High summer

 Off to our summer picnic

 

 Popcorn chicken: check. Tasty picnic: check.

 

 As an added bonus, next to the picnic site were tons of blackberries

 

The next weekend we went to NY with the Keatings. Caroline & Ceci now can be trusted to row themselves around the shallow end of the lake

 

 We took full advantage of the lake's entertainment offerings

 

 The fishing wasn't as good as previous years, but Caroline did land her first solo fish

 

 That's a leech, a very big one

 

 Back home, Tessie is a berry monster

 

 

While her baby sister was being born, we cared for Aoife, who is one day younger than Tessie (and a 12-12-12 baby)

 

 Circus Smirkus, a troupe of teenage circus campers, was a huge hit

 



The Wilson Farm corn festival wasn't our real attraction...





... Moonpie the pony was. Erin's first ride!

 

 and Caroline

 



 Let the record show that Tessie has already shown more interest in ball sports than her older sisters combined

 

 Poor Max and Clio don't get much facetime these days, but they're still hanging in there at 13 years old now

 

Erin's a circus seal



 Nice selfie, Mom & Tessie

 

 Oooh, look at that tight rope act

 

 

 

We tried out a professional baseball game at the Single A Lowell Spinners



 

 

More entertaining than the game was the giant slide at the Kids Zone

  

Sorry about the low volume for Caroline and Erin's outdoor performance

 

The catch totals for our New York weekend: 5 fish, 3 frogs, 10 minnows, 30 tadpoles, 1 leech