The Confines of July

I'm only going to wallow for a moment. July has been a tough month. There have been a handful of things that have left us with gut-wrenching sadness or depressing anxiety. Some of those things include having lost two family members and one dear friend within days of each other. All this, combined with some rather disheartening personal news, I'm more than ready for August to be underway.

On the bright side, there's a tiny, 30 pound light in my life keeps me smiling. There's no slowing down (or time for grumpiness) when Sadie's in the room. Today I was in serious need of good, old fashioned Mama-Daughter time. I picked her up from daycare with the surprise of going on her first cinematic adventure. She chattered the whole way about going to the "movie store". Winnie the Pooh it was! Not a nail biter by any means, but good enough for a 2 year old. She stayed pretty engaged, standing up most of the time and occasionally asking if she could go touch the lights on the stairs (no, gross). We went to a few stores afterward, and she told everyone in eyesight about Pooh. (Then I told her we needed to go pay for something so she told everyone in eyesight that we had money. Nice.) It was just what I needed to lift my spirits.

I don't have any photos to capture the movie moment, but I'll share a few from when we went to the boardwalk in Sandwich a few weeks ago. It was low tide and the salt marshes made these crystal clear, shallow pools that were perfect in size. Thank goodness a diaper is always in fashion.

The Year of Maggie

Maggie, Maggs, Magg Pie, Magoo, Moose, Moosey...the little puggle with a 1,000 names and answers to them all. She's a great dog and it's been a great year. Whether she's licking faces, chasing cats or hogging pillows - we simply can't imagine life without her.

A Belated Happy 4th!

It was a busy week, what can I say? After a living a week at the beach, everything else just seemed blah - but we ended up having fun at our town beach with the Roy family. Sadie slurped up her fast-melting SpongeBob pop while Lilah admired it.

See Ya Beach House

We finished up our week long stay on Plum Island today. I thought Sadie was going to take it hard, since she referred to everything as "Sadie's beach house" and "Sadie's blue beach" (not sure what that really means...I think because in her Blue's Clues book, Blue is at the beach). She went into the week terrified of the ocean, not wanting to get within 20 feet of it. Now she can't get enough.

A few highlights:

We spent many nights walking around Newburyport. Lots of shops, restaurants, a beautiful harbor to admire with lovely boats and a playground right in the center to release some of that toddler energy after dinner.

A trip to Kennebunkport for the day, where Alex's father grew up. We toured the town, let Sadie play on the lawn of her great, great grandmother's house (which has since been turned into a Ben & Jerry's) and swung by to see the Bush Family on Walker Point.

And the development of Sadie's new vice - dry Rice Krispies. She just loves 'em. Shoving handfuls in at a time, making a horrible mess. I keep finding strays everywhere - it's worse than beach sand, I swear.

We had such an amazing time. It was relaxing, to say the least. I really feel like I got to know Sadie this week too. No work to bog me down. No chores to be done. No life getting in the way. I wouldn't trade it for the world. She made me laugh. A lot. I'm going to miss her even more when life goes back to normal on Tuesday.

Should anyone be interested in this little slice of heaven - let me know and I'll hook you up with the Realtor! It was a steal at $390 for the week in June and $500 for July/August. It was the cutest, cleanest place - it's a studio but has a spacious kitchen/living area, a full size bed in the loft area (Sadie slept in a pack n' play, but there's a twin/day bed downstairs too), a deck that overlooks the basin, and you can see peeks of ocean from the kitchen and loft windows. It's literally 20 steps from the beach. Can't beat it. Perfect for a family of 3.