June Happenings

 We obviously had a much more active month of June, having spent a weekend in Portsmouth.  But that's not all we did!

You're not even gonna believe this but Todd went from crazed felon to respectable lawyer, all in less than a half hour!

My peonies also bloomed nicely in June! I didn't cut them (bad Colleen!  BAD!)  Maybe I'll remember next year (even though my friend Sara reminded me!)

LOOK WHAT ELSE I DID IN JUNE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE (uhhhh... have I had a pedicure since I've been back to America? I don't think I have!)

The Bolts played the Florida Panthers (beat them in 6), the Carolina Hurricanes (beat them in 5), the New York Islanders (beat them in 7 - tough series, although the game that we won 8-0 was a LOT of fun) and then at the end of the month, we faced the Montreal Canadians for the Stanley Cup! Most games I watched virtually with my friend Brian over text and we are very superstitious so I had to wear this shirt to every game!

My other LOVELY peony also bloomed!

I still do a lot of walking because... Covid.  Every once in a while, I spot some turkeys on my walk around the neighborhood.

Once again, I went out to dinner with Michele and Sara and didn't take any pictures, except for a picture of this INCREDIBLE fig and prosciutto pizza that I got at the Local in Wayland.  This is one of the best pizzas I have ever eaten!

I think we are finally done setting up the back deck - we got an outdoor rug!

One evening, the two big kids (Todd and Brendan) decided to play some laser tag with the younger kids.  It was "adults" vs kids!

The bigger kids took this VERY seriously.

Brendan used the Whikens car as protection.  You can see Grant ducking way in the background!

The new neighbors who moved in across the street saw us playing laser tag and came over to drop off some goodies for the kids because Brendan had loaned them a leaf blower to clean off their deck for their WEDDING.  They got married that day! (Which is why you see all of the cars!)

I'm officially 107 years old.  I did this great puzzle of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a lovely city we had visited in Germany many times - only, it was missing pieces!  And note the extra piece in the bottom center that matched the actual piece above it that was used in the puzzle.  That was disappointing.

We had some beautiful weather in June and were able to sit outside and have a nice dinner.  Steak, butternut squash and a grilled onion - one of my favorite meals ever!

And the kids finally finished the second worst school year ever (only second to last year of course).  Natalie was VERY surprised to learn that she had won a 2021 8th grade drama award. She HAD gone back in late winter for drama club, which met after school one or two days a week, but had only been going to full day in person school for 9 weeks.  NINE WEEKS!

And how about THIS?  She had only been at Ashland Middle School for TWO DAYS (in person) when the 8th graders voted on the class superlatives.  And she WON most likely to end up on Broadway!  This really shouldn't surprise me, but it does!

Ignore my weeds - I was waiting til the very last minute before my mulch delivery to do the weeding.  But aren't my lilies pretty? My plant identifier app says this is a Siberian Lily.  So pretty!

Todd decided to bite the bullet and attempt to do something with this built-in planter, so he bought a few colorful plants (hydrangea mostly) and then mulched it. I should have taken a picture after he mulched!

And look at this.  We have one who is now officially a middle schooler, and one who is officially a high schooler. 

Ok guys, give me a silly one for your last day of school.

Father's Day weekend, we finally celebrated with (almost) all of Todd's (Massachusetts) family.  Lulu and Craig live in upstate New York now, Madison is still in South Korea and Anna was at her best friends bridal shower. These three guys had been out in the woods shooting each other with dart guns. (Oh!  You can see the mulched planter here!)

We did a little Facebook Portal call with Madison, who was having coffee because it was early Sunday morning in Seoul.

We were sad that we didn't get to see Anna, but she did send along some of her famous Anna Cookies!  Grant goes bonkers over these (secretly, so does Todd cause I saw him eating more than one of these!)

The point of the day was to celebrate Natalie and Bean's birthdays (14 and 85, respectively) and to celebrate Seth graduating from high school!!!  I love this pic of Nauni kissing Nat.

Time for a brother and sister selfie on the back deck.

Natalie has always been so good at sitting with adults and having real, adult conversations.

Aunt Betty, Grammi, Bean, Natalie, Uncle Gordie, Grant, GoGo and a silly KK who spotted me with my camera.  Todd grilled out some burgers and sausages, and then everyone enjoyed some cake and ice cream!

Speaking of cake and ice cream - YUM!  Uncle Steve and Aunt Jeanne sent us a fantastic cake from Dulce D Leche here in Ashland.  He ordered from them last year, and they make an incredible cake.

Celebrating these three crazy kids!

I seriously can't believe Seth has graduated from high school.  

It seems like just yesterday that Seth and I were drooling together on my couch after Natalie's baptism!

Everyone hanging on the back deck while Seth, Bean and Natalie open up some cards.

Natalie opening up a card at the Bailey backyard BBQ.

Grammi and Bean scored some t-shirts.  Grammi always calls for her Cabana Boy when she wants a cocktail, so these were perfect.

Me, after a family party at my house. Actually I kicked everyone out because the Lightning were playing ha ha.

The following day was Natalie's ACTUAL birthday, and she wanted her bestie Kaavya to come over to celebrate with her.  I'm sure her other bestie, Giya would have been here, but you know... she kind of still lives in Germany.

I ordered some pizza for the girls and they hung out on the back deck for a few hours.

Since it was also Father's Day, and we didn't want to do birthday and Father's Day celebrations back to back later in the evening, we decided to let Natalie open presents with Kaavya.  I found this Broadway puzzle at Kohl's literally a few hours earlier.

I only got the puzzle because she really was only getting ONE gift otherwise.  Which of course, Todd made her work for.

A 12 pack of Dogfish Head, Daddy, you really shouldn't have!

But within the Dogfish Head box was ANOTHER wrapped present!

And within THAT was... yep, you guessed it - ANOTHER wrapped present.

And within THAT was... a phone case.  Hmmm.  For a phone she doesn't have?

But you know Daddy will make it fun, so here you go Natalie.  The first clue in your scavenger hunt!

We followed the girls around the house as they worked out the clues.

The last clue led them to the back deck again (where I had put the gift, which was in a backpack) when they were in the dining room.

Hmmm, could the gift be in this backpack?

YAY!  An iPhone 11!  It's literally JUST what she always wanted!  The rule in this house was always that you don't get a phone until you go to high school.

Meanwhile, it was also Father's Day. And you can tell by the scavenger hunt that he put a lot of thought into, that this guy is one of the BEST Dad's out there!  You deserve that 20 pound wall ball, honey!

If you're wondering what Grant is doing, the answer is I have no idea.

Since it was Father's Day, Todd wanted to set up the 17 foot blow up screen and play a movie for the neighborhood kids (and Brendan of course).  They chose the new Disney movie "Luca."

Follow me for more cake decorating tips.

It was 11 pm on a Sunday night by the time the movie was over, but we still hadn't sang happy birthday to Natalie!

Make a wish, little girl.

She can no longer wish for a phone, because she finally got one!

At the end of the month Grant FINALLY started his OIT (oral immunotherapy) for his peanut allergy!  Daddy took him to Mass General for the initial appointment.

The first appointment required him to eat an increasing amount of a dust-like peanut substance (I think it's just crushed up peanuts) every 15 minutes until he got up to 6 mg.  

He was a little nervous before hand - isn't he so brave?

But when he found out he was just going to be eating pudding all morning (that's what they put the peanut substance in) and got to build a Lego set, he didn't mind at all!

And of course, Daddy promised to get him Panera Bread for lunch afterward.  He did really well at the initial appointment and didn't have any adverse reactions.  PHEW.

Our neighbor doesn't really ever mow his lawn and the backyard is really overgrown.  So it's the perfect spot for a deer to mosey in and lay down for a nap one day!

Lastly, I had gotten Todd a gift card to Bourbon's in Framingham for Father's Day so we could have a date night out without the kids.  They have lots of small plates and tacos - so we crushed it!  It was a nice evening, and we were able to get back for the Lightning's game 7 vs. the Islanders (which they WON!)

Can't wait to see what July brings!  Maybe a Stanley Cup, perhaps?