Sunday, July 30, 2017

July in NH

After finishing his last day of residency, Jim hopped in the car and drove all of the way here. He got here at 5 AM, the crazy dude. We were SO excited to see him and show him around our new house. Ian helped me make this sign to hang on the mantle. The orange line was the longgggg way to New Hampshire, because it's a long drive to get here. 

 Pretty much all of July has been a time of family cocooning, house projects, and exploring our new area. Jim starts work on August 1st, so we've had an entire month together. Here are some pictures to document this time.

 Hesitant at first, Owen's a big fan of the beach and the waves now!











 We were thrilled to find that there's a brook on our property!!

 We've set about making a few things more home-y to us. One of the first things we need is a fire pit :)
 All of the changes have had us all quite tuckered out. Neither of our children have ever fallen asleep while sitting in their high chair before... but now they have.

 This lad has kept us on our toes!! Life with a three year old us so dynamic.
 I've grown quite fond of searching for sea glass.
 See what I mean? So tuckered out. This hardly ever happens. It was a sweet moment to savor.
 Our downtown has this great music wall! We were pretty excited to find it, but none more than Ian!
 Our new play room has us all really thrilled :)
 We've eaten really well and loved having many different summer meals.

 For our 8th anniversary meal Jim made a scallops and grits dinner that was to die for! So, I requested it again one week later for my birthday. Hehe!
 Jim planned a sweet date morning for our anniversary.
 This was one of my favorite days ever.
If you look closely, Owen's holding a crab!! So proud.
 Ian's really into searching for crabs and other critters on the shore!

We adopted 9 chicks! They are about three weeks old now, but in this picture they were only days old. They still reside in our basement, though we have given them a couple of foraging forays in the run, and chirp all the day long. It's going to be strange not to have their presence in the house when they go into the coop in a few weeks!
We have attempted to hike a trail twice and finally think we know which way to go now! Haha! But what we've done has been so beautiful! This night was especially sweet when we went and ate dinner out of the back of the car, then hiked and sang songs together :)

 Ian and I had a special morning date to the playground at his future elementary school! It's seriously the coolest playground ever.

 On my 31st birthday we went to Drowned Forest Beach so I could search for more sea glass. For the first time ever I found a HUGE piece of blue sea glass, which is the rarest one to find. Pretty good birthday present, if you ask me!
 That birthday morning I had some sweet coffee time with just Ian <3 And my new hat, one of my presents :)

 We tried Annabelle's Ice Cream for the first time at Emery Farm and it is SO GOOD!

 We've gotten an herb garden going! I love tending an herb garden and harvesting the herbs right outside our house as I make dinner. It's quite soul-filling. I don't have pictures of it- ha! But I do have some of this Enchanted Evening that's growing in the same bed.
 We REALLY love the beach. Ian keeps saying how much he loves it. Jim and Ian often plot to go to the beach before he goes down for his nap. We've taken many a picnic dinner and enjoyed time out on the beach. How incredibly fun to live so close!


Silly boy!

 Emery Farm has been a great place for us to pick berries! They had pick your own blueberries and raspberries, but the season just ended. We made sure to go as much as we could! The boys really fell into the routine of it and followed me around the rows, picking all of them for their bellies. One day perhaps they'll put more than a couple into the containers, but we're not there yet!


 Emery Farm has a petting zoo, which makes it even more perfect. After we've picked all we can pick, we pay for the berries, and then head over to the petting zoo to enjoy watching and touching whatever's willing to get close to two boisterous boys!
 Our little darlings are growing up!
 It's startling how quickly these boys are growing up. For his bedtime story, we've been reading Ian "Charlotte's Web." He was able to tell me the entire chapter he'd read the night before, then listened intently to the following chapter, and then proceeded to search through the entire book's pictures before bed, figuring out the story as well as he could. And he's choosing to sleep in the top bunk! HOW??!! Such a big boy.
 The little boys and I went to Touch a Truck and they had a blast!

 Sooki's our lone egg-laying bird, for now! She made the trek from Virginia just fine! Jim made this great path down to her coop and run. The boys love to run down and check on her multiple times a day! Ian will often call behind him as the door is slamming that he's going to go check on Sooki! Owen also can be found down the path, often eating the raspberries and blackberries that grow along it ;)
 We went to our first Music by the Sea at Seacoast Science Center. It was fun!!
 More berries :)

 We went to see "Mary Poppins" at Prescott Park in Portsmouth. It's such a wonderful place. I was overcome by tears at one point as I looked around the audience and marveled at how such a production and park could exist. It's all donation-based and there is an endowment that covers the park. Absolutely no one is allowed to be turned away if they don't pay and the entire place was PACKED. I'm talking hundreds upon hundreds (maybe a thousand or more) of people were there enjoying the show. It's so beautiful and necessary for all people to be able to experience the arts. And this place has HUGE bands and gigs come to play, so it's an incredible gift.

This was such a fun musical to see with Ian! He skipped nap time, which made him look like he was absolutely miserable, but he soaked the entire thing in. And he followed the storyline just fine! Ever since, we've been singing a lot of songs from it and getting them to play on "Alexa." It's a joy to be able to experience the arts with him!

 Also, part of what was so moving was how incredible the audience was. It was a very respecful, very engaged group, for as many people as were there and watching an OUTSIDE performance! I was amazed.
 Afterward, we were incredibly hot, so we stopped for some Annabelle's ice cream at Emery Farm and the boys visited the donkeys. This time they were brave enough to start feeding them!
 Backyard foraging.

 A friend dubbed this the "Double Flamingo"--- I mean, it's perfect.
 Rainy days call for freezer jam makin'!!!
Jim's been doing a lot of dreaming about a kitchen remodel, down the road. It's exciting!

 A boy and his net!
 Hiking again!




New Hampshire, we're loving you so far. I know it's summer and we have yet to experience the winter, but we are pretty smitten already.