Boston, Vermont and New Hampshire and finally MAINE!

After leaving Jersey we started our trek up north. There were a few of us who have never been to VT or NH and all of us have never been to Maine, so we had to make our way up there. BUT, there are many awesome places along the way and the first one was to Boston.

If you are a history buff like I am, Boston is full of it and a must see. They have a great Iphone app. too that you can download. It takes you on a historic tour of the city during the Revolutionary War time. There are short notes on each spot you stop to see and of course lots to read about at each spot. We began our journey at Paul Revere's home and meandered down the city streets seeing cemeteries, government buildings, Fanel Hall, and then ended at Bunker Hill. All of it was WAY cool. We had done a big US history year about 3 years ago, so we did know some things. It was nice to see the real thing from our studies as well as learn some new stuff too.

Next we drove up to NH and VT and then back through NH toward ME. Although we didn't do a whole lot it either state, we did enjoy the beautiful views of both states. The rolling hills are breathtaking with all the greenery. We decided that while we were in NH we should ALL walk part of the Appalachian Trail. Kik especially wanted to get out there with his backpack, water bottle and walking stick. So we parked our car, that was making some funny noises and walked for about an hour or so. It was a gorgeous dense forest with lots of rocks to tackle and trails that were twisty and bumpy.

We spent an extra 2 days in VT getting the back of our car fixed, but I will let dad tell that story :) We are thankful to God for letting it be nothing too serious and for allowing us to continue to have a reliable car even if it has 160,000 miles on it! WE LOVE YOU SUBURBAN!!

We crossed the border into ME on a cold and rainy afternoon. We were all excited. It was our last state! Yes we had missed a few along the way on this trip, but this was the last state that no one had been to (except HI - only three of us have made it there). Even though the weather was dreary, it was another beautiful place. We stayed for a day and then parked the trailer and headed for Canada! That is another blog as if our visit to Acadia National Park - AMAZING!

Sorry this is short, but I wanted to get something written.

XO

Jersey Family

Now we’re going to skip back to before the Roberts to Maryland where we visited mom’s youngest brother and his family. We always love to visit them and play with our two adorable cousins Ani and Hudson, oh, and Shelby, their wonderful dog.

While we were there, Ani had lacrosse and Hudson had a t-ball game so we had a great time watching them. Mommy and Daddy drove up to PA to go house-shopping (that’s another blog) while Aunt Keri and Unkey Russ let us kids stay with them. Hudson had piano lessons and Aunt Keri even got us set up with lessons from Mrs. Gloria, which was much needed for our rusty fingers!

Abby, Toley and Katie

Pooh and I had so much fun with Ani, reading, playing dress-up and doing crafts. Isaac, Zach and Huddy had fun together too, hanging out in the basement and playing with cars & trucks. Mommy and Daddy came back and we left the next day for the Roberts but looking forward to seeing each other for Mother’s Day a couple weeks later.

Happy 13th birthday pooh!!!

After the Roberts, which was fun too, we headed to ReRe and PopPop’s house in New Jersey to celebrate Pooh’s 13th birthday with a stripes themed party (Pooh loves stripes). Aunt Julie, Abby and Katie got to come join the fun as well! We missed Unkey Jeff at this visit, but he was there in spirit!

Aunt Keri and daddy talking running - AGAIN!

For Mother’s Day the 16 of us met at ReRe and PopPop’s beach house, plus Aunt Keri’s parents got to come too. Bringing the grand total to 8 kids, 10 grown-ups and 2 dogs in one house (it was tons of fun :)

Mother’s Day Eve we headed to the beach, Unkey Russ and Hudson with fishing poles. It was way to cold to go swimming, but we splashed in the waves and had fun anyway.

Kik and Ani searching for shells while Hudson gets a lesson from his daddy.







ReRe and mom hanging on the beach! It was a beautiful day.

We had a great Mother’s Day with Mrs. Sellerberg’s famous cream puffs, lots of presents, a cake made by ReRe, and the five girl cousins doing a dance for the moms. Slowly everyone left till it was only ReRe, PopPop and our family left. It was so quiet, but still nice. We got to hang out with ReRe and PopPop by ourselves, which is a rare treat. But we still missed our cousins!

We then went back to their other house for a while before we headed up north for the last 2 weeks of our journey, leaving our beloved dog in the loving care of ReRe and PopPop for a couple weeks. We will miss him, but we know that PopPop will take him for lots of walks and ReRe will love him almost as much as we do! But I’ll let Z-man tell you about all our trip up north, beginning with Boston.

Unkey Jeff and Abby.

Lastly, but not least was a short visit to see the Bennett's. They are mom's oldest friends. They have the honor (well, I guess that depends on who you talk to) of watching our best kitty, Tigger. We miss him terribly, but they and their 4 boys are doing a great job taking care of him. He is a social cat and the whole neighborhood has adopted him. We are feeling a bit guilty about coming to take him away in July. We SO appreciate all the love he has been given. Tigger and the Bennett's cat Ricki have become fast, fighting friends and we hope they both aren't too sad to separate.

Ta Ta for now.............Toley