Home

Home is such a strange word these days.
The entire month leading up to going to Jackson, I kept thinking over and over how happy and excited I was to go 'home.' And by the end of the week Bryan and I had each stated how nice it would be to get 'home' after such a long time away (your own bed is always something to be longed for). I think we've made sense of it now, though, and it's this: Home is Where You Are. Not YOU you, but for me it is Bryan. Home is where he is. For him, I am home. You get the idea.
Anyway, it was so nice to see everyone, family and friends alike, and now we are back in Boston. We absolutely know we are loved by many people and can only try to extend such abundant hospitality, openness, warmth, and kindness back to you all! You are welcome in our Home absolutely any time!

We arrived home to find our garden flourishing!
We harvested our garlic last night (at 12:45am-- all of our flights were late) like mole people digging through the earth under the cover of darkness... And today I made some garlic infused olive oil (which is very uncharacteristic for mole people, I hear)! I can't wait to try it later this week!

The Story of Tar Balls & Beach Tales

I can't believe this is what a 'tar ball' is. They are everywhere down here. It hasn't been at all unpleasant to be in the water or on the beach but these little gooey balls really are washing up constantly. This is not the only new staple down here on the Gulf of Mexico:

We have all kinds of beach combing machines.

Blimps and helicopters spotting from the air.

Barges, boats and skimmers all moving slowly back and forth out in the water.

And then those black speckles in the surf... the tar balls.

We also don't usually have to keep anything that 'powers away grease' near the dock shower, but the BP workers left some for us!

Despite the catastrophic oil spill that will take a long, long time to clean, we have had a wonderful time at the beach. This is year 25 for Bryan's family down here and it has been a lot of fun! I'm so glad we were able to make it!

(Bryan, me, Bryan's sis Cary, and her husband David... A,B,C & D)

(mamaw & papaw)

Some of us even took our fun to the next level! It's his vacation too, and if water down the pants makes him happy then so be it!

Tomorrow we head to Jackson! Hope to see you there!

I'm So Excited!

Sorry I've been MIA lately. Summer has steam rolled me so far!
Bryan and I did make it to Newport last weekend for a beach day! We spent the weekend at the house and it was such a nice time!

On Sunday right after BTS (Brunch Team Spectacular) my mom and sister arrived here in Boston!! I was so glad to see them! I haven't seen either one since Christmas time.

We went to Brimfield Flea Market on Tuesday and found some goodies! We were there for 6 hours and only saw a third of it. We also took the kiddos to the Aquarium (sorry Laura-- we still want to go on the weekend with friends!) on Thursday while it was rainy. 

Tomorrow morning bright and super early, I'm headed to Jackson!!! I'm so excited to go home! We will be on the gulf coast for half the week and in Jackson for the other half. I'll be sure to report back on the oil situation.
Have a wonderful evening!
See you soon from the Sunny Gulf Coast!!

We're Official

We are officially Massachusetts drivers! Our insurance guy recommended we get Mass licenses within a year of living here and we finally did it.

my first decent license picture ever!!

I asked Bryan if he would regret having the stache in his picture a year or two from now and he said, "are you implying that I won't have the mustache then?" I guess it's around for longer than "we" expected! I'm getting used to it. haha

Green Beans

Our first fruits! We are so proud!

Our peas didn't make it and our broccoli is on life support due to an unfortunate incident, but oh, those beans- growing, producing...and they were super tasty!

Saturday In The Park

I think it was the 4th of July. (Well, Sunday. But you get the idea.)
We went to the Boston Commons on Saturday to see a reenactment of the battle between the Red Coats and the Colonists. It was part of the Boston Harbor festival and it was actually a pretty legit looking fight... well the actors looked legit. A huge crowd gathered to watch and every time a British soldier would fall everyone cheered and the British officers would yell at the crowd, "Silence, Rebels!"

We also made our way out to the Esplanade to watch fireworks with half a million other people on Sunday night. We packed a picnic and Elizabeth met us out there for dinner and the show.

my favorite ones were the gold dust ones!

The Summer of Martha

Martha is officially home for the summer from school! We've had lots of fun so far, and I'm sure (if we can stand to go outside for the heat) that we'll find lots of other awesome things to get into!

We went to the Franklin Park Zoo:

We also played with some friends on Friday at Fort Independence: