Happy Halloween!

Pirate Caden - Argh!

Lily and Addie getting ready! I will be showing them this when they are getting ready for their prom some day!

Grampy Mark scaring the kids again with his unattractive body!

Jason and the kids carved our pumpkin this year.

Trick-Or-Treat!!

Well our annual Halloween party was like no other this year. It was scheduled for Oct. 29th and for the first time ever, a snowstorm hit us that day! We got about 6 or 7 inches of heavy wet snow. More people lost power in this storm than Hurricane Irene and that included us. It was 3pm the day of our party. I had just put beer bread in the oven to bake and out went the lights! Luckily, my cousin, Kim, lives around the corner and she had power so I ran over to her house with food in hand and finished my cooking there. Thanks, Kim & Jim!

Needless to say, the party went from over 50 people to 13 of us huddled around the fireplace to keep warm. The Kimball clan slept over and we used every blanket in the house to keep us from freezing. Most of us chose not to wear our costumes, but Grampy Mark won the prize for the best costume once again. He left us all wondering, where did he come from?? :-)

Hopefully we will have better luck next year! It was still fun and we can enter this Halloween into the history books. Luckily the snow did not damper our trick-or-treating time with cousins, Lily and Ava. The kids had fun and that is all that matters.

Bronx Zoo

I can't remember the last time that I went to the Bronx Zoo. We decided to venture there one warm Saturday in October and it was great! The kids enjoyed the animals. Mommy and Daddy got some exercise and in the end, we were all exhausted. If you have not had a chance to make it there recently, you really should. We were there for almost 5 hours and still didn't see the whole zoo. There were so many great things to see, but my favorite was the butterfly exhibit, where you entered this building with soft music playing and birds and butterflies were flying all around us. It was the most peaceful place I have been in a long time! There were several cool animals built of Legos on display. The bears entertained us and as we entered the zoo the sea lions were extremely playful. We hope to go back again soon!

Hurricane Irene

So I am a little late in posting the events of the past two months! Let's start with Hurricane Irene. We were fortunate to have never lost power, but we did lose some trees in our yard, which has been a bummer for our privacy! Our neighbors can now see clear through to the back of our house. Sadly my favorite tree in our front yard suffered some damage, too. Above you can see Jay and the kids inspecting its boo boos.

The day of the storm, we prepared with candles, flashlights, water, etc. Jay spent the worst part of the storm at the firehouse going to over 50 calls in 24 hours. I was at home with the kids by myself and quite nervous about it actually. That evening I looked out our kitchen window to see a frog stuck to the glass. He looked as scared as I did as the wind picked up that evening. The kids had a slumber party in my room, which was interesting to say the least :-) We are grateful that our house did not suffer damage and no one was hurt as our trees came down. The school year got off to a hectic start with all the damage in the area, but we survived!

Maine - The Way Life Should Be

The view from the back porch of our house...talk about serenity!

Addie enjoying her first whoopie pie - yummy!

Every afternoon we ventured down to the beach and searched for sea glass. Here Jay is displaying his finds for the day :-)

Caden sporting Jay's new sunglasses

One of the few lighthouses we saw on our "Island Princess" tour boat ride

Caden and Addie enjoying their very first boat ride. They loved it! We saw seals, porpoises, and lots of lighthouses. The boat also pulled up a lobster trap for the kids to see.

Gammy and Addie enjoying the boat ride.

Caden enjoying the scenic harbor views.

We had to honor Frannie with a good old lobster dinner. We bought 10 lobsters for $60...where in CT can you do that? And we almost ate all of them!

Impossible to get a family shot with everyone smiling....this is the best we could do :-)

Caden and Gampy enjoying the dock at our house.

Our beautiful little girl :-)

Caden getting ready to go to the beach...and the very chilly water!

We will call this the Grannie Frannie Church...read below to find out why.

We didn't think we were going to be able to swing a vacation this summer, but thanks to one of Jay's friends, we were able to rent his house in Boothbay Harbor, Maine for a few days earlier this month. We had Frannie in mind the whole week long, as Pam, Kara and Mark also accompanied us on the trip. Unfortunately, Becky could not make it because she was finishing up school. But we are proud to announce that she has graduated from Hunter College after all her hard work. Congrats, Becky!

