Yesterday, we took our annual jaunt to Rhode Island to see the ponies. =) Between the gorgeous weather, the warm company of friends.....and all of the kilts, well, you couldn't ask for a better day.

Blake had a thing for Joe's hat and sunglasses.

Ian and his friend, Drew, had a cute moment eating their sandwiches. Like I said on Facebook...they looked like two little princes watching the sport of kings. =)

Ian mildly tolerated some photography during the divot stomp between the 3rd and 4th chukka.

....still tolerating

U.S. played in blue, Scotland in white. Did you know that the visiting team plays on borrowed ponies? (I guess I'd just assumed that ponies flew...but that wouldn't make much sense, would it?) Also? Ponies only play for 2 chukkas, and then they're done. That's a lot of ponies.

Did I mention that Blake loves hats??

^How cute is this?

Blake took the opportunity to help himself to the cooler...

.....and all my boys certainly love blueberries.

Another family brought some water guns.

I'll give you three guesses as to their popularity!

This was our fifth year going down to Newport, and our third time seeing the. U.S. play Scotland....annnnnnnnnnnnd the firs time we've seen the U.S. beat Scotland!

Yay!

As part of preschool, we bought some caterpillars.

Yes, caterpillars.

We love, love, LOVED watching them grow! Ian had a blast watching the caterpillars get bigger and bigger....then turn into chrysalises....then enjoy their emergence as Painted Lady butterflies...then as they dined on oranges and sugar water in their habitat on the kitchen counter....

...and then as we let them go in the back yard. (We had them for a few extra days inside because it was far too hot last week to release them.)

(annnnnnnnnnnnnd, Blake liked it, too. How much do you love this picture?)

First things first: This is my sister, Hannah, dressed as the POTUS.

(Yes, I just said POTUS. My brain is saturated with 'West Wing' references.)

^Blake is best friends with the castle and knights.

He loves it.

He can orchestrate quite a battle, that boy.

We went to Maine for Memorial Day weekend.

And no Springtime is complete without cuddling some adolescent chickens.

We went to the cemetery to see our people.

I love this cemetery.

With all my heart.

Ian is getting acquainted with my great-grandmother, Elsie.

Ian and Joe spent quite a bit of time removing lichens from my sister's headstone.

I sort of liked the lichens.

They're folksy. And homey.

Ian was excited to see that my great-great grandfather, Thomas Libby, was a Civil War veteran. (He recently learned the word 'veteran' when he donated some of his own money to the American Legion at the grocery store.)

Somewhere along the line, we realized that Blake's version of "pruning" involved picking the flowers.

It was sweet....in a "we-really-need-to-clean-that-up" sort of way.

One of the reasons I love this cemetery so much is because so many (many!) generations of my family are buried there. It's really quite a sight to glance down this row and count the generations.

It being Springtime and all, Joe and Scott moved the chicken coop to the back yard...

(....and we moved in the ladies.)

Ian had a blast playing with the Texas and New Hampshire cousins...

...and it was a doozy of a hot day on Monday...

...And Blake had a blast playing Where's Blake? with my cousin, Carley.

Aren't they cute?

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Side note: someone asked me to post this week's menu. I hereby honor that request--

Bean Burritos (side of cucumbers)

Chicken Parm (side of watermelon)

Hawaiian Haystacks

Chicken Divan (side of raw veggies)

Pizza (side of green salad)

Bean & Barley Chili (I omit the chicken to make it meatless)