Early summer

 Our backyard is the perfect size for an 18-month old

 This girl was spotted on the bike path, probably after laying her eggs



For weeks we passed this car parked in a local gas station and as Erin astutely pointed out, it would be hard to drive that fish car. Turns out Fishcar is an art installation
 



 Erin's pre-K teacher did a year-long unit on famous artists. Does it say something that the 5 year-olds had an easier time replicating Duchamp than Gainsborough or Ghiberti?
 

 Dad and the older girls went on a firefly hunting expedition at the local Audubon sanctuary. The girls did indeed catch their quarry and had a blast. Of greater excitement to the naturalists leading the event was the bear print that we found, the first one that they had seen at this farm.

 Major milestone: Tessie's first trim
 

 Erin's pre-K graduation ceremony
 

 She spent 4 years prostrate to the higher mind, got her paper and now she's free
 

 Erin showing Tessie how to scribble

 

 

 More Harry Potter mania: Caroline got access to black ink and with a feather that she found managed to write an entire "parchment" for her friend.
 

 Now we know where Tessie learned her yoga pose
 

That's right Erin - it's midsummer's eve and time to celebrate with smores on the grill
 



 and a campout in the backyard

 Courtesy of the couch cushions, Erin managed to sleep in the next day. For Dad, the birds chirping at 5:15 were a rude awakening.



Tessie on the prowl
 



 Caroline on the bars

Watch where you point that thing, Erin!

Tessie likes balloons

Caroline & Erin's Wonderful World



Fun with Tessie

Finally a trip to Drumlin Farm to see the animals with Tessie



In the pig barn

 

It's hard to tell here, but Clio's body is shaved to the skin because her fur was so matted.

 

Tessie now eats with a spoon!

 

 Even though they say that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, we'll show some of the fun had by Dave, Jon, Keith, and Jerry for their 40th birthday weekend. Here, we rented off-road vehicles and raced them through the dusty mountain trails.

 

 There was a huge rattlesnake in that crevice

 

 Would any weekend of debauchery be complete without a trip through the Bellagio's interior garden?

 

 Here's the last of the public photos. Thanks to Jerry's lead, we had a great time. How great? Well suffice to say that when we left we figured out that the ratio of drinks consumed to hours slept ranged from a low of 2 (Dave) to a high of 3 (Jerry). And we were in town for 3 nights and 2 days. Not bad for a crew of old men.

 



We spent Memorial Day weekend in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area.

 

Hey, that's from our trip back in 2010

 



 The girls think it's hilarious that Dad has his own line of port-a-potties

 

 We found this groovy 1970s space themed wooden playground

 



There was seashore museum on the New Hampshire coast, and the older girls learned that dories are not small, blue, memory-challenged fish

 

 

 Tessie loved the huge open lawn next to our hotel

 

 A rare picture of Dad and his girls

 

 Tessie will flash her bee-bo on cue

 Erin is still our water baby and ran up and down the beach in York, ME

 

Caroline chose to read Harry Potter and Tessie didn't like the cold water either

 



Erin's outfit for her dance recital

 

 View from the passenger seat on the RZRs in Vegas

 

 Tessie is always on the go now and in the age of smart phones we can document her hijinks 

 

 The older girls are a great source of entertainment

 

Look Mom, no hands on the railing

 

 Tessie speaks in complete sentences of gobbledegook

 

Tessie surprised us with her version of Let It Go Go