Shannon's World

As we like to do at the dinner table, we played “favorite part of the day” tonight. Since it was Libby’s first day of school we asked what her favorite part of the school day was. Libby responded it was “learning the tiger song.” When asked about the tiger song Libby offered to whisper it in my ear. She proceeded to sing “In the jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight. . . “. You should have seen the shock on her face when I started the ohhhhh-weee-moooo-ways. Soon Mike and I were belting out “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” at the dinner table while Libby laughed and sung along in between the giggles. I wish I had captured this on my camera because we looked over at Cooper during our sing-a-long and he was sitting in his highchair with his hands over his ears! PRICELESS!

So happy to be back at school!

As we continued our drive north from RI to Maine our final stop was at Reds. Mike already covered this on his blog, so I’ll direct you over there. He included one of my favorite family photos; he’s gotten pretty good at taking picture of our whole family one handed!

One of the highlights of our stop at Reds (for me) was watching how excited (and maybe a little scared) Cooper got when watching construction trucks go by. He loved it and was very interested in all the machinery that passed by Reds as we enjoyed our dinner. Now back at home, his favorite books are the ones about trucks. We’ve been reading a lot of books lately while big sister plays Barbies for hours on a blanket under our trees in the backyard most afternoons.

Our first stop on the drive north was the Lanier’s in Lexington. Laurie and I have known each other since 1991 or 1992 (I think!) and it’s crazy to think we went from watching 90210 together on Friday’s after school (I would tape it on my VCR, of course!) to Mike and I (before we were married) visited her at UVa – we attended each others weddings and now our children are playing together.

After Ethan shared some of his toys with Cooper and Libby and I checked out Laur’s sewing projects (you would be amazed – oh! how I wish I knew how to sew…really sew), we had a delightful walk to downtown Lexington and enjoyed a picnic on the green. It was the perfect afternoon and just what we needed before we continued in the car 5 more hours to Maine! Thanks for a great visit, Laur!

From the Cape we returned to RI and were happy to meet up with Mike and my Dad (who drove 15 hours straight, through the night to get there…that wasn’t the plan, but they couldn’t find a hotel in central Pennsylvania). We enjoyed a big family BBQ with my Aunts, Uncles and cousins and then started the drive North.

we made smores:

and had fun with Uncle Mark:

From RI we headed to Cape Cod a place I’ve been going to since I was 7. It was fun to bring Libby to places my parents brought me. We visited with friends, ate at favorite restaurants and even fit in a little shopping (shocking, I know). We bought chicken pies from Oprah’s favorite, Centerville Pie Company (I was underwhelmed – certainly wasn’t out of this world).

Libby on the caboose at the Old Silver Lounge in Falmouth…we enjoyed dinner in the Caboose (just like I used to).

The first few days of our Annual New England adventure were spent at my Aunt and Uncle’s house in RI. Libby and Cooper had fun playing with their second cousin (I think that’s right – - maybe it’s a cousin once removed?!) and I enjoyed shopping, and spending time with my Mom, Aunts and Uncles.

Had to share this great recipe for a refreshing summer drink: watermelonade. I enjoyed it at a friends house a few nights ago and it is outstanding! You can very easily make it an adult drink by adding some vodka…yum!

Cooper took his first two flights in late July and did very well…he was fascinated by everything happening on the tarmac and all the buttons inside the plane.


I was very thankful to fly with my Mom on the way out and Mike on the way back…not sure I’m ready to fly alone with two kiddos just yet.