June 23, 2013
After hosting 2 choir singers from California and attending Heather’s final concert of the season the night before, we dropped off the singers at their hotel and got ready to board our red eye flight to Massachusetts.
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- Riding to the airport
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- Very late at night
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- To catch the red eye to Boston.
We touched down in Massachusetts and our first order of business was to drive to Royal Pastry and pick up cannoli and partigini.
June 24, 2013
We did absolutely nothing but sleep our first day away and then got up in time for our friend’s daughter’s softball game; in the evening. Always fun catching up with the O’Keefe’s.
June 25, 2013
We spent a relaxing afternoon at Memorial Beach in Marlboro – there is also it’s sister beach Centennial Beach in Hudson, just across the way. But it was at Memorial Beach that I reminisced about cut-off jean shorts, frozen Charleston Chews and swim classes I took there when I was about Holly’s age. We made sand castles, played Marco Polo and took in the sun on a beautiful and not too windy day.
We managed to eat lobster that night by the generousity of my sister, Brenda, driving down from Canada and picking up a few from someone’s garage in Maine.
June 26th, 2013
We flew down to Washington, D.C.
DC – Day 1
- Biking the town – the best way to see all of the memorials; was just fantastic! Here’s our route:
Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Roosevelt Memorial, MLK Jr. Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial and the National War World II Memorial.
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- After we get our bikes, first stop Washington Monument.
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- Mom’s favorite: Jefferson’s Memorial.
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- We can see it, have to bike to it.
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- Destination set: Jefferson Memorial, around the lake.
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- Made it!
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- Family photo with Thomas.
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- Inside memorial.
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- View of Keyser bikers from Jefferson Memorial.
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- Heather ready to go…
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- …first a quick pose.
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- Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial – one of Mom’s new favorites.
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- Tired, but still going.
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- Really tired, but still smiling.
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- Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
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- Next stop: Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall.
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- View of Washington Memorial and noting our biking loop is almost complete.
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- Greg on the National Mall.
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- Keyser Kids in front of Lincoln Memorial.
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- Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation…
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- Family photo at the Lincoln Memorial, with Washington Monument in background.
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- Holly
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- Heather
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- Harrison
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- Always happy to see ducklings. And the National War World II Memorial in background.
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- Not so happy.
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- Ready to be done…and it looks like rain.
Clouds rolled in and the rain began to pour. Good thing we were done with our ride.
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- Dinner at District of Pi http://www.pi-dc.com/ Great, loud, family place with award-winning pizza. Perfect too when a whole glass of water gets spilled on Harrison and he screams.
DC – Day 2
- Congressional tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; contact your Congressman through this website for a tour.
- Lunch at the Ronald Regan Building’s food court. Not crowded, something for everyone and air conditioned!
- 10am opening of National Museum of American History, best time to go!
- The National Archives; just to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights housed in the Rotunda. 10 minute wait in a shady line (read: cooler than standing in the sun).
- The Library of Congress, another scheduled Congressional Tour. Fascinating building that reminded me of something built in Rome. With frieze, statues and high painted ceilings. All of the building was symmetrical with busts, statues and names of scientists, philosophers, artists, lawyers and engineers engraved in the buildings walls and ceilings. Their website allows you to access information in the building. A copy of every publication ever written!
- Metro to National’s baseball game. When we ascended the tunnel, it was pouring rain; but with a couple of new baseball hats and an umbrella, we broke out the ponchos we had packed with us and raced to the park. Only to find out that the game was rain delayed. After some time, some snacks the game got underway. Fantastic fun. Some where tired. Great seats and great entertainment.
- Back to the hotel for a late swim in the pool.
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- Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
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- Hmmm, how much money is that?
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- WOW! That’s a lot of money!
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- How tall is Heather in $100 notes?
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- Rapper Heather?
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- American History Museum
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- Streets named after presidents.
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- Kermit and Dorothy’s shoes were on display.
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- So was Lincoln’s pocket watch.
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- A huge Microsoft Surface to play with.
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- US Flag behind the kids.
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- Special exhibit of Food.
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- Does anyone want peas and milk?
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- Juila Child’s actual kitchen.
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- Libary of Congress
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- Beautiful and amazing mosaics.
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- Mosaics reminded me of Italy.
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- One of Greg’s favorite Congressional tours.
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- Made it to the National’s ballpark.
