New England: The End

We spent some time hanging out back at the Alton homestead. The bride-to-be took some time out of the wedding planning craziness to sit back and chat a more with all of us around good food and good laughs. We all enjoyed getting to know Melissa more...

And some of her close friends...

And even Natie and Happy got to goof off and enjoy playing together. Can you tell they're friends?

And Ethan even got some alone time for perfect his fishing techniques...

The next day proved to be yet another classic New England day which always must involve either the ocean or Portsmouth in our opinion. It was fun to take our little Happy to this quintessential NE town where her parents' young love flourished. We spent many a day walking the cobblestone windy narrow streets holding hands, wondering at our hopeful future together.

Our favorite coffee shop in the center of town.

We grabbed a couple Moe's subs and meandered down to Prescott park. Another favorite spot in Portsmouth.

At Prescott we ran into some familiar faces...

And even got a little squeeze from Grandpa...

The next day was the rehearsal.

The handsome Hunt Boys.

The wedding went just as smooth and with even bigger smiles.

Nathan loves his Grandpa...

Unsolicited hugs are always the best. Looks like Grandpa scored on this one.

The BIG DAY. Wedding bells chimed, a beautiful bride was whisked away by the handsome groom and it was sealed with a kiss.

Next was party time. (Penelope stills refers to Melissa as the "princess.")

Penelope's wish finally came true: Dancing with her daddy. For weeks she had been talking about dancing with him. In fact, any time she would put a dress on the first thing out of her little mouth would be, "I'm gonna dance with daddy, Mom." And here she did......for a looong time. When daddy needed a break I found her...

...with this boy. Who is he? I still don't know. She danced with him for an entire song. Then she danced with Natie, Dylan, Ethan, me and even Donny. She literally danced the entire evening! She barely even ate a thing.

Penelope scored big time on this trip. Besides having Melissa in the family, she got another, Grandma, Grammy Smith.
One last squeeze from The Beloved and Most Excellent Cook...

Our last day at the ocean. We bought some shrimp at the Jack's seafood joint down the road and ate it by the sea.

Penelope's last moments on Moody Beach.

Good bye, Beloved New England.

Boy Meets Girl

Valentine Day 1996: Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy. Boy writes girl a hopelessly romantic letter. Girl likes it. Boy and girl talk for hours. They fall in love.

May 22, 1999. Boy and girl get married.

May 22, 2009. Boy and girl are still married, still stay up talking for hours and still in love...


Thank you, Love, for gathering up the courage to give me that letter 13 years ago...and making me read it in front of you. (!) Even though I still think you take too long to tie your shoes and even though you still don't like the way I eat ice cream, I'm glad for your love that's constant, forgiving and deep.

I love you more than yesterday but less than tomorrow...

New England Vacation: Part 3

Now it was time to play with Grandpa Hunt! The hiker extraordinaire that he is, including an Appalachian Mountain Club guide, boasting the title of "the Nicest Man in the White Mountains" it seemed appropriate that he should take us on a hike. Since none of us share any of those titles and/or descriptions he took us on a little hike at Mount Major near his house.


Since her Tia Cathleen and her Daddy had jackets tied around the waist, the Little Miss insisted on the same.

Nathan got VIP treatment between his Grandpa and his older brother's shoulders.

Can you tell Cathleen is a city girl? Who ever heard of hiking in heels? The crazy thing is, at one point she was carrying Miss Penelope UP the mountain.

This was a HUGE boulder along the path that Grandpa knew the kids would like. He was right! Boys needs rocks to climb and to throw.

Ethan enjoying the moment.

Jer and Cat also enjoying a moment.

I wish I could say that Grandpa Hunt and the boys needed a break. They didn't. They were waiting for the slow pokes like me.


It was all worth it for this. This is Lake Winnepesaukee. That's right, folks, land of What About Bob?

It was at this outlook point that Michelle called it a hike. Grandpa Hunt and Ethan and Dylan went all the way to summit!

After the hike we drove to Wolfboro, on the shores of Lake Winnepesaukee, for some down time.
Talk about down time!

Little Miss Happy enjoying a little "Grandpa" time.

New England Vacation: Part 2

Our second day in New England was spent with Don, The Beloved, and his wife, Cindy, The Most Excellent Cook. We began the day at their lovely abode. By the time we arrived, Cindy had already casually made homemade whoopie pies, a must with any Hunt arrival. To properly accompany these evil sweet things, she made state-of-the-art lattes. I was so grateful she understood this important pairing.

Penelope having her first taste of Cindy's whoopies.

Naturally, we felt another beach day was most necessary, so off we went with a picnic in hand, made of course, by Cindy.



Perfect contentment.

Ethan and his freshly picked snails (in the bottle). Who knew the joy that snails could bring a nine year old boy.

Ethan chasing his little bro, Nathan, with a new found snail friend.

Christopher and Penelope enjoying string licorice.

Jeremy and his Eskimo. Not the attire that most often springs to mind when you say, "beach." What can we say? Cold should not be a factor for enjoying the ocean.

I post this picture for DIMPLE reasons alone. Just look at them! I also get a kick out of the fact that it looks like he only possesses one arm. Wait a minute, that didn't sound right. You know what I mean.
Jer and Cat. Totally a Jetta kind of couple.

I had asked Dylan whether or not he had tasted the salty sea. Later, I found him with his tongue hanging out. He said, "it's so salty, I can hardly taste the water." Dylan always knows just how to put things.
Smooching time. OK. Don't look too closely because you'll see that Christopher has his eyes open which makes this picture really funny. Oh well, this is the land where we fell in love, so many years ago...

...and now look what we have.

A very pretty Eskimo.

Ethan knows what it means to live in the moment.

After our lovely day at the beach we went back to The Beloved and The Most Excellent Cook's home to feast on more food. Cindy casually made, from scratch mac and cheese (which makes me never want to buy a box of that stuff again), marinated chicken on the grill, stuffed bell peppers with fontina cheese and home made croutons, broccoli with lemon and from scratch risotto. Do you begin to see why I gave her that name?

A very good day indeed.