Family Reunion

On August 1, we headed north to Maine for the annual Jalbert family reunion with Tony's mom's side of the family.  We hadn't been since Lucas was 4 months old, so the trip was overdue.  We planned on driving straight through in one day, but rain and traffic slowed us down.  So, we stopped around 6 p.m. in Massachusetts.  Got a hotel room and some pizza.  Lydia slept in the bathroom and the big kids jumped around...

The next morning we stopped at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire.  When we lived in New England, we went there a few times and really enjoyed it.  I think the kids did too!  And of course there was fried seafood for lunch...

From there, it was a short drive to Sand Pond, ME (just south of Portland).  Lucas wasted no time getting into a kayak.  There was a spaghetti dinner and chilling most of the day...

Saturday was reunion day, when about 40 people show up for lots of food, water, family, and fun! 

Sunday morning, there was brunch for anyone still in town (combined with a quick bridal shower for Audrey & Rich)...

The rest of the day was spent swimming and playing!

Not in love with this pic, but if you look in the background (right), you can see a pic of Anne holding Lucas when he was 4 months old!

 Monday, we left mid-morning and headed south to Hartford, CT to hang out with Uncle Dave & Aunt Nancy.  They were kind enough to feed us lunch and dinner, and dig out old toys for the kids.

Originally, we had planned to spend the night, but decided after dinner to hit the road at the kids' bedtime.  The big kids did great... stayed awake through New York City.  Lydia fell asleep right away, but then woke up and screamed for the middle part of the drive.  Got home around 1 a.m.  A lot to do in 5 days, but well worth it!

6 months

Back on July 31, Liddy J turned 6 months old...  It was harder to make her sit still to take pics, and she sure had mastered the "scrunchy face".

Big Girl Bike & Big Boy Pedals

We thought Lottie would never get interested in riding a bike.  I don't think she figured out how to pedal a trike or training wheeled bike until she was about 4.  Well, she'd more than made up for it now.  She fell in love with her little green strider bike a while back.  Unfortunately, it got run over and smashed while on vacation : ( 

While we waited for her new BLUE strider bike to come in the mail, we figured we'd just try her on a real bike (no training wheels) and just see what would happen.  I'll tell you what would happen - she would ride all by herself the very FIRST time!!!  Guess strider bikes really do help with balance?!?  She learned at the basketball courts in our neighborhood, just like Lucas.  He loved helping her get started (now she can do it by herself), and Lydia just watched...

She still takes her strider bike to the BMX track though...

Charlotte can't be the only one doing new bike things.  Lucas got some clip-in pedals and shoes (the experts tell me they're called clipless pedals, but that makes no sense, so I refuse to call them that.  They're shoes that CLIP IN to the pedal?!?)  The first time or two we practiced, it was rough going...  But, then he figured it out.  We're not using them yet for races though.

Like my shoes?