Here we are now, at the end of the fall, which contains Halloween and Thanksgiving, for the most part.
OCTOBER 31 meant a creepy lurking banana (Ashton’s “drippy” costume, whatever that means but it’s what kids say these days), a werewolf boy, and a grandma in a golfcart. 

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  We went around with our usual crew and the golf cart was a huge hit. We played Thriller and any other spooky song we had and rolled the streets with flashing lights and Grandpa at the wheel. We were quite the show! And if you’re asking yourself where on earth did you get a golf cart, well the answer is Brae Burn and it came on a truck.

  

  

  When you’re married to Jason Nill, the wonders never cease.

  After Halloween, I turned 42 in a very unexciting way.

  

  We had sushi the night before because on the actual November 12 Jason had to work. Sushi not pictured. But I did get to open presents. This is what I generally look like in the morning and it’s only going to get worse.

  

  

  But the real big thing was Thanksgiving and for the first time in many years, I don’t have the same pictures to show you because we didn’t host! No we did not, because our house is under construction. We are putting on an addition (about 7-8 weeks from being finished from today, December 8), and our whole property is a mess. I guess I’ll have to blog later about that. But I knew it would be a mess so I told my sister she would just have to host and we packed up the car and headed to Vermont. I actually don’t have many pictures from the weekend but here is our one grownup group shot.

  

  Erik’s friend Cinthya was visiting from Florida so it was fun to meet her, but the surprise hit of the night was Kari’s make ahead gravy. I’d say certain people in the group were a bit nervous because gravy is very important at Thanksgiving and it was AWESOME. It’s Ina’s recipe and will be what we make every year from now on. Big success. Big. HUGE. Thanks Kari and Ben for having us  We went to a UVM hockey game and had a great visit.

  Chugging along, the weekend after that we went with Ashton’s hockey team, Boch Blazers, to a tournament in Waterville Valley, NH. It was honestly SO fun, and they ended up winning the tournament which was an added bonus.

  

  

  I have a lot to learn on WordPress but hopefully this is the start of a new era for our little family blog. Stay tuned for our sad Christmas tree, addition details, and all the fixings!

It's Fall Ya'll

Updates from the Nills! It's been a long time since that summer vacation on my last post, oy. And it's been a VERY busy fall. 

As a point of orientation, Ashton is in 5th grade at Wilson Middle (age 11) and Alex is in 3rd at Lilja still (age 8). Middle school has been a whole other animal - Ashton is so much more independent, has made all sorts of new friends and is really becoming his own person. A lot of the time that means he is a really annoying silly adolescent but hey. He seems very happy and besides needing extra help with reading, is doing fine. Alex on the other hand thinks school is dull and a complete waste of his time. Not unlike Calvin in fact. Two strips that could just as easily be him:

They even have the same hair.

Next, the boys are each on a new hockey team (Boch Blazers/Dedham for Ashton, Assabet Patriots/Concord for Alex). Records aren't great so far, not going to lie. But they do love it which is the most important thing, considering the miles we put on our car and the hours Jason spends getting them to their games (like, in other states). 

They also each play football. Ashton is one of the stars on his team (even though I've been told a hundred times which position he plays I still couldn't tell you. There are at least 2, one offense, one defense?)

And Alex, wellllll, Alex's age group is a combined 3/4 team so on the roster, he is probably in the 10th percentile in terms of age and size. He does not like it one bit and definitely won't play next year. Still looks the part though (this was on a professional photographer's instagram page, someone recognized him and sent it to me!)

The biggest news of all though is that the 6 Craft Road Great Improvement Project has begun! I don't think I ever really shared the full story, but it began when we realized we wanted a garage and we wanted one BAD. We hired an architect last summer (and also looked at the idea of just moving to a house that had one, only to be continually outbid by hundreds of thousands). Despite my many protests to the Natick building inspector and the Zoning Board of Appeals ("Ma'am, just because you want to put a garage on your house doesn't mean you can. It doesn't work that way, you don't meet the setback and we won't grant you a variance, so, move on") we knew we had to pivot. At least we could add the spaces we also needed: a gym, an office, and a finished basement for the boys. Here is a link to the plans, if anyone is interested. We went about finding a contractor, waited more than a year, got delayed with stormwater permits and other riff raff, and finally as of today, 10/31, we are ready to pour the foundation. We have a giant hole in the wall and in the ground - I'll take pics as it goes up. We first had to do some masonry to get ready to add the portico though:

Before, red brick and big bushes:

Kind of after:

We did add some new landscaping (which ended up all getting torched this summer in the heat with the water ban):

And here we are today, for the most part:

This project also involved a new front door, new side door, and all new trim on the windows and the mud room. They did a gorgeous job!

