Hello!

I'm back from my blog break! With only 2 weeks of summer break (I teach summer school) before the new school year starts, I am pretty busy. We try to pack in a lot of fun as well as try to get organized for the new school year.

So far we have been to Massachusetts to visit our good friend Pete, spending a lot of time on the ocean fishing and having a great time. Pete lives in Rockport and has a sweet Boston Whaler that we spend the day on while fishing the ocean. Such a great time! The boys fish, and I mainly read. My boat reading was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After a few days in Rockport, we spent a day in Salem. Salem was super interesting. I also got a cool book from the shop at the Witches Dungeon Museum called "The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege" by Marilynne K. Roach which is quite bulky.  Then we then moved on to spend the night in East Greenwich, RI so Barrett could fish his favorite surf fishing spot... while I soaked in the sun on the beach and hooped in the ocean!

Driving - Boston from the harbor (docked at the New England Aquarium) - Sunset over Gloucester - Dinghy's - Pete's Boston Whaler - hooping in the yard - Granite Pier - yummy dinner - Bear Skin Neck history - Deathly Hallows at sea - Pete & Bear fishing

Following the red line (of historical landmarks) in Salem - Samantha statue - in the Witches Dungeon Museum - Deathly Hallows at the beach  in Rhode Island - Hooping in the ocean 

We came home and spent a few relaxing days at home before heading off to Syracuse to visit the NYS Fair and camp at Green Lakes State Park. We did this last year as well, and loved this campground. We enjoyed camping and being unplugged (well, except for my incessant instagram uploading!). All of us enjoy camping and all it has to offer. Yesterday afternoon we hopped on over to the fairgrounds for a day of fun and food and games and music and animals and rides!! We ate tons of junk, Madeline rode a few rides, we all played a few games, pet some animals, and watched a free Victoria Justice concert at the end of the night. It was a great time.

Thrift store books on the way - our site - Green Lakes - making hoops - my new hoop - Maddie taping her hoop - hand hooping with an Apple Ginger hard cider - hooping with Maddie

Swings at the fair - Ferris Wheel - clown garbage can - pink and purple silkies in the poultry barn - Maddie playing a game - going down the Giant Slide - replica vintage fair poster

Today we tore down the site, packed the Jeep and headed home. After unloading the car and starting in on camp laundry, we are just vegging out. Bear is napping and Bean is watching a fairy tale movie on Netflix.. while I get a little blog time in!

I will be back later on this weekend with a review and some thoughts on finishing Harry Potter (again)... let it be known that I am having some serious Harry Potter hangover. Nothing I am picking up right now is interesting me. Ut-oh! Gotta get out of Potter-zone!!

write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow