here are the kids ready to attack the fair armed with their fair maps.

 With Dan in the dairy barn

 Looking at chickens and ducks

 Petting a goat

Mmmm...corndogs!

 I'm going to sneak in some non-fair photos now...here is Dan and I later that night at the Haverhill Brew Fest.

 Genevieve excitedly wearing her leotard for gymnastics class.

 Sebastien waiting his turn at gymnastics class.

Rest of South Bend Trip

After the ND reunion weekend died down, we got back to visiting family and friends.

Here are the kids at Popoo's house playing his piano.

 Popoo in his living room.

 The kids first time at a Hibachi place - Hana Yori in Mishawaka. Sebastien loved watching the cook but was pretty scared when he lit the cooking surface on fire.

 The little "volcano" fire.

 Sebastien covering his eyes at the fire, to the amusement of Popoo and Papa.

 Genevieve really liked the paper cocktail umbrellas.

 On Monday we went back to campus for a quieter visit, as opposed to a football weekend. Since we started out at the new playground by the performing arts center, we couldn't make it very far inland with Sebastien walking (and hungry) so we just made it to the library and back.

 Checking out Touchdown Jesus.

 A visit from the Cass family...and yes, Sebastien and Genevieve are wrestling on the floor. Note Monet too.

 Playing with my old troll dolls.

We were sad to leave Grammy Patty and Papa's house but we were also anxious to get home and see Daddy. Luckily we'll see Grammy and Papa again in a few weeks when they come to visit for the BC-ND game out here.

Kid's First Notre Dame Tailgate

The main reason I went back to South Bend at this particular time of the year was to partake in my mini-reunion that my college dorm friends organized. There were 12 of us who were close at ND and amazingly enough, we all made it back to South Bend for the ND vs Michigan game. The game was a night game so we spent the whole day tailgating (yes, the kids too!) and then came back to my parent's house to put the kids to bed and watch the game. There were about 9 people spending the night at my parent's house and others who came just to watch the game. The rest went to the game.

Here are the munchkins in their Notre Dame clothes before we left to go tailgating.

 Most of the gals from Cavanaugh (my dorm).

The big group (kids and hubbies, etc).

 How I rolled....with a double stroller for 7 hours. The kids were very good, but I was very tired by the end.

 Getting their faces painted indoors while waiting out a thundershower.

 Playing "cornhole"

 Genevieve hugging her 2 new friends, Samantha and Caitlin.