Hello again!

"Happy Monday", a "Welcome September", and a "Happy Labor Day" to those in the US. I hope you are having a great holiday weekend!  My 2 year Etsy anniversary was yesterday. Stop back next week and I'll have some "candy" to give away in celebration of my 429 sales in 2 years.

So long time no blogging or creating (except for Custom Orders).  Our vacation to Rhode Island was wonderful.   We are so grateful to our dear friend, Karen, who helped make our trip extra special.  Upon our return, my brother was here visiting from Florida and I decided to take an extended break from the computer.  I'll leave you with some of my favorite photos.

Mohegan Bluffs on Block Island was our favorite spot.  We rented bikes and rode to the Bluffs then descended the 100 or so steps to the beach.  It's treacherous making your way to the beach and I wasn't going to go in my flip flops but my fearless kids kept going so I had to follow them.  Incredible beauty and peace here. 

Guess who doesn't like his photo taken?

Honey, I'm home!!  Can you imagine...people lived in this mansion during The Gilded Age and held outrageous parties.  This is the Vanderbilt's home, The Breakers.  They have a great family audio tour that kept us all interested.  There's actually platinum wall panels in a room in this home.  Crazy!

A fine Irish Pub in Newport.  Just what we needed!

Finally, the rain went away and we enjoyed a boat tour of Newport.

I wanted to learn how to sail after the trip.

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers are becoming more popular and we saw 2 in Newport.  This pup keeps the store owner company and happily gives the customers a high-5.  We were missing our Harley!

One rainy day we went to Mystic, Connecticut to the Aquarium.  Not only are there lots of fish but you can feed the birds, too.  Eeeek!!

We ended up in Fall River, Massachusetts one rainy day to check out Battleship Cove, the world's largest naval ship museum.  On the way out of town, we came across:

There's no way you'd get me to sleep in Lizzy Borden's old house.  Good thing there was no vacancy. 

 

One night we had dinner and watched the boats for hours from our table up on the deck at George's of Galilee.  I could have stayed forever but it was time to go back to NJ. 

The best part about the RI beaches...no Snookis!

I'll be holding back the tears tomorrow as my boys start Kindergarten and 5th grade.  We're excited for them and wish them and all those returning to school this week a fantastic year.