Labor Day

As the last official day of summer, we had a beautifully hot day.  We went to our favorite playground with a bike track in the morning.  Noah is doing really well riding his mountain bike!

We spent the afternoon lounging around the pool.  Daddy was home so I was able to get some great photos of the kids enjoying the pool.  Audrey has changed her tune and now LOVES the pool.  I can't even sit out with the other kids now because she always insists on going in the water.  This is a huge change from just a few weeks ago when she would scream and scream even if the water touched her.  She not only wants to get in the water, but she is legitimately trying hard to swim... and she is super cute:)  Ben is doing really well in the water swimming with only two bubbles, though he prefers to stand in the shallow end and squirt everyone.  James continues to be part fish, not only swimming on his own, but diving to the bottom of the shallow end, swimming across the pool underwater and doing front flips underwater.  Noah is getting much stronger as a swimmer and his biggest accomplishments of the summer are being able to do 3 flips underwater without coming up for air, swim the entire length of the pool underwater and diving to the bottom of the deep end of the pool. **I apologize for James' nakedness, but that happens a lot in the summer;)**

Maine Wildlife Park

The kids and I took a trip to the Maine Wildlife Park with our friends while the dads went out golfing.  The kids did so well that we stayed way longer than expected and the dads almost beat us home to the BBQ we were supposed to have had ready;)  The pictures of Audrey and her friend Jackson playing peek-a-boo just melts my heart... they really seem to enjoy each other:)

After the park we enjoyed a relaxing BBQ with friends complete with a campfire and a tenting campout in our backyard. 

End of Summer

Despite our wishes otherwise, summer is ending and the start of school is approaching.  We are trying to get some things checked off our summer bucket list and summer chore list. Gabe and I took on our brush pile that had spilled over, covering our entire back lawn after we took down a few trees... honestly, it was really fun to play in a huge fire... I am pretty sure that anything would have burned in the blaze it was so hot.  Our garden is fruitful, our pool is warm and we checked "make cupcakes" off the list;)  Audrey has turned 18 months old and has FINALLY started walking!  As you can see, her brothers continue to love her... they dance with her and read her books continuously... she has started mimicking Noah's movements which is really funny to watch.

The picture of Audrey with the loaf of bread- We rented the Sound of Music from the library and were watching it for a movie night.  I heard her rummaging around in the kitchen, but there is really nothing she can get into, other than making a huge mess. After about 5 minutes of what I thought was her emptying the plastic bags for the 10,000th time I got up to check on her and this is what I found... I guess she is tall enough to reach into the bread drawer now... there goes another drawer...:)

5K #4- Rad Run

Our last scheduled 5K of this summer was the Color Me Rad Run in Brunswick.  Noah claims this was his favorite run of the summer because "they threw color all over you".... it was my least favorite... it was not a "race" or even a run for runners I would say.  I spent the entire race pushing the stroller with the 3 kids in it through the grass because there were too many people on a very narrow path. At the end I said I would never run another of these again, but since the kids had a blast and it keeps them excited about exercise, then I am open to trying another, but definitely in another location with another company. The highlight was getting to visit with Hillary and her friend!  We took Audrey into the "celebration" at the end and she got a packet of color right on the back of her head:)

Since we were already close, we spent the afternoon at Popham Beach.  Gabe ended up not having to work, so he got to have his first beach day of the summer. Noah and James both were able to boogie board and had a ball getting carried down the beach.  The seagulls there were super pests... they first stole a sandwich I had sat on a cooler next to my knee... lesson learned.  Then, as I was eating my sandwich one seemed like it was going to attack Audrey for her sandwich, but it was just a decoy while another literally took my sandwich out of my hand... no more meals/snacks at that beach:) 

Bald Mountain and MackWorth Island

Last weekend Gabe and I took the kids for our first hike up Bald Mountain in Weld. It was a challenging hike for the kids, but I think we finally found a hike that was an appropriate skill level.  Noah and James did a great job in getting to the top and Ben did well until he insisted on heading back down the trail to retrieve some stick he saw back near the beginning... We have the weight training covered by hauling Ben (and Audrey) up the mountain. The best part about this hike was the gorgeous view from the top!

Today we brought some friends with us to Mackworth Island.  Two adults and 7 kids (7, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3 and 18 months) could have been challenging, but the kids were really well behaved and just excited to explore around the ocean (also all wearing our matching WMPM tshirts helped).  The kids all spent the most time building fairy houses.  This is a picture of James' who was probably the most excited of all.  While waiting patiently for the boys to be done building their houses Audrey picked up a stick, picked up another and handed it to Noah... she then proceeded to play lightsabers with him... hmmm too much Star Wars?

Summer

Summer is flying by and we are trying to soak up as much of it as we can.  We had a campfire out back to roast some hot dogs for supper... it seemed like a really nice day, but about 3 minutes after I took the last picture the sky opened up and poured for the next several hours;)  The boys picked the blueberries from the bush in our back yard, but it looks like a bear got to all of the other plants before we did.  The next picture is of the "treasure" we found in the storage compartment of the kayak... that we didn't know was there... seriously, I don't know who the packrats is, but most of this stuff has been missing for months and I had given up on it thinking that it has gone into the blackhole in our house, never to be found again... the upside here is that the kayak is was easier to lift onto the truck now:)

This picture of Audrey is how I found her one day after someone left the gate at the bottom of the stairs open.  She does really well going up, but it is the coming down that worries us.  On this day though, she got to the top, then closed and locked the gate behind her.  A few nights ago Audrey was a bit overtired and acting like a crazy/carefree woman... so much so that she even took a few steps (the big brothers were super proud here)!  We have been trying to stress to her that if she doesn't walk by 18 months she is going to have to have an evaluation by CDS... I don't think that she cares;)