Closing in on Closing - A Day At the Flume

It's hard to believe that it's been a little over a month since we closed on our place in New Hampshire. Hard to believe because it was such a ridiculously long and tumultuous road to get there. After about 3 weeks of a delay due to stupid paperwork issues, we were set to close on Thursday, August 8th. I arranged for time off work and we were all set to close and spend a long weekend there, to return on Sunday when had plans with Dylan's friend and her parents. Late Wednesday afternoon, we were told of yet another (ridiculously idiotic) delay in paperwork and wouldn't be able to close until the following Tuesday. So, change of plans. We would go to NH Friday night and return after closing on Tuesday. After breaking the news to our playdate, they decided to make the drive to us on Sunday and play there. Yay!

I cannot even begin to express to you what a complete joy that day was. Nothing about our vacation retreat had been fun nor relaxing up to this point and we'd really lost sight of why we have a home up there and love it so. Not lost sight in the logical sense, but the joy in our hearts for it hadn't been experienced in so long that we'd forgotten how it really felt. Along comes the Jolon family.....

Isabella and Dylan became best friends in pre-school last year and because of their strong bond, us parents have become friends too. When they came up, we decided to play at the Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch. A beautiful place that I really try to get to once a year.

Best Friends

Best Friends with Their Lovies

While it's a bit of a "hike" (2 miles or so up to the Flume, through it and then a walk on the ledge back down to the visitor's center, the paths are nice and even which is perfect for little feet like Cade's. The kids did great with all that walking around.

Dylan, Cade and Isabella at the Boulder Cave

Rare shot of Mike and I together (Cade on my back)...doesn't Mike look overjoyed?

Cade was Carried for a While
Was there ever more adorable luggage?

Rocks and Water - Always Fun for the Kiddos

Me and My Baby

Start of the Flume
That's Dylan on the walkway.
He tended to stay a few steps ahead of the gang
during most of the day.

Tall Granite Walls

Cade was amazed at the water flowing underneath.

Caught mid scream.
LOVE this pic!

I'm always amazed how how trees grow on rocks in the area.

Gustavo and Isabella Checking out the River

Eleni,Gustavo,Isabella,Me and Cade(and some random dude)

Waterfall!

Can you see the rainbow at the bottom?

Dylan, Gustavo, Mike, Cade, Isabella and I in the Bear Cave!

How cute are those two together?!?

Some seriously stinkin' cute boys!

Me - The Pack Mule
Yep, that's me carrying Dylan AND Isabella

Good thing I work out.
Guess it's been paying off since
it really wasn't all that difficult to haul
around 70+ pounds without too much effort.

Best family shot we could get this late in the game.

The Girls! And some pretty mountains.

The Girls! And a HUGE rock.

Again, rocks and water...what's more fun than that.

After all that walking, playing and excitement, Cade got a little pooped out. Poor guy fell fast asleep in his Daddy's arms.

While Mike went to the car with Cade to let him have a little nap, the rest of us ended the day with some ice cream. No hike should end without a frozen treat.

While our friend's headed home to Massachusetts, we stayed in NH and awaited our closing. After such a wonderful, fun day with great people, we were rewarded with an amazing sunset sky over our beautiful mountain view.

Lo and behold it was a good omen. Because we did, ultimately, close that Tuesday. Not without a ton more going wrong up until the second of closing time. In a way, I want to put down all the crazy details of crud that went down so I'll never forget how hard it was to get to the end. On the other hand, I don't want to record it because I think I'd rather forget about it. In the end what's important is that we finally took ownership and can enjoy in (relative) peace. Still hounding the realtor and builder to get some of the final details taken care of\fixed and working to find a buyer for our old place. So, trips up there aren't exactly responsibility free vacations, but we're getting closer...getting closer.

Summer's Officially Over!

Well folks, it's official. Dylan's back in school which means our summer is officially over.

My Handsome Guy

His first day today consisted of only an hour of time. He has the same teacher as last year but is in a new classroom. Even though he didn't seem quite so sure of it all when we dropped him off, he was all smiles when we picked him up. So, a good start to the year.

I have some seriously mixed feelings about summer ending. I was enjoying the fall weather we've been having the last few days (though today is probably our hottest, muggiest day of the year thus far). Cooler weather makes me happy. However, I felt as if we had just started being able to enjoy summer and - Poof! - it's gone!

As you know, we've been knee deep in this NH town home building business. It took a turn for the worst in July and August and we were more like chest deep in problems with the build timeline, our loan processing (mixed with build delays and appraisal nastiness) as well as a skyrocketing dive in our relationship with the builder. It got nasty fast and it was nothing short of miserable to deal with....still deal with in fact. There are still some dangling items that need to be addressed\fixed and we're having to grin and bite our tongues to be nice to people we feel have miserably failed us in many ways and given a really negative start to our dream vacation spot. I hope once we're finally through it all we'll be able to completely shake the negative associations and will truly be able to enjoy it without any drama. Time will tell I suppose.

