Clay covered kids

We're back from a wonderful trip to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Mass. We had a great time visiting friends and family. We had many reason to head east and we got to accomplish almost all of them.

The first mission of our trip was to make it in time for our little friend, Skylar's, 4th birthday party. We haven't miss one yet. We drove through crazy weather for 31 hour straight. We love you Sky! Our kids were amazing little travelers. It was a great party with an awesome crew of friends and with over 100 inches of snow this year there was tons of winter fun to be had. Miss you Haley's!!

Our second mission was to meet the newest addition to our extended family, baby Ada Kay Lemieux. She's a beautiful little baby! The kids just loved her. And it was so fun to see Jason and Denise in their new roles as parents. Good job guys!

Then we were off for a short visit with Joell and Todd. Sleeping kids= sushi and sake...woo hooo! Always a great time! Love you guys!

Next we went home to Claremont. It was a bit strange....almost like we had been on a long vacation. We used Grammy and Pepe's as home base but spent a lot of time at our old house. We mostly wandered around the house in awe of all the amazing work Pepe, Ray, had done in the past months. It's a totally different house. Super cute and way more functional. Cheers to Pepe!

While in Claremont we got to see many friends and played in all the snow a bunch. Pascal loved it and got to spend time with cousin Leah. Jeremy and Andre had time to make a sequel to last years luge run. This years was a snow skating course with many features. They are like kids when they are together. Hopefully I can figure out how to add video to this blog. Thanks for the snow skate Todd!

Bob, Amanda, and Joe all came to visit and again it was like we never left..... gotta love the comfort of great friends. No pics from that night which is probably for the better... too much Chinese food and UFO.

Our next mission was to celebrate Grandpa Don's 82nd Birthday at the ALWAYS fun and fabulous Grinnell's. Pascal and Grandpa Don have a very special bond which is so cool to watch. Pascal often will be doing something, really anything, and he will stop and say "Grandpa Don used to do this when he was a little boy". The night of the Birthday party the room was filled with conversation between Andre, Taylor, Debbie, Chandler, Debbie Brean, Nora and myself.....I glanced over at Pascal to find that he and Don were having their own, very sweet little conversation. I know a big part of Don will forever be with Pascal. Thank you for the wonderful visit.....meet you on the beach in June!

Throughout our entire trip, at any moment I could have received a very important call from my very pregnant friend Jessica. She was with us to help with the birth of Nora and now it was my turn to return the favor in helping birth her 3rd child. This would have been the highlight of the trip but I am sad to say that this is the one mission that didn't get accomplished. Today, the first day of spring, at 10 days over due, she is finally being induced and I am now awaiting that very important call. Thinking of you Jess! We did get to spend every moment we could together while we were in Claremont mostly eating Rumonto's. Pascal got to hang out with his "sisters" as he calls them, Brynn and Riley and they played like they were never apart. And miss Nora, now big enough to play, loved all their very girlie toys and dolls. And even tried to show Brynn who is boss a couple times. Pretty funny.... little A types. Miss having you guys in our daily lives!

Pepe arrived from Florida, we packed up the truck and all headed west one more time. The weather didn't allow Pepe to stay long but it was great to see him. Miss you and see you in May!

It was a great trip and hard to leave. I now know that we will forever be torn between these two beautiful far away places that we call home and are filled with all of the wonderful people we love.