Friday, September 9, 2011

All About August

So August proved to be quite an exciting month for us...We made a trip home to Connecticut and got to spend a ton of time with family and friends. It is so nice going home and picking right up where we left off. That is what I love and appreciate about home the most, the fact that this move across the pond has not weakened our relationships. If fact, if anything, we have strengthened many...

So one of the big highlights of going home was getting the chance to tell everyone in person about Baby #3 due in February!! If I could summarized everyone's reaction in one word...Surprised! Not sure many people knew we were hoping for a third...I wish I had my camera ready for some of the expressions!!! Keith, Mandy, Ryan and I are very excited for his/her arrival and will be sure to keep you posted on Baby #3's progress! Here is a 12 week Ultrasound picture...


The first two weeks that the kids and I were home we were BUSY!!! We totally tried to maximize our time. We went to the park, the beach, the pool, play dates with friends, Emelia and Adlee's birthday party, out to breakfast, lunch or dinner with people (some days, we would have breakfast with someone, lunch with another person, play date in the afternoon, then I would go out for dinner with a girlfriend), we did back to school clothes shopping and we got in all our annual doctor appointments!! All our time was accounted for! We definitely slowed down the pace when Keith got home for weeks three and four...we were pooped!!

During the second two weeks, Keith and I were able to sneak away on an overnight trip to Block Island (off the coast of Rhode Island) for a little R&R! While we were relaxing on the beach, the kids hit the Maritime Center and Mystic Aquarium with my parents! A treat for us all! Keith took Mandy into New York City for her first time. She managed to get him to spend most of the time in F.A.O. Schwartz, The M&M store and The American Girl Doll Store!!! Sounds like a fun time to me!!! We had a joint birthday party for the kids, happy hour get together with some of our neighbors and we managed to sneak in an earthquake and hurricane in our last few day!! Quite a month to say the least.

I would love to sit here and list every single one of you that we were able to spend time with, but considering that there were 50+ at the kids party alone....well I would be here for a while. It was so great to be able to spend time talking face to face, catching up on life's moments and most of all stealing a hug!! We miss and think of each and every one of you frequently and look forward to our next time together at home!!

For all of our friends here in London, I made a point of taking numerous pictures while at home so all of you could get an idea of what home is like for us...kind of like a reverse blog post in a way!!!



Our House & Yard


This is our unbelievable sunset off our back deck
Prince our handsome boy!

The Towns of Branford & North Branford Where We Live

Blackstone Memorial Library

Branford Town Green/Trinity Church where we were married


Main Street...Notice the WIDE two way roads!

 
Branford Point


The sights of Indian Neck

Stony Creek


The Farm Stand down the street from our House

Rose Orchards...ice cream and fresh produce and farm animals

Time with Julia & Lila 

Beach Day with Madelynn & Tanner

Block Island, Rhode Island

Mandy & Ryan's Birthday Party

Miss Mia

Ryan and his Buddy Tanner
Madelynn, Mandy, Jillian, Julia, Mia and Lila
Cousin Alex

So in our last week, there was a small earthquake that was felt all throughout the area, then by the end of the week, Hurricane Irene hit Connecticut and left some major damage. Lucky for us, our house never lost power and only had one small tree come down. Other areas were not so lucky...no power for up to 10 days, houses completely taken down by the wind and water from the beaches...it was not pretty. Here are a few photos of our house during the storm and then a link to a professional photography site that captured some amazing and devastating shots from the day.



http://mmaler.com/2011/08/hurricane-irene-connecticut-shoreline-damage/

We are happy to know that all of our family and friends made it through the storm with little damage to their house and property. We hope all who were hit the hardest, are able to recover from the devastation left from Irene. We hope all of our London friends enjoyed seeing a snapshot of home and where we come from. Sending big hugs to all back home.

xoxoxo

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