Happy Halloween

Shots from our Halloween/Game Night get together last weekend

Here is a shot of our pretty table before our guests arrived.

Rosie's Halloween photo for 2007

Hi All. I wanted to take a few minutes to post a picture of Rosie and a few shots from our Halloween party last weekend. I also wanted to update everyone on the job situation. I had my 2nd interview on Monday and it went really well. I met with the Director of Disability Services and the two other employees and they were all really nice. It lasted about an hour and I feel that I would really like to work there. They told me that I should hear within a week so I'm hoping to hear by Friday. I'll let everyone know as soon as I hear!

The Halloween party was a lot of fun. We all dressed up played a game of Apples to Apples, had a yummy dinner, watched the ball game, and chatted away. It was great to see friends and just hang out. Everyone loved my mom's homemade Mac & Cheese recipe and apple crisp. Bob made a yummy Shepherd's pie. Thanks all for a great night, yummy appetizers and great company :)

Halloween Photo's

2 witches-Megan & Cait (note the broomstick on the back of my chair)

Megan L & Cait.

Guess Who???

Napoleon Dynamite & Jester Bob

Belated Curtain Photo & 2nd Interview Thoughts

Hi All,

Here is a shot of the curtains Kyle recently hung in our bedroom. My mom actually gave us the curtains because she bought news ones and they happen to match our quilt perfectly. We bought the rods at Lowe's and they have a great selection. We were really impressed with bot h the rods and the curtains at Lowe's. Next we need to buy curtains for our office and the spare bedroom. Please note the pretty leaves in the picture. The picture doesn't do it justice. The leaves are just bursting with color. We are really late with the "peak" foliage this year because it was such a dry summer.

The interview is tomorrow, Monday @ noon & believe it or not I'm not freaking yet!!! I prepared a little tonight and will do more preparing in the morning. I feel like I over prepared last time and most of what I studied is still in my head. I also don't want to be too rehearsed. I'm going to just be me and if it is meant to be, I'll get it and if it isn't that's OK. I'm lucky I have a job and I know what I want and that makes the journey a lot easier.

We will soon post pics from our Halloween party last night. It was fun and there are lots of good shots. I'm off to watch a movie with Kyle.

Happly 70th B-day Dad & Interview Recap

Here is a shot of my dad and 3 of my 4 siblings (Maura is missing)

Hi All-

First things first... Happy 70th Birthday Dad. I hope the next year brings you better health and continued happiness.

As some of you know we went to Keene, NH this past weekend for my dad's 70th birthday. The picture above was taken at Alyson's Orchard. It is such a beautiful place on top of a hills with apple trees everywhere. Check out the link below. http://www.alysonsorchard.com/alyson-orchards/

We got to pick apples and they are sooooooooo yummy. There is no comparison between what we've been buying @ the grocery store as opposed to the hand picked ones. This weekend we are having a game night/ Halloween party & I plan to make an apple crisp with our apples. I'll be sure to take pictures from the party to post. I can't wait to show you all what Kyle's costume!

On Sunday we went on a "Covered Bridge Tour" with my dad in Swansey, NH, which is the town next to where they live. It was pretty interesting.http://www.tmclark.com/Bridges/bridges.html

Here is a view of the side of the bridge

Above is a shot of one of the 4 bridges we saw.

Look Brig---I saw a waterfall. I think it is a man made one but it was still really Pretty!!!

Below is a shot of my dad & I near one of the bridges.

Ok, now onto the interview. I think it went pretty well. It lasted 45 minutes and I think I answered the majority of the questions well. I was very nervous though and did stumble a few times. I've decided that I just need to leave it in the hands of God and if it is meant to be that it will work out. I'll know by the end of the week if I made it to round two which would be an interview with the Director. Since I returned home I've felt really stressed and anxious though. I think I just hate not knowing if the interview went as well as I thought it did. I guess time will tell.

I'm going to end with this picture below that I absolutely love with my five nieces on my side. They are all so precious and different in their own way. I love them all so much!

Rosie is a local star!

Hi All,

I submitted Rosie's picture last year for a Halloween photo contest on the Boston Globe online. Kyle just happened to be looking at the pictures and came across Rosie. We had no idea she was on there. What a great surprise. Check out her cute Halloween picture from last year (Below.) Don't worry we will also be posting her pic from this year but I'm waiting until we get closer to Halloween.
As a little background information, the family that had Rosie b4 us used to dress her up for Halloween. When we got Rosie we received a photo album and there were several pictures of her with cute Halloween costumes. We decided to keep up the tradition and so far she has been a pumpkin, jester and this year she is a bumble bee. I find it hard to find costumes that fit her. There seems to be a better selection for the smaller dogs. This year I saw this AWESOME moose costumes @ Target but of course it was too small. I was so bummed. Anyway, enjoy the pic.

http://www.boston.com/ae/events/gallery/halloween_pets_2006v3?pg=31

Cait Has An Interview!!!

Yeah- they finally called &I have an interview for the UMASS job @ Disability Services on 10/22. I'm excited but really dreading the interview! I just hope I don't get stumped by any questions.

We had a productive weekend. On Saturday we headed to NH to meet with Kyle's cousin & his wife for lunch. They recently adopted a little girl from China and we were meeting with them to find out more about International Adoption. We are in the process of figuring out what countries would be option for us. Unfortunately b/c I'm disabled, many countries are not an option for us. This really pisses me off.!! Anyway, we had a great time with Chris, Holly & Allie. They were such a wealth of information for us and little Allie is sooooooooo cute!

