Summer Vacation 2012 - NH, Part VII

Wednesday
Today Koen and Doug left NH and headed to Nana & PopPop's to break up their long drive home to the Burgh.  They made it in great time and amazingly never even had to stop for gas!  Gotta love the minivan!  Koen had a great evening at his grandparents.  I heard they spent 2 hours picking produce from the garden.  Can't wait to see the plunder!  And it looks like they had a little fire too.

While Doug and Koen were driving, we were too, but in a different direction.  Off to the beach again!  This time just Mom and I took Tavin and Penn.  The little guys did so well and Mom and I loved spending another day at one of our favorite places together.  Here are some photos from our lovely day...

The weather was warm, the ocean temp was mild and the breeze was beautiful.  We couldn't have asked for a better day.  We spent as much time on the sand until the tide was creeping up quite close.  Then we took a walk to our favorite ice cream stop, the Beach Plum.  Here's Tavin missing his brother during the special treat (Koen loves ice cream and the Beach Plum).  When he sat in this seat he pointed to the other one and said, "Brah-bah see who" which translated means, "Brother sit here."  

We enjoyed our longer stay at the beach and got home just in time to get dinner made and Tavin to bed.  We're exhausted from the ocean air and time in the sun, but it feels so good.  Hopefully Penn gives me another great night.  He continues to do so well.  He's usually quite fussy between 7:30pm and 10pm, so I've been trying to get him to sleep more of that time as I think he's just so overtired and that causes the fussyness.  Last night he took a nap from 8:45pm until the 10pm feeding, and he slept fine in the night, not waking up once.  So tonight I got him to go to sleep at 8:30pm and will wake him up to eat at 10pm then hopefully lay him right back down.  Here's hoping he sleeps all the way through again and the longer sleep at this point in the night won't mess up his amazing sleeping at night!

Summer Vacation 2012 - NH, Part VI

Monday
Our anniversary date continued into Monday (one of the reasons I accomplished some blog posts).  Waking up to the view of the ocean and the marina was fantastic.  Penn did well in the night and we were pretty refreshed.  We stayed around the gorgeous Wentworth enjoying some exercise, pool time and taking in the ocean air until about 11:30am.  Then we headed back to Portsmouth for some lunch.  Penn did amazingly well at the restaurant again and he let us enjoy another meal date.  Such a good little bug!  Here's the view from our outdoor seats (the big boys would've loved watching the boats go by and the view of the tugboats!).

And here's the view I had while I ate my meal.  He conked out just in time for us to have hands free to scarf down our delicious seafood dishes.  Thanks, Penn!

Next we headed down route 1A along the seacoast to Rye, NH.  That's right, as in Penn Rye Melder.  We were married in Rye at St. Andrew's by the Sea and since we haven't been in NH for an anniversary before we stopped in for a few photos at the lovely seacoast chapel.

Pretty crazy to visit your wedding location and think back on all the Lord's done in these 11 years.  We've learned so much about each other, we've both grown so much as individuals and as a couple.  We've traveled, worked hard, had 3 kids and are just so blessed by it all.  I'm overwhelmed at His goodness to us.  It's great to have these moments that just make you review all that He's done through the fun, easy times and the tough, disciplined times too.  Looking forward to the years ahead and what He may have in store for us! 

Next we walked down the Little Boar's Head Scenic Walkway along Route 1A for awhile.  Doug and Penn ended up turning back and I got to walk aways longer and then met up with them at our favorite beachside ice cream stand, the Beach Plum.  After I got my feet wet in the Atlantic.  After our chilly, chocolatey snack we drove home to get back to family vacation ending our nice time away with just each other (and our sidekick, Penn).  A huge thank you to Mom and Dad for watching Koen and Tavin while we were away.  Things went quite smoothly at home thankfully and when we arrived Koen was out grocery shopping with Gramma and Tavin was still asleep in his room for naptime.  We were happy to reunite around 5pm and then Grampa had the great idea to get the Corvette out for some rides before dinner.  Seriously, never a dull moment around here!  Koen got the first ride and again, it was his first time riding alone (on his booster seat of course).  He was proud!

Then it was Tavin's turn.  This would be his first ride in the Corvette and he was really excited.  He had been asking about the "Cor-ret" for days.  He loved the ride and is still talking about it a day later.

Another wonderful day here in NH with our sweet family of 5 and my parents!

Tuesday
Today is technically Doug and Koen's last day in NH on vacation.  Tomorrow they will head out around 8am to drive back to Nana & PopPop's.  A nice reunion of Koen's cousins and aunts and uncles will await them there though, so it's nice they both have something so great to look forward to as they bid goodbye to this special time in NH.  So for the last morning here, Doug woke up quite motivated and got the boys and Grampa out the door around 9am for another bike ride in Manchester.  My one request was for Doug to get a picture of Grampa with the big boys.  I'd say he did a lovely job...

While they were gone Gramma and I kept busy during Penn's morning nap (like mother like daughter, we love some downtime to multi-task!).  After I fed Penn we gave him a bath.  He loves baths and he is so photogenic at bathtime.  I had to stop myself from taking any more pictures.

Is he not the most adorable bathing beauty you've ever seen?  Well, ok, so maybe a lot of babies are cute in the bath, but I'm definitely a big fan of this one!  Soon after bathtime the big boys got home.  They spent the rest of their time before their naps outside at the pool playing and eating lunch (and Koen got into some trouble, but forgive and forget, right?).  Now the boys are napping, I'm caught up on the blog and so I'm off to other things.  Check back in a day or so for more updates from NH.  Tavin and I will be here until Friday.

Summer Vacation 2012 - NH, Part V

Sunday
As I mentioned, Doug and I did have plans to celebrate our anniversary (11 years).  The plan was to leave in the early afternoon and head down to the seacoast to enjoy a quick stay at Wentworth by the Sea (thank you Marriott Rewards points).  And, of course, we were taking sweet Penn with us (too soon to leave the little guy).  First though, we had a lovely morning at my parent's church.  At their church the children stay up for the first service (I actually really like this as then the kids learn how to sit there respectfully as well as the fact they are hearing Scripture and the hymns and being exposed to adult forms of worship).  Koen and Tavin did an amazing job sitting quietly.  They colored and had a snack, but they just were unbelievably good.  It was such a blessing to Doug and I that we could enjoy the service and not worry about them being a disruption.  Penn also did very well and barely made a squeak.  We aren't counting on this happening again, but we enjoyed it for the moment!  Gramma and Grampa were beaming of course with their 3 grandsons sitting in their pew.  Very special to share my boys with the caring community at their church.  Douglas actually brought the sermon in the second service which was so neat to see him preaching to this congregation that I grew up in.  It's amazing how life turns out.  I would've never guessed that scenario as a young adult, but it was so special to see how the Lord has shaped our lives.  After church we headed home for lunch, do Penn's feeding and then Doug was rushing me out the door.  Douglas is quite the romantic and he does not like to give up any date time with his wife even though I was dragging my feet trying to think of every last thing to tell mom, making sure Penn had burped enough before getting in his car seat, etc.  We were on the road around 2pm and arrived at Wentworth by the Sea about an hour later.  It's very special that we are staying here as this used to be an amazing inn back in its prime a hundred years ago, but when I was a little girl visiting the park next door to it, it was in shambles.  There was a time when they thought of knocking it down and selling the land.  It was one of those places (as a little girl), that you could daydream about the women in the long, stately dresses, the parties, the decadence.  It seemed a shame that it could be bulldozed.  Thankfully, Marriott came to its rescue and restored it beautifully and it is now, once again, a bustling resort.  And thankfully too there was a discount for this very weekend for Marriott Rewards members using their points and we were able to get a ridiculously amazing villa!  Check out a few pictures...

Not too shabby!  What a fun place.  We totally feel like imposters, surrounded by the ritzy vacationers from NYC and Boston!  Penn fits in great though and is definitely turning heads.  He seemed happy to be away with just Mommy and Daddy.  Here are way too many pictures I snapped of him soon after our arrival.

After some time at the pool and another feeding for Penn, we headed out to Portsmouth for dinner.  It was a gamble trying to eat dinner during fussy time, but we had decided to give this a shot over dealing with fussy time back at the hotel.  Turns out that Penn just loves late dates with Mommy and Daddy.  He was amazing!  He sat very alert in our arms while we ordered, waited and then ate.  It was so pleasant (and adorable).  Good job, Penn!  Thanks for letting us enjoy a dinner outside overlooking the harbor.  Here are a few pictures...