What we thought was a bright spot was that our old condo was under agreement and was set to close last week. All with relatively no issues. Seemed too good to be true and it was.  Yeah, the deal fell through at the last second and we're back to square one on that front. Anyone looking for a mountain get away? I know a great place! Wink wink. 

In any case, during the month of July and August, we finally had 2 great days that 1) let us feel like we were having a glimpse of what summer should really be like (fun and free) and 2) reminded us (in the depth of the negative NH business) why it is we love having a place there and having room for friends. I will be blogging about those 2 days soon as well as the week we got to spend on vacation in our new place last week! It was mostly great with a few headaches thrown in (like we found out about the collapse of our sell the day we arrived, spent some time at the old place cleaning and fixing to start the showing process again, and were dealing with getting our builder to get some things done while we were there that should have been fixed long before our arrival). It was definitely our last hurrah before getting back to a more scheduled life of school and work. 

So, happy fall, y'all! Hope to be dropping in on the blog a little more frequently as things in life (hopefully) slow to a more usual pace.

Oz at the Zoo

After Dylan's birthday party, I took the next couple of days off to "relax." First order of business Monday morning was to finish party clean up. Then it was time for the zoo. The Stoneham Zoo has an Australia exhibit so we went to see the Koalas. Well, at least that's why I really wanted to go. I have a serious love for those squishy little "bears." We go to the zoo a lot (as you know) and I seem to post lots of pictures of animals here (as you know) so I'm going to do it a little different this time and mostly just post cute pictures of my little animals. Plus the koalas were sleeping and not in great photo position, so I didn't take any of them.

Cade was fascinated with the Macaw.

At The Bird Show
(Did I mention that brother in law, Joe and niece Emily joined us?)

Cute Face

Giving the Bird Our Donation

Look! An Eagle!

Statues of bears are cool!

So are statues of wolves and pups!

After spending the afternoon at the zoo, we took advantage of my folks being around. Mike and I grabbed the rare dinner by ourselves and actually had time for real conversation. But, not until we spent an hour on the phone with our builder finding out about a broken cabinet. That darned broken cabinet was the beginning of the end of a low key build.

Ever since that day, a month ago now, our NH condo has been a bit of a nightmare. It's kept us constantly busy, every day seems to bring a new problem\drama and unfortunately, our relationship with the builder has really gone downhill. The nitty gritty detail is just too exhausting for me to go over and talk about anymore but trust me on this, our vacation home has really been the exact opposite and really made life not very enjoyable. We keep hoping that the endless drama will stop re-unfolding every day but sadly, it keeps coming. Our bright sunny attitudes we try to keep up are constantly beaten down and we are plum worn out. We did actually get to move into the place last weekend but it's still not officially ours. And due to the unpleasant situation with our builder, moving in was coupled with a lot of negative feelings and it just wasn't comfortable to be there. I found out just about an hour ago that our scheduled closing for tomorrow has hit yet another road bump. So, the story continues. When the place is actually ours, we'll be doing a major happy dance and gladly sharing lots of photos.

But, back to the story of Dylan's b'day and my parents trip here for it. I guess I also have to mention that at our zoo visit, my Mom and I got in a bit of a tiff. (Sorry Mom, had to be said...all part of the story.) So the zoo day wasn't all that fun and our dinner date that night was more necessary to get away then a fun treat night for Mike and I. Because of having had too much together time with the folks, I decided it was best for me to go to work Tuesday morning. I still took off Tuesday afternoon because we'd long ago planned for my parents to stay with Cade while Mike and I took Dylan to see Monster's University. It was a cute movie and Dylan did great. Sat very well with his 3D glasses and really took in the movie. Afterwards, the three of us went to get ice cream.

Tuesday night, my Mom and I had to work things out. So instead of the much needed down time I was supposed to have on Monday and Tuesday, it was a very emotional couple of days which was terribly exhausting as well. When we close on our vacation home....someday I hope....we will be very quickly be booking a week there to do some serious chilling out. We have been running so fast for so long, I think it's going to be the sweetest drop and do nothing week I will have every had in my life. Oh, and yes, my Mom and I hashed it out and are fine now.

This post officially ends anything of note I have to share that's happened to us in the last couple of months. The rest of our lives has been dedicated to the NH house. I very much look forward to when I'm able to share news of a closing on it and pictures of the completed project. Maybe next week???

