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Monday night at Borders. I went off to get something to read, and this was what I found on my chair when I got back. In case you can't read it, his apron says 39th anniversary. Actually, the reason they have the bear is that Seattle's Best coffee, which is served at Borders, is 39 years old.

Happy 39th anniversary Paul! (two days ago)

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Today was the annual cookout at Stacia and Amy's (Janelle's mom and sister). We lucked out with the weather as yesterday was a complete washout. There were lots of people there and three little babies. This picture is of Mason's "girlfriend" Natalia (Mark and Janelle's good friends Mike and Maria's daughter). She is six weeks younger than Mason. We were trying to get a picture of the two of them together but she was too sleepy and I guess he wasn't too happy about her sleeping on him!

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Today we took Marley to the Connecticut Science Center. It has only been open since June and it was wonderful. Marley knew about this place because the company that Kristen works for had the heating and cooling contract. In fact, when were were buying our tickets she said to the ticket person, "My mom built this place." This picture was while we were waiting for a 3D movie about dinosaurs to begin. We were there from 10:30 until it closed at 5 and still did not do everything. I think this place will be a regular!

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Tonight was the annual Girls Ministries Honor Celebration at our church. Marley and one other girl were Honor Prims, along with girls from different age group clubs. To achieve this, the girls had to complete all of the badges for their particular club. Marley had not wanted to do this from the beginning. Every time I asked her why, she would say "embarrassed." In the end, she did walk down to receive her award, and I was very proud and happy!

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We drove home today along the coast. We spent some time in Old Orchard Beach and also York Beach. Since it will be our 39th wedding anniversary in two days, we thought it would be apropos to take a picture of ourselves in front of the motel where we spent our honeymoon!

Our room was the middle room on the second floor of the wing that you can see in the left of the picture. The curtains were open and no one was in that room so I peeked in the window. Believe it or not, I can remember this room; it hasn't changed much in 39 years!

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When we got to LL Bean today we found out that they were making some changes (again)! The area where Paul used to sit in their "Home Department" and read books and drink coffee while waiting for me to shop was in the process of moving. Awhile back they moved the little snack shop the "Dew Drop Inn" to another part of the store which was bad enough, but now the furniture is moving to another building across the parking lot. One thing we have learned, though, is that if you love LL Bean, you have to be prepared for change every time you go!

P.S. Happy Birthday Kristen!

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On Tuesday after we left the hotel, we drove to Philadelphia and toured around Historic Philadelphia from the car. We then drove to Freeport, Maine. This is a picture of Paul in the hotel lobby planning out our route for the day!

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The day after the wedding we toured around Amish Country in Lancaster, PA. I think this must be one of the most beautiful places on earth. It is relaxing just to be here.

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Today we went to a wedding in Philadelphia. Paul's cousin, Priscilla, has four girls. Today her third daughter Carissa was married to Andrew. It was a beautiful church, beautiful service, and it was wonderful to be with family!

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I love my Birkenstocks. These are called Birki's; they have a soft footbed. As much as I love them, I don't think I will buy the Birki's again. They are very comfortable, but not as strong as the regular Birkenstocks. Both sandals have split right at the end of the first strap. I took them to a shoemaker and he put some super-glue type stuff in the cracks and said that was about all he could do. My regular Birkenstocks are still going strong, they are at least 10-12 years old. These sandals are so comfortable I might have to look into some shoe and/or boots made by Birkenstock.

P.S. Happy Birthday Big Baba!

233/365

Friday night - Marley was away at the camper but Mark, Janelle and Mason came for the evening. Mason is almost 11 weeks. My friend Linda, her granddaughter Katie, her son Bobby, along with his son Jeremy also came to see Mason. It was so good to see them; I wish I had thought to take a picture.

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Izzy has her own haunts around the house. One of them is on top of my scrapbooks which are on top of a bookcase in the family room. When she first started sleeping there we put a beach towel over them to keep the cat hair from getting in. Recently we put the old mattress that was in the little crib that got fixed up for Mason under the beach towel on top of the scrapbooks. I feel better in case an "accident" should happen, and I'm sure it's more comfortable too.