Well, that was Sunday.  Today Doug and I are looking forward to more time in Portsmouth after a relaxing morning here at the hotel and then we hope to take a walk on the beach in Rye (Penn Rye's namesake) and catch an early dinner before heading back to my parents' house in time to lay the big boys' down for bedtime. 

Summer Vacation 2012 - NH, Part IV

Saturday
The activity of this day stands for a little prelude.  I grew up sailing and I loved it.  I'm a fish and I love being in and on the water.  It's definitely something I've always hoped to pass on to my kids...comfort on the water, skill in the water and familiarity with experiences like boating, swimming, water sports, etc.  So far Koen and Tavin both love to be in the water.  Perhaps it has to do with the fact I swam during my pregnancies (if that's the case, Penn will like swimming too), but probably not.  Perhaps it's that I take advantage of any time we can be in the water.  Whatever the case, I've been excited that they seem to be little fish like myself at that age.  I've been looking forward to the opportunity to get them boating and particularly sailing.  We've had some ferry rides and motorboat rides, but Koen has never sailed.  Well, Saturday was that special day.  And it was even more special for me because I haven't been on my Dad's boat since I was pregnant with Koen.  Actually, the boat itself was out of commission for several years and Dad has put some much time and effort into restoring it to its sailing strength.  So, drumroll please...  

Saturday morning we headed up to the lake after I fed Penn at 10am.  Mom stayed back at the house with Penn and Tavin while Doug, Koen and I were off on our sailing adventure with Grampa!  Koen was so excited for this big boy experience.  And I was thrilled to get on the boat and just take in the beautiful landscape, the calm of sailing and the special time with my Dad and Koen.  Here we are waiting on the dock for Dad to swing around and pick us up.

Much like the earlier picture, a nice side shot of Dad motoring the boat around.  It's an oldie, but a goodie.  So nostalgic of my childhood and the many weekends spent enjoying a sail.

Now I need to talk about my Koen and how proud I am of his sea legs!  He did great for his first sail.  No complaints of seasickness, no fear about being over the water, rocking on the water or being at the mercy of the wind.  Now, having a precocious five-year-old trapped on a 24 foot boat is definitely exhausting.  You should have heard the questions, the constant chatter and the complaints from time to time about things he wanted to do, but we wouldn't allow (he's not quite ready for going up and down the slippery deck while sailing and he was so adamant about getting up to the bow!).  But overall, he was impressive.  He seemed a little bored of it (thankfully we had little wind, so it was a very easy ride on him with little heeling over, but it also made for a slow pace).  Here are some pictures of my happy little sailor.

Koen thought he was big stuff being "first mate" for Grampa and even got a few chances at the helm.

Koen got to spot the Mt. Washington a few times which was an exciting event for a slow sail.

I think Koen looks like he has Grampa's eye shape in this picture.  Don't they look cute!  I was so impressed with Grampa's patience between Koen's thousands of questions on the few hour venture and all the moving around he did on deck.  Grampa kept his cool and just seemed to enjoy having his family on board to enjoy his hard work and one of his favorite pastimes.  

When we got back to the mooring, we went for a swim.  Koen got a second wind (he was actually quite quiet as we motored back into the harbor) and he was all excited about sailing and swimming.  He said he loved the whole adventure which was music to my ears!  Here we are enjoying the pristine and perfectly refreshing lake.

Goodbye Maranatha (the name of Dad's boat)!  Thanks for another great sail and creating another little sailor in the family!  Hope to see you next year!

Now, I was so excited to tell you about our sailing adventure that I forgot to mention the real importance of Saturday, August 18th...Mom's birthday and mine and Doug's anniversary!  Mom was so sweet to watch the two little guys for the majority of her birthday, but she said she loved spending that time with her grandsons.  She and Tavin had fun enjoying the blow-up pool in the backyard and Gramma always loves her snuggle-time with Penn.  When we got home we all had dinner together and then we got to sing to Gramma, have her open her cards and we all enjoyed a make-your-own sundae party.  Here are the boys "helping" Gramma open her cards (Koen was overtired and really obnoxious and Tavin was super sensitive and got upset that brother was taking such a strong role in the process - poor Gramma!).

Such a special day.  I haven't been with my mom on her birthday in years and I haven't been in NH on our anniversary with Doug since our actual wedding day.  More to come on our anniversary date in the next blog post.