Brooke came to visit us at the beginning of August! We packed the weekend full and explored a lot of the North Shore and Boston to hopefully give her a full glimpse of our life here (and more!). First we went to the Fish Tale Diner in Salisbury- a quaint diner right on the bay:
Next we went to Newburyport for their annual summer festival, admired the window boxes (I learned later that Newburyport has actually won awards for their window boxes- no wonder they were so huge!), made purchases at the sidewalk sales and bought books at a used book store. Brooke is quite the book shopper. She somehow manages to go into used book stores and find all of the true gems. Matt has this gift as well. As for me, having this gift is only a dream. Every time I go into a bookstore with either of them I am very much inspired and awed by their skills.
After this, we ventured up to Maine, specifically York Beach. At 'Goldenrod Kisses', a candy store and restaurant, we saw salt water taffy being made and bought penny candy. We were disappointed to find that not all of the candy was only 1 cent. Some of them were 3 cents, 5 cents..etc. Gone are the days of TRUE penny candy. :)
Props to anyone who can eat these jawbreakers without truly breaking their jaw. :-/
On Sunday, we went to the North End of Boston (Matt could join us on this day, after completing his elder track weekend away). We ate DELICIOUS cannolis at the famous "Mike's Pastry". I didn't even know what cannolis were exactly, let alone whether I liked them. But after having one at Mike's, I am all out SOLD on cannolis!
At Quincy Market, we saw 2 varieties of street performers- the break dancers...
...and the acrobats:
The next weekend, Chris arrived and set out for his 2 week adventure in the woods for Gordon's Lavida program.
And also around this time, I said my farewells to Georgetown Savings Bank. Here are some scenes from the bank party, my branch/station and a girls' night out party with some of my bank friends:
In mid August I started work on the seminary campus as the cashier in the student accounts office. So far I'm really enjoying both my co-workers and the job itself. I've been getting to know more people in this little GCTS world- both those who pay their bills :) and those who don't. :( This job is great because it changes my commute from 30 minutes to a simple (though steep) walk up a hill. And I don't have any more 'leave for work at 7:05am and get back at 7:00pm' days. phew. Now I have 8-4:30 days with an hour for lunch (which I get to spend with Matt). So...the perks are definitely perks.Matt also started his new job as the Sports Information Director at Gordon College. It's now his job to keep stats for all the sports teams, do write-ups on the games and organize the sports area of the Gordon College website. He is very busy going to various sporting events while also starting up the Fall baseball season with practices every other day and going to his seminary classes. His juggling skills are incredible!
In August we also attended the wedding of two of our church friends, J. and T. We enjoyed hanging out at the reception with many of our fellow church members, including one of our pastoral couples who moved to Philly at the beginning of the summer to plant a church. Sometimes I wish our various worlds- E-town, Buffalo, Houghton, Utica, MA- could all meet so that everyone could love each other and be loved as we love and are loved.
At the end of August, Matt and I took a weekend and traveled up to Ogunquit, Maine- a big festive beach town. It was our last shabang before the craziness of Fall began. We enjoyed beautiful weather (except for one rainy afternoon) and had a fun time hanging out just the two of us.
While there we discovered a very nic candy store (is there a trend in this blog?) with the most amazing display of jelly beans that I have ever seen. (Side note: Rach, you totally have to visit again and partake in all of the jellybean goodness! And of course, they were ALL jellybellies!) I mean, for real! Have you ever seen a more beautiful jellybean display?
At the end of August, Mom Moran, David and Noelle came up to bring Chris all of his college stuff. We went to the Singing Beach, ate slush, made dribble castles, and attended a chapel service for new students and their families. After seeing Chris in his room and saying our farewells, the rest of us hung out at the hotel pool and played a few rowdy games of Marco Polo.
Over Labor Day weekend, I traveled down to PA to see my family! There were only 2 downers. One was that Matt was unable to come due to his work schedule. He put in approx. 35 hours of work in one weekend while I was gone. yikes! And the second was that my sister Carrie and her family couldn't come due to my brother-in-law David's work schedule. :(
My sister Erin and her family were home from Thailand and it was a great time of reuniting, meeting my nephew Ian for the very first time (he wasn't born yet at our wedding when we last saw them), canoeing, eating yummy camp food, beaching it at the lake, singing and having wonderful wonderful family times. Grandpa and Grandma Hoffman also came for a surprise afternoon visit! As you can see, I went craazzzy with the camera. :)
Pictures can't quite capture all these memories.
