What a week! My mom came for a visit. She has never been to MA before or New England for that matter so we really tried to pack it in. The boys were in school so during the day she and I did all sorts of touristy and sight seeing stuff. Since I am fairly new to the area many of our trips were new to me as well. In the off time we sat and visited, played games with the kids, watched movies, walked the dogs, crafted and basically chilled. Mom even made here famous chocolate chip cookies - which proves it can be done here. It was SO NICE to have her here and I hope she come back every week, or month or year!

We LOVE you Mom/Grandma! Hope you had a wonderful trip.

North coast day trip to seek out a few lighthouses. COLD!

Sleepy Hollow cemetery, burial spots for Thoreau, Alcott, Emerson to name a few.

Summer is ending and it's hard to believe it is the last day of August. This past week was full and we enjoyed our last bits of summer. We took a day trip to Mattapoisett to pick up Ben (Ben was invited to stay a few days with a friend). Nic and I really enjoyed our visit. We spent a few hours on the beach and toured around the amazing town with new friends. So peaceful and a summer highlight.

While Ben was away I headed up to Nashua, New Hampshire for an afternoon with Andrew and Nic for some back to school shopping. It was a quick trip (Nashua is about 40 minutes away). Nashua has a ton of the big name shopping stores (and a Costco) with the benefit of NH tax free shopping.

We love playing tourists. Saturday we headed to the city to continue sight-seeing and walk a bit more of the Freedom trail. This trip took us to Faneuil Hall and the Old State House where the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony in 1776. We toured the Museum and brushed up on Revolutionary War facts. We even visited the "Historic" 1980 Beacon Hill Cheers Bar location and ate some grub at a Cheers replica.

More stops along the Freedom trail: Faneuil Hall and the Old State House and Cheers on Beacon hill.

We snuck in a play set just before the end of Summer. Nic is beyond happy. He loves his new clubhouse and slide. The weather has been perfect here for the last week and it's made being outdoors really enjoyable. The humidity is giving us a break.

The playhouse is huge but luckily we have the space. This would have never fit in our Sandy backyard. It makes our yard feel much more homey. The playhouse has an area for a sandbox. I plan to add sand underneath the play house one bag at the time of the next while. We'll see how that goes ...

Other highlights from last week; kindergarten orientation - Nic is beyond excited!!!, a visit from Leslie, visit from Abby and Sam, yard work—the hillside is free of weeds, bike rides, crafting, a new countertop area for my craft space, and lastly a bunch of work. Yeah for work!

Can I also just note how much I LOVE full weeks? LOVE. THEM.