Ok, so this is a quick post, but I am in the process of reviewing and editing my numerous shore photos which is taking a while… I will start posting them next week. In the meantime, I thought you all might get a kick out of this comparison. On the left, Justin at the shore in August of 2007, around 1 year old. On the right, Brian on the same porch swing at the shore in July 2010, around 10 months old. Think there’s a family resemblance between these brothers? :)

Over the fourth of July weekend, Aaron and I went to Amy and Joe’s for a cookout. Nothing out of the ordinary, some playing in the sprinkler, frisbee, grilling – just a fun summer Sunday. Click on the photo above to see the album.

At the end of June, Aaron and I drove down to CT to spend a weekend with James and Chrissy at their condo. We had a relaxed weekend of good food, games and spending time together (which of course included a lot of mocking James :) They took us to a great tapas place called Barcelona which was particularly delicious. For anyone who hasn’t heard by now, James and Chrissy are excitedly expecting a baby this fall – hence the above photo. We are of course very happy for them and can’t wait to watch this baby wrap James around its little finger.

Those of you who know me well, probably know that I truly appreciate beautiful yards and gardens, but that I don’t quite have the knack for it, or the resilience required to create and maintain such a yard. Fortunately for me, Aaron’s Mom seems to be “green” from her head to the tip of her toes. She’s like a plant whisperer and even better – she likes to garden at our house. So earlier in the summer (before the conditions were drought like and everything started to look brown and unhappy) Rita came up from the Cape for a visit plus gardening session and brought Lisa’s dog Lindy along. In her short stay we visited a couple of garden centers and Rita managed to charm one of the staff into locating and delivering some plants we wanted that were out of stock. She’s good with plants and people – it’s crazy! There may be some “Nonnie-charm” (my grandmother Nonnie can get anyone to do anything) growing here.

We spent a good portion of the visit working in the yard together, but also squeezed in some dinners out, a movie, some games and of course a lobster/steamer dinner for Rita and Aaron (I’ll stick to my chicken salad, thanks). It was a fun and productive weekend.
Now if she could only control the weather…

In June, Aaron and I joined Amy, Justin, Brian and Mom for a visit to the Strawberry Festival. It’s a local get together – a craft fair with games, music, farm equipment and of course, strawberry shortcake. We spent a few hours walking around. Justin enjoyed the tractors and trucks. In fact he and Uncle (Aaron) plowed an entire imaginary field together. Aaron rode shotgun of course. Click on the image above to see the rest of the photos from the festival.