6 Weeks to become a "masshole"

I feel like a new mom. I can't believe it's already been 6 weeks and yet it's been the longest most tiring 6 weeks... 

We got our license plates this week. So- as the people who live in New Hampshire would say- we are officially massholes. I think that is a direct link to your car, too, not just by living here. The drivers here are um, colorful (to be kind).  There is a lot of aggressive driving and a lot of defensive driving. If you are somewere in the middle like me it makes for witnessing some interesting traffic.  When people complain about the traffic here, they aren't kidding. It's awful. But what makes it the most awful is that there is no rhyme or reason for why exactly it's bad. It makes no sense.  Oh well- I've already learned to just plan on it taking twice as long to get somewhere as it should. :)


The issues with the house are ongoing, but I won't dwell on that.  In addition to solving all of those we have decided to do some "fun stuff" to the house right away and not wait 7 years like the last house. We want to enjoy some of the personalized changes we are making. Some built ins are coming down, the weird roman columns are getting an appropriate update, some landscaping is getting done- it's great!

I will post pictures once more progress is made- but they are definitely awesome changes and I want to be real life besties with my general contractor and his son. They've been so incredible!!

One thing I've posted about on FB and not here that I'm super excited about is that the beach (the real Atlantic Ocean beach) is less than an hour from here!!! We've only been to one of several recommended beaches, but we went there twice. We tagged along with my new friend Tina's family the first time, then just our little family unit went the second time. I'm super excited to probably go to that beach a 3rd time when my sissy comes to visit in a few weeks! Don't fix what's not broken, right? 

It's called Wingaersheek Beach and it's in Gloucester (Glousta), Mass. It's an inlet so it's very very shallow for really far out with sandbars and tons of big rocks the form tide pools. Great for catching crabs, shrimp, hermit crabs, etc. So fun for the kids (and us)!

She actually wasn't scared at all to catch and hold the crabs- but this one was pinching her right as I took the photo. oops!

One of the bigger crabs she caught

We also have found a babysitter thanks to our nice neighbor- she asked around to some friends and found us some contacts. Nicole came last week while Matt and I checked out our little town on an afternoon date.  Here are a few pictures taken from the deck of the restaurant we ate at.  Isn't it quaint?

They don't sell Yueng-Ling in Mass so I've had to switch to Sam Adams. In this pic have seasonal, Matt has regular. 

ghThis is the town Center- and behind that white church is the town "Common".  You can't tell from the picture but where the grey and white cars are stopped is what I refer to as the "25 way intersection". I think it's only 5 or 6 way- but it's a lot for busy roads to converge. And I've been told that until recently there were not stop lights there. whoa! 

Softball has been a godsend for us. We've met some really nice people and it gives all of us something to do a few times a week. It is wrapping up this weekend with a tournament. Back to back games right now; so I am catching up on blogging while Finn catches up on some sleep and Matt holds down the fort at the game.  

Until next time--- 

Tourists!

 

Since the 4th of July (which was probably my last update) we have decided that being Tourists in our own town is fun! We have since gone to the local hotel pool, visited the nearest emergency room, hung out at the pond in town, driven to New Hampshire to a state park and spent the day in Boston.  Above you can see Myrtle the Turtle swimming around in the New England Aquarium! 

It's funny- we spent the day Saturday in Boston. We went on a Duckboat tour 

The kids all got to drive the boat in the open water. So fun!

 Visited Faneuil Hall, went to the New England Aquarium and went back to Faneuil Hall! We've had several people who grew up here (almost everyone who lives here grew up here it seems) tell us that they've never been on a Duck tour! Too funny. We loved it. I'd definitely go again!  The kids loved the street performers at Faneuil Hall and of course the food! yum!! 

While we've met some people here and even have made some friends- everyone knows it's not the "same". Not for awhile at least...But, I had the fortunate experience of meeting up with 2 women yesterday that I've known for 11 years.  What is odd about this meet up is that we don't really know each other in "real life". They are both moms I met online 11 years ago while we were pregnant with our "December 2002" babies! We met on a due date forum and have been friends ever since.  There are about 20 or so of us moms that are still "together"- but it's not often that any of us get to get together in real life- as we live all over the country (and even have a few moms outside of the US).  When the opportunity came up to meet two of these wonderful women- I jumped at the chance!! One of them I have had the pleasure of meeting before, when the kids were around 3 years old, the other I just met for the first time.  But since she lives only 1.5 hours from here- I hope it's not the last time!! We had such a lovely day and the kids really hit it off.  Plus- I got to hang out at the beautiful Wellington State Park.

I guess lastly for now- if you follow me on FB you already know- but if you don't- my poor Finny cracked his chin open poolside last week. A trip to the ER along with 5 stitches resulted. But, I guess the bright side is now I know where the ER is and I found the kids a pediatrician!!

You can see how traumatized he was by the ambulance ride and hosptial.

Finny Finn Finn hits his Chinny Chin Chin!

Our adventures continue... 

Celebrating our Independence... where it all began

Happy 4th Everyone- on the 5th.  I've been busy this week; actually not all on house stuff.  The week started with our usual barrage of contractors. We have a problem with our roof/gutters that is causing one of our plumbing problems- so I had gutter people here. Also had the irrigation company come and check all of their lines. The GC was here again measuring to see what we can do with our kitchen sink. The saga of this house continues- starting to verge on Money Pit.  But- we love the house- we truly do. So, hopefully we'll spend some money up front and give her love and she'll pay us back. 

Amelia had another softball game and we've been fortunate enough to hit it off with a couple of the families from softball. One was gracious enough to offer to meet up with us during the annual Fourth of July town fair.  They also invited Declan to their son's birthday party (which is going on right now). That made Declan more than thrilled. My little social butterfly was starting to get antsy with no friends.  

So- Wednesday night Matt actually snuck out of work early and we headed down to the "Common" (I have now lived in towns with Town Square, Uptown and Center or Common- but never a Downtown. Weird.).  It started out not so crazy busy- but as the night wore on- it definitely became more packed.  It felt a little like we were in the movie "Groundhog Day"; it was a very quintessential affair. Booths of food and games run by the local civic organizations, the band's majorettes performing on the Common- you get the idea.  Luckily our new friends met up with us and showed us around and introduced us to a few more people.  It was a nice evening.  

On our way home we noticed that the chairs were really starting to crowd the sidewalks.  As early as Saturday we started noticing people marking their parade spots with chairs.  As we got closer to home (and also the start of the parade) there were less chairs but the spot we were hoping for was getting crowded. So, in the spirit of the town we put down our chairs as well.

Now, understand that probably the first 5 people we met here asked us if we had heard about the parade. I guess it's one of the top ten longest continuous running parades in the country (the town is well over 300 years old) and it's a huge draw from communities around it.  Everyone raved about how wonderful it is.  Let me say- it was a very nice parade. It was a very long parade.  There were great handouts (not just candy) and several bands.  However it was also about 200 degrees street level and did I mention, it was a very long parade?  All kidding aside, it was great. Was it worth people putting their chairs out Saturday? Not sure- but glad we experienced it. Super fun!!  We also went to the pool and watched a movie. Today, we went blueberry picking. It's nice to just put chores aside for a few days and really just enjoy being a family.  More exploring to come- but for now, enjoy some parade pictures!

For the record, I did try to stick my foot out and trip "Pat". haha