Newton Fall Harvest Festival

The third weekend of October is the Newton Harvest Festival.  This is the second year we have gone and seem to always have a great time!  We started the day with the car merry-go-round where Ian chose the motorcycle to ride solo.

Jocelyn decided to play it safe with Momma in a big yellow car.

Next we were off to get ice cream cones since we knew lunch was going to be a late one and what better to tide over the little people's appetites...

Jocelyn is playing shy for the camera right now - I don't buy it!

Ian was a happy little man post cone!

Jocelyn has a ghost sticker on her face from a festival we had gone to the day before at the Bates school..she wouldn't let us take it off!

The second ride was the dizzy dragon teacup ride - Poppa was up for this one!

Last but not least was the train ride...

This was Ian's favorite actually.

After the rides, Ian played a duck game and one a box of matchbox cars - hence the very happy face we have here!

Last but not least was the pumpkin decorating...

A very serious operation from the looks of it!

The Story Of Us (So Far)

I was playing around with the movie software on our Mac the other day and threw together a little retrospective. Fun to see how the kids have grown!

First Days Of School

Jocelyn and Ian had their first days at school last week. Jocelyn was the first to return, on Thursday, and was excited to see the old friends that moved with her from the "youngest" to the "middle" class at the Wellesley College preschool.


Ian started in the "youngest" class at the same school the next day, and was excited to make new friends. As usual, he didn't give us much of a smile in this posed shot...


...and neither wanted to give one up in the group shot! Luckily they both had a much better time at school than in these photos!

"Little People" on Nantucket

Julie and I went with the kids, Grammy and Pepere to Nantucket over the long Labor Day weekend. We all had a blast.

Lately she and I have been marveling at how Jocelyn and Ian have gone, seemingly overnight, from being our little babies to being little people. Seems like yesterday that they were just little lumps of clay whose lives we totally directed, and now there are definite personalities and worldviews taking shape. There were a number of instances over the weekend where you could literally see the self-discovery process unfolding before your eyes, like when they looked for opportunities to push their physical limits...


...showed spontaneous bursts of creativity...


...expressed definite opinions about what they wore, and how they wore it...


...and reveled in taking on new challenges, like the powerful Madaket surf that Jocelyn was braving here with Momma.


They also seem to be developing a real bond and fondness for each other. Whereas on prior trips they seemed to be at each others' throats constantly, over the weekend they actually had fun together. It even seemed once or twice like they were working together toward a common goal. Hopefully the good times will continue after vacation is over!

Beaching It!

On one of those hot Saturday afternoons a couple of weeks ago, we packed the kids into the car and drove to Singing Beach for a picnic dinner and to fly kites...

Which was entirely unsuccessful since there wasn't a lick of wind...so Ian decided the waves were way more fun!

As did Jocelyn and Poppa!

When the sun started to set, we walked back to the car, sat near the boats in the harbor while eating homemade ice cream from the local shop.

What a nice night! This is what summer is all about!

Happy Birthday Poppa!

This blog entry is a couple of weeks late but I didn't want to let it pass without posting. We celebrated Poppa's birthday a few days early this year with a BBQ on the patio - Nana, Grammie, and Pepere came over to help us celebrate. It was a beautiful afternoon. The kids enjoyed riding bikes on the patio as usual...

and playing with every backyard toy...

Then it was time for cake - a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cake this year since Poppa seemed to enjoy Jocelyn's so much!


And look who was front and center for that - you guessed it - Jocelyn and Ian were not going to miss that opportunity!

And then Jocelyn was a big help to Poppa opening his cards...


And presents...Thank you Nana for the keyboard for his new Ipad!


While Ian got some attention from Nana and Pepere!!

Happy Birthday Poppa!

Southwick's Zoo

We went to check out Southwick's Zoo this week while Julie and I were off from work. What a cool place - well worth the long drive along back roads to get there!


Jocelyn wanted to hold the map of the zoo, so she was our tour guide throughout. Here she is showing us the llamas, which smelled about as good as you would imagine.


Jocelyn loved petting the goats, who seemed to enjoy it as much as she did...


...but the young man chose to keep his distance.


This was a theme that developed throughout the day. For example, Jocelyn loved feeding the deer some corn right out of her hand...


...while the little man high-tailed it out of there as soon as the deer came near.

In his defense, there were some frightful creatures displayed pretty up close and personal, including an alligator who looked like he was scouting for lunch...


...ring tailed lemurs with piercing gazes...


...a giraffe tall enough to reach out of its pit to feed on some plants right at our feet (by sticking out its long tongue, wrapping it around a shoot in the ground, and yanking it out)...


...and a Bengal tiger taking a nap.


Can't blame the young man for spending much of the day holding on tight as he is here.


Just before leaving Jocelyn and Ian decided they would like to take it down a notch and ride the carousel, which had the desired effect - happy faces and a long nap on the car ride home.