Just Jessie: October 2012

August started off in a great way. Jessie has been taking swimming lessons at Saf-T-Swim for over a year and she finally received her ribbon for Level 2 – Sea Lion status. Yay! I was so proud of her. I’m thankful that she enjoys swimming and she has been lucky to keep the same instructor since she began. Now she’s working on moving up to Level 3, but she is starting to be a little stubborn with Miss Heather. (She’s at the age where if she doesn’t want to do something, she won’t!) Hopefully, it won’t take another year to get through the next level.

In the second week, we drove up to Boston for 6 days. We decided to stay fairly local for this vacation and wanted to just drive somewhere. Luckily, we had never really spent time in Boston before, so we were able to use some of our timeshare points and stay at a Marriott up there. It was a great hotel, right near the wharf and on the Freedom Trail, so it was very convenient to all things historical. We also took a drive to visit the witches in Salem (totally touristy) and another side trip up to Kennebunkport for high tea with the Bushes (yeah, right!). Kennebunkport is a cute town, lots of restaurants and cute shops. After that, we stopped over in Portland to see the Portland Sea Dogs (which is a minor league baseball team).

We’ve come to the conclusion that Jessie is a really good little traveler. She didn’t mind the long drives and for the most part, didn’t even want to watch her DVDs. Plus, she managed to walk a lot of the Freedom Trail with us (okay, maybe part of it on John’s shoulders). Wink, wink.

Here are a few photos:

Jessie and Miss Heather

Ringing the bell

In Salem - John, Jessie & Samantha

On the wharf

View from the top of our hotel

Self portrait - I'm literally holding the camera in my other hand

Tea with the Bushes in Kennebunkport (beautiful home)

At the Portland Sea Dogs game with Daddy

John, Jessie & Slugger the mascot

Mommy, Jessie and the fake Slugger

John, Jessie and Old Ironsides

Mommy, Jessie and Old Ironsides

In enemy territory at Fenway

July started off quite nicely. We visited one of our oldest friends, Linda, at her home in New Jersey. It was a great day and we were able to swim in her community pool. Linda’s boyfriend Michael and her daughter Jamie joined us. Needless to say, Jessie was the center of attention!

On July 4^th, we were invited for a holiday BBQ at Kim and Mike's. Kim and Mike have also adopted from China and their daughter, Annie, is Jessie's "best friend". The kiddies swam in the pool and afterwards, we all went to see the fireworks over in my town.

Near the end of the month, one of my oldest friends, Christine (who I have known since high school), drove to my house for lunch and to see Jessie. It was so nice to catch up with her. In typical Christine fashion, she got lost driving home. (Chris, I know you’ll forgive me for this comment – LOL.)

Here are a few photos from the month: