It was a beautiful day today! We had a quiet morning, reading the paper, building robots, writing scripts, and doing the things we do at home on the weekends. This afternoon we decided to take advantage of the beautiful summer-like weather and go golfing!

Eve, wearing a jump rope as a belt in case she gets bored of golfing.

Lex, still golfing like a hockey player.

I’m pretty sure they were using the gross pond water to cool off. I probably should have stopped them, but instead I snapped a picture and told them to come back to the green.

I always love “looking up” pictures of my kids. Someday I’ll learn the proper photography term for this angle.

We made it half way through the course then we ran out of time and patience, so we ditched it and headed for ice cream instead!

Yummy!!

After ice cream it was time to drop Lex off at his Lego League. While he did that, Alan, Eve and I headed to an awesome rock store called Gemstar. Mema discovered this place a few days ago and it was so cool she wanted to go back and take us along. So we went. And we loved it!

I think this is called selenite. Correct me if I’m wrong. It looks like firewood, but really it’s a rock! Very cool.

We met Mema, G’Tom, Carl, and Kathy there and we all bought a few cool rock products – even Alan! It’s definitely a store we will return to!

Eve and Carl. :)

Awesome uncle. I wish he could still spin me like that!

We said our goodbyes and headed home for a proper night-before-school evening. I wish we had more summer vacation and family visiting and time for fun and exploration!

Notice all the different picture formats? I officially have too many picture-taking devices. I find myself using less of my camera and more of my phone these days. I like it for convenience, but I’m going to have to figure out the photo organization because I have an awesome system going for pictures from my camera, but ones from my phone aren’t organized at all. How’s that for a first world problem!? Then I ask Alan to take a group picture and he insists on using his phone! Too many devices!

Last night we took the kids to see a Barenaked Ladies Concert. It was the kids’ first concert and they LOVED it!! Alan and I saw them many years ago at the Verizon Wireless Center in Manchester (a wee bit bigger than the Lebanon Opera House!) and we were excited to see them again. They put on a great show!

A terrible picture of very excited children.

The show started at 7:30pm, which is bedtime for Miss Eve, so we were wondering how it would go. She, of course, is a trooper and loved every minute of it. Almost.

For the final few songs the crowd finally stood up and started dancing. We had side aisle seats and the kids moved into the aisle to have a little more space. All along the aisle ushers were standing, watching the show. A few told the kids to move up so they could see better, so of course the parents went too!

We stayed there for the final few songs and the encore. At the end BNL went into this long montage of songs, mostly not their own. They played some Red Hot Chili Peppers, Zepplin, Katy Perry, and more. By this point Eve was getting a little overwhelmed. We were really close to the speakers!! I took her back to our seats, then out to the lobby. Alan and Lex followed and headed for the bathrooms. We were only in the lobby a minute or two before the show ended and people started streaming out. Luckily we had a head start and beat the crowd! :) We got home at 10pm and everyone went straight to bed. This morning we could not rouse Eve, so Alan took them to school a little late. Totally worth it though!!

As an extra yay for me, we saw in the program that John Hodgman is coming in November and today Alan bought tickets! That will be a fun night out!

The time has come again to participated in the CHaD. This year, like last year, the kids and I will be doing the 10K hike and Alan will be running the half marathon. We registered the kids this year (in the past they’ve always just tagged along with us) and learned that an organization called Positive Tracks doubles any funds raised by youths. So, if you’d like to donate to our efforts please donate to the kids through the widgets on the right. If you will be in the area on October 26th, then join us!! We are part of a fun, active team and would love more members. Happy hiking, for a great cause!)

Yesterday we headed back to the Atlantic to spend the day with Mandy and Rachel at the Seacoast Science Center. It is a cute little museum that has aquariums with Atlantic ocean animals, some hands on exhibits, and a cool “touch tank” with sea stars and other little creatures. The center is located in a state park that used to house a weapons battery during the Great Wars. We had a nice day exploring the museum, exploring the park and rocky coastline, and, of course, checking out the playground.

The touch tank was pretty cool… and cold!

Meet Libby, the giant orange lobster that was rescued from a grocery store tank and now lives here.

There is a big hill here that is really an underground concrete building that used to house a weapons battery. There were giant guns (not there now) that could shoot 15 miles into the harbor!

Lex tried to go inside and was disappointed to find the doors locked.

It was a beautiful day and there were lots of boats in the harbor.

We rocked along the rocky coast for awhile. From there I could see two lighthouses that we visited last week with Rosy.

It was a HOT day and the air was stagnant. No nice coastal breeze to be found. After walking along the rocky shore in the hot sun for awhile we took a break under this lovely tent, all set up for a wedding.

At the playground the kids played hard, as usual, but I could tell Eve was wearing down when I found her like this at the top of the slide. Just resting for awhile, out of the hot sun.

We went back into the museum for a chance to touch a “chain cat shark”, a skate, and a big crab (I want to say hermit crab, but it wasn’t that, it was something else that started with H and I can’t remember at the moment!). The shark was prickly to the touch. Here is the skate. It’s hard to take pictures of moving animals in dark areas!

The underside of a skate. It looks like a smiley face, but really the “eyes” are holes they use to take in water from underneath and blow out air from corresponding holes above. That’s how they breath.

Back to the touch tank. We were all pretty worn out by now!

Hello sea star. Thanks for letting us play with you and your friends all day.

By the end we were all hot, hungry, and tired. And probably dehydrated! We decided to head halfway home and meet Mandy and Rachel for dinner along the way. Eve napped in the car and I almost did too. Dinner, however, was nice and once we were fed and hydrated everyone felt much better!

I think that was our final trip to the Atlantic for this season! I wish we lived a little closer. Tomorrow we all go back to school again and my Montessori kiddos start as well. I think I’ll be pretty tired by next weekend!