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- Rain delay.
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- Some of us are super tired.
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- Getting ready to play.
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- Game went into extra innings too!
DC – Day 3
- Congressional tour of The Capitol; we contacted our Congressman’s office for a tour.
- Then we crossed the street for a self-guided tour of The Supreme Court. No lines!
- Walked to lunch – .9 of a mile, but in the heat and hungry people, made the journey long!
- Ted’s Bulletin http://tedsbulletin.com/ best lunch and amazing shakes, sandwiches and the kids got brunch food. Again, something for everyone and even showing black & white tv shows like Popeye, 3 Stooges, Shirley Temple and Lucille Ball snippets.
- Took the Metro to the National Zoo to see the pandas. It was very, very hot out, so they were inside.
- Then we took the Metro to Arlington Cemetery, to squeeze in one more thing, on Greg’s suggestion. But when we descended from the Metro, people at the top were turning around; it was pouring rain out. Deluge. We raced to the visitor’s center, and there, the guide said that the changing of the guard at the Tomb of The Unknown Solider was taking place in 15 minutes. A 15-minute walk from the visitor’s center.So, we started our hike up to the Tomb; by now, it was just a light rain. As we walked, in the humidity, a huge thunder clap happened right above our heads, scared the beegeezes out of us!As we laughed, and some of us were pretty scared, the skies zipped open and dumped flooding waters over us. We trudged on. Made it to our destination, and watched the changing of the guard; a very surreal event.After the ceremony, we turned away from the Tomb, but instead of descending back to the visitor’s center, and Mom continued to drag the family to the JFK Gravesite. (I mean, if we were already there and soaking to our underwear, we were going to see this historical gravesite too! Picture Chevy Chase in Vacation, arms around family for as long as he says, “Grand Canyon – okay, let’s go.”)
- After leaving Arlington Cemetery, and an extremely wet Metro ride back to the hotel. Greg was so kind to pick up Chinese food dinner and we ate in the hotel.
- The kids went swimming again — I was too pruned to go.
- Later that night, Heather heard on the news that the amount of rainfall was the 3rd largest in the history of the city!
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- Prelude to seeing pandas today. Breakfast at hotel.
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- The Capitol Bulding.
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- Holly’s “green screen” picture. It looks so fake, but she’s really standing there near the steps of the Capitol.
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- Family of 5 at the Capitol.
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- Across the street is the Supreme Court.
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- Everything in DC is under construction.
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- Heather infront of the statue of Contemplation of Justice.
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- Harrison in front of the statue of Authority of Law.
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- Holly on the steps of the Supreme Court.
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- Heather with the bust of John Marshall.
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- Enjoying our summer day and going to our next tour.
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- Front of the Library of Congress (we toured before, but didn’t get this photo from the front.)
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- The nine great men commemorated by the busts across the portico of the front entrance pavilion at the second-story level are each silhouetted in front of a round window. They were selected by Librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford and are, from left to right as you stand in front of the building: Demosthenes, Emerson, Irving, Goethe, Franklin, Macaulay, Hawthorne, Scott and Dante. They were carved by Herbert Adams, Jonathan Scott Hartley and Frederick W. Ruckstull.
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- Lunch at Ted’s Bulletin. Amazing, yummy and fun!
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- Spotted another painted panda on the way to the zoo. It was so very, very hot, we stopped twice at a cart selling bottled water.
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- Sweet Panda – Mei Xiang’s (pregnant)
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- A passing elephant…or were we passing him?
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- Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soilder.
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- Tomb of the Unknown Soilder.
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- Very, very wet at the Tomb of the Unknown Soilder.
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- Notice the rain…
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- These soldiers guard the tomb 24 hours 7 days a week.
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- Rain or shine.
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- Not too crowed, but it was under my umbrella.
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- The rain does not phase the soldiers.
DC – Day 4
- Greg picked up rental car at 6:00am from airport; and came back to pick the rest of us up from the hotel, using Nokia Beta Drive+ app on his phone.
- Then we drove 4 ½ hours in traffic to Williamsburg, VA (should only be a 2 hour drive).
- We visited historic Colonial Williamsburg, VA. The kids said best part with the carriage ride; I think it was cool and restful!
- We also participated in the RevQuest, which allowed the kids to do a scavenger hunt. We toured the Governor’s palace, saw one of the taverns and spoke with the milliner and shoemaker in their shops.
