Summer in Boston

I know I've said it before, but Boston summers make up for Boston winters... when they finally arrive. It has been warm here for about two solid weeks!

This past weekend for the 4th of July, Bryan and I took advantage of the lovely weather and went camping up in Vermont. We went to Calvin Coolidge State Park and got a lean-to site. THIS WAS THE VIEW FROM OUR SITE! It was gorgeous!

We set up our tent inside the cabin. If it hadn't been so cold and windy the first night (because we got a hurricane in the Northeast the day before?!), we could have easily just thrown our air mattress right in the lean-to by itself.

We walked a little trail down to the stream, cooked over the open fire, and rented a boat to fish on Echo Lake all day Saturday before heading down to Mass MoCA (Mass. Museum of Contemporary Art) in western Mass on our way home on Sunday.

The little stream in the valley below our campsite.

We forgot matches... WHAT WERE WE THINKING WHEN WE PACKED?! Luckily Bryan brought his handy dandy fire starter and we didn't end up needing one match the whole weekend!

There's our match-less fire! And my wonderful wonderful Brimfield Dutch Oven!

chopping wood with his hatchet. You can do so many manly things when you spend time outdoors, I'm told.

We also forgot to pack cups... Seriously what are we? Amateurs? Luckily we had three water bottles so one, once emptied, was sawed in half and used for wine! We will always find a way to work out the important (wine) details...

Since I only get s'mores like once a year, I went all out! We made key lime s'mores (tasted like key lime pie!!), reeses s'mores, and kit-kat s'mores. These were not all the same night, but so what if they were?! 

He was lovely!

So, yes, I think I've finally rounded a corner for camping. I come from a family of city dwellers, you know. I just REALLY like being able to use the bathroom and take a shower WHENEVER I WANT. And I don't like fearing that mosquitos will bite my face while I sleep.

There are basically no bugs here (especially when compared to MS camping) and I'm getting used to the public shower thing...



Let's catch up quickly on the past four + months as well! I LOVE my new job! I miss my kiddos all the time, but still see them when I can! I hope I am friends with those girls for a long long time to come!
My job keeps me very busy during the day. I'm not constantly at a computer, but I'm in front of one enough to not really want to jump right on one when I get home (hence the lack of blogging).

Since I started my new job I have also joined a gym near my offices. I have gotten into a great routine of going every morning that I work before I go to work. I also got a personal trainer who I very much enjoy working with and have learned a lot from. I have lost 12 pounds and three pant sizes in the process so far and am really thrilled with the direction in which I'm moving!

Bryan and I have also been training to run our first half marathon this coming Sunday! WHAT?! I really hate to run. I've gotten so much stronger and know I can do this race, but running never clicked into the "this is easy and I love it" category. It's hard work and it's hard on my body every time. I'm pretty excited for this race, though, and hope to run the whole thing in less than 2.5 hours. Bryan is hoping for less than 2 hours. As I was thinking about my goal, I realized that the winner of the Boston Marathon this year ran THE WHOLE MARATHON in less than 2.5 hours--- which means he was running more than twice as fast as I can run. CRAZY!

Bryan and I went to Paris for our vacation this year! That is a whole blog post in itself... I'll post about that very soon.

For now, I'd like to end with a Birthday shout out to my sweet sister, Aimee! Happy 23rd, kiddo! I love you!

xo
Ashley