Hannah at Camp Carl

 Hannah did middle school week at camp this year so she could be with a few friends who are a year older than her.  It sounds like she had a great time, got along with all the girls in her cabin, and survived some super hot days.  She came home smelly and exhausted, signs of a successful week!

Hannah and Gwen 2022

Gwen and Hannah 2018

Matthew Turns 9

 On the day of Matthew's birthday, we opened presents, went disc golfing, and ate mac-and-cheese pizza for dinner.  (Well, Matthew ate it.  The rest of us got normal pizza.)

doing his soccer workout with Micah as coach

The next day we took four of his friends to a place called "Fun-n-Stuff", which has every activity a little boy could dream of.  (We had tried to go last year, but were thwarted when they closed early due to lack of staffing.  Matthew has been calling this year "redemption".)

They were dripping wet after the bumper boats!

break for pizza

the boys plotting what silly thing they were going to sing during "happy birthday"

Matthew wanted the Baltimore Ravens logo on a cherry cake.  He did the purple and gold decorations.

New Hampshire

 Last week Matthew enjoyed a basketball day camp with some of his friends from school.  While he was at camp on Thursday, Micah, Hannah and I biked 18 miles to fulfill Hannah's try-a-thon goal from May.

Ice cream break at the 10 mile mark

Thursday night we packed up the car, and Friday morning we left for New Hampshire!  We missed the past two summers at Gramme and Poppa's lake house due to covid complications; it made this year extra sweet.  Scott drove out with us.  We took the more scenic route - north through New York and Vermont.

The Chamberlins came up for Saturday and Sunday.  (They had to go back Sunday night because the girls weren't done with school yet.)  We spent a lot of time in and on the water (it wasn't very warm, but at least the sun was shining).

Aunt Meredith and Lucy

Nat and Hannah look like they're about to do a circus trick!

helping Uncle Eric get the floating dock out and anchored

Ice cream at Johnson's after our yummy seafood dinner

One of the favorite activities of the week was paddle boarding.  They were great for zipping around when you didn't necessarily want to get wet.  The kids would ferry each other on them back and forth to the dock.  We also attempted a few tricks.

Matthew jumping

playing football

Hannah doing an elbow stand

I think all the kids went tubing, then it was time for skiing.  Micah had no problem getting right up and zipping in and out of the wake.  (He had some extra practice at camp last summer.)

Uncle Eric and I both proved that we can still keep up (although I failed in my attempts to do slalom this year).  Poppa, at age 74, still pops up out of the water on skis like it's nothing! 

Hannah and Nat both gave it a try.  They both were able to get to their feet, but didn't stay up.

Matthew was the big success story of the weekend!  With trainer skis (they have a bar across the tips to help keep them straight) and me in the water to help him get situated, he was able to get up and stay up!   (Filmed by Micah) He loved it, and did it several more times over the week. 

Monday we mostly stayed at the house for more water fun, games, and ping-pong.  Tuesday we got up early to go into Boston for a duck boat tour.  We hit some serious traffic and made it by the skin of our teeth! (Poppa parked the car for us and ran to catch up!) It's really fun way to see Boston and learn some history and interesting facts. 

Micah and Gramme...

...and Matthew photo-bombing

After the tour, we decided to walk a little bit of the Freedom Trail.  Hannah asked if we could ride the subway, something the kids have never done.  So we took the "T" one stop from Boston Common to Government Center.  Then we had lunch at Quincy Market before we had to take Scott to the airport. 

Wednesday we went to the beach.  The advantage to going to the ocean when the high is only 68 degrees is that there is plenty of parking and space to play!  We went to Hampton Beach first to see the sandcastle competition, then decided to just stay there rather than go to our usual spot.

he's only frowning because he caught me taking his picture

Thursday all the kids wanted to get in one more round of water skiing.  This time Hannah was the success story!  She got up on her third try and skied a big loop around the lake without falling! 

Thursday night I drove to Maine to visit a friend from high school (nothing like traveling to 8 different states in a week).  Then Friday morning we loaded up the trusty minivan and hit the road again.  Micah did a great job being my co-pilot.  We took the more southern route this time (through Pennsylvania), and we made it home in about 12.5 hours.