Attack of the finger food. Julia was just too funny tonight at dinner. She likes when mom paints her finger nails. So she decided to decorate her nails with ketchup. She makes us laugh.

Family has been busy lately. We recently went camping in New Hampshire. We went to Swanzey Lake for a mini vacation. Great weather and the kids were well behaved. Kids went kayaking with mom and dad. They had a good time. Jillian and Julia had a good time swimming out to the raft. Water was so clear. Picture perfect!!!

Okay, more fishing pictures!!! I took the day off and went fishing off Niantic, CT with Jonathan, my dad, Adam, Stew, and Dennis. Good fishing day. Jonathan reeled in a striped bass. Good job little buddy!! I reeled in 2 bass (one was 3ft long) and one large blue fish. Great day on the water. Nice to be on the boat again with family and friends.

Oh Deer!!

Hey look and the neighborhood wild life!!
This deer has been coming into the backyard everyday for a few days now. She's been eating the apples off the lawn (the small green ones that are thinned from the tree). She's pretty used to the family and doesn't bolt when we go out on the deck to look at her. After a coulple days of this we thought maybe we would take a picture of our new friend. (She'll stay a friend and not dinner as long as it's the apples she eats and not my garden!)

The Cliffords and Boston

This has taken me a few days to do, okay more like a week, but here it is.

We had so much fun meeting Tonya, Conner, Zach, and Maddie in Boston and spending a day having fun in the city. Jillian, and Maddie showed they had the gift of gab, and chatted and chatted and chatted. Maddie slept over with us in our hotel room that night and I don't think her and Jillian stopped talking until they were just too tired to say anything else and sleep forcefully took over. It was great to see how much Conner and Zach have grown, Wow! Jonathan had fun getting to spend time with some older boys too. I think with all the little girl cousins he has around here he starts to feel invaded by the pink. Of course he says fellow Red Sox fans are the coolest. Some of the excitement we shared was touring the USS Constitution, and going on a Duck Tour (a tour in an amphibian motor vehicle that goes both in the water and on land)

Okay, it is official. Our company helped on the Extreme make over Home edition in Suffield, CT. We helped from 4am till 12 noon painting the garage, and one of the bedrooms upstairs. Bedroom (ceiling/walls) upstairs are purple and chocolate brown. Talk about ugly. It could be TY's special room. You never know. The episode is going to be the first one in September. 2 hour premiere. Sorry, no 15 minutes of fame for us. We did not see anyone from TV. It was quite chaotic. About 4 houses right around this one were taken over by tents and equipment. Oh, did I mention the mud? Quite a bit of it. Put 150 people and equipment in and around this house at the same time, quite the experience. My dad's neighbor put the walkway and back patio in. They ended up spending $25000, of their own money on materials. He was not happy. He was told all materials were donated, but one of the suppliers cut off donating half way through. But they will make it up in work over the next few years. Food was great. Massage tent next to the food. All you could eat Friendlys icecream.... My dad said at the time, " Is this Heaven ? " The family that was helped, have 13 kids. It was good to help them. House is valued at $2 million. Their taxes of $16000 are paid for the next 10 years. Anyone that wants to nominate us feel free.

A few more weekend pictures camping Lake Manchaug. Julia got to reel in a fish. Here is the proof. Another fisherman in the making. Kids had fun fishing and playing in the water.

We took the kids camping last weekend. We went to Lake Manchaug with my brother Adam and his family. Grandma and Grandpa spent time with us as well. We went to Southwick Zoo , hiked Purgatory Chasm, and fished. Janel and I got a kick out of the kids petting and feeding the animals. Jonathan was too cool to feed them. Sad to see him grow so fast. Kids had a great time with their cousins. Nice weekend with the family. Amazingly it did not rain that much. The highlight for the east coast this year....rain!!!