After we got home we were invited to dinner & game night at my friend Megans parent's house. We played a really fun new game called "Chicken Foot." Anyone heard of it? Actually Kyle didn't play b/c he watched the Red Sox game against the Indians with Tom ( Meg's dad.)

On Sunday, my mom came over and helped Kyle hand curtains in our bedroom. What a difference the curtains make. I'll try to get Kyle to take some pics for posting. Kyle had to work last night & I had dinner @ my sister's house. It was a nice weekend.

That is about it from here. I'll keep you all posted on the interview. Wish me luck. Prayers are also welcomed.

Happy Birthday to Rosie

Rose is 4 years old today! Happy Birthday dear Rosie, Happy Birthday to you!!!

Rosie's Birthday Bone!!!

She had a special day.

Camping in Maine...

Kyle & his mom on the swing outside the cabin (Oh-Rosie too)

Ok, here is our Camping Recap:

We both had Friday off and since Kyle's mom had to work and she was going away with us, we spent the morning cleaning the condo vacuuming, washing floors, dusting, doing laundry, and packing for our trip. We left the condo around 2pm. We were trying to avoid the traffic, but seemed to run into it anyway. We arrived at Kyle's mothers house around 3:30pm. It should have only taken about an hour. Kyle's mother had just got home from work. We gathered her camping gear and were on our way by about 4:30pm. On our drive up we figured we would stop in Kittery, ME for dinner. Kittery is a popular area because they have outlet stores. We had dinner at the Weathervane, a seafood chain restaurant in the southern Maine & New Hampshire seacoast area. http://www.weathervaneseafoods.com/


Below is a shot of the bunk bed inside the cabin.

We left the restaurant and continued our drive arriving in Saco, ME around 7:30pm. We unpacked, settled in for a bit and read for a little while before going to sleep. Yes, there was electricity in the cabin, which we weren't aware of. We thought we'd be reading by candle light or flashlight. We did not sleep all that well. Kyle awoke first at 6:00pm. The beds were extremely uncomfortable! It was still dark out. He set up for breakfast. We had Caitlin's muffins (banana nut), instant oatmeal and coffee (Moriah we bought a french press & it was very handy during our trip.) We then decided to drive north along the coast up to Camden, ME. We had both heard a lot of great things about Camden but had never been. The movie "In the Bedroom" was filmed there and we both remember the scenery being beautiful.

The ride to Camden was nice. It was interesting seeing the coast, towns of Bath, Darmassocata, Rockport on our way to Camden. What a beautiful town Camden is.

A view of beautiful Camden from MT. Battie

We arrived to Camden around noon. There was a craft fair going on. Since we had a small breakfast we decided to have lunch first. We choose a deli style restaurant on the water. We ordered sandwiches, ate and got back out and began exploring. One little note- Eric you will like this. Kyle had his Ohio State sweatshirt on and an older gentleman noticed this and started saying, "OH". We finally figured out he was referring to the Ohio State sweatshirt. He came over and told of someone in Columbus, who had done his basement over to look like the stadium. Apparently you can see it on Utube!

Below is a pretty bridge of flowers in Camden

We first walked though the craft fair area looking over various items, some locally made some from different areas of the country. We continued exploring the downtown and shops and came across a "bridge of flowers." We strolled across it and headed back to the van. We took a little drive and decided to drive up one of the hills that had a view of downtown and the water. Camden is surrounded by hills. We drove up Mount Battie. What a view. You could see the village of Camden, the islands surrounding the town, part of Acadia National park http://www.nps.gov/acad/, which I have been dying to take Caitlin to visit. As we walked around up top, we met other people with dogs. One couple was from PA, their dog was named Boo. What a beautiful Golden Retriever. We also met a dog from Maine that was named Keeper. Her owner was a lobster man hence the name. We enjoyed the view for a little while longer and headed down and back to camp.

Here we are on top of Mt. Battie. Words can't express how breathtaking this view is.

We stopped in Freeport, ME on our way home. For those of you that may or may not know, this is the headquarters of LL Bean. We stopped in LL Bean and walked around. We also visited another outlet store(there are lots of outlet stores in the downtown). We had dinner at Gritty McDuffs http://www.grittys.com/ in Freeport and drove back to camp for a campfire and good night.




The following morning we all awoke about 8am and headed over to breakfast in the campground at Merry Moose. Caitlin and Kyle's mom had blueberry pancakes and Kyle had strawberry pancakes. Breakfast was good. Then took Rosie's annual Halloween photo. We will decide and publish soon not to spoil the surprise for everyone. Rosie was a good dog during her photo shoot. After this we checked out and headed home.



This post would not be complete if I didn't post pictures of the gigantic pancakes we had for breakfast at the "Merry Moose" on our last morning at the campground. I had the blueberry pancakes.

Notice how big this pancake is? It takes up the entire plate!







Ok, below is Kyle's strawberry pancakes, which I wasn't sure I was going to like. They were really good. I'm lucky my hubby is a good sharer!

Yummarooskies!

What vacation is complete without good food and good company ? :)

We have lots more pics from out trip. Let us know if you want to see more and we'll email them separately!