Watch Hill, RI

We took advantage of the last nice beach day, the weekend after Labor Day, and drove a couple hours out to lovely Watch Hill, Rhode Island. The weather forecast had a chance of rain but we forged ahead and it ended up being a pretty perfect day. We went with our friends the Giffords, which is always a good time since Mariah and Tyson love each other.

That lighthouse in the background there is a popular spot for marriage proposals, and it was fun to see this plan fly by. Nicely planned, Derek.

Toddlers with their dads.

Mariah doing what she does best- collecting heavy rocks.

So Taylor Swift has this beautiful white house in Watch Hill, right there overlooking us on the beach. She had a handful of security guards on the property, and one of them kindly let us know that Taylor was not home to come play on the beach.

After beach time, we went and walked around town and grabbed lunch. The kids sat and watched this carousel forever! It is the oldest operating carousel in the country (built in 1867), and made from rocking horses that are even older. It was originally pulled by a horse until electricity took over in 1914. Just some fun facts for you.

They hug each other so much it is so adorable, They are the cutest little friends. We didn't actually let them ride the carousel since the straps weren't too secure and we didn't trust them to not jump off. Maybe next year.

Peaches

Still catching up on summer pics! If you haven't been able to tell, fruit picking has been our jam since moving here (pun totally intended). We love going to visit different farms and orchards and taking home as much as we can carry. I'm learning about canning and freezing and trying to preserve some of the goodness to enjoy in the winter. This time we went to Dondero Orchards and we had Rebecca with us to help with the pickins. 

Mariah loved running away from me and finding rotten peaches on the ground to munch on.

 She mostly cried a lot until it was time to go and she got to play in this play car at the farm house while I paid for the fruit. Then she decided this was the best orchard ever.

We waited a few days for the peaches to ripen, then we blanched and skinned them and LOOK HOW PRETTY THEY ARE, like little balls of sunset.

Then we made a peach galette, peach jam, peach syrup, and froze lots and lots and lots of slices to bag and use later.

This is Two

This little baby turned two! In typical two year old fashion, Mariah keeps insisting that she is "fwee" (three). Because she knows everything. 

I just really love her.

This is how the conversation went.

Me: "Mariah, let's go take some pictures! On the bed!"

M: "Yay! bed! running! fun! excited! pictures!"

Me: Yay fun! Okay but stay still for a second.
M: No. no no no no. (but she still did)

M: "Hiding. number two. hiding."

 M: "Yaya tired. so tired."

M: "Amils! (animals) Amils! Look number two! So cute!"

M: "Doggy kiss it."

 Me: "Can you smile? Smile for me!"
M: "Tongue. ehhhhhh"

 Me: "Smile with your teeth, like this!"
M: "Teeth. Teeth Yaya mouf."

Me: "Here hold this paper star"

M: "oooo yewwow star."

M: "uh-oh. broke it. fix it mommy."

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