Jeff and Shannon came into DC for a date night! We had so much fun. I have been wanting to go to Sonoma (just around the corner from our house) since the first week we moved in. Shannon is moving back to Maine for the summer and Jeff is going to be busy with work so we wanted to get together with them while there was still time. It was a beautiful evening so we sat outside (and people watched) to eat our food.

Oh the food. It was wonderful. Jeff picked out a great bottle of reisling to go with our charcuterie board. For meat we had speck, duck salami, and amish chicken pate. Then we chose our chesses: pipe dream chevre, noble cheddar, and ewe's blue. Half way through eating the board, Mark turned to me and announced, "This blue cheese is good!" *HOORAY! SMALL SILENT VICTORY* He likes fancy cheese!!! With all that fancy cheese, the charcuterie board came with breads, and wine jams, and all the fixings you could imagine paired with cheese tasting. All in all it was a fantastic evening.

Here are some pictures of our food:

As you can see, they had a lot of fun! I have never seen these guys dance so hard. Michael and Ben did the worm, Matt and Dan were going crazy. And Josiah and Don never seemed to leave the dance floor. Every cheese 80s dance move was incorporated from the sprinkler to the shopping cart... As you can imagine, it was hillarious. As Mark and I drove back to CT after the wedding, we couldn't stop laughing about all the fun we had. This is an incredible group of guys. We are so blessed to have been able to attend this wedding, and also to have all of these guys in our life.

Mark and I drove westbound over the Bay Bridge at just the right moment during a sunset recently. I eagerly took shots trying to capture the beautiful light. Of the 20 some I took, here are my favorites:

Kisses for Abigail

Nathanael is such a good big brother!

All of us!

The boys

Emily and Abigail

Sleeping on her big sister!

On any road trip to Boston, we call Cory to see how the Ward family is doing and if we can swing by. With the excitement of the new baby, we couldn't wait to visit. What Cory forgot to tell us was that we were coming over on Mel's FIRST day home from the hospital! She is such a trooper. In these pictures, Abigail is only 8 days old.

It was a great time hanging out with the kids and passing baby Abigail around to everyone. That is, until the incident... Mark was pushing the 3 older kids on the swings while Mel, Cory, Abigail and I chatted inside. Then we heard the scream. Emily tried to jump off, got tangled, and broke both bones in her left wrist! Yikes! So it was back to the hospital for the Ward family. The good news: Abigail slept through the whole thing and Emily didn't want to play anymore T-ball this season anyway...

Our weekend consisted of relaxing and lots of visits to old friends. One of the main reasons for our visit was to plant the garden in Essex. Here are some photos of our hard work. As you can see, Nora helped plant too! The garden now includes: cucumbers, green bell peppers, sweet basil, lettuce, green beans, pumpkin, peas, zucchini, watermelon, tomatoes, and sunflowers. Nora and Honey planted a few potted flowers and a mix of flowers in the center section of the garden. It will be great to go back later this summer and see how much everything has grown. Last year we didn't plant until mid July, so the odds are good that we will have success this year starting more than a month earlier.


During our (way too short) visit, we were also able to see the Backiels, the Wards, and the Wisdoms. We love being able to see so many friends in one place, but it always reminds us of how many people we miss. We already cannot wait for our next road trip!

Here is a funny picture of Stacey and Gus. He is the biggest lap dog I have ever met. No matter where Stacey is sitting, Gus just climbs right up to snuggle. It is hilarious to observe, especially as he is climbing on the rocking recliner!