Tea cups of fun!

Mommy is not brave enough for the tea cups! The girls loved it with Rob and RaRa.

THE KERR CURSE

Despite the nonstop rain which we believe is due to the Kerr curse, we are having fun in NH. Rara and PopPop spent the past 2 nights and we toured Clarks and Storyland. Both we so much fun! Emma and Julia are doing great and cracking each other up and smothering one another in kisses. Full pics when we get back. Please send sun wishes so we can explore these mountains!

O'ROURKES DINER

Our first stop on the diners, drive ins, and dives tour.

Diners drive ins and Dives

Our first stop on Robs triple D tour. The steamed burger with a hunk of irish chedar was absolutely the showcase item! Definitely worth the ride.

Vacation is here.

Happy vacation!

City girl will be on vacation ...

The packing has just begun. We are getting ready for our summer vacation to the mountains. I have a list that now spans the front and back of a paper. Packing for 4 is not an easy task. Plus living in NE is also an obstacle, we can not safely pack just warm weather clothes (although it is the end of June!) we have to also pack rain gear, beach gear, sweatshirts, jeans and who knows maybe even hats and mittens!!

We are hopeful it will be a great week of hiking, biking and Rob's year long diners, drive-ins and dives tour (which begins tomorrow in Middletown, CT at the O'Rourke's Diner http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/118/orourkes). I will be posting via cell phone any pictures or funny things I think you may want to see.

Auntie April, RaRa and PopPop are going to be joining us for Story Land!! Emma is beyond excited to go and see Princesses. I am excited to see all of these fun things that we remember from growing up too. We will also get a first glimpse of Danielle and Erol's new Marblehead beach house, it's all being renovated in an eco-friendly green-conscience way so that will be really neat to see.

So, for now ... have a great week ... hope to send some mobile updates!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Rob! I hope you know how much we love you and that you are an amazing Dad! There are so many reasons you are amazing but tonight you also added brave to my list :) Thank you for getting the squirrel out of our woodstove! This is truly why men are men and women are women ... I definitely was all about "let's call a pest control guy" but you said "no way" you got out your mop and gloves and made a tricky plan for that squirrel. Score one for Rob -- the squirrel is back out in nature. You rock!

xoxoxo Love ya xoxoxoxo

Happy Father's Day to Michael, the best stepdad anyone could have. We had a great day visiting you and Mom.

And to all of the other wonderful Dad's out there, today is for you.

Always love this quote -- Daily Thought for 6/18

Daily Thought for 6/18

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Happy Anniversary

Our first dance as Husband and Wife

Seven years ago ... I can't believe it.  It feels like we just blinked and we were taking silly "first dance" lessons.  Which is funny because when I am looking back, we began our marriage with compromises ... Rob agreed to take dance lessons for the wedding, but then 2 classes into it we both realized we didn't want to be "too fancy" for our wedding and of course bigger things were going on ... the Celtics were in the playoffs for the first time in forever and we were missing prime games to waltz and fox trot!!!  So I was flexible and we stopped our dance lessons AND agreed to buy C's playoffs tickets and boy that was one of the best decisions we've ever made!!!  Ah, the beers, the cheers, the sounds of "Welcome to the Jungle" it really was a perfect way to celebrate our new phase of life ...

Some things have changed but some things are still very much the same (we would definitely give up dancing for C's games, anytime -- handsdown!)  That is the beauty of a good relationship.  You grow ... together.  

So much has happened in seven years, but today is just for us, I love you Rob!  Happy 7th Anniversary ... today and always.

Girl Power

My Girl Power group has ended for this year ... this week we took time to reflect.  The girls expressed that they feel more connected to school, they feel more connected to their community, they feel more connected to their family.  Some of the best comments I received from the girls: "I wish girl power never ended.  It made me my happiest", "I got rid of my shyness", "I loved everything about Girl Power", "Girl Power is the best thing that ever happened in my life".  Some girls did not have as deep or positive of an experience, some felt overwhelmed by the goals they set for themselves, so we processed that and we will take that into account for next time.  We took on a big feat.  Try to help 12 girls increase their self-esteem with out making them feel different.  Try to get them connected to their family and community.  Train for a 5K road race and have them lead a project to raise money.  It was a big thing, but it was so well worth it.  Every time I see them smile or run up to me (or their group members) for a hug ... you know it is worth it.

  

This sign was done in my office from the 12 girls, their hand prints and their own personal statement are on it.  I could not be more proud of them.  We went to a celebration ceremony tonight for school and they stood up in front of over a 100 people and proudly shared their accomplishments.  Their parents came ... to me that was the biggest accomplishment!  On race day we had 9 of 12 girls participate and on that day, their parents came.  These are big strides for these girls.  The group was a place for them to come and a place for them to belong.  I will summarize.

Girl Power.

They made friends.  They laughed.  They cried.  They screamed.  They ran.  They walked.  They held hands.  They hugged.  They spoke up for themselves.  They raised money for a good cause.  They made a goal.  They worked at it.  They finished it, together.

So very proud of them!