Grace and Emma Attend A Wedding

After our fabulous trip to Freeport we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.  We were all excited to go, but no one was more excited than the girls, especially Grace.  Our girls can get dirty with the best of them, but they are also totally into getting dressed up and pretending to be princesses and go to weddings (where they generally marry each other) that the idea of actually going to a real wedding was almost too much for them to comprehend!  

We were so thrilled to be heading to this wedding.  Mr. Benchly (the groom) was Dave's roommate all four years of college.  Benchly and Dave were pretty much the modern day Oscar and Felix, so I give him much credit for living with Dave and his insane mess for all four years!  We were so honored to have Mr. Benchly in our wedding party on that super hot day in August of 2002, and were super sad when we lost touch with him for close to six years.  Thanks to the reconnecting powers of Facebook, we have been back in touch with him for the last two and were able to witness, through pictures and blogposts, the incredible love story that unfolded between him and his lovely wife, Mrs. Benchly!  So, it was a no-brainer when we received their beautiful invitation that we would make this the girls first wedding. It was the perfect first wedding for them to attend, full of autumnal New England splendor and very laid back.  

It was a truly incredible day!  From the moment Mr. Benchly began his walk down the aisle to the lovely ceremony spot you could feel the joy.  And from the moment that Mrs. Benchly began her walk down the aisle you could feel the love.  Love was the theme of the day and it radiated throughout the entire site.  To bask in it, was an honor.  To get the chance to share this wonderful event with our girls was a joy.  We cannot thank the Benchly's and their families enough for including us in such a blessed event as this!  Thank you for enjoying our girls and their wonder at the sight of a real bride and groom.  Thank you for sharing your love story with all of us, dear friends, and we look forward to many more incredible chapters still to come.  Enjoy the amazing adventure that is life as a married couple.  The best is yet to come! 

Our Trip to Freeport

The weather was incredible on Saturday, and since we had lots of time before the wedding we decided to head out in search of adventure.  We realized that we needed to find some kind of shopping area to pick up a few things that we had forgotten, and so we did a GPS search to see what we could find.  We picked a store we recognized, figuring if that was listed it must be near other things and went.  Little did we know we know at the time where we would end up.

Checking out what the insides of a clock look like at the LL Bean flagship store. 

You can't go to Maine and not have lobster, and so it was very fitting that we had lunch at Linda Bean's.  We had heard about Linda Bean's lobster rolls on an episode of Chronicle, and decided to see if they were in fact as incredibly delicious as the Chronicle staff lead us to believe they were (and they were)!

Dave gives us the thumbs up on a great day spent in Freeport as we head back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding of Mr. Benchly and his beloved!

Ladies Who Lunch

Before we left for Maine on Friday we had an appointment to have our family Christmas card pictures taken.  Now, I am sure that some of you are thinking, "Wow, Shel way to get ahead of the game!", but really, if truth be known I would in no way shape or form be thinking about Christmas or Christmas card pictures if it was not for the sheer fact that the place we have our photos done offers 40% off Christmas Cards in September.  We certainly cannot pass that up, so off we go, insanely early, and have our pictures taken and cards designed.  Since Dave was already off on Friday due to our trip to Maine for our dear friend, Mr. Benchly's impending nuptials, we figured then was as good a time as any.  The pictures came out great and since we were incredibly hungry (and determined that the girls would nap on the way to Maine) we headed to the American Girl Bistro for lunch.  With how beautifully we were all dressed up how could we not?!

And while we were not overly impressed with the food (dessert is so much better), it was a lovely way to kick off our mini-vacation!  

Creating

We have fallen into a lovely afternoon routine around here.  While Emma naps, Grace has quiet time, downstairs, with mama.  Lately, Grace has been coming upstairs to help me tuck Em in and wish her a lovely nap full of sweet dreams.  We then head downstairs where I will get my 30 minutes of exercise in and Grace will find something independent to do.  As soon as I am done exercising she'll generally want to snuggle and read books, watch TV, play a game or do something creative.  Today, she chose to be creative, each time banishing me to a different room while she created her masterpiece.  As soon as she'd finish what she was working on she'd bounce into wherever I was and ask me to follow her to the kitchen, all the while singing that I must come see her latest creation.  It's always a treat to see what she has created and I was so happy that I was able to document some of the creative process to share with all of you.  

I really need to frame this one.  

 

Autumnal Equinox

We hope that your last day of summer/first day of autumn was spectacular and full of fun!

Scenes From the CSA Potluck Supper

It was a fabulous way to end a lovely weekend.  The weather was incredible, food was delicious and the kids ran and played with each other with such happiness and freedom that it only further reinforced the fact that we need to live in a small town on a fair amount of land!  We spend time catching up with friends who we had not chatted with in a few weeks and eating far too many s'more for our own good.  Truly, much fun was had by all and many wonderful memories made in the process!