Week in Review!

This has been a whirlwind week, going all day and coming home to clean and cook, then back at it, the next day. Today we stayed home and I caught up with some real cleaning and resting. We did look at trailers and picked one out, but it didn't work out. I loved the size, but realized it lacked the storage I wanted. We were all set but Bill's security for credit access, shut them out, so we said it would take too long and we would rather wait. I have decided to look for a small truck camper for weekend getaways and wait until we find the right size and type of trailer, that we want.

We had a great week for getting out, a bit hot but always cooler by the beach. We made beach stops are several places, but the tides were usually high. We did find a bit of glass and some driftwood.

We spent one day in Newport, the tower was impressive, but closed, so we couldn't go to the top. We also did a 4 mile hike around the trails at the bird sanctuary and then we stopped to get photos of the Castle lighthouse. As usual, we had bad timing, there was a wedding going on and they were about to get photos at the lighthouse, so I took a quick shot from the path.

The next day was spent with the boys at the state boat launch in Burlingame. The launch has a large cove with shallow water, so it was perfect for the boys. I was so happy to see Alex get over his fears. He did not want to go in and being in deep water was ok if I held him. But after a while, he was going up to his chest without a life jacket and going out in the boat with me. Nick was showing me how he could swim and even paddled by himself.

Thursday we wanted to go back to the pond, but they closed due to high bacteria. Found out later that it was only certain areas, but better to be safe with the boys. We took them on a picnic near a waterfall and then went to another boat launch beach, lots of shallow waters. It was so crowded we couldn't park, but I got out with Nick for a quick look and someone left, so Bill parked the truck and we were able to enjoy a few hours at the shore. The kids loved playing in the water and seeing the little crabs, running around in the shells. We even go to see two large horseshoe crabs.

I got a few shots of birds at the sanctuary and spotted a Great Egret at the boat launch. Wonderful to see such a variety this week.

Today I got caught up. I also had to empty the trailer and clean it, and now it has to be repacked. But it is good, it needed a good cleaning and a lot of things will be left out so I have more storage space. We even found a good spot at the ocean in two weeks, so a three day weekend will be nice.

This week our Robin's eggs hatched. Her fist eggs never hatched, so I was happy to see that two survived. Even though I am exhausted, it was a week filled with beauty and happy memories with the boys. I hope you all had a wonderful week and a fun filled weekend.

Weekend Camping!

It seems we have had bad luck when camping at the state park lately. The first thing was, I spiked a fever the day we left, the good thing was, my doc had just given me meds so I had something to take so I could enjoy our weekend. The other thing is the weather, hot one week and it dropped to the low 70's over the weekend, but the good thing was, we could go for walks and ride the bikes and it wasn't too hot.

We had a nice site, right near the water. The photo is from the phone so it is a bit warped, but the camp is a straight line down and behind on the right is where the table and fire pit was, so lots of space.

We enjoyed relaxing, took a swim and a short bike ride to test Bean out and that night we went to Quonochontaug pond to watch the sunset. We wanted to go to the ocean, but the beaches on this side do not face the sunset, so this was the perfect place to watch it. Bean got to play with Bill while I took photos, a nice end to the day.

On Sunday the kids came down. It really made my day and was wonderful to spend time with all of them and share new memories with the kids. Alex was happy to just sit and watch everyone have fun, he is such a happy baby.

Since the camp was mostly deserted, we had the little beach, all to ourselves. Everyone else sat and relaxed. My son was making faces at me.

Nick and Bean had a blast playing in the water.

And since no one took one of the rocks I left hidden in the rock, Nick found it and was thrilled to have something fun to take to school for show and tell on the first day. Someone actually found them, and took the whale, but left the alligator in the tree. I was worried someone might walk under it and get knocked in the head, lol. So I put it back and it was still there when Nick came to the beach.

After dinner, Nick and I went for a paddle.

Then we all went for a walk around camp, while Nick rode his bike. He loved being able to ride on the roads.

To end the night, we watched the sunset. Love this photo of Ivy kissing Alex. I had to lighten it since they were so dark. I would like to play with it more in photoshop and maybe do a framed photo for her.

On Sunday we went and got coffee, then enjoyed it at Quonochontaug beach. It was more crowded than I expected, but with low tide, we walked down to the point and had a nice spot for Bean to play. I had planned on paddling but it was windy and I had my play boat, which is too hard to paddle in wind when I am not up to par.

Since it was too cool to swim and too windy to paddle, we enjoyed biking around the campground. Bean is ok in the carriage, but not thrilled with being stuck inside. I think we need to make a more padded bottom, the bumps can be a bit rough. We rested and let Bean play in the water and he made some friends who were happy to play with him, so it was a nice end to our long weekend. Today I crashed, the meds are really kicking in, so mostly resting today. Now to get the rest of the rocks painted and get ready for our next trip. So far it looks like it is going back into the 80's, perfect weather for the ocean and perfect time after the crowds are gone.