Pumpkin Patch Kids

On the last week of September, it hit me that we hadn't had any two year portraits taken of Isaac yet, and then it struck me that we hardly have any pictures of Isaac and Ian together. . . Something had to be done about this!

One of my best friends is a local photographer who speciality is taking photos of babies and kids. . . Thank you lady luck!

I had really wanted to have their photos taken in a pumpkin patch. Which would have worked really well, because there is one near to my parents house that I drive by twice a week. Of course the week we had set up to have the portraits taken, the farmers tilled up that field. Blast.

Lucky for me, one of the kids who works for that farm told me about a super secret pumpkin patch on the other side of the island! After a while of driving hopelessly through the woods, and battling a few majorly bumpy dirt roads, I found it. It was an absolutely breathtaking location. I couldn't believe it wasn't part of an elaborate movie set.

There was a large patch of pumpkins of every size and color, down a hill beyond that was a pond, followed by more roiling hills of fields. There was an old barn, and a field of very curious sheep there as well. At one point, when the sun was setting over that picturesque pond, everything was suddenly flooded with this gorgeous soft, warm, buttery yellow light. It made for some fabulous photos for sure.

Ariel took some really amazing shots of the boys, I can't wait to blow some of them up and send them to the Grandmas!

Simple but Super

For my birthday this year, Michael got me a clothes line. I had been saying that I really wanted one for a while, so I was so happy to get it! I have taken advantage of it as often as the weather allows me to.

I remember looking at old photo albums of my parents, and seeing a clothesline full of clothes in the snow, frozen horizontally, from the wind. . . . I have a feeling I won't go to THAT extreme. Not this year anyway.

Beach Days in September

I am pretty sure that September is my favorite time of year here on the Vineyard. The tourists have left, for the most part, the humidity breaks, the crowds and traffic become scarce, the older kids are back at school, it seems to just be a little bit easier to breathe around here.

We have been so lucky with such glorious weather! Michael has been working the midnight shift, which means he is resting during the day now. The annual fisherman's derby came, and I think he wanted to take every opportunity he had to take a few casts, knowing he wouldn't be able to dedicate as much time to it as he would have liked to this year.

I was having a day where I felt trapped in the house all day, so when the question came up, "what do you want to do?" Go to the beach, was my answer!

I didn't go there to tan, or even go into the ocean, I'm not a big ocean fan to begin with, and in September it is far too cold for me!

The sunset was pretty that night, and we all seemed to have a nice time. Isaac spent the time bulldozing the sand, and making bird nests in it. I got to try out some different modes on my camera, and Michael tried to catch the big one.

Ahhhh, thank you September.

Call me the dragonfly whisperer

Isaac and I were going for a walk a few weeks ago with a couple of friends of ours. We were looking for more ducks to visit, so we stopped off at a very beautiful, very quite little pond. We didn't see any ducks, but we did see a Heron, we I hadn't ever seen here before. They look just ridiculous when they're flying, I can say that much. It's almost what I imagine flamingos look like when they fly.

While we were there, tossing pebbles into the pond, a bright red dragonfly landed on my hand. I waited a little while to see if he would fly away, but he didn't. So we continued on our walk down the bike path a ways, all the while this little dragonfly stayed on my hand. He was there the whole way to the farm, the whole time we were at the farm, and I eventually coaxed him to climb onto a pumpkin stem for fear he would never leave.

You'd be amazed at how many times that's happened to me before. I don't know what it is about me that dragonflies like so much. Maybe I look like a bug or something?

Pita and the Ducks

My childhood friend Kate decided to move back to the island this summer, and I for one could not be happier about it! It's nice to have a friend who has more in common with me than babies!! She has a super cute little dog named Pita, who she and her mom rescued from the street in Mexico. Isaac and she get along so well, I think it's because they're both so small and have slightly unruly hair.

On this one adventurous day, we walked into town from Kate's house and found some very friendly ducks, and baby ducks too! Great times, and of course I happened to have a container of duck food in the stroller, for just an occasion as this! It's always good to be prepared for anything I always say!

Future Rock Star

Annnnnd, he's TWO!

It blows me away that our little tiny tot is already a TWO year old! I'm not sure how it happened really. I must have taken too long of a blink.

We had two parties for Isaac this year, I thought we'd keep up the tradition. One family party, and one friends party. Both went off without a glitch! I went a little nuts with handmaking everything for his kids party, cakes, decorations and such, so I wanted to take it easy with the family party. Thank you Dairy Queen : )

He got so many wonderful presents this year, including two big wheels! One from each set of grandparents, which I think is so great! A giant cardboard playhouse, which he colored on right away, his very first pair of rollerblades, which we've already put a mile or two on.

My sister Andi ended up coming all the way here from Barrington, NH just for the kids party! She of course brought him one of his all time favorite toys. . . A stand up keyboard, with microphone! It's pretty awesome, it's hilarious to be in the other room, and hear him start to sing into it.

I was really happy to see that so many of his friends were able to make it to the party. Everyone had allot of fun, maximum fun, minimum meltdowns!

My father had made me a playhouse when I was younger, that fit perfectly into the prince/princess theme of the party! Without the roof on it, it looked just like a castle! I made Isaac a special birthday shirt, which is of course in his keepsake box now. I'm not sure, but I think this years party trumped last years!