Scituate Summer Part III: Everybody at the Beach

It was so much fun when everyone was in town at the beach together. Pigtails look twice as cute, and sand tastes twice as delicious when you have a cousin to share them with...

For someone who had to take his Boards in a matter of days, Uncle Joe was really relaxed...I think it showed on his face...

There were plenty of babies for Luke to steal...

Stevie, protective new parent that he is, showed extreme dedication in protecting his little daughter's snow-white skin from the rays of the sun. Seriously, he carried that big old beach umbrella over her the whole walk from the beach. He was super dedicated...

...see?

Kateri thinks her Uncle Steve is hilarious...or maybe he's just telling her he knows how it feels to be ridiculed for having an abnormally long torso.

Uncle Jon lost his wedding ring at the beach :( Sorry Jon, that stinks...we have been keeping an eye out for it every day...just in case.

but other than that, everybody had a ball!

Bye, Fifi!

Scituate Summer Part II: Cousins!

The best part of our trip to Scituate: getting to spend some time with our sweet little cousins. The three of them are so different and so precious: Fiona
Leah

and Abby

Here are my girls getting ready for the chaos of our attempt to get a picture of all of the grandgirls together. As Nanny says, the results don't really provide a single perfect portrait,

but they would make a great flipbook!

I think Abby's expressions are my favorite. She just looks so skeptical of the whole operation.

Scituate Summer 2010: Part I

After weeks of waking up to Lili and Audrey's daily query: "Can we start packing our suitcase today?" we finally made it to Scituate. Hooray! Lili and Audrey both got wetsuits for their birthday from Nanny and Papa this year. We

lost no time in trying them out, along with Audrey's new princess pink snorkel gear. It was a big day of firsts for both of the girls. Lili bravely jumped off of Pirachi (the big rock in the background) for the first time this year. I'm glad I didn't let Audrey climb up there to watch, because I'm sure she would have been begging me to jump off as well. I'm still waiting for her to develop a healthy fear of the ocean. I might be waiting a long, long time...more on that later.

Instead of cliff-jumping, Audrey got a snorkel lesson from Papa, and took to it immediately.

Kateri didn't need a wetsuit; she still has enough blubber to keep her warm.

Happy Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day on Sunday with this man right here. What would we do without him? I guess we'd go to Scituate and miss him for two weeks. Sigh. But I guess he'll be there soon enough.

I am just using this post to share this ridiculous photo our dear Miss Emily took of my husband. Doesn't it look like she captured him reaching for the next rung on some corporate ladder? What I REALLY wanted to do for Father's day was pay to have this put on a park bench or side of a bus, with "Luke Speier: Pharmaceutical Sales Rep" and his cell number printed on it.

But we made him some homemade bloody mary mix with some fun garnishes instead...better than a rolodex, I guess.
He also took the whole fam to see Toy Story 3. It was fantastic. Pixar is always cute and clever, but like Finding Nemo, I was suprised at how emotionally involved I was in it by the end. I enjoyed it so much more than any grown-up movie I've seen in a long, long time. I wish the rest of Hollywood would take note and concentrate on telling a great story instead of packing their films with the latest pop-culture references and potty humor. Toy Story 3 was totally clean (I think the word "butt" was used once...) and Audrey's belly laugh was ringing out the whole time.
But anyway, enough of my ranting, I'm off to pack.

Nothing says summer...

...like an organization project half done then gone horribly awry... This was actually from last week, before Kateri fell and got a massive scrape on her chin.

Nothing says summer...

...like a new seersucker sun suit.

During these hot hot days, we are pretty much cooped up inside for the majority of the day. It's our chance to experience what our dear friends in the North go through during the winter trying to keep your kids occupied without destroying the entire house. Today after a lovely morning swim at our gym, I made a double batch of playdough for the kids and fooled around on my sewing machine. I ended up with a little outfit for Kateri. Thanks for the material, Nanny!

Also...the high was 107 today. Lili chose to wear jeans. I don't get it either.

Nothing says summer...

...like whipping up a batch of fresh pesto... Luckily Kateri was on hand to help clean the food processor.

After each lick, she would close her eyes for effect and give a dramatic "Mmmmmmmmm!!!!"

And yes, she smelled horribly garlicky afterwards.