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Get outside. 

Seems easy, right? And it is for the most part. We walk to a lot of places in our neighborhood. We play at our neighborhood park just about everyday, sometimes twice a day. But it is a different kind of outside from the rural Massachusetts woods that I could romp and explore in my own backyard. I still love the dappled light reflected through a white pine tree and the soft bed of pine needles that you tromp through in a New England woods. I love being able to look around and see moss covered rocks and large granite boulders that appear out of nowhere in the dense brush. These are the sights and smells of my childhood. And although I love that I am raising city boys I also want to make sure that we spend time in the tall pine trees and scramble up granite rocks.  

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Me and my boys. I love them with every fiber of my being. I have so many ideas and dreams and hopes for the men that they will become. 

They are also both well versed in the ability to drive their mother insane. But not matter how crazy it gets and how tired I feel I truly would not change a thing. Maybe I would change the hour that Huck wakes up at (really buddy 5am, again?!) or how Oliver is sooooo slow and laborious when he sits down to a meal (you love chicken tacos...just eat it!). But overall I consider myself a lucky lady to watch these mini men grow and change and shift. 

Parenting is a tough gig and there are days that I wish I could just call in sick or hide in my bedroom with a lot of coffee and a good book. But that's the trick about becoming a parent. You see so much of yourself reflected in your children; the good and the bad bits and you have to confront those parts of yourself in them even if they are bits that you are still struggling with (ahem, my temper). But as I said before, they are mine and I get to keep them and I get to be a part of them growing up. What a treat. 

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It's been a busy start to the school year. Oliver is doing a fabulous job starting Kindergarten and seems to really be taking on the role of the oldest in the class. He is in a public Montessori program so there are 3 year olds, 4 year olds and 5-6 year olds in his class and he started at the bottom and now is on top. He takes this role very seriously. And he is very sweet about it. 

I am trying to get Huck to drop his morning nap. This is a royal pain in the ass. So I have been trying to fill our mornings with outings to the park and swim class. He has been missing his brother during the day and pretty much does baby pull ups on the door knob when I tell him it is time to go pick up his brother. Super sweet. 

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Home again, home again, jiggity jig. After a short yet seemingly long travel day yesterday (is it just me or does it take as much energy to take two short flights as it does to fly across the country?) we are home. And as wonderful as it is to sleep in our own beds and snuggle on our couch and enjoy the sounds and sights of our neighborhood, I always have a hard time leaving the cottage. It has grown and changed as I have grown and I adore that my boys all love to return to my "happy" place year after year. I took a solo stroll on the beach before we said goodbye and it was a nice respite for me. A time to listen to the repetitive hum of the waves and look for that elusive blue lake glass. The cottage may have changed over the years but the beach has not; the sand still squeaks, the stones are still smooth and the breeze smells the same. The wind off of the water carries so many memories with it and sometimes it's hard to feel it all but I know that it is now mine to build new memories with and I look forward to many more years of stories and sand castles and swimming in lake. 

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After starting our trip with rain and wind and thunder bumpers (aka storms) we finally got some sunshine and spent much of our time down on the "big" beach on the Lake Michigan side because the water was crystal clear and warm this year. Not to mention that there was a full beach this year! It's funny because we are on a lake, a large lake but a lake nonetheless but every year the beach changes size and the water changes temperature. It feels so tidal but it is unsalted as they say. 


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Playing a bit of catchup with the 52 project since we were on family holiday at our cottage in Michigan. It was a bumpy vacation full of ups and downs but overall it was nice to spend time together as a family in a quiet, unfussy environment. I want to to put together a bigger post with many more pictures and tales to go along with them but for now I will just relish in the photos of my sleeping babies.  

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