Mason says Hi

It's me, Mason!

I just wanted to say hi to all my friends, especially the ones I haven't seen in a while.

Hi Lauren. Hi Sarah. I miss you girls and I hope we can see each other at the farm again soon. I had so much fun when you were there. Staci and Aleks are taking me there this weekend to run around in the stream and all the fields, but it won't be the same without you.

Hi Andrew. Hi Jacob. Andrew, I've seen some of the fun waffles and pancakes you get for breakfast and if I was there with you I would eat those right off your plate! It looks like you're having fun playing with your train set and all your lego's. I miss watching you ride around the farm on the tractor with Aleks. I've also heard that you're a great big brother. I can't wait to meet Jacob soon.

Hi Madeline. Hi William. I'm glad your mom shows you my notes so we can stay in touch. I saw recent pictures of William at the race track - that looked like so much fun! You are getting to be such a big boy with such a great smile. And Madeline, you were doing some high kicks in the pictures we saw - it looks like you are really enjoying all your activities. Which one is your favorite?

It's that time of year when everyone heads back to school. We hope you have a great school year and have fun with your friends. Hopefully we can see each other soon so I can give you big, wet, slobbery kisses and Staci and Aleks can give you big hugs.

Lets talk soon! Enjoy some of my recent pictures. Roof roof.
Love, Mason

Rusty & Barbie's Wedding

We finally got back to Rangeley, ME!
This is the area we went camping a few times, not far from Mooselookmeguntic Lake, Bald Mountain, and many other places we enjoy. Even Aleks goes ice fishing in these here parts.

We stayed at a beautiful condo on Saddleback Mountain where the wedding was held. The views were spectacular, it was exciting to see the leaves changing color but not so exciting to think about getting home and digging out all our winter gear from the basement. It's about that time of year. Happy Fall (as of Monday).

Here's the "G" rated version of the weekend:
Friday Aleks and I spent the day driving up, stoping in Kittery for some shopping and lunch. We had dinner with friends at The Inn before heading to the rehearsal dinner party where they served home brewed beers and wine.

Saturday we were all up bright and early (4:30 AM thanks to loud neighbors in the condo below us - boo) and went golfing with the wedding party. Actually, the guys golfed and the girls drove golf carts around the course all morning. We left the guys for lunch, then met back up for the 3:30 ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. The wedding was beautiful and everyone had a great time, dancing through the night. It was great to see so many people. We especially love the personalized tooth brushes and trees they gave to all the guests as party favors.

Sunday we got up early again, had breakfast in town, then hit the road, stoping at the Small Falls for all of 5 minutes. It was great stopping at the Trainor's to meet baby Abigail for the first time! She is beautiful and both Shannon and Jeremy seem to be naturals when it comes to parenting.

We picked Mason up in the late afternoon and we're thrilled to announce that he's not limping much for us this time!! The ladies at Lynda's are fabulous and gave him just the right amount of play time with all the other dogs and enough rest to keep him healthy. He'll be sleeping through this entire week from all the excitement, and we love it!

Here's a link to our pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=111231222177939431/l=428210833/g=8006030/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Lizzie's Bridal Shower

I'm slightly behind on updating my posts from this past weekend. I was down in White Plains for Liz's bridal shower on Sunday and got to spend time with lil sis. As a bonus, Aunt Janet and Uncle Stephen were in town for their Yonkers High School reunion.

Saturday afternoon I was busy helping Lisa finish some favors for her friend Betsy's bridal shower this coming weekend. It was almost fun stuffing Chinese take-out boxes with pink confetti and hugs & kisses she put labels on earlier. Tying all the ribbon into neat bows was a bit much, but the final product was well worth it! And it was fun spending some sister time together. (check out the picture above)

Sunday was the shower for Liz and I wish I took more pictures of the girls. It was so great to see Tracy, Debbie, Lisa and all of Lizzie's friends for the afternoon. FUN!

Our 2 Year Anniversary!

What a way to spend a Tuesday!!

We went whale watching, leaving right from the Boston Harbor, and it was fantastic! The water was extremely rough (plenty of people on board got sick just getting out there.) The whale feeding ground called Stellwagen Bank is barely an hour via high-speed catamaran and provides prime whale watching this time of year.

We learned a lot about the feeding habits of whales (primarily humpbacks), and why this area is a popular spot along their migration route - but I won't bore you with those details, you can google that info on your own. The few pictures posted here are to give you some perspective of how close some whales got to the boat and how rough the water was.

One of the marine biologists on board was talking to us about how rare and unexplainable it is that humpbacks will occasionally do a full-body breach out of the water. Just as she's saying there's barely a 1-in-10 chance of people seeing this (and she's been on the water every day for the past 3 weeks without seeing one) we got an upfront close encounter of it with our own eyes!

A humpback whale flew out of the water, head first, and came crashing down on it's back. It seemed to be just feet from the boat and where Aleks and I were standing. It was amazing! We saw it again for a second time, a bit further out, and then a tail or fin crash the surface. It was spectacular!

We were so caught up in all the excitement we didn't capture much on the camera. We got enough shots of some backs arching out of the water, blow-holes as they surface, and a few tails as they dive back into deeper waters. There's nothing like seeing a full whale breach the surface in person out in the water with you!

We were glad we took the day to enjoy time together and experience something in the Boston area we wouldn't ordinarily do. Enjoy these short video clips of what little action we caught on camera....

brrr... it's finally here (no, not winter. our new fridge!)

We got our new refrigerator delivered yesterday! Thanks to Aleks who worked from home and kept Mason company while the delivery guys got to work. Take a look....

It was easy getting Mason to sit by the fridge for a picture, and surprisingly just as easy to get Aleks to model it for us...
I love the french doors to the fridge! If you look closely, you'll see we have an obscene amount of condiments that fill the entire left door, and plenty of sodas for a block party - or anyone who wants to come visit...
Good old Eggo's and frozen veggie bags fill the freezer. And if you're really looking closely and now very curious, that's a bag filled with frozen bananas on the top shelf for when I make banana bread ...mmmm....
The only thing left now is to get a water line hooked up for the automatic ice maker! FUN! (It's a race to see who gets to it first, me calling a local plumber or Aleks having a day at home to do the work himself).

Thanks for letting us share. We can't wait for you to come visit and see for yourself in person. You're always welcome ;)