- Had dinner at The King’s Arm Tavern. We had to make dinner reservations, which I did at the town’s info center, as soon as we arrived.
- After an amazing and filling dinner, we drove back to DC, packed up and flew back to Mass at 6:00am the next morning.
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- Our drive out of DC to Williamsburg, VA.
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- RevQuest adventurers have to wear the black bandanas to signal to other RevQuest adventurers…passwords are a must.
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- Watch out, there are red coats about.
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- The Governer’s mansion.
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- Cool entryway in mansion.
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- Fireplace in most of the rooms.
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- Some sort of piano / organ.
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- Conducting a RevQuest by using a scroll.
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- The carriage ride allowed us a much needed rest and very fun experience.
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- A wonderful carriage driver gave us a fun experience calling to villiagers. The boys enjoyed the ride.
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- Girls on one side of carriage.
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- John Hancock looking bigger than life, and flirting with the ladies.
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- Villiagers getting harrassed by the armed guards. Soon a scuffle will break out.
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- According to my map…Heather checks RevQuest texts.
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- Carriage ride was the coolest! (and that’s because it was very hot out). Plus, it included horses.
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- Our family on the carriage. Best ticket (oh yes, it cost extra).
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- Other carriages and covered wagons.
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- Villager helping out.
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- Holly filmed the entire event!
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- Even while we were taking photos of her.
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- Tents were where some of the soldiers slept.
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- Captains leading the troops.
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- Troops through the city.
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- Ladies taking a stroll. That’s a lot of attaire for a blistering hot day.
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- This picture was submitted to the Redmond Kumon office for summertime picture contest.
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- Yes, Kumon done over the summer…we heard an earful, but they did it.
Click on any picture to see larger image.
July 3rd, 2013
We drove to Kittery, ME to meet our long-time friend, Greg Kelleher and his daughter, who is Holly’s age.
- Lunch at Chauncey Creek Lobster Peir http://www.chaunceycreek.com/ BYOB.
- Kayaked and canoed on the Chauncey Creek Inlet until 7:00pm. It was so gorgeous out!
- Without dinner, drove to Portsmouth, NH for fireworks – had ice cream (for dinner?!) and then was just in time for an awesome fireworks show!!! Portsmouth — you do it right! It was fabulous!
- Stopped for some quick food and then back to Greg Kelleher’s house to meet up with Bettina and some socializing! Bed for the kids.
4th of July, 2013
- Greg, Holly, Harrison and I took a drive to York, ME to see the Nubble Lighthouse. Bettina took Heather and her daughter kayaking.
- We picked up some “Off the dock Lobsters” for that night’s dinner!
- We had lunch from The FireFly Diner http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-firefly-diner-kittery at the Kelleher’s.
- Then back to Mass for 4th of July fireworks (on tv) – we took the kids a few years ago to see the fireworks in Boston, but not this year.
- Enjoyed a lobster dinner!
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- Happy birthday Heather! Finally, a new camera since Kindergarten!
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- The two Greg K’s! An absolute goregous morning in Maine.
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- Heather in the kayak.
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- A natural.
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- Bettina looking fabulous!
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- After Aunt Brenda relayed the story about getting the lobster from someone’s garage, “right off the boat”, Greg had to seek out his own “off the boat” story! Lobsters right from the dock, tossed into a basket and were taken away to Mass for one of our last lobster meals. YUM!
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- Nubble Lighthouse, Kittery, ME
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- Fashion, fashion plus a cell phone?
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- Love the lighthouses of New England.
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- Harrison and Dad.
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- Looking good.
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- Even better!
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- Greg relaxing!
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- Holly enjoying the day…did someone say ice cream?
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- Harrison climbing the rocks.
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- Taking pictures at Nubble Lighthouse.
Lobster pots as high as the sky!
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July 5th, 2013
Met up with our friends Kathy and John O’Keefe and their kids at Kimball’s Farm .
After sweating through a round of mini golf and water bumper boats; this year we forgoed the lunch and ice cream there, and opted for lunch at the British Beer Company; air conditioned, perfectly loud for the kids and beer for adults. Then it was back to home base for an evening to relax.
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- According to my map…
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- Just give it up, John, the girls are going to win.
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- Somewhere between a rock and a hard place.
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- Watch out!
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- Smiles and cool water!
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- BANG!