231/365

Every time Paul eats cheese popcorn Izzy will not leave him alone. She is relentless. He finally gave her a piece and she ate it, for which I yelled at him and told her she could choke on it (and you all know me and choking)!

230/365

We took a ride up to Grafton, VT to the cheese store. We had a picnic just down the street; cheese, french bread, jam, and old fashioned sasparella soda. It doesn't get better than that!

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I guess Summer has finally arrived. It only took until the middle of August to get here. 81 degrees is HOT for 8:30 at night!

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Today Marley fed Mason a bottle for the first time. She did a great job!

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We took Marley kayaking and swimming at Lake Mashapaug in Union, Ct. today. For two years we have been taking her to Laurel Lake in Lee, MA but it is closed to boats because of some type of mussel invasion. There are not that many lakes that I would actually swim in, but Lake Mashapaug is one of them. It was very crowded today because it was so hot, but the water was beautiful. It was so warm it hardly took any getting used to. We paddled out to a little island and then did some swimming. This time we brought some blow up raft type things and Paul rode her all around on that also. There was one place, in between two islands that was shallow enough for her to walk between. She also paddled the kayak by herself and actually went around an island all by herself (with Paul in the other kayak right next to her). We had a great time. She slept over tonight and I thought she would fall asleep the minute her head hit the pillow. When I went upstairs at 11:00 pm she was still reading!

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Steaks on the grill tonight. No Marley (we are taking her kayaking tomorrow and she is staying overnight Saturday night). She always wants cerael on Friday night.

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I would love to know what this bunny thinks of our "roaming gnome." Maybe they're friends.

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Aren't I lucky to have a scrapbooking buddy?

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In 2003 Paul and I started doing some geneology research. We spent a lot of time in this cemetery in Greenfield. This is the Wait monument. We have traced my father's side back to when the first relatives came over from England in 1638 to Malden, MA.

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I guess summer is finally here; at least this is one of the hottest days so far. No hot tea for us at Borders tonight, but the ice tea was very good!

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This evening Toby put Marley's new bookcase together and then Kristen, Marley and I cleaned her room and loaded up her bookcase. She seemed very happy in her new, clean room.

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Now, I am by no means an advocate of tobacco, but I do enjoy watching the process - from the planting to the drying of the tobacco leaves. I drive by this scene on my way to work (and I have worked at the same place for 12 years), so I see the process a lot. It seems like there is a lot of time from when they plow the fields until the tobacco plants are big, but then one day the fields are full of people and within a week or so the leaves are cut down and hanging in the barns. They gradually turn from green to yellow, and then all of a sudden, the tobacco is gone and the barns are empty, ready to start cycle again.

And, yes, I did have to work today (Saturday) so this picture was taken today!

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Friday night family with time with Marley and Mason (and their parents).

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Lots of dragonflies at Upper Spectacle Pond in Otis where we went kayaking today.

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Tonight at Prims we had a bon-fire. This must be a yearly thing because when I started with Prims last summer they had one also. The girls seem to love it. They toast marshmellows and then make Smores. After that they ran around throwing cups of water at each other. It really was a fun time.

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I'm always telling Paul that paying bills and working on his budget is his hobby; he does it so often. At least he has a nice chair to do it in now.

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Tonight we went to the mall and had a surprise visit with Janelle and Mason. We met them for a quick bite to eat and then a little shopping at Babies R Us. Mason didn't seem to thrilled to be at the mall (in true male fashion) but I was sure thrilled to see him!

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Today was the softball playoffs for Mark and Toby's team. Not the best day weather-wise, or winning-wise. They won two games, lost two games, but were eliminated (last year they won the championship). I chalk it off to three new sleep deprived fathers! Mason didn't seem to mind the weather; he stayed dry under the umbrella!

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Today was another scrapbook crop at my friend Janice's house. Her grandson enjoys cooking and very graciously agreed to cook chicken shish kebobs for us. They were wonderful. Thanks, Nick.