Saying Good-bye...again

Saying good-bye...it's everyone's least favorite part of the visit and Jake and I dread it the entire time the kids are with us. This time, saying good-bye was different. It was harder because we had them with us for 10 whole days and usually it's just a day or two. They stayed with us in our apartment, and we started to get used to having them here. Being a little crowded, bumping into each other in the kitchen, having 5 people squished in one full size bed to watch tv...even buckling them all in the backseat (NOT and easy task!) of the car started to get easier and felt more natural. I realized I love the sound of little feet coming around the corner to our bedroom at 7am (or 5am, or 2:30am :) ) and a big smile on a little person's face to greet you "Good morning!". So, in one way this was the hardest good-bye thus far...but in another way it was also one of the easier goodbyes (if that is even possible to be two different things at the same time) because Emma, Abby and Nate will be joining us again next week! It's only 13 days between these two visits when it's usually an entire month. So, we are sad that they had to go but we are grateful it's only a short time to wait until we see them again.

We enjoyed a lazy morning at home building a fort and playing with toys.

The kids went Nana and Grandpa's house to say good-bye to them, Auntie Christine, Bee and Joe. They also got to visit with Aunt Jane too.


We lightened the moment of saying good-bye by making silly faces :)


Emma, Abby, and Nate, we miss you so much. We enjoyed this week with you and all the adventures we went on together. We can't wait to see you again next week! Can you believe it...your coming up again in just 10 short days?! We love you so much!!
Sending love and hugs, Daddy & Nikki :)

A Wicked Cool Day in Bawston

As I mentioned, Saturday we spent the day in Boston visiting Daddy at work and going to the New England Aquarium. This was a very exciting day for the kids. Jake drove to work early in the morning and then after getting the girls' pedicures, I drove the four of us in. This was the first time I have ever driven into Boston and I have to say that I am quite proud of myself! I didn't get lost once (thanks Jake for the very detailed directions!) or have to use the GPS (it's a good thing because I don't even know how to use it!). Emma, Abby and Nate were great helpers by being quiet and calm when I needed to pay attention to where I was going and also by helping me count traffic lights (I had to go through 12 until I had to turn, so this became a good way to keep them amused). Driving into Boston without getting lost is a big deal to me, but the kids were more excited about getting to ride the subway! All week they kept asking us if they would get to go on the subway. Nate was thrilled to be on a train. Heck with the aquarium, we could have rode the T all day and they would have been content!

After the subway we had to walk a little bit to the aquarium and on the way we saw a group of young men break dancing. Their moves were quite impressive and we stayed a while to watch them do all their tricks.
This guy actually kept bending backward until his toes touched the ground! It was incredible!
And then we watched some guys do balancing acts. Not sure if you can tell, but in this photo the man on top is juggling knives while balancing on another man's head!!! We warned the kids not to try this at home!

New England Aquarium

Since we were were heading into Boston to visit Jake at work, we decided to make a day of it and take the kids to the New England Aquarium. It's always a challenge to pick an activity that everyone will enjoy, but this time was easy. It was a HOT day, so it was nice to be inside with the air conditioning. The kids had fun looking at all the different fish and exploring new things. This is the third time in a year that the Marshall clan has visited the aquarium and I don't think they ever tire of it.

Poor Nate needed a lift to see all the fun stuff :)

I love the look of wonder and amazement on his face :)
The kids loved getting to hold some of the sea creatures. I think they would have been content to stay at this section all day!




They each picked out a visor for a souvenir. Here we have a penguin, dolphin and a frog...too cute!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...It's off to work we go!

One of the activities that we had planned on doing when the kids came was to visit Jake at work. So, after our pedicures, it was off to visit Dad at the Cambridge Side Galleria. All of the kids were eager to go to Lens Crafters to visit Daddy. They had lots of fun following Jake around the store, visiting the lab where glasses are made, helping their Dad with customers, and trying on some glasses themselves. It was very busy in the store and the kids did a great job at helping Daddy.

Here's Emma with Daddy at the cash wrap. Notice Abby and Nate in the background getting their hands on some glasses :)

Helping Dad find someone's glasses.
On several different occasions, Emma has asked Jake about how glasses are made . So, she got to visit the lab and check out the process...pretty cool!
The lab manager, Naomi, let Emma help make a pair of glasses. In the picture below Emma is using a frame tracer (a machine used to determine the shape of the lenses).

Then we had some fun trying on lots of glasses. The kids LOVED this! They were all so fun to watch.
Nathan, who normally isn't a fan of getting his picture taken, was actually posing for the camera when he had his glasses on! He is just too cute! He couldn't get enough of this.
Someone looks a lot like her mommy....
Emma, for some reason, really wants to wear glasses. She put these on and said, "I think I can see better now!" She was a little disappointed when I informed her that there was no prescription in these frames.

He kind of looks like that little boy in the movie Jerry Maguire.

Now it's time for some sunglasses....
Abby looks like she belongs in Hollywood!
At the end of our week together, we asked each of the kids which event was their favorite....and going to Dad's work was the winner!

