We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary with a long weekend in Portland, Maine. We stayed at a great hotel, The Inn by the Sea and had fun exploring the area. We spent a day with Meghan, Louis and Huck – together we visited Portland Head Light and Fort William. Later they took us to The Lobster Shack at Two lights, a fish fry place with outdoor picnic tables and incredible views. Aaron and I spent the rest of the weekend exploring downtown Old Port, eating some great meals at Caiola’s, Miyake and Duck Fat and relaxing on the beach. On Sunday afternoon, we stumbled upon a kite flying event at a park across the harbor from downtown Portland and guess who just happened to have his kites in the trunk of our car? So on a beautiful sunny day Aaron flew kites while I looked on with my book, lounging on a blanket. It was a great weekend.

Last week, we revisited one of my favorite fall traditions, the Topsfield Fair. We went with Amy, Joe and their boys on a cool evening after work. It’s fun to see what Justin remembers from year to year. They of course rode the merry-go-round, the train and the cars. And this year Justin was ready for his first grown up ride – the ferris wheel. We also did our best to sample as many of the fair’s delicacies as our stomach’s could handle. Between the group of us we consumed a polish plate (featuring pierogis, potato pancakes, golabkis and kielbasa), corn dogs, cider donuts, clam chowder, a steak skewer with yucca, popcorn, chicken fingers and hot cider. We also saw a variety of animals – all sorts of chickens, geese, ducks, llamas, goats, sheep, cows, a clydesdale, alpacas and racing piglets. One of Justin and Brian’s favorite exhibits continues to be the model trains, so we spent some time checking out that display as well. By the end of the evening we were all bundled up in sweatshirts, jackets and hats – but we definitely all enjoyed ourselves.

In September Brian turned two. Amy and Joe had a small family cookout/party at their house to celebrate. Amy made one of her fantastic and creative birthday desserts – this time it was cookie monster cupcakes, complete with blue coconut fur. They were pretty impressive AND delicious. We spent the afternoon outside on the swing set, drawing on chalk rock, chasing frogs – following Brian’s lead…needless to say, it was a fun day.

A few weekends ago, Aaron and I met up with Bonney and Rowan in New York City. The weather was fantastic, and we spent a lot of the weekend walking around the city together. We visited the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned World War II aircraft carrier that is the permanent home of the Sea-Air-Space Museum. The flight deck of the carrier was filled with a variety of planes and helicopters. The carrier itself was amazing to see in person – we really enjoyed ourselves. We also visited Central Park, The Highline and of course did plenty of eating. My favorite meal of the weekend was at Kyo Chon, a Korean fried chicken restaurant – yum. We also ate Thai, Austrian (food truck) and a couple of good brunches. Oh and a thanks to Aaron who helped me label all the photos from the Intrepid – it’s amazing (and a little weird) to me that he can identify all the military planes and helicopters by name – but he did it quite easily.