Summer Vacation

Clearly I am not good at coming up with catchy titles. This post is about our vacation to Ocean City, New Jersey and since my sister-in-law already claimed "Jersey Shore" as a title, I am left with only boring title options. Don't worry, for the most part our trip did not resemble the popular MTV reality show and mostly consisted of hanging out at the beach. This summer I have come to the realization that I'm actually not much of a beach person, as in going to the beach and hanging out isn't my idea of the best time ever. I say this not to rag on the trip in any way, because we all had a really fun time, thanks in large part to the planning of Loren's brother, Boyd, and his wife Emily. All of Loren's family was there except one brother (we missed you Seth!) I think Sophie had a good time hanging out with her cousins and she got plenty of attention from cousins, aunts and uncles alike. She is, however, soon to be replaced as the youngest grandchild on Loren's side of the family so I guess she should enjoy it while she can. Besides going to the beach, playing in the sand and swimming, we went on an ill-fated crabbing expedition, played games and strolled on the boardwalk. Here are the pictures!

Bekah made an amazing Humpty Dumpty pinata from scratch!

The cousins! My favorite features of this picture are Lincoln kissing Eli on the far left and sweet JJ holding Sophie on the right

Everyone got a swing at the pinata, even Sophie. I think she was a little too excited about the bat

The booty

It took Sophie a long time the first day to warm up to the water and the sand. She doesn't like to get stuff on her and as everyone knows, sand is the worst

The two youngest girls

Can you see why Loren is a popular uncle?

That's my girl, nice and ladylike

Independence Day

The Fourth of July was over a month ago, so I really shouldn't care about posting this, but I am determined to record important events chronologically on my blog, even when I'm very slow about updating it. It was really cool to be able to celebrate Independence Day in Boston, the city where the idea that became America began. We went to the celebration along the Charles River and stayed on the Cambridge side. The official party is on the Boston side, but they broadcast the musical program so it doesn't really matter. Sophie managed to stay up and not be too grumpy until the fireworks finally started. The show was really good and I was definitely happy we went. That happiness evaporated a little bit when it took us an hour to drive the two miles back to our apartment. Sometimes... it would be good to have bikes for the whole family.

Sophie's Fourth of July dress

Beautiful shots of the Boston skyline:

The tall building is the Prudential Center, known to us locals as the Pru

My happy, oh so photogenic family

I was proud of myself for using the fireworks setting on my camera

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I took Sophie to the zoo for the first time at the end of June. We went with our friends from playgroup to the Franklin Park Zoo, in the suburbs of Boston. I think it's a comparatively small zoo, but it still had all the main attractions: lion, tiger, giraffe, zebra, etc., but no chimpanzees :( Here are some cute pictures, thanks to my friend Brittany.

Sophie was the first kid in the pen to pet the goat. No fear!

The lion was sleepy

I love this one!

And I'll leave you with a little Sophie...