July 6th, 2013
Miele Family Reunion at the Ben and Patty’s house; swimming pool, magaritias being freshly mixed, tons of food, naked card tricks (what!) and the cousins, cousins, cousins to play with each other. Heat advisory got basically everyone in the pool at some point…even Aunt Brenda and Grandpa.
The grand finale was Heather on Matt’s guitar, Chris teaching Holly some drum fills, and Harrison playing the piano.
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- Too hot not to swim.
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- Baking in the sun…do you have any sunscreen on?
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- Two cakes are still not enough for the number of people who have summer birthdays.
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- My cuties!
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- Cousins having water play time!
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- The middle kids.
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- Grandpa and Dr. Eric.
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- The thirds.
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- Oh, we can have some of both?
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- Holly was baptized here.
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- So was Harrison.
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- Most of the Miele’s back at the homestead.
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- Fun with the little cousins.
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- Who’s cuter.
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- Holly and Dottie. We love the Dotster.
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- Watch out Matt!
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- Per usual…who is talking here?
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- Ben and Heather.
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- Judy and Ben
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- The firsts.
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- The cousins.
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- Nana!
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- Lobsters!
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- Brenda teaching Judy to braid – fishbone style.
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- The Nanster with Greg.
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- The gang is all here!`
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- Grandpa with Greg and Heather.
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- Is that a hello or a good-bye!
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- Great minds think a like.
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- Now that feels good!
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- Youngests!
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- The girl cousins!
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- Dr. Eric and Carie.
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- Birthday girl!
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- Aunt Patty and the boys here to celebrate Heather’s birthday.
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- It wouldn’t be a night at the Miele’s without some card games.
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July 7th, 2013
Greg flies home to Sammamish to “open” up the house for the summer. Retrieved the guinea pigs from their vacation at their cousins home (a friend’s house, pet sitting!) Judy and the kids relaxed that evening and hung out with the grandfolks.
July 8th, 2013
Took the kids on a trip to my alma matra, where Holly says she wants to go!
July 9th, 2013
Back to visit Aunt Patty and the boy cousins still in town. Swimming and lunch, then dinner out with cousin Matt at Papa Gino’s!
July 10th, 2013 – Heather’s 13th Birthday!
Took our oldest girl out to a PG-13 Movie – Now You See Me and then shopping.
We setup for her birthday party, and all family members attended…Dad was on the phone!
(See pictures of party in gallery above)
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July 11th, 2013
Cruised down to the Cape, between Falmouth and Cotuit, and met up with Greg Kelleher. Took the kids on his boat for tubing and fishing. Then dinner at the infamous Whimpy’s in Osterville and ice cream at the Gone Chocolate downtown. Nothing beats Cape Cod ice cream! But we were so full! And with that, I loaded up the very tired kids and drove back to Marlboro. Another fantastic day in the books!
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- Tubing at Prince’s Cove Marina, Marstons Mills, MA.
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- Oh yes, everyone is smiling now…
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- Harrison stands!
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- Greg Kelleher cruising; Harrison hanging on for dear life!
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- Holly is up next!
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- Harrison wipes out Heather…on purpose, we’ll never know. hehehe
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- Trying to dump siblings now becomes the game.
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- Still hanging on!
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- The water is perfect!
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- Sister love!
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- Now it’s fishing time! Mom caught one, others not so happy.
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- Harrison reeling one in.
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- Boy Scout in action!
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July 12th, 2013
With our decision to come back from the Cape early, left us with another day to visit with Aunt Patty, but this time cousin Katherine was back from her mission trip and Uncle Benny was back from his business trip.
Drummers 2013
July 13th, 2013
Our last full day in Mass. was spent up in Leominster at Aunt Carie and Uncle Dr. Eric, the godfather’s house. Cousins played with cousins in the pool and in the backyard. It was very fun!
That afternoon we met up with Aunt Brenda to see the dogs and to get ice cream at Erikison’s.
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- Welcomes with hugs and bandaids!
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- Boys playing Star Wars Attacks!
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- Awesome lunch and swim in the pool!
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- Do not sit or swing on the chain @Erikson’s ice cream.
July 14th, 2013
Homeward bound. Our flight was delayed which made it very late when we got in, midnight West coast time, but it was 3:00am body time. Reminder: take early morning flight – the afternoon flights are always delayed…especially with rainstorms.
