Summer

We love New England summers... when they finally start in mid-June!

We finished off my mom & Frank's visit to New England with a trip up to Glaucester to eat at Market. It's always amazing and totally worth the drive up!

We also took them to Craigie on Main, our favorite local place... after they saw one of our favorite things there:

 the pigs head for two (*swoon* how romantic!) they decided it might just be safer to stop by for drinks and dessert. No one was let down and no one ate this that night.

Bryan and I have been up to Crane's Beach every warm weekend so far. It is our favorite beach here. BUT It's got crazy tidal movement and the sand isn't fluffy or powdery or white and the water is a consistent -17 degrees which doesn't bode well for getting anything but the tips of your toes wet... Needless to say: WE CAN'T WAIT FOR BEACH WEEK NEXT WEEK!!!

Lily, Mia and I have been making our own summer fun as well!

Here we all are on the Boston Commons Carousel! That's the back of Mia's head. She was asleep and had no idea she was on the Boston Commons Carousel. She also didn't know she went on a swan boat ride that day... but she did!

Lily's new house has a great big mulberry tree in the back yard. Last week there was a crazy wind and rain storm in the afternoon. My helper and I donned our rain coats and quickly gathered as many as we could that had been freshly blown off of the tree. I made mulberry preserves with them. It turned out pretty tasty but it was the most time consuming jam I've ever made and probably won't become an annual event, unfortunately.

Friday our playdate fell through at the last minute, so I packed up my little ladies and we headed out to Carson Beach near Castle Island in Southie. I think Mia knew where she was this time. She loved when her toes touched the cold water! Lily built everyone she could name a 'sand-castle-birthday-cake' with surrounding "remote" (aka moat).

And finally to catch us all up for the last two weeks: This weekend I attended Martha's (remember my sweet girls Martha & Adele?! Can anyone believe they are 5 1/2 & 3 1/2 now?!) first ballet recital! She did an amazing job, and I was so so proud of her! I teared up a bit, if we're being totally honest.

Bryan and I went fishing out at the Mystic Lakes yesterday also. No bites but it was a beautiful day to stand on the edge of the water.

Today we went back up to Crane Beach for the day, and I've just finished making corn cob jam! It's fresh out of the pot and the preliminary taste tests are phenomenal, but I'll let you know how it goes when I crack open the first jar! Has anyone ever had corn cob jam? It's history seems to stem from pioneer days and then might have reemerged during the depression as the answer to the adage 'waste not want not.' It tastes like bright, sweet honey with a hint of corn. It really is very good and now my whole house smells like summer! I'll bring some down south with me when we come. Can't you kind of already taste it on a fresh, hot biscuit?!

Walden

My Mom and Frank are in town! They're doing a little tour of the Northeast Coast. We took them out to Walden Pond and Walter Gropius' house yesterday. It turned into such a nice day! We're off again today... I'll try to take more pictures!

Boston Summer

I've been finding ways to spend as much time as possible by the water lately. Maybe I'm dreaming of beach week... only a few more days!

I took the kiddos out to Castle Island and Lily learned the term peninsula!

I think Lily is over how many times a week I make her say 'cheese'

 Then over the weekend we went out to Crane's Beach. We do love it there!

We stopped by Russell Orchards on the way home to eat cider donuts & ice cream and visit the farm animals.

Yesterday we made it out to Larz Anderson Park where we walked around the lake and spied fish and frogs.

Oh, Boston Summer... you make Boston Winter so worth it.