Paradise Golf, Middleton

Just want to give a shout out to all those who love tall grasses and the sound of water fountains. The Paradise Mini-Golf on Rt. 114 in Middleton is beautifully landscaped. It is a little smaller than it's competition - Richardson's - right down the street, but offers a more lush feel.

Some grasses are so tall they are over your head!

And overlooking the crazy mini-golfer in the ground - lots of interesting varieties of trees are planted.

And for 30 minutes or so you can forget you are so close to civilization and just have fun.

more scenes of summer

the crossing off of the list continues...we had not played mini-golf all summer! What?? Well, the days were pretty hot and I guess we just never got there at night. So Friday night was lobster dinner and off to the golf course.

With mini and me ; 0

Go Carter!

And finishing with what seems like the "nightly" ice cream at this point in the summer season.

Passages, passages

My annual sign for the first day of school. Oh how wicked this mother comes. I do love it though. And now the kids just humor me with a photo. They don't even fight me about it anymore. One birdy has already flown, next in line is a senior in high school with 6 AP courses, a job and playing tuba in the high school band. My little guy is in his last year of elementary school with soccer and hip hop lessons. I think the most important job I have this year is to keep plenty of food on the table...and the stove...and in the backpacks...'cause we are going to be like ships in the night in this house!!!

Catching one last wave

In the truly lazy days during the last week before school started, we had a very impromptu Lego "Bionicle" pizza party that lucky for me (and my laundry pile) lasted for hours...

One day we headed to the beach to catch some good pre-Hurricane Irene waves...and tried not to miss "the brother at college" too much.

and soak in the lingering, warm hours left of summer which included this question asked MANY times "can I have a soda, mom?" (because I have told him that once school starts the soda that he shouldn't have anyway--but manages to get me to say yes to...will definitely not be an option). Never met a kid who loves Sunkist soda so much.

Beautiful Beantown

When I was their age, I would have been thrilled to be on a boat. Any boat. I still remember taking my first flight at age 18 to DisneyWorld and taking the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney had me at that ferry ride over the Seven Seas Lagoon. It played all of that happy music and there in the distance was the Cinderella castle. That never gets old for me. But I digress...

They were kinda of impressed. But they noticed the snack bar right away and kept trying to go back downstairs. Priorities, I guess.

I can't say enough about how pretty a day it was today. It was a little windy - as in the boys' pizzas practically blew off of the outdoor dining table, but humidity was practically zero and after the summer we've had, I really appreciated that! Boston has worked so hard to have a beautiful waterfront and it has achieved that and more. When you see it from the water, with all the pleasure boats, sailboats, water taxis and whale watches, it is so vibrant and alive.

One of the specialty boat rides is called "Codzilla" and is a 40 minute high speed boat ride that will get you soaking wet! Carter had not planned to ride on it, but when we got off the water taxi it was 5 minutes from departure and he really wanted to do it. He ended up meeting us in the Aquarium and his shirt was so wet I had to buy him another one from the gift shop.

Wherever we were today, the timing worked out perfectly. Just one of those days, I guess. The water taxis were always there, I was so impressed by the Aquarium I bought a membership and so I didn't have to wait in line at all. I got discounts in the cafe and gift shop. I was a pretty happy gal.

A Day at the Aquarium

Perhaps it has been two years or longer since I have been to the New England Aquarium. This is the last week and a half before school starts and as is my tradition, I crank out all sorts of fun stuff that we never got around to. Ha ha, you could call it forced-fun, but hey, while the weather is good, why not? So there will be an outing a day.

Today, Carter, Ronan and his friend Matthew headed out to the Aquarium. I highly recommend driving to the Charlestown Navy Yard, parking in the lot and taking the water taxi that drops you right at the front door of the Aquarium. At $1.70 a boat ride, it is a BEAUTIFUL way to see the Boston Waterfront. Here the boys are at a new "Sharks and Rays" hands on exhibit where you can pet them in a shallow tank. Everyone is supposed to use "indoor" voices, but as you can imagine on a fully packed summer afternoon, it was not that quiet!

I love how dark it is in there. And blue. Love that.

Penguins waiting to be fed, not so patiently, making all sorts of noise. Reminds me of a couple of kids I was with today...

Makes a Mother Proud

The annual R.M.H.S. Band car wash fundraiser on this very warm Saturday. God love these kids and putting their time in on a day when they probably would all rather be at the beach or grabbing a last day at the amusement park.

But in good humor all, they sprayed and soaped up and dried off many cars. Some kind souls walked up and just gave a donation without the car wash. And the local Meineke where they let us use a side lot, donated $150.00 to the band. Thanks for that!

And then there's this. Well this trend was started a couple of years ago and my son is a bit of a ham and jumped right in. There is a swimsuit underneath...I am just saying.