We pulled into Boothbay Harbor on a Monday morning just before lunch time. We decided to visit a local lobster joint to have lobster rolls in honor of Frannie. As we stepped out of the car, the local church bells began to chime. It was a random time for them to ring (around 12:20pm), but what made all of us break into tears was that the songs it chimed were, "I Love to Tell the Story" and "How Great Thou Art." Both of these hymns were played at Frannie's funeral and songs that she adored and would sing to us every now and then. Though it was a sad moment, it made us all stop and think of the joy Frannie brought into our lives, and I like to think it was God's little way of telling us that she is having a grand old time up in heaven with Him. We passed by that church (which is one of the most photographed places in Maine) each day and were reminded of the love Frannie had for us and that we had for her.

Our trip was fantastic, but too short. Caden said as we were leaving, "Mommy, I want to stay here forever." So maybe some day we will have a home in Maine, but for now I think we have found our new vacation spot for many years to come. As the state's motto says, Maine is definitely "the way life should be."

Photo Opportunities

Addie decked out in Grannie Frannie's hat and sunglasses. Addie just loves her new dress up items, and we are sure Frannie is looking down and smiling at her from heaven.

Addie in another Frannie hat. Frannie loved to go to flea markets and collect jewelry. Addie is happy to display all of her necklaces :-)

Even Caden has managed to find something in Frannie's closet to fit his taste. It has been fun having a little of Frannie still here to remind us of how fun she was to have around.

Smelling the flowers at Boothe Memorial Park in Stratford. It is hard to believe that I took pictures on my wedding day 8 years ago at this very same park.

Addie enjoying the flowers, too.

Grannie Frannie

Generations of Mitchells....Mimi, Addie, Pam, and Frannie

Frannie with Addie on her baptism day

Frannie with Jason's Great Aunt Rita

Dressed for the party :-)

Singing and dancing with Addie

Mimi's Thanksgiving visit in 2009

Singing to Addie again....Frannie could spend all day doing that and the kids always loved to listen to her.

Just realized that all my pics include Addie, but not Caden...I think the ones with Caden are on an old computer. They do exist, though!

We lost our Grannie Frannie today at the young age of 91. As Caden would say, "She is up in heaven with Xena, Mommy." For those of you that knew Jason's grandmother, you probably will never forget her. I know that she has been a part of my life for 15 years, and I think of her as my own grandma. She has been there through our happy times and sad, but she always had a spunky energy about her that will be missed. You could spot her coming from miles away in her usual bright purple attire. She was proud of her Maine routes and had a "hankering" for lobster any day of the week. Frannie would talk for hours about her childhood in Maine if you took the time to sit with her. Our little Addie is named after Frannie's grandmother, Adelaide Tasker. She loved to sing to the kids and often filled the room with verses of church hymns or her favorite country western stars like Patsy Cline. Frannie was sure to let Jason know that she hated the Yankees, but loved the Red Sox. On our birthdays, we knew the phone would ring at the crack of dawn and it would be Frannie on the other end. In fact, she not only remembered our birthdays, but even those of our friends, too. Frannie loved owls, which seems fitting because you could say she was such a hoot!

Today Jason and I brought home some of Frannie's costume jewelry and fancy purple hats for the kids to play with to remember her by. They ran around the house so proud to be dressed up like their Great Grannie. We are glad that she was here to meet them and know she loved them dearly.

It only seemed fitting that as Frannie was in the room when Jason was born 35 years ago, he was in the room today as she left us to be with all those that had left her behind. We know she is happy in heaven with all those that she has missed. We find peace in knowing that we will someday join her up there. But until then, we have the sweetest angel watching over us and we are blessed to have had her with us for this long. Frannie, may you rest in peace and may God be with you today and always. We love you!

Strawberries - Yummy!

Yummy!

Busy at work....

Daydreamer....or too many strawberries in the tummy?

That looks like a good one.

I can't get enough of these. Addie didn't really do any picking.

She just spent the afternoon eating.

I'm soaking wet, but having fun - waiting for my Daddy to come marching down the road.

Here he comes....how handsome!

Just chillin with my umbrella....free advertisement for Walmart.

Cheese!

Before the parade...we are still dry here :-)

It's that time of year -strawberry picking time at Jones Family Farms. Yesterday we went strawberry picking with our cousins, Lily and Ava. The weather was just right and the strawberries were the best ever! If you have never tried a fresh picked strawberry, you definitely should. The only problem is that you will never want to eat a store bought strawberry again, because these are sooo good.

I have also included some other photos here from Memorial Day. We always enjoy watching Daddy in the parade, another event that we have been doing with Lily and Ava. This year was a wet one, but we stuck it out and had a great time. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!