Okay, are you ready for some pictures?  I’m going to wrap up 3 days of our trip into one post.  I uploaded something like 24 photos to flickr, but I can’t put 24 photos in one post.  Click here to see all of them.

On Labor Day we had a family picnic at Lake Pawtuckaway.  We had a lot of fun.  My niece and nephew performed the cutest magic show ever,

(I love that a pencil was her magic wand!)

and the kids played in the sand and water.

It was fun to be with cousins and so fun to see how much they love and enjoy each other even though we haven’t been together in years.

Afterward our little clan hiked up the “mountain.”  I guess mountain is a relative term.  We live in Colorado.  We know mountains.

I think what New Hampshire has are primarily hills.  Very pretty tree covered rolling hills, but not quite mountains.

On Tuesday we visited Joseph Smith’s birthplace in Sharon VT.  It was a beautiful day.

We got our own private tour of the grounds by a sweet missionary couple who seemed so happy to have a bunch of little kids around.

They took us too see all the old stone foundations through the woods in a golf cart.  We JUST barely fit.

The next day was beach day.  My favorite kind of photos are beach photos.  I just love the shore.  I love the rhythm of the waves as they pulse against the sand.  I love the fresh, salty air.  I love the magic of watching my children discover what the tide left behind.  We got really, really lucky that day.

Can you see the eel in there?

I mostly just held Hunter and played with Ian and Grandma while Barry led the big kids through the tide pools.  They found lots of sea urchins, some starfish, an eel, hermit crabs, green crabs…  If you’re going to go tide pool searching once every few years you want to have a day like this!

Ian built a “snail catcher” with his shovel.  Grandma helped him catch a snail or two by putting them in there for him.

That wraps it up for days 2, 3, and 4 of our vacation.  Are you tired yet?  The next day we took five kids through Boston.  Now, THAT will make you tired!