Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Maine! & a (failed) attempt at a family portait

Every August, we go up to my mother in law's house for a family reunion. Last year, we couldn't really do much because Aubrey was just a month old, but this year was a lot more fun!
Warning: this post will be very picture heavy!

We started our journey at 11:30 Friday morning. We drove up with our friend, Katy, because our car is acting funny and we didn't want to take it on a 4 hour trip. We stopped at Dunk's for coffee before hopping on the highway.

The weather up there is a big difference from down in Massachusetts, so we had to pack a ton of warm clothes, which I LOVED seeing Aubrey run around in! Nothing warms my heart more than seeing her playing in her footie pajamas :)

We got there around 4 and everyone was playing the Wii. Aubrey wanted to join in on the fun!


I made spaghetti for dinner and it was a huge hit. I used 2 boxes of spaghetti and it was ALL gone within 20 minutes. I'd like to thank my mother for teaching me how to make the best spaghetti in the world ;)

The best thing about Maine is, we all just sit around and talk while playing card/board games all weekend. Serious family bonding! While we were playing a rowdy game of Spoons (a really fun card game! If you've never played, I highly suggest it!), Aubrey explored under the table and played with her Grandma






Loves of my life:



Saturday morning was a lazy one! We hung around, had cereal for breakfast, and napped





Late morning/early afternoon, we all headed outside and played a bunch of games similar to those on a popular game show, Minute To Win It. Basically, contestants need to perform stunts using household items within a 60 second timespan.


This particular game involved 5 paper grocery bags cut to different heights. The object is to move the bags from the ground to a table using only your teeth. Your knees/hands can not touch the ground. It's harder than it looks!


Aubrey had fun with the paper bags! (though, nobody told her she could only use her teeth!)


For this game, two pennies were dropped down the legs of a pair of (unused) pantyhose. To win, you have to stick your whole arms down the legs and get the pennies and then bring your arms back out of the pantyhose within one minute. You can't use any other part of your body to help shuffle your way out. I didn't try this one, but it seemed tricky!

Aubrey had a blast playing in the grass all day.


We had a horseshoe competition going on until dusk. I was paired up with Keith's stepfather. We were doing really well in the beginning. We ended up winning a couple games, but by the time the last game came around, he had a bit too much to drink so I had to carry our team and we ended up losing. Oh well, maybe next year :)

As the day went on, the weather got cooler. Aubrey's summer outfit quickly turned into a quarter sleeve shirt, jeans, and sneakers. She looked so darn cute in her Boston Celtics shirt!


She LOVES "talking" on my cell phone!


Aubrey spent a good part of the weekend playing with my mother in law's dog, Lucky. He definitely sensed that she was a lot smaller/more fragile than everyone else! While he jumped up and gave the rest of us kisses, he was very gentle towards her and even let her jump on him and pull his tail!


Sunday mornings up in Maine are usually pretty slow-paced. His mother cooks a big breakfast (though, I didn't really eat much of it this year. I'm trying to be good since there is only TWO weeks left in the weight loss competition I'm in and I'm in the lead!) and we spend the last morning together just talking and getting everything ready to leave (and, of course, Aubrey plays since she can't pack just yet ;))


After breakfast, we pack the cars up and say our goodbyes.. then we're off on another 4 hour car ride. We stopped at the first rest stop we saw to fill up on gas. This particular rest stop happened to have a Starbucks so I stopped and got a skinny cinnamon dolce latte to warm myself up since it was cold and rainy. I also pulled Aubrey's blanket out of the trunk and she took a nice, long nap. :)

Sunday night consisted of grocery shopping, dying my hair, shopping for new outfits to get our pictures taken in, a pretty late bedtime for Aubrey, followed by a game of Monopoly for me & Keith. This is our favorite game to play. We get pretty competitive (all in good fun, of course). Keith had Monday off so we planned on doing family portraits. I got up early Monday morning and got my haircut. It had been over a year since I got it done last (before my baby shower!) so needless to say, a lot was cut off because it was dead. I left the salon with my head feeling SO much lighter! It's amazing what a good hair cut/style can do for the soul ;)

Our photo appointment was for 1:20, so at 12 we got ready to leave so we could have a quick lunch beforehand. But of course that didn't happen the way we planned.. We spent half an hour trying to find the car keys that Aubrey so sneakily hid in my underwear drawer. Luckily we found them and got there with plenty of time to spare.

I wish we would have attempted family pictures when Aubrey was younger (I originally wanted to do them when she was first born, but after having to have a c-section, I was in no mood to get my photos taken!). She did NOT want to sit still! We managed to get a few good ones, but a majority of them showed a very cranky toddler.

Here are the ones we decided to get prints of. The photographer literally had to chase Aubrey around with the camera to get these shots:



Mouth full of Goldfish crackers. These will be displayed in the living room. I figure it will be a good story to tell when people come over :)







And here are a couple of outtakes, just because I think Aubrey is hilarious in them (however, I didn't think so yesterday, but looking back she looks pretty damn cute)




Hope you all are having a nice week!
<3

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