You would think that I have all the time in the world now that the five kids are in school all day but the nightly rituals have just gotten longer. Add laundry, ironing, making lunches, packing snacks and reading a million stories to the list of endless jobs that I have to do before the kids go to bed and I suddenly have lost my motivation to blog. And then I look at my beautiful babies and remember that I want to document all of their amazing accomplishments (this week it was getting out of bed every day!) and I want them to know what life was like when they were young and I find the motivation again! This week was long and hard despite the fact that it was beautiful weather wise and we still have relatively little to do after school. That will all change next week when the real schedule starts!
Lizzie has been begging Bob and I to take them on a train for a year now so we finally decided to use our one last weekend without a million things to do to take a little family trip on the Essex Steam Train and boat. As an additional bonus we decided to head to Grammy's Beach house after and stay for the night - the perfect weekend for my kids! Peter ended up opting out of our little family excursion and instead heading directly to the beach so he could kayak with Papa rather than endure the painful trek across CT on a train and boat with his four sisters. We relented because he made the argument that he had gone on the train 4 times since kindergarten - true story!
Papa took this picture of the 7 of us before he kidnapped Peter and took him to the beach house for some fun!
Our 4 girls were already dreading the number of pictures this trip might entail. Even scarier was the fact that Ellie appeared frightened by the train whistle - this could turn out to be a very long trip!
Sisters hanging out waiting for the trip to start!
Daddy and his girls! Bob wanted to share the ride with the girls but they were more excited to try to find their own seat on a less than crowded train car.
Our big girl loving the train before it even left the station.
Lizzie Bug never stopped talking the whole trip - she pointed out every tree, animal, body of water and even some trash once we got going - she certainly loved the train ride!
Molly girl was feeling a little under the weather because of some shots but she wanted to stay with us which made me very happy!
High fives out the window before we left the station!
A lady on the train told Lizzie that she was lucky her Mommy let her take a friend on the trip with her - she leaned over, put her head on Ellie's shoulder and said, "Why does everyone keep forgetting that she's my twin sister?" The lady laughed and moved on!
Daddy and Annie looking for a bald eagle!
When I asked Annie if she missed her brother (because she is the sensitive kid who said none of us should go if Peter wasn't going to come!) she stuck her thumb in her mouth and rubbed her forehead just like her big brother does!
Some hugging while we ride the train.
Annie and Molly taking a little nap on the train - notice that the kids are never in the same seats or with the same person - they never sat still on the train! They giggled and laughed the entire time and Bob and I held hands and watched - it was a perfect afternoon!
Annie and Lizzie were thrilled to get to the boat!
Mama and her three babies - Molly took this picture! My little photographer!
Annie got more freckles this summer and I can't help but snap away - I love her little face and all of her expressions! This was her - again, mom look!
Buggy never stops smiling and is always willing to ham it up for the camera - her blue eyes sparkle when she is happy and she could not have been happier than she was on the train and boat! She loved every minute!
Ellie Bean spotted the 25 cent ring pops the second we walked on the boat and got so excited that Daddy instantly indulged her! She had it the entire 1 hour boat ride - the same ring pop!
Molly Girl has such a sensitive stomach. We assured her that this boat was bigger than the one that made her sick in Newport but she still struggled to keep her tummy from rumbling! She was a trooper and took great care of her sisters on the boat!
ON the top deck waiting to see the castle!
Still loving her ring pop!
Waiting to see the castle - Annie was so excited that she was going to see a real castle!
Annie and Lizzie as we passed Gillette's Castle. Ellie lasted five minutes up on the deck - she hated the wind and just wanted to sit below deck. Annie and Lizzie - on the other hand - did not want to go back down at all - they loved the top deck and watching all the birds and boats.
Gillette's Castle - Annie asked me to take a close picture of it. She thought the stone was very beautiful.
Ellie Bean was the envy of a group of Japanese tourists who thought her hair was just amazing. When they heard we had five kids they asked to take pictures of us all. Ellie obliged them with pictures with all of them and even swung her head around so they could hear her braids click. They laughed and laughed and hugged Ellie. It was so much fun - I wish we knew what they were saying but we could tell they were being friendly and kind. They bought the girls lollipops when we were leaving.
Now Lizzie is missing her brother!
The train conductor was nice enough to give the girls train whistles when we got off - and by nice enough I mean he hated us! Those whistles were shrill and loud and may have been "lost" shortly after getting into the car!
The end to our ride - the girls loved it. After this we headed to the beach house for church with Grammy and papa, dinner and, with a little luck, time to head to the beach for low tide.
Kayak rides at dusk.
My girls dancing on the beach.
Molly is always practicing her Irish - even on the beach!
It was freezing but all the kids got in the water and had blast with Bob and Papa.
Ellie Bean was shivering because she was so cold! A hot shower made everything better!
Lizzie was loving Grammy's breakfast - fruit platters!
My girl woke up and told us that it was the best day of her life when she woke up at the beach!
Grammy followed the fruit platters with her famous eggs, toast and potatoes - my kids are so spoiled!
At 7am Annie and Ellie were already on the beach still in their jammies digging away!
Papa found Ellie a hat to wear and she looked adorable in it!
Annie Bananie loving every minute of our weekend at the beach house! We played cards, watched movies, went to the park, went to the park, went to the park and Grammy fed them lots of ice cream and treats. It was relaxing and fun but we headed back to Rocky Hill before dinner on Sunday so we could prepare everyone for their third week of school! This was the hardest week to get the kids up for - they were not quite as enthusiastic and we had a little cold going through the house!
GNM - ILY!
One of our favorite days of the year is the first day of dance classes at Griffith Academy. Molly started out the week with Figures and then did Irish Competition, Jazz, Irish Choreography, Tap and Ballet throughout the week. She loved every single minute of it and came out smiling from every class. I'm not sure if Molly was happier to see her teachers, her friends or just to be back dancing again - either way it makes me so happy to see her doing something that she loves so much!
Our bus stop finally got changed this week so it picks the kids up right in front of our house! It is so much easier than driving a few blocks to load everyone on to the bus - especially when the bus drive right by our house to get to our stop!
