Happy 4th!

We celebrated the 4th this year at the Pro Rodeo in town. I'm pretty sure this was our first year taking everyone at the same time. Eli goes every year, and C and I have gone, but this year it worked out that everyone could go! It was so much fun and such a way to celebrate the semi quincentennial without risking blowing off a digit (or more.) 

'Merica!

I bought a hat. I haven't totally decided how much I love it yet.

"Take a picture of me actually AT the rodeo!"

Eli and Averson won the Army challenges. Eli for pull-ups (21, then another 26 to reclaim the top seat) and Averson for a dead hang (over a minute!) 

They always open with the sky diver landing in the arena with the 65 foot flag. This year he crashed on Night 1 (we were there Night 3.) I don't know if it was that or just the overall nostalgia and patriotism (in a liberal way) but this part made me cry like a crazy woman this year. 

I just really like these three

And can we just take a moment to appreciate Eli's longstanding rodeo love? He probably watched Hard Hat Harry's "All About the Rodeo" a thousand times when he was little. I seriously cannot wait to take him next year for his 21st birthday. This kid is such the embodiment of enthusiasm and loving what you love and I'm obsessed with it. 

I'm pretty sure this was his literal first rodeo. Peep the tiny chaps!  

 

TWENTY

This little cheezer turned TWENTY! I didn't really anticipate how monumental it would feel to have my first baby exit the teens. I was five years older than he is now when he was born (despite looking like I'm 12 in that picture). That's really f-ing weird, and wonderful too. 

He's just the coolest, most amazing human. He's driven and dedicated, and has the biggest heart and most empathy. He loves his people and is a true and loyal friend. He is the epitome of enthusiasm and is so fun to experience life with. We bought him his own set of camping gear and took him out for a nice dinner for his birthday and he was so excited about all of it. Joy radiates off of him when he's happy. I love looking back at all of these pictures and seeing that same smile (and the same love for Spiderman) year after year after year. 

Seriously. How did I get so lucky? He's just the coolest human. 

 

Happy Father's Day!

We had the loveliest Fathers Day! C started the day playing basketball with his regular Sunday crew, and we all tracked his location to make sure that we had breakfast ready when he got home. He loved his gifts of a pickleball paddle and the Simpsons set of Little People, and then we threw the gear in the truck to get out on the water. I forget how much easier things are when your kids are big and competent. We found a great spot to pull off and hang out, with shade and a good swimming spot, and the girls basically had an hours long photo shoot with each other. Afterwards, we went to lunch at our favorite sports bar and ate out on the patio. C is the happiest dad when his kids are in the water with him. 

Water days from the past :) 

And today 

 

Salem photo dump

Last week my sister and I met up in Boston for a Salem Sisters Trip. We've never done this before and I think this was the first time I've ever planned a plane vacation without kids! It was so much fun and I'm already trying to figure out our next one. 100% recommend. 

We met at the airport after both of us arrived on red eyes and planned to see as much of Boston in one day as we could. We walked 10 miles and saw The Freedom Trail, Boston Commons, and the Boston Tea Party harbor. 

The very weird Martin Luther King Jr statue

So many cemetaries

Take that, England!

Kings Chapel

Make Way for Ducklings!

Then we took the weirdest Uber ever to Salem. After we got into our Airbnb we went to dinner and found the Witch Trials Memorial

The next day we saw The Custom House where Nathanial Hawthorne conceived of The Scarlet Letter

And toured The House of Seven Gables. I hadn't given much thought to Hawthorne before this trip and now I'm kind of obsessed. He was petty AF

So glad I brought my witch hat!

How many nails are in this door? Shoutout to Melanie, the weirdest tour guide ever

I loved all of the old houses and the coastal paint jobs

At the Peabody Essex Museau

Witch Board (aka Ouija) Museum. This was fascinating and the owner was SO PASSIONATE about witch boards

The original printing plate for the Parker Brothers Ouija Boards

Witch House! We had the greatest tour guide for this tour. We learned so much about the Witch Trials and all the nuances that contributed to how it happened. Fascinating and also really scary

The Ropes Mansion, aka Allison's house from Hocus Pocus

Bewitched!

Proctor's Ledge, where the victims of the Witch Trials were hanged

I've decided that from now on, I will always visit the library on vacation

The Torture Museum. Did not like it here. Couldn't get through it fast enough. My grimace is not performative

We made our own brooms!

And got tattoos

And had our auras read. How crazy is it that these two pictures were taken one right after the other? Apparently my sister's means she's empathic, community minded and spiritually connected, and mine means I'm "results driven" and ambitious. I think she literally called me a "girl boss" (insert skull emoji here)

Another thing I'm always doing now, after I learned it was a thing in Philadelphia, is buying a t-shirt from the fire station. In Salem they had an actual t-shirt vending machine! It was a cool souvenir that was a little different, especially in a tourist town. 

My sister's tattoo. It was from a gravestone she liked in Boston. Sassy little guy 

We also got witch pictures taken. Now I'm on the hunt for my own witch outfit and cape so I can dress like this whenever I want to

 

The Satanic Temple. When in Rome and all that. This was cooler than I'd expected, and not even remotely as uncomfortable as the Torture Museum

I need more neon lights in my life, I think. 

Our last day was super stormy (enough that some of the locals were saying things like "I think this is going to turn into a hurricane") We narrowly avoided death by flying furniture on more than one occasion and made friends in the shop we ducked into for safety. These are the smiles of girls who survived.