Girl Time!

Can I tell you how much I enjoy the fact that the Marshall girls are such girly girls!!! I LOVE IT!! I have always been a real girly girl. I love hair accessories, painting my nails, playing with make up, shopping, jewelry...all that stuff. And I love that Emma and Abby love these things too and that the three of us can enjoy these things together. When we went to PA back in the winter, the girls requested that I bring nail polish to paint their fingers and toes. Well, I brought nail polish and I also brought a nail file, some foot scrub and lotion and gave the girls mini pedicures at the hotel. So, I decided since it is sandal season, to take the girls to the salon where I used to work to get real pedicures! It was so much fun! You should have seen their faces light up when they saw all the choices of nail polish...a little girls heaven :)

The girls' feet were small enough that they could share the foot bath. Little Abby's legs were too short to sit up in the big chair...they didn't reach the bath. I guess the chair designers weren't planning on a 4 year old getting a pedicure!

Emma chose a orangy, pink color to match her shirt and Abby chose pink (of course!) and they each put sparkles on top. Both of their toes looked great!!
Poor Nate, I think he thought he was getting a pedicure too :( He ran over with the girls and chose a polish for himself. I kept telling him that nail polish is for girls not boys. And he kept telling me, "No, see, this for boys," as he held the polish up to me. We went back and forth a couple times until I realized he was telling me that the color green is for boys! So, Jake and Amy, your son wanted to paint his toes but at least he chose a masculine color! Luckily I didn't have to hurt his feelings, he just stopped talking about it and put the polish back on his own...whew! Next visit Daddy will have to arrange special man to man time just for him and Nate :)

Nana to the Rescue!

Friday, Jake and I found ourselves in a pickle. Jake had to work part of the day and I also had to babysit my cousins, Mackenzie and Jamieson. Usually, this wouldn't be a problem and Emma, Abby and Nate could have come with me babysitting. However, on this day, Mackenzie and Jamieson had appointments to go to that I was unaware of. So now there are 5 children and only 3 extra seats in my car...slight problem here! What are we to do? Well, when you are in trouble who do you call....NANA!! Since Jake's mom was on vacation this week, she jumped at the opportuntiy to spend the entire day with her grandkids. She had a fun and busy day planned out for them and they were all entusiastic about it. First it was off to visit Grammy and some friends at Liberty Place.

The kids got to swim in the pool at the apartment complex.
Emma and Abby were excited to meet up with their old friend, Cory, who used to be their neighbor at Liberty Place.
They also had the chance to visit Frank (aka Poppy). Back at Nana's house, the girls painted rocks and seashells that they had collected from the beach at Martha's Vineyard.
Thanks Barbara\Mom\Nana\Wonder Woman :) for spending the day with the kids. We really appreciate you and all of your help with them everytime they come to visit. We love you!

Emma

Emma is quite the little helper...actually, she is a HUGE help! We are continually grateful for Emma's thoughtful, selfless, eager to help others personality. On each of our visits with the children, Emma is always a tremendous help to us. She knows her brother and sister very well! She knows who likes grape jelly and who likes strawberry (this is very important information!), she can figure out what Nathan is saying when the rest of us are dumbfounded (I still can never understand him saying "cereal bar"), she can tell if Abby is sad or grumpy (she kinda has the same expression for both). One place where we really appreciate Emma's help is in the car. She thinks up games to play or organizes a sing-alongs to help keep everyone entertained. On the 2 hour car ride from our house to the ferry for our trip to the Vineyard, Emma worked her magic again and got grumpy boy Nate to cheer up and sing us a song. Thanks Emma for being such a great helper to us, we really appreciate you. You are a very special little girl and we love you so much!

Martha's Vineyard Day 3

Our third, and final day, at the Vineyard was pretty simple. It was an extremely HOT day, so we decided to skip the beach. Instead, we walked around town, went out to lunch, Nana took the kids shopping, got some ice cream (again!) and then we all headed out before we had any major meltdowns!

We went into a little candy shop and saw how fudge is made.

This is a photo taken from the ferry of the beach we went to.

Goodbye Martha's Vineyard!!

Martha's Vineyard Day 2

Day two was similar to the first day. We got up, ate breakfast and headed for the beach!

Nathan helping make pancakes.

Grandpa Daly (he is standing on top of the boat above the picture of the flag) coming in on the Island Queen to spend the day with us.



Someone found a HUGE hermit crab! The kids had lots of fun checking this out!
Abby's ready to surf!
Nate enjoyed helping Daddy pull the wagon full of our stuff. Can you tell that he also likes to wear Dad's clothes?
After dinner, we went out for ice cream at Mad Martha's and then headed to a sing along.

During the summer, Oak Bluffs (that's the area of the Vineyard that we stayed in) sponsors a community sing-a-long at a huge outdoor pavillion on Wednesday nights. The kids really enjoyed singing and dancing to all the songs. Even though it was late and everyone was tired they still had fun.



Grandpa even came!!!!