This Morning in Freeport

 

In which the girls design a square for the art wall at Wanderlust Juicery while we wait for breakfast. xo 

Just July

 

July arrived and with it my second doctoral residency at High Mowing/Pine Hill Waldorf School. It was another amazing week with my cohort learning all about Emergency Pedagogy from the man hinself -Bernd Ruf. We celebrated David's birthday and then began our journey to Maine where we celebrated Grace's and then dropped Emma off at Pilgrim Lodge for the week. It was strange to leave one and bring the other home. While Emma was at PL Grace spent the mornings helping at Nature Camp and then we would do something fun in the afternoon. She got her hair balyaged (thanks, Emily!), we went to Tower Hill, we took the bunnies to be groomed and then it was time to pick Emma up! Once she was home we went to see the Barbie movie (these Barbies loved it!) and we went to Pickity Place for another delicious meal. All in all, it was another splendid month! xo 

Mama and Papa's Weekend Away

Dave and I headed to Maine for the wedding of one of his friends this past Saturday.  It has been quite sometime since we had an (overnight) adventure just the two of us, and thanks to our dearest friends Sarah and Ben (who adopted the girls for the weekend) we were able to have some much overdue time to ourselves! 

Since there was a good chunk of time between the wedding and the reception so we headed to Stonewall Kitchen to see what their flagship store was like.

York, Maine 3:40pm

Breathtaking scenes we saw upon arriving at (and leaving)the reception. 

York, Maine 7:45pm

 

The fabulous billboard we saw on our way to our hotel room in Portsmouth New Hampshire.  Oh gosh, we love these two!  I so wish that this campaign started when Dave and I were on our journey through the Land of Infertility.  If it was we so would have dressed up as these two for Halloween!  Click here to watch one of the commercials.  Needless to say, I made him go around the rotary a good few times till we got the right picture!

Congress Street, Portsmouth New Hampshire, 8:00am

Friendly Toast.  A very yummy, yummy breakfast place (we'll have to check out the one in Cambridge soon). 

This is one of those fabulous places where when they say "mini pancakes" on the menu they don't really mean small! 

And the breakfast burrito is huge too.

Heading home after a wonderful adventure!

We had such an incredible time! What a treat to be able to go away (even if it was just for 24 hours) and just be.  Chatting, laughing, and spending time reconnecting. It was perfect!  We are so lucky to such a wonderful "family of friends" and specifically such dear friends in Sarah and Ben.  We love knowing that when we cannot be there that we have a wonderful circle of friends who will step in and take care of our girls as if they were their own!  It truly makes the journey that much sweeter!

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!