Over the river + through the woods.

There lies a place that is near and dear to our hearts...

On Saturday morning Bryan + I packed up the kids and a car full of snacks and headed to return to our dear New Hampshire. It's a trip we've been contemplating for sometime and with Bryan's schedule offering an astounding 2 FULL days (in a row) off we jumped at the chance! We haven't been back for nearly 4 1/2 years, we were so excited! Also, so excited to see some of our dear friends, the Wells' family... Emily, Greg, Carson, Jason, Ethan + Lincoln.

We got there really late that night. The next morning, we reintroduced all of the kids + about 3 minutes later they were playing like best friends do. Chatting about everything from Pokemon strategies to school tips on how to dodge someone kissing you on the playground. Emily and I just kept staring at the sight of our kids so grown up and hanging out...I can't explain it, it was just weird. They were 2 and 4 when we left, they didn't talk much then. Then it seems like 2 seconds later we blinked and now here they are 7 and 9 talking nonstop about every exciting detail of their young lives.

Around noon we hopped in our cars + drove to Maine. It was something we did quite often while living in NH.

It was freezing, but beautiful + the kids were in heaven...




Even the cold water didn't keep them from grabbing the boards and going for a wave or two...
Our two oldest: Taylor + Carson. You may remember them from this post? I can't remember exactly, but they were around 3 in this picture. Carson is 8 months older than Taylor.
Here they are now! Nine + ten years old. Both in the 4th grade.
Emily + I. Oh how I've missed this girl!

The next morning we headed into Hanover where we used to live. We had to catch some glimpses of our favorite spots: the medical school, hospital where Connor was born, we stoped and ate our favorite maple doughnuts at fabulous Lou's bakery. One of my favorite things is Occum Pond. I had to see this place I'd taken so many walks with the kids around. This picture was taken just beside it.

{Easton was too sleepy for pictures}

Dartmouth has got to be one of the most beautiful campuses ever! It was just as gorgeous as ever that day...
Counting sleeping Easton, here are our 8 kids!! (there were only 4 when we left)
This is how I remember them. Taken at the zoo. One of Emily and my many adventures. I think it was Connecticut Zoo this time, do you remember Em?
After seeing the campus we jumped in the car to go see the much anticipated part of the trip...going to Sachem Village where we lived for four years! You just head down this road for about a mile...
Turn the corner and then ta da! There she is...the white down on the right.
In front of that house is a small playground. We had a swing set of our own while we were there, this is a picture of Taylor and Connor at one and three years old.
See that bee swing with Taylor in it??
We found it on that playground...SEVEN years later!
Here's our little house. A family had just moved out, it was empty and fun to peek inside the 700 sqft piece of memory.
This is what it looked like inside when we lived there...
Taylor and Connor lived here.
Although this is more how they looked and how I remember them...
We called Stephanie who still lives here, but has since moved across town to come back to Sachem for some pictures! She and her husband Jason were the first people we met when we moved here in 2001. They shared the first duplex we lived in across the street. She had a little baby boy named Tyler who was the same age as Taylor.

Taylor, Carson + Tyler (age 3-ish)
Look at 'em now!
Like I said, it took no time at all and like de ja vu...
it was just like old times... Taylor is in the pink (always the only girl) and Connor's in the orange print shorts.
Between Steph, Em + I there were 6 kids in our years here, now there are 12!

TEN boys + 2 girls.

(not pictured: Sarah (Steph's youngest, she was busy playing + Easton)

The original SIX Sachem kiddies!!
Emily Me Steph

Love you girls! You'll always be attached to my NH memories!