Fall Pictures

I think my favorite season of the year is fall, although it really is hard for me to decisively say that because I enjoy each new season and the benefits each one brings. But, there is something about the crisp fall days, the changing colors of the leaves, orange pumpkins in the patch, and apple picking that just does something wonderful for my soul. I guess I have a bit of Anne of Green Gables in me, who once said, " I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers!" :-)
I wanted to get some fall pictures of Brett before the weather got so cold that I would have to bundle him up to take him outside. So yesterday, Brett and I spent some time outside, and grabbed a few cute shots that we thought you might enjoy seeing.

North Conway, New Hampshire - Vacation 2014

 Being a wife and mommy has kept me a lot of little bit busy the last couple of months. I've been trying to enjoy the moments of every day being Matt's wife and Brett's mommy, and the blog has not made its way into those every day moments. Never fear though, I've kept my phone busy snapping pictures to post here as I've been enjoying those moments, and I'll try to carve out some time to post them here a little more frequently.
Matt took the last week of May off this year, and took us on a little getaway vacation to New Hampshire. We found that if we don't go away on his vacations, then we end up undertaking a huge project around the house, and it doesn't end up being much of a vacation for him. We had worked on renovating our kitchen the two weeks before his vacation week, and were ready for some much needed relaxation.
We headed out for New Hampshire Monday afternoon after having a BBQ at Matt's parents house to celebrate Memorial Day, and came back Wednesday afternoon in time for prayer meeting. Although the weather wasn't very conducive for sight seeing, we enjoyed ourselves immensely, and were able to relax and unwind.

Leaving the house Brett was wide awake......

.....but soon into the trip, he was ready for some rest. Vacations are hard on a little fella!!

The New Hampshire sign. I was so excited to get there!!! 

Matt rented us a suite at a beautiful resort nestled in the White Mountains.

 This was the view as we stepped out the door of the hotel. We were literally at the base of the mountain!

The view from our suite window. This is the best picture we could get of the beautiful White Mountains. It was so rainy and foggy the rest of the time we were there, that the mountains were hidden.

The main lobby. In the evening the fireplace would be lit, and when we would come down for breakfast in the morning, we could smell a lingering "wood fire" smell. It made it feel so homey.

All angles of our suite..... SO spacious and comfortable!!

Tuesday was Daddy's birthday, so we took his presents with us and Brett and I threw a little party for him right there in the hotel room. Brett enjoyed "helping" Daddy open his presents, although the tissue paper and gift bags were more interesting than the presents themselves.

After getting ready for the day, and a delicious breakfast downstairs in the dining room, we headed out for some sight seeing. Our first adventure was driving up Mt. Washington. It was a misty, foggy day, so we didn't think we would be able to see much from the top, but we still wanted the experience of going up Mt. Washington, just to say that we had done it. 

Visibility turned out to be very poor the whole way up the mountain, which was a blessing in disguise I think. Imagine 6288 feet (8 miles) pretty much straight up, with no guard rails and sharp drop offs on either side of you. Matt might not have had quite as brave a traveling companion had it been a sunny clear day where I could see how far down those drop offs were. :) In the pictures above, the rocks mark the edge of the road and it's complete drop off to the bottom of the mountain beyond that. Beautiful, but SCARY!! 

Our "selfie" on the top of Mt. Washington. It was BITTER cold up there, and extremely foggy!! We could barely see 3 feet in front of us. 

After making it to the top and wandering around in the museum/ gift shop for a little bit, we began our slow descent down the mountain which brought us the most exciting "sight" of the whole "Mt. Washington experience!"

A mumma bear and her three cubs!!

We were able to sit there for a little while and watch them. That little treat made all the fog and drizzle worth it! :)

 

 The foot of the mountain. The view was breathtaking, even if most of it was covered in fog! After our mountain adventure, we spent the afternoon at a place called Settlers Green, a shopping plaza with a great number of name brand shops filled with great mark downs. On top of the markdowns, New Hampshire doesn't have any sales tax, so we were able to get some really good deals. Once our feet were sore from shopping, we headed back to the hotel and spent the evening relaxing.

Wink looked SO small in his gigantic bed that he had all to himself!

Chillin' on the bed reading a tourist magazine. Brett had this "vacation thing" down pat! ;)

We had talked about going back up Mt. Washington Wednesday morning before we headed back to Maine if the weather was better, but we woke up to the same fog and drizzle that had shrouded the beautiful view the whole time we were there, so we packed up and headed home.

We stopped in Freeport on our way back home to visit the huge L.L. Bean store there. Of course, we had to get a picture with the famous boot. :)

We made it back to our home sweet home around 3:00 Wednesday afternoon, and had some time to unpack and settle in before prayer meeting that night.

In case you thought it was National BBQ Day

Words cannot express my gratitude to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom I enjoy in this country! While many, including myself, enjoyed a holiday today, there were a lot of families who spent the day remembering lost loved ones who died defending our country so we could enjoy holidays like this.
All I can say is "Thank you" from the bottom of my heart!

Easter and Miscellaneous Happenings

I was a little apprehensive about our Easter this year because we had a very busy day scheduled starting at 6:00 a.m. with a Sunrise Service and an Easter breakfast afterwards. On top of that and our regular church services of the day, we had our monthly nursing home visit in the afternoon. I wasn't sure how Brett would handle being up early and pretty much being on the run all day. Turns out he was a trooper, and was only mildly fussy by the end of the day.
I tried to get organized Saturday night and get the diaper bag packed with everything we would need for the sunrise service, breakfast, and morning service; get our outfits laid out so that we wouldn't be searching for them at 5:00 the next morning; and make sure that we all had our Saturday night baths. :) Daddy took this adorable picture of Wink that night.

 The men always cook the Easter breakfast, and this year Grampie cooked a special pancake just for Winky.

He loved the taste of it, but after eating about 3/4 of it, he got too full and just wanted his bottle.

A pancake just a little boy's size!! Thank you, Grampie, for thinking of Brett and his tummy!

Grammie Baker sent Brett a pair of jammies for Easter, and we have been enjoying him wearing them. I think this is his first pair of jammies without any feet in them, and Matt and I love seeing his little toes peek out the bottom. He looks like something straight from a story book page. Sorry he's wearing socks in this picture!

Over Easter weekend, Matt brought me home a delightful surprise! Imagine my surprise finding this on the kitchen table when he said I could open my eyes!!!

He knew that I REALLY liked how the Ruger LC9 fit my hand and how easy it was to shoot. He also knew that I wanted a girly color, so when he found out about this purple one, he knew his wife would be a willing taker! :) How can it get any better than a purple gun?!?!?! I haven't been able to try it out yet because it has been rainy every chance we get to go to the gravel pit, but I'm looking forward to breaking it in!

Last Thursday we were invited to Seth and Rachel's for supper. Brett had a grand time playing with Friend Tyler, and we parents enjoyed visiting with each other and watching our little boys interact.

Spring has arrived in this part of the country, and we are enjoying the warmer temperatures. I've enjoyed taking Brett outside, and showing him the great outdoors. One day he helped me plant seeds out on the back deck...

...and did the heavy looking one while I picked up brush that the linesmen had cut away from the power lines during the ice storm at Christmastime. ;)

Matt bought us each a bicycle so that we could do some biking along the carriage trails in Bar Harbor this summer. Of course Wink needed to get in on the fun as well, so we bought him a chariot to ride in behind my bike. We've gone on one ride so far, and Wink loved it!

We went out for supper on one of our date nights, and Wink was able to sit up to the table in a highchair for the first time. As you can see, he was VERY excited!!