Brewfest...

 Probably not the ordinary family fun event you hear people talking about!  But kids were allowed.. and ours weren't the only ones!  One of the brewing companies was offering a raffle for a white water raft trip... they brought a raft that was outside their tent.. best idea ever!  I wonder if they knew it was going to be a kid magnet.. we made our home base there.. the kids loved it and told us they wanted to go back!  Sweet!  Beer samples and fun for the kids.. couldn't ask for much more than that!  We learned that Uncle Brian and Aunt Roberta were going to be there with the boys.. as well as Grammy and Grampy.   It was also a great place to meet up with Melanie! Whom I haven't seen in over a year.. and the only excuse we have is that we are lazy!  So here is proof that we did in fact see each other...

The fun on the raft never ended.. if it wasn't an obstacle course it was a tug-of-war contest!

 Wipe my hands please!

At one point a guy came over to refill the raft as it was getting a bit soft!  The kids were fascinated.  I like this pciture because the kids' arm positions are mirrored.

 I wonder if Casey is a good food eater!  Because he had lots of things in his mouth that day!  Empty beer cups.. raft ropes.. Mmmm... doesn't get much better than that!

Cora wanted to join in with the big kids bouncing around the edge of the raft.  And if you turned your back for a second she'd be up there walking by herself.  Thankfully she welcomed handholding though. because she was getting tossed around quite a bit!

We were so close to Hodgies we could not skip the opportunity for ice cream! 

Cora!  Is this what you are willing to do for ice cream?  NO No no!  Dresses down!  Daddy already has a bullet with every boys name engraved on it.. let's not drive him to buy a gun to go along with it!

Cora is 4 months older than her cousin.. but she towers over him.  Little Casey is a peanut.. and Cora as you know tops the charts.. together they probably equal an average toddler!

After soccer, our town's Safety Day and the brewfest we thought for sure the kids would be sound asleep for the ride home.. not the case.  Can you say WIRED?!  The good news is that the boys at least slept in til about 8am!  Cora had us up early though.. there's always one!

Ahoy Mateys!

Nope!  We did not go to the Mac 'n Cheese exhibit!  But we did pass this cool sculpture on the our walk through Fanueil Hall to our Tall Ship Cruise Adventure!

Sunday we went to Long Wharf with the Sevins to board our very own "pirate ship", the Liberty Clipper, for a two-hour sail along Boston's bay

Once off the dock and turned around us guests on the boat could help raise the sails!  Caden and Cole S. along with Rob and Brendan heave ho'd to help set the ship in motion! (although I do believe they were running the motor the entire time to keep us on schedule!)

These pictures remind me of the week I spent on the SSS Massachusetts back when I was younger.. I don't remember what grade I was in exactly.. 5th or 6th I think! I should post the picture of me out on the bow sprit with my giant 80's glasses!

Cole had to hit the head at one point in our sail and found the captain and the steering wheel!  He got to steer and when they got back we brought the rest of the kids to have a turn.

Girl Power!

These kooky kids just love to make their silly faces!  We'll have plenty for their senior yearbook :)

Coles!

Here Kelly lured the kids over to make a silly face picture with her while she herself then smiled pretty!  gave me a chuckle!

For some reason I just really loved these wooden pillars that had turned green!

Shark!  That's how we got the kids to all turn around and look at the camera while standing all together!  Looks like Charlotte has been watching her brother and his silly faces!  I saw this face a few times during the trip!

After our sailing adventure we walked through Fanueil Hall to pick out a bite to eat.  The combination of a Sunday evening and a Patriot's game made the crowd very small and manageable!  After dinner the kids picked their dessert at the bakery counter... melty chocolate chip cookies for everyone!! except Cole... he got M&M!

A Bushel and a Peck!

Today was a very busy day!  We had soccer, a birthday party, AND we wanted to fit in apple picking!  Good thing we have a few down the road.  Which is one of the reasons we love our town so much!

I'll be honest.. about a year ago when I was shopping the clearance racks I happened upon this dress with apples on it (the apples are in between the pink diamonds).  Probably not something I'd normally buy, but since every year we have an apple picking party I thought perfect!  Cora's outfit! and of course we were slackers this year and didn't have the party!  this month became too hectic it was difficult to fit in.  But don't worry! It'll return full force next year!

Down the rows we go looking for our perfect apples.

The trees were pretty well picked down low, so Daddy's shoulders were a necessity!

Woohoo!  He got it!

.. and then we found the ladders!

Obviously Cora's baby came along for the trip.. guess she got hungry!

Cora was very concerned with all the apples on the ground.  She wanted to pick them all up, it took some convincing that we'd leave those for someone else.

Caden was quite the helper! filling his arms full before coming back to add them to the bag.

Any apple that entered Cora's hands was hers to eat she thought.. she couldn't even get down the ladder before she took a bite!  We tried handing her apples to put in the bag, but she'd just trade you her apple with bites out of it for the new one and take a bite out of that one!  We learned quickly not to keep doing that or we'd be really full from eating her half eaten apples!

Daddy's girl!

Ahhh.. my all time favorite angle!  Caden is getting too tall for it though :(

Cole didn't want an apple he wanted applesauce, so I told him to try and make applesauce in his mouth... when I asked him if it was working he said yes... Parent -1 Kid - 0 !!

Once Cora was introduced to the ladder there was no stopping her!

Can't leave without at least trying to get a group shot.

Whheee! I'm the Queen of the ladder!

Daddy's little helper