Summer Fun

Dear Family and Friends,
Since I have already blogged about the big stuff, I can keep this post short and sweet. June was a busy month. We went on a fun trip to Maine, we celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary and Father's Day, and we enjoyed some beautiful days at the beach. Joey and I have also stayed busy teaching over the summer. Of my 19 students, about 12 of them have continued with summer lessons, and I am also teaching two students who live in NYC and summer in Stonington borough. Joey is also teaching private lessons over the summer and continues his Calvary Music School and Calvary Church duties. July promises to be an exciting month. Joey has a birthday on July 2nd.  He will present an organ concert of patriotic music at Calvary on July 4th, entitled Stars, Stripes and Pipes! Clara will experience her first plane trip when we travel to Minnesota for two weeks to see our families and friends. We hope you are having a great summer so far. Below are some pictures of fun things we did this month as a family, and a few of Clara's two-year photos, which were taken at JCPenny earlier this month.
Best Wishes!
Joey, Erin and Clara

Clara levitating. (Actually, I caught her in mid-jump while dancing to the Nutcracker.)

Having a picnic at Harkness Memorial Park in Groton.

Visiting Gillette Castle.

Clara  in her pool on the deck.

Our Teaching Studio with new wooden chairs.

Flying a kite.

Clara's first haircut.

Getting ready to go to PJ Story Time at Stonington Library.

Clara's 2-Year Photos

                                                                  

A Father's Day Video

Dear Family and Friends,

The following video is a gift I created for Joey for Father's Day. He was very moved by it and wanted me to share it with close friends and family. It was a lot of fun going through and organizing pictures from the beginning of Clara's life up until now. She is so lucky to have such a great daddy.

Enjoy!

Erin

Family Trip to Kennebunkport, Maine!

Dear Family and Friends,

I have a lot of things I would like to share this month, but I don't want to write a huge, long blog at the end of June, so I am going to go ahead and write a few shorter blog posts this month which will feature photos. I have been trying to include a lot of photos recently, since that seems to be the most common request from family members. I kind of went crazy this time. This post will cover our recent trip to Maine. 

At the beginning of the month, we drove three and a half hours to Kennebunkport, Maine. We spent two nights at a nice place called the Nonantum Resort. We had a lot of fun, and we ate a lot of lobster.

Enjoy the photos!

The Nonantum Resort, Kennebunkport, Maine

Back of the resort.

The nice thing about Maine is, if you know where to go you can find very affordable lobster dinners. We found an adorable lobster shack called "Nunan's Lobster Hut." They always had nice specials, and the lobster was fresh and delicious. 

I like that price!

Awesome lobster shack.

Daddy entertaining Clara while we wait for food.

Clara insisted on trying some lobster, but she did not like it one bit. 

Food!

The Nonantum Resort was very nice. We had a water view room which overlooked the harbor, a good buffet breakfast which was included with the room, and since we chose less popular days of the week to visit, we were able to get our second night's stay at 50% off. 

View out the window of our room.

Enjoying the room

Hanging out on the porch

This is the life!

Cartoons!

We were a little concerned that there might not be a lot for Clara to enjoy, since Kennebunkport is pretty upscale with a lot of high-end shops, antique stores and galleries, but we were able to find many things for Clara. The Kennebunkport trolly picked us up right in front of the resort and took us on a 45-minute tour of the area. Clara was so excited about the trolly and couldn't stop talking about it after we got off. 

Clara did a great job on the long drive.

Getting on the trolly!

Cuddling daddy.

Taking a nice walk.

Checking out a beach.

Finding "Special Rocks".

Fun ride at the toy store.

Ponies!

Ice Cream!

Hanging out at the park

Look daddy, a light house!

Well, I hope this satisfied the request for "more pictures of Clara." I always take way too many pictures, but it's fun to have them, especially since Clara will be able to enjoy them one day. Maine is really beautiful, and since we can easily get there in one day's drive, we will probably try to go back sooner than later. 

We hope you are having a great June so far. I will probably do at least one more post before the end of the month. 

Take care and Happy Father's Day!
With Love,
Joey, Erin and Clara

We celebrated 6 years of marriage on June 9th!

"Some People come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same."

-Franz Schubert

Summer is on the way!

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy June! It's really starting to feel like summer now. Yesterday it was 82 degrees in Stonington and sunny. Joey and I are debating about when we should install the window air conditioners. Overall, May was a cloudy and rainy month, although we did have some lovely Spring-like days, including Memorial Day.

Sweet Pea!

Beautiful Spring Weather!

