First Dance Team Photoshoot

Let the new season begin...

Friend Groups

I still don't know anyone who loves her birthday more than Julia. She went to Boston with her friends last week to celebrate a little early. She has two groups of friends...her longtime North Attleboro friend group and her college friend group. To have 12 amazing friends is just a testament to what an amazing person Julia is. 

Longtime North Attleboro friends (one missing)...

Endicott College friend group (three missing that had to leave early)...

College drop off

Then there were two...just two in college now. Talk about expensive years. 

Gianna moved into her new dorm for her junior year. It's literally in the heart of campus which is so convenient. It's directly across from the dining hall and the academic buildings. It's also next to the football field which is perfect for her SEVEN upcoming home football games! I think she's going to love it!

We had about 2 1/2 hours for move in and then it was off to the dance meet and greet luncheon. Gianna's rooming with two of her dance teammates this year, Maddie and Anita. Their other roommate, Ava, will move in soon. They have a suite this year with two bedrooms, one bathroom and a living room with kitchenette. I'm sure it will be really cute when it's all set up. 

We saw this beautiful little family of deer right out the back window of the dorm. I just love that campus! Do you see the little head of the second baby deer behind its sibling? So cute!!

They stared right at us and then ran back into the woods for safety...

Let's hope she has another fabulous fun year!!

Summering

I feel once my birthday comes and goes...so does the summer. The days start getting shorter and the nights start getting cooler. That's fine with me because I love the fall! But first here are some summering moments.

Mikey had to go to the vet due to an ear infection...

Koko always by Mama's side...

Lazy days with Eli...

I love how cute Eli looks when he sleeps. I took this photo to send to Nicholas who just left to go back to college. He loves Eli...

Mikey loving the porch couch...

This is right after I cleaned it. He hopped up before I could get the sheet back on...

Got to love Mikey's feminine feet...

Such a hot summer...lots of days by the pool...

I spent last weekend up in Ogunquit and had gorgeous weather. Sisters Kerry and Kim and Brother Rick helped celebrate my birthday. They made a "60 fun facts" about me. This is a tradition in my family. So much fun to read. Kerry made me a beautiful card, and they gave me those pretty fresh flowers in a tiny vase. We had yummy cake and my favorite MCC ice cream with jimmies! All so incredibly thoughtful.

Kimmy and I enjoyed a fabulous lunch at a seaside Mexican restaurant...

I always enjoy all the beautiful flowers everywhere...especially Dad's favorite Black-Eyed Susan's...

One of my favorite stores...

We walked around Ogunquit for a bit and then ventured up to Kennebunkport for some shopping too. On the way back to our car we found this fabulous trail...

I thought about Mom the whole time so she could enjoy it right along with me. She loves nature...

And Danny just lost his good buddy, Paul. Just so sudden. I feel awful for his beautiful wife and daughter. She's Gianna's age and just too young to lose her Dad. He really would do just about anything for anyone. The kind of guy who literally would give you the shirt off his back....

Nicholas turns 24

Happy Birthday to our sweet boy who just turned 24! He had a great day golfing with his buddies. We sang Happy Birthday and split some whoopie pies. Yesterday we had dinner at a hibachi restaurant to celebrate a little more. CeCe made her famous chocolate square cake. It was goooood....

I'm going to miss my numerous daily hugs when he heads back to college in a few days. Ugh. He'll be starting his senior year, and it will actually be the sixth straight year he's been off on his own. The first two were with junior hockey. It never gets easier for me...but his plan is to return next summer for good. Let's hope so! 

Ask for something specific

I miss my Mama every...single...day. It's been a minute since she's given me a sign. I think the last big one was the butterfly. Before that it was the bird with a song. This time it was horses and again with a song. Do you see the pattern? Mom comes through with music and nature : )  

Kerry had mentioned to me that she recently asked for a specific sign from Mom...and she got it! The other day while we were texting, I mentioned that I wanted to do the same thing... 

Well I thought about it for a few days. Then it dawned on me...Mom's favorite thing is horses. So of course that was it! I didn't want to say it out loud because my phone and iPad are always nearby and listening. So I thought about it in my head and whispered it to Mama on occasion. 

Julia was up in Ogunquit this past week for a few days spending some time with her boyfriend at Kimmy and Paula's house. Julia and I were texting back and forth while they were at the piano bar downtown. It's such a fun place and I knew she would love it. She said as soon as she walked in, the piano player was singing "Country Roads" by John Denver! We all know how much Mama loved John Denver! Then I was joking telling her to request Backstreet Boys "I Want it That Way" for me...and wouldn't you know it, the guy started to play it without her even requesting it! One song after another were played and each song Julia felt were all directly for her (Wicked, Brown Eyed Girl, I Feel Like a Woman). She said "this is getting weird...what's happening!" I texted back to say Nana was playing with us! She said she thought so too. Then I told her about my conversation with Kerry and asking for something specific. I even sent her the screen shot. She asked me what I asked for specifically and I told her "something to do with a horse. Like anything. So I'm waiting." Then a new piano player took over and guess what she played first..."Country Roads" by John Denver! OK...weird! 

Fast forward to two days later. I had just got out of the shower. I like to put on a YouTube video to listen to while I get ready just to help pass the time. One of my favorites is "48 hours Mystery". They have over 2000 videos on their channel. So I started to scroll down really fast through their most watched videos and randomly stopped on a thumbnail of a young woman. I didn't even read the caption...I just clicked on it...and this is what I saw...(this is a screen recording of it and I named it horses...I have no idea what the name of the episode was).

HORSES!!! I was so excited!! I was saying out loud "It's my sign!! Mama!!" I immediately called Julia to tell her about it. I knew she was in the car driving north to Sebago Lake in Maine. When I told her I got my sign, she said..."NO WAIT! I have to tell you this first"! She said about three minutes before I called, Mom (Nana) popped into her head and she thought of the horses thing. Her GPS told her to take a left turn, and there on the side of the road was a field with two horses!! Haha!! I told her what I had just experienced at the exact same time! How crazy is that?!?! 

After we hung up, I called sister Kerry to tell her about what just happened. While I was on the phone with her, I got this text message from Julia...

Yes, Mama is around! She's listening and watching us...and playing with us. She has the best sense of humor and it all came through!

So the next time you want to hear from your loved one...ASK FOR SOMETHING SPECIFIC!! 

Cape vacation for the 5th Year

We went back to the Nauset Beach Inn for the 5th summer in a row for our annual last week of July vacation...and it never disappoints. We ended up in a different room this year...room #3 instead of #4...and it was actually slightly better for a few small reasons. Like the outdoor lights not shining into our room at night and just the overall layout of the room was a little better. 

The weather this year was pretty great per usual. When you're right on the ocean, the weather is truly a surprise every day. Day one was a beautiful warm beach day, however, it was completely fogged in down by the ocean all day long. We still enjoyed the filtered sun and had a nice long relaxing day. We finished the night with a great dinner of a variety of appetizers at Mahoney's. 

Day two was very hot. By late afternoon, we finally had enough of the hot sun so we went back to the room to cool off. I took an extra long cool shower. We went to dinner at the Italian restaurant down the street...and didn't they seat us at the exact same table as last year...on their outdoor patio. Ugh. Oh my goodness we were melting through dinner it was so hot, but the food was fabulous. I only took 3 pictures total during our vacation and these are two of them...

Day three was the most perfectly beautiful beach day! The water temperature was perfect too! Oh...and we ran into Christina and the kids. I saw on FB they were down the Cape but not staying anywhere near us. They decided to explore a new beach and it turned out to be ours. I finished a great beach book too. I never get a chance to read and reading at the beach is one of my favorite things to do. We ended the day with an awesome dinner at a local Mexican place we discovered. 

Then day four, checkout day, was supposed to be a rainy day but not until the afternoon. So we packed up our car and went down the beach nice and early. We got a great spot right on the water. It was cool but when the sun came out it warmed up nicely. We could see the rain clouds building around noon time and decided to leave to get some fried clams on our way home. Our timing was perfect because as we were driving to lunch the sky opened up and it started to pour. 

One more interesting thing happened this year...I met my birthday twin! We were sitting by the fire one night and we struck up a conversation with a family. They had the sweetest little granddaughter named Autumn. I asked her when her birthday was and she said August something. I was like...oh my birthday is in August too...August 13th. That's when her grandmother said, oh my son's birthday is August 13th too! And then she said he was born on a Friday...as in Friday the 13th. I said I bet it was the same year as me because Mama told me I was born on Friday the 13th. It was! My Mama always said it was a lucky day for us. Her son, my birthday twin, was there and we were both amazed by that. He was born in a RI hospital and I was born in Norwood. Neither one of us had ever met someone with literally the exact same birthday...not just the same day but the same year too! He was a very nice guy. We both said we'd be thinking of each other this year and will be wishing each other a very happy birthday : ) 

Until next year...hopefully!