Spooky Bday Bash

Anyone who knows Dylan knows he seems to like a lot of "spooky" stuff. Last year, his favorite "book" to read was the Halloween products magazine we got in August. (We just got one in the mail this week and he's already been pouring over it.) Ever since then, his love of spooky has blossomed further. Skeletons have been a long time favorite but zombies are now up there too. When I started prodding him months ago what kind of party he wanted to have, he fairly quickly settled on a costume\spooky theme. His costume preference went back and forth between black Spiderman and a skeleton. After getting the Spiderman costume for him (unbeknownst to him), he firmed up his choice to be a skeleton (and sent Mom back to Amazon for more shopping). And thus was the beginning of his spooky birthday party. 

Since he wanted to dress up, we encouraged guests to do the same. I also got to make use of our Halloween decorations again. These last few weeks have been such a whirlwind. It seems like his birthday party was both yesterday and many months ago. In reality, it's been just over a month since we celebrated. All parties for the hosts are a blur of activity. Dylan seemed to have a great time and it seemed like his guests did too (I hope). It was a really, really hot day so other than making trips out to the bouncy castle (or Hotel Transylvania as we called it), there was a lot of folks enjoying staying inside in the A\C.

The Birthday Boy in His Zombie Jammies

The Cool Skeleton

Before the guests arrived, we had to test out the bouncy house.

Cade loved it!
(He kept finding some adult throughout the day to lead out there and help him jump around.)

Me and My Skeletons
(Of course I had to dress up too!)

And, of course, going with the theme - we had scary food. I really tried not to go as overboard as I did for his 3rd b'day (remember the Star Wars party) but that damned Pinterest sucks you in to so many cute ideas, it's hard to narrow them down. Thankfully, my parents were on hand to help me execute most of them.

Screaming Pepper

Spooky Pizza
(See the ghost cheese?)

Ice Hand
(Didn't freeze solid so melted pretty quickly.)

Brains

Spider Eggs

As usual, my Mom did a fantastic job on the cake. We searched high and low for inspiration. Saw a lot of great spooky cake ideas, but I knew as soon as I saw this one that it should be the one for Dylan's party.

Skeleton in a Grave
In case you're wondering, it was all edible. The dirt was crushed oreo cookies and the skeleton made out of fondant.

Other than the bouncy house, which all the kids (and some adults too) loved, I had a couple of small crafts on hands for the kiddos. They could decorate monster rocks or make a pumpkin out of pipe cleaner and orange beads. Other than that, it was guests mingling and kids running around in chaos.

Matt and Daughter Caroline, Eleni (aka Isabella's Mom) with Cade
Cade suckered Elani into the bouncy house with him for a while.

This face is super cute but does not convince me that Caroline had a fun time at the party.

Libby and Her Monster Rock

Bouncy House Fun
Isabella, Cade and Chloe's shoulder in Foreground, Hayden and Dylan Behind

Bouncy Skeleton

Hayden!

My Spooky Boys

Mia Monster
She was so darned cute in that costume. I was lucky to have the camera with me when she arrived
because that hot costume came off very quickly. She also was excited to give Dylan his card and was
hunting him down to do so. Ever since, when we talk about Mia at his party, he's quick to point out
that she brought him mail! Too cute.

Me and Mimaw the Pumpkin

The Whole Family for Bouncy House Fun

Those bouncy houses are a great workout - especially when you're holding some weight!

Facetime with Uncle Jody
Dylan's trying to show him on his fingers how old he is now.

Mummy Bear, Dressed up Duffy and Naturally Black and While Cici the Cat

Birthday Boy with the Spooky Spiderweb

Joe and Maureen

Mia and Cade Burning Some Calories in Preparation for Some Cake

Boys - Ryan, Corwin, Dylan, Girls - Isabella and Maureen

Dylan's 4th B'day Cake

Happy Birthday to You!

Cade Clapping For His Brother

Mmmm....Cake and Ice Cream!

My Baby Boy is 4!

Of course, there was also a lot of gift opening. I tried to keep the gifts down by encouraging friends to bring only a card, but even family gifts and the cards we got from friends was a pretty overwhelming pile. It looked like Christmas! It might have been a bit too much for Dylan. Most of our friends had gone on by this point leaving only family. However, thank goodness Mia had stayed around. She was more than happy to help Dylan open his gifts and he was more than happy to leave it to her after a while. A win win for those two!

So, that's Dylan's bash in a nutshell. Even though these parties can be a lot of work and sometimes make me crazy, I enjoy planning something special to celebrate such an important day. Dylan is such a wonderful kid! I couldn't have asked for a better first born to introduce me to motherhood. (Remind me that if I'm having a pull my hair out kind of day with the kiddos....you know we all have them.) Every day I get to spend with my family is a gift....getting to celebrate full years of life is unbelievably awesome!