"i've gone to look for america"🎶

Went down to Salem for one of our cousins 70th surprise birthday (mums side of the family has over 100 cousins, ranging from 2-90!). Afterwards we stopped at one of our fav breweries that we havent visited in a while and my parents joined us. The baby loved hanging with them, making silly faces (her hair is getting blonder by the day). I enjoyed the vegan schnitzel. They used to have a skee-ball machine and I've been trying to get my mum to visit this spot for years, but they got rid of it like right before she finally made it there, lol.

Then we stopped at a new-to-us brewery on the walk back to the hotel (we stayed the night) and the baby had a prime spot pointing at all the dogs that walked by.

wtf. My pillowcase got stuck under the agitator, like in a tiny sliver of a crack. It's never happened before, and hopefully doesn't again! But I havent used the washer again to see if it messed anything up.. washer was bought new in 2019.

Dandelion circle 💛

First salad from the veggie garden! Actually it was a week ago, but time gets away from me. Just planted the zucchini seeds I started back on March 4 via milk jug- worked so well.. we'll see how they hold up being transplanted.

Our cardinal family is back. Just built a nest in the viburnum bush.

Drove by my great-grandparents former house in Salem, MA. Hayes and I were in the area with the baby, so I had to take a photo. ❤️

Drinks by the river; the baby found a ladybug.

It's cold in New Hampshire right now. Currently snowing atop Mount Washington! (video via the Mount Washington Observatory)

Wicked glad we aren't camping this weekend. Straight rain downpours in lower evaluations, 50mph wind gusts, and at 2:30 this morning we were woken up by the house shaking from an incredibly loud thunder clap that lasted like 10 seconds, followed by such a crazy downpour that it pooled all inside our screen porch up to the door, which never happens. After that, the baby slept in our bed, it was so scary!

New Hampshire camping memorial day weekend.

Our original campsite we booked for the holiday weekend was on a real lake but it didnt follow town regulations so they canceled, leaving us scrambling to find a waterfront spot that was close to home. Thankfully found this place but the town didn't raise the water level on this part of the river/pond so we couldn't even swim! But it was pretty chilly out so I wasn't *that* mad. It ended up raining our last day too.

We chose a nearby spot in case my brother who had the stroke didnt want to camp, but he stayed the entire time! (His gf, our sister, my BIL, and hayes all couldn't make it.) He was able to get around with just his cane! We set up three sitting areas so he could walk around the campsite and take breaks. He was even able to play corn hole, although not as good as he used to be, understandably. The baby loved having a dirt pile to play in, along with both her uncles, pup cousin Quinzee, and my friend Kaitlin with her puppy. And she slept in til 8:30 each morning! Granted she only took like 20min naps each day, she definitely didnt want to miss out on anything. I was glad to have two other people to help out with her.

The site is basically in a ditch and while we were making breakfast on the camp stove (blueberry pancakes) a young, not cub, black bear walked right by us on the ledge where the driveway starts (you can see the decent into the campsite from a photo I took). It was so cool but def unnerving. We made noise, packed our food into the cars overnight, and didnt see it again!

Little brother can walk without a cane! He's done such an amazing job with recovery since the stroke. He still doesn't have any movement on his left side, but he has conditioned his body to move his left leg when he needs to. Left arm always stays in a sling since it's just dead weight at this point, sadly. Even the botox he tried in his hand didnt wake it up.

He's definitely not free from the cane. He needs it to walk long distances and he'll still use the wheelchair as a backup, but as long as there are places to lean or benches/chairs, he can go all day without a cane sometimes.

Deck hangs. Baby loves laying on the dog beds, lol. One of our trees in the backyard is taking its time growing its leaves. Totally depressing me. I need that tree the most to block the view from the neighbors who cut down all their trees last spring. Some the branches have tiny blossoms but half the tree is bare. Definitely blaming the neighbors for this sad occurrence.

Hayes asked what I wanted to do for mother's day: antiquing and dive bar for nachos!

Went home with the top three photos. Desperately wanted that oyster plate and the tin spice rack, but not for that price/no space.