So, small improvements so far. Much bigger impact to follow, as well as Halloween of course (tonight!). The fall has been great, we have had so many family visits and fun events as we march towards my 42nd birthday - eeeek! --- and the holidays. It is my sincere intent to post more frequently and this post is dedicated to KK for reminding me I have readers who are patiently waiting!! ;)

Block Island 2022!

 Well Blogland, it's been a minute! I can't tell you how many posts I've started, only to get overwhelmed at simply how much there is in our life to share, so I don't end up sharing any of it hahaha because I just say the heck with it.

BUT, our annual summer vacation this year was back on Block Island (for the first time since 2018) and it was epic. The group was mostly the same, with taller kids and older adults. We were all SO happy to be back that we made sure to get lots of photos of ourselves.

Every year we go we are in a different house and this year was Island Adventure which served us pretty well. There was a huge front lawn that we used to play all kinds of games and the kids even set off rockets. (Tell me this video is not the most joyous children's voices you've ever heard.)

We managed to get to the beach every day, go out to dinner, shop, moped, fish, etc. But first: Bloody Marys on the boat!

And then, all the activities! 

While we mopeded (?), GG took the kids on a walk all the way out to the North Light and I have to post this next one for no other reason than Callie's face:

One of the mornings the boys went fishing.

And us girls stayed home to do our nails. EQUALLY as exciting if you ask me.

Fun fact: Ashton ended up catching the biggest fluke of the summer at 28.5". We submitted it to the Block Island Times and they published him!

https://www.blockislandtimes.com/article/letters-editor-huge-fluke/61188

So they caught a porgie, the fluke, and tons of sea bass and we ate it all.

Beach photos - good ol' Fred Benson!

I had brought the boys speedos to wear under their board shorts and hopefully avoid the chafing issue that usually plagues them. For a time there, it was all Alex wore (and if you know Alex, he loved making a show of it).

Official meeting of the Professional Beach Lunch-eaters Club (PBLC):

We also had some birthdays in the house! Callie turned 8 on 8/2:

And then Ashton turned 11 on 8/3. He got a skimboard so it was breakfast, beach, and then dinner and cake. Of course he will get a whole separate post on turning 11 as is the blog's tradition. I love to bore everyone with the small details about his shoe size, etc. Muah ha ha. 

Fishing party at the inlet

Out to dinner at the Spring House!

Out to dinner at the Oar for our final night.

Of course, our favorite view.

Ok now, here is something super cool. There are hundreds of handmade glass orbs hidden around the island: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/style/orbivores-block-island.html 

When the NY Times has written about it you know it's legit.

ANYWAY, Erik announced one morning at the beach that he was leaving and going to search for an orb. We were like umm yep good luck, good luck, bye.

Two hours later, we all receive a group text:

And of course were like NO WAYYYY!!!! Readers, these orbs are beautiful. They are all stamped and dated and have a Block Island etched on the bottom.

And Erik found one! He's number 529 on the 2022 list: https://www.blockislandinfo.com/glass-float-project/found-floats

It was the coolest. And of course Ashton was drooling over it, he's totally into this kind of thing. He and Erik went out at 6 am for a walk the next day to try and find another, and Jason and I took the kids for a few walks to keep looking, but alas. 

The wonders of BI never cease. Of course by the end we were all plotting how we could get a house there someday, it is that magical for us. 

On the last day, it was just us the Nills left until the afternoon. We went to Ballard's Beach Club, Rebecca's for lunch, and set sail. 

To GG, Erik, Kari, Ben, Callie, Holden, Grandma and Grandpa: thanks for sharing the sun and sand with us for a week in our favorite place. It is always the BEST!! xoxoxox