Whooo!!!
What a summer!!!!! Let us tell you what we’ve done!
We finished up the spring baseball season with both of our guys doing great! No championships won this year, but both boys were standouts on their teams and had a lot of fun!
Joshua and Jacob’s elementary school is being remodeled. It’s a long standing tradition to take a picture of the whole school assembled on these stone steps. This will be the last one like this as the remodeling will remove the amphitheater! Can you spot Josh and Jake?
We took in an early season Red Sox game as a family. Joshua and Jacob are becoming quite the fans! They love to keep score and know all the players’ statistics!
The Cub Scout year culminated with the Blue & Gold banquet. Joshua was awarded his Bear Scout badge and Jacob his Tiger badge. Both had a great year!
Grampa was able to spend a long weekend with us this spring - we love having him visit! While he was here, he and John enjoyed a visit to the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem. Grampa was intrigued by the architecture of the newly remodeled building.
The Cub Scouts held their annual spring camping trip - it was a success as always! This time, John spent the day with the boys, but mom came along to spend the night with the guys and handle the morning after tear-down so John could head off to run in the Whirlaway 10k, part of the USATF-NE Grand Prix series that he’s participating in.
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We enjoyed a four day weekend for July 4th and, since the boys had camp on Friday, John and Shawn took a trip up the South Coast of Maine. They had fun taking their time and playing tourists.
On the 4th itself, we all went to run in the North Andover 4th of July road races. The boys both competed in the 2k kids race. Joshua finished the 1.2 miles in just a tad over 10 minutes with his brother about 15 seconds behind. Their styles were quite different, however. Joshua ran a slow and steady pace throughout while Jacob sprinted until out of breath, walked a bit, sprinted, walked, sprinted… In the end, the tortoise took the win! Mom and dad ran too - she in the 5k and he, pacing a friend in the 10k.
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We spent the rest of the holiday weekend kicking back, enjoying the carnival and fireworks in our town park, and preparing for summer!
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We were also treated in July to a visit to Shawn’s boss’s boss’s house. We all had great fun swimming in Walt’s pool and eating his great food!
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John made a trip to Stowe, Vermont for the Stowe 8-miler. He didn’t run all that well in the unseasonable heat but where else can you find yourself drinking free beer at 10:30 on a Sunday morning and be thought of as an athlete?
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A bit later in the month, we took a couple of friends to see the Lowell Spinners and, as always, had a great time there!
Joshua and Jacob both attended Cub Scout daycamp for a week. They worked on scout skills, learned songs and skits, and even cooked a marshmallow or two!!
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We visited the AMC’s Lonesome Lake Hut near the end of July. We took Friday off and after an early morning drive, hiked into the hut by the lake that would be our home for the next two nights. That afternoon, we climbed the challenging Hi-Cannon trail to the summit of Cannon Mt. - our first 4000-footer for the trip. We spent a fun night at the hut and, on the second day, bagged two more 4000-footers: North and South Kinsman. Jacob and Joshua impressed many older hikers on the trails with their experience and stamina - they’re great hikers - regular mountain goats!!
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We enjoyed a week on Lake Sunapee in August. The weather was “ok” - no real washouts but a lot of clouds. Still, we swam, kayaked, fished, peddled, hiked Mt. Sunapee, watched the Olympics when showers came through, ate Ice Cream just about every night, and had a great relaxing time!!!
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While at Sunapee, we went out to a nice dinner to celebrate Shawn’s birthday!!!
Shortly after our return, it was time to celebrate Jacob’s 8th birthday! We did so with cake at our place and another trip to the Lowell Spinners for some hot dogs and baseball - an all-American outing!!
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Later in August, Grampa visited us again on his way to Europe! He was able to join us for a cub scout outing to see the North Shore Spirit play - the cubs were introduced along with the players and got to stand on the field for the national anthem!! We were also treated to a wonderful dinner at the home of our neighbors, the Sieferts, and got to enjoy their new Tatone-designed sun porch! What a great place it is!
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On Labor Day weekend, Poppa and Grammy Susan were able to visit us. While they were here, we enjoyed a “guys day out” at the Red Sox and a Boston Harbor Cruise for all of us!
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As fall approaches, we look forward to a new school year, a great soccer season, some long road races, more Cub Scouts, and all kinds of fun! We hope you’ll be a part of it or, if you can’t, drop us a line!!
