{This is a conglomeration of what should probably be a bunch of mini blog posts!}
1. My mom asked me to go through some of my old childhood things that she'd been storing for many years. What a sweet and sentimental blast from the past to go through my old dolls and Barbie things. I decided to save many of them rather than give them away. I loved my dolls and Barbies!
Care Bears! Cabbage Patch Kids! And the three dolls in the middle were made by my paternal grandmother in California and my mom.
(In the interest of full disclosure, most of the dolls above were my sister Elizabeth's. My own beloved Cabbage Patch Kid and doll made by my grandma have been safely stored away with my own keepsakes for years.)
My Rainbow Brite doll!
2. Sleeping Sam...
3. Peter sent us a delicious Edible Arrangements basket. It was such a nice and delicious surprise!
4. Playing with cousins at the playground down the street from Elizabeth's house in Rhode Island.
Sam and Shane.
Rocco and John (and Elizabeth--got ya! Ha.)
5. My little shopping buddy and I enjoyed our annual shopping trip to Homegoods. I LOVE THIS STORE! It has the best variety of really nice and unique...homegoods.
Sam tried out a (really cute) couch and some fun kid chairs.
I tried to decide what lamps to get for the living room end tables at the Cape house.
So many good choices! It was hard to decide.
I almost chose the pretty sea-green lamps (above left corner), but ended up going with two of these lamps instead:
6. I love New England church steeples. I snapped this one from the parking lot of one of our favorite restaurants to eat at that's near my mom's house.
7. I was reunited briefly with our old Toyota Camry at my family's annual summer party! This was the first car we bought when we got married, and it was the car that we had when John was born up through his toddler years. We had this Camry from 2002 to 2010. It then went to my niece Hayley for a few years, and it currently belongs to one of my cousins. It's had some hard times and is probably on its last legs, but it's still going. Good to see you again, old girl! She was a good car for us!
8. I love the old low stone walls that run throughout Massachusetts. They were used as property dividers in the old days. It is fascinating to me that these very real pieces of history are still around today and that you can randomly come across them at a playground or in the woods. (There's even one in the picture above with the Camry.)
In a rare and special moment, the boys held hands when John was walking Sam to the bathroom.
So sweet!
See? We came across a stone wall on a walk in the woods.
9. More blasts from the past:
I went to the Natick Mall and stopped by where I used to do temporary seasonal work with my friend Nila during the holidays when we were home from college. This is now a Macy's but when I worked there it was Filene's. I folded shirts, stocked clothing racks, and tried not to die of laughter (and get fired) from joking around with Nila, who was hilarious!
This is where my Grandma lived for years. We visited her here from the time I was a kid until she moved to a retirement community in my hometown when I was in high-school. I like driving by here on my way home from the mall because of the happy memories I have of this place.
Her apartment was the top one on the left, closest to the road.
10. John at dinner at Chili's right after he got a haircut.
11. Look what I spotted in a clearance bin at Barnes & Noble.
Do you see it?
The Book of Mormon is so much more valuable than relegation to a clearance bin, but whatever it takes to reach people!
12. The library in my mom's town is so cool. It's in this historic old building that looks like a church. There's also a neat (empty) fountain on the side.
It really does look like a church, inside and out! But it was never a church; it was built to be a library (I asked the librarian about it).
13. I got myself a beautiful Fossil watch for an early birthday present.
14. Me and my little Shaniac playing around with my phone.
He thought it was cool that he could see himself on the screen.
15. I had dinner with some of my best friends from high-school at Not Your Average Joe's. We got together again a few weeks later at the very popular Mayflower Beach on the Cape, a beach that I'll write about in another post.
We were almost the last ones left by the time we paid the bill!
16. Look out!
Little boys on the loose with a power car that's being driven by a 2-year-old!
I literally had to look out--I almost got run over a few times!
I love these four boys. They're so much fun!
17. More cousin fun, this time at my mom's house.
Sam and Rocco are only six months apart in age.
Tired Shane.
Also, blond heads glowing brightly in the sun.
I love this picture.
18. Now it's my turn to showcase some of the fun I had with my own cousins.
This was at our annual summer pool party at my Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Audrey's house.
A few of us cousins...
(there are many more of us, but we were the ones who were there that day).
Aunts, uncles, cousins, kids of cousins (second cousins? or cousins once removed? I'm still not clear on this!).
19. John was really into Marvel superheroes last summer. We ordered these little Lego minifigures on amazon. They shipped directly from a seller all the way in China, which made them seem rather exotic and exciting.
20. Sam built a race car track outside on the steps.
John reading/studying/making lists from his Marvel heroes and villains book.
I love the pencil tucked behind his ear.
And those are some of my favorite photographed random moments from last summer!
