june 2013 : silver bay

oh my sweet sweet home away from home.
we stayed in new york for 2.5 weeks. it was an amazing vacation.
we rented a house with my sister & her family the first week.
the second week we stayed with carolyn.
my mom came up & she loved being with her babes.

we took the kids to the beach on the first morning.
and built our very first sand castle ever. 

kinda cool. 

love these big ol legs! 

stephani asked bryan to give max a lil dip. 

max was not excited about it. 

we sat at the boathouse & watched it rain that afternoon. 

maxwell & maya were hilarious together. 

we took turns having date nights. 

we met in middlebury with our dear friends cathi & tyler. 

tyler had a couple drinks... hence the boob shot :)

we've been friends with them for quite awhile now, but we've never hung out just the adults. 

it was a really, really fun evening. 

we mailed some postcards. 

pop would be so proud. 

we took the kids kayaking. maya hated it. 

finn loved it & kept saying we needed to put it on autopilot. 

i love this photo of maya. 

nana wanted to throw the kids a birthday party at the store. 

she had hats & blowers & pizza & ice cream. 

what more could you want?! oh presents. lots of presents! 

nana & maya making her famous breakfast. 

we did a girl's day in middlebury vermont for my birthday! kelli is a good friend of steph's from new york. she fit in perfectly & was so much fun to have around. we've now adopted her. 

it was dreamy.
we had so much fun walking around, shopping, talking & having lunch by the river.

it's such a beautiful town. i'd forgotten to get the key to my camera case before we left, so my beautiful camera stayed locked in the trunk... waaaaaaaaaa. thanks iphone! 

we get back & steph suggested we take the kids for a boat ride... i thought nothing of it. 

jeff let finn drive & he was a wild man. but he had a blast. 

i love this picture, but i think he looks crazy! 

my favorite picture of the entire trip. 

we get back to our house & steph, mom, bryan & jeff had planned a surprise birthday for me!

everybody that was able to show up :) such sweet friends. 

& very thoughtful family. 

we put the kids in camp every day of the second week. 9-12. ah, it was wonderful. it felt like our first real vacation. bryan & i kept pointing out, now this feels like a vacation. 

finn loved camp. he was a wee woozle. maya screamed each day, but would at some point through out the morning calm down & have a little bit of fun. her counselor told me she was her favorite ;) 

on the last day of the week they have a camp fire. 

we sang songs & roasted marshmallows. nick is in the blue shirt... finn's favorite.
they both still sing songs they learned that week.
mama shark, do do do do do! 

beach fun with nana.

the field behind the house the rarig's rented.... beautiful view. we hung out there quite a bit.

steph's sweet lil family. 

cathi & tyler came down to spend the day with us. 

we're so lucky they live in a place that makes it easy to see each other once a year! 

maya starting to get brave.

i love this picture of finn. 

finn & isabelle hit it off. 

quick beer before their road trip home  ;)

we said good bye to the boddies & headed to a friends cocktail hour party. maya tripped on a rocking chair & busted her lip up pretty good. top lip, can you see it? it was awful. 

birdie was conked out! love this photo.

it rained a lot while we were there, which we didn't mind at all. 

we read a lot of books & watched a lot of storms. 

natalie & max got baptized by silver bay's pastor, bruce tamlyn. maya & finn were blessed two years ago by that same guy. he's an amazing person and everyone that ever meets him is better off for it. 

doug's sweet family. 

max was not sure about all of this. 

getyurhandsoffofme! 

& then afterwards, lil stinker, he was all smug. that's right ladies, i'm blessed! 

i made her the sweet flower headpiece... she's such a sweetheart. 

this was natalie's equally as funny response... wanna see my underwear?!

ah, the god parents. this lil dude exists because of this friendship. you're welcome max! 

we hung out at the rarig's cottage quite a bit that week. 

wawoooo! 

i think it's the colors that drew me to this picture... but i really like it. 

i love, love, love this photograph. my first summer working silver bay mom & steph came to visit me. we took a picture just like this on the beach where i was life guarding. if i can find it, i'll post it. 

goofballs.

:)

nana headed back to kentucky. 

 

playing with carolyn. 

shortest 4th in the north. we do holidays up right, with awesome parades! 

we got a lil rarig portrait session in before we continued the 4th of july festivities. 

then we headed to frankie & julie & kate's house for a barbecue. 

finn's closest buds killian & fiona.

these guys loved the cupcakes. 

love this one of natalie & kristi.

julie & her adorable babes, killian & rosie, almost the exact same age as finn & maya. 

we got to do a portrait session too!

bryan's ankle was hurting him so bad he could barely walk.

luckily, it was a lot better the next day. 

mo & birdie, patriotic through & through. 

we attempted a kid's portrait. i can see this picture turning out much better in 10 years. 

we, sadly, didn't get much hiking in. but we did do a short one, 

where we ended up playing in the stream more than anything.  but they had a blast. 

carolyn took us for a boat ride. it was a beautiful night & then finn stalled the boat 

& we had to get someone to tow us back :) whoops. 

rocking out to something. 

our last day was rainy & perfect. we checked board games out at the boathouse 

& just chilled listening to that foreign thing hitting the roof & splattering on the lake. 

we played some shuffle board. which is even more fun when you have to 

push it through puddles & it splashes! 

the ice cream at the store is to die for. 

maya cracks me up when she tries to take pictures. 

bryan was nice enough to let carolyn & i go to dinner alone. 

it was so nice to chat & stare at this view, with such a dear friend. 

& then it was time to say goodbye. we met max & steph & jeff for lunch at the hague market. and then we waved good bye as they started their long drive back to nashville. 

the kids did great. we had the last two rows of each side to ourselves on our first short leg. so NICE! 

oh good lord that post was a bit ridiculous. i should let someone else edit for this blog!!! sorry :)