In some ways May was a difficult month. Shortly after I recovered from a bad cold and sinus infection, Joey developed a cough and fever and was diagnosed with pneumonia. He felt pretty miserable for about two weeks. Fortunately we are all healthy for the moment, and Clara only dealt with a few days of a runny nose.

A walk on the beach

Joey's busy church year is beginning to wind down. The choristers had their end of the year rehearsal and party last week and sang beautifully in church this morning during Calvary's "Youth Sunday" service. One of the young chorister gave a short speech in front of the congregation about how much she and the other kids appreciate and love Joey, and then all of the choristers presented him with a beautiful, hand painted (by the choristers) bowl and gift certificate. (See pictures below). What a special gift! The adult choir, which rehearses weekly, has finished for the summer. Joey will continue to plan and play services during the summer, and hymns and anthems will be sung by the volunteer summer choir which rehearses on Sunday mornings. Handbell choir has also ended for the summer.

Hand-painted by the Calvary choristers!

Joey and I both had students perform on two Calvary Music School solo recitals which were held on May 18th. They all did a great job, and it was nice to see their progress from the last recital. We will continue to teach many of our students privately during the summer months, since CMS is on break until fall semester. Joey will hold a choir camp for his young choristers sometime in August, and I am trying to develop some type of summer string program for CMS violin and cello students, which will most likely also take place in August.

Performing at the Stewardship Party!

On May 11th, Calvary hosted the annual Stewardship party in order to give thanks for the people who so generously give of themselves and their time to Calvary Church. Joey and I were asked to perform, along with one of our CMS voice teachers and an advanced CMS voice student. We played some really fun music, including a piece which is always a crowd pleaser entitled "Csardas" by Vittorio Monti. It was a really fun evening, and it was great to be able to perform for so many wonderful people in our church community.

Little Ballerina

Splits!

"Do Self!" Clara attempting to tie her ballet slippers

Something very exciting happened this month for Clara. She started her first ballet class! She and I are taking "Mommy and Me" ballet class through the Eastern Connecticut Ballet School. She had to be two years old to start the class, and she thinks it is the greatest thing in the world. Most of the little girls in the class are almost three or over three years old, but Clara is doing great and keeps up with all of them. She loves her teacher and follows instruction very well. She also loves her required dance wear which includes a pink leotard and skirt, pink tights and pink ballet slippers. She insists on wearing her ballet outfit whenever we are home and loves her ballet bag. She was so excited after her first day of class that she couldn't even take a nap later in the day. She talks about her ballet class a lot and really looks forward to going. We will definitely continue the class in the fall.

Very serious!

Leotard and Piano

Clara has developed another exciting skill this month. She can now play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" by ear at the piano. We did not teach her how to play the song. She just figured it out be ear one day and started playing . Now we hear it all of the time. She always wants to play the organ after church on Sundays, and her favorite instrument is the newly donated Calvary harpsichord which is housed in the front room of Calvary house. We dedicated the harpsichord in church recently, and Joey and I played Vivaldi, along with our friend and fellow CMS cello teacher Carly. Clara is certainly getting an education in keyboard instruments.

Loving the bunny at Mayfair

A couple of weeks ago Calvary Nursery School held their annual "Mayfair" fundraiser. It took place in our back yard after church one Sunday. There were games, music, food, a petting zoo and ponies. Clara had a wonderful time and thought is was pretty cool having ponies in "her" backyard. Clara also got to dance around the Maypole with other kids, which was very sweet.

 Clara and Mommy

Next week Joey, Clara and I will take a three-day trip to Kennebunkport, Maine to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary and Father's Day. We found a great two-night special at a beautiful resort on the water, and we are looking forward to going back to Maine. We have not been to Maine since our honeymoon. We are also planning a trip to Minnesota during two weeks in July. We will fly to Minnesota and spend time with our parents, some extended family and friends. The last time we were in Minnesota was before Clara was born, so many people are looking forward to finally meeting her in person. My parents will also visit for a short time in August to see us and to see my aunt and uncle from Virginia. It should be a great summer!

I took a lot of pictures this month, so I will use pictures to show some of the other fun things we had going on. (See below). We hope you have a wonderful June and enjoy the beginning of summer.
Till next post,
Joey, Erin and Clara

Happy Mother's Day 2013!

Thanks for the Mother's Day flowers Mom and Dad!

Arts and Crafts at Clara's desk!

A typical evening in our house: Daddy playing piano while Clara dances

Our little helper: Planting veggies and flowers

So much fun!

Flying a kite in Newport, RI

Clara LOVES her pony!