Eleven Years at the Beach

Last Friday Brian and I celebrated our ELEVENTH anniversary.  Which is right down crazy, if you ask me.  That pretty much makes us adults, I think.  We batted around a lot of ideas but in the end decided to take a simple family trip to the beach.  We timed it so that we could visit a priest friend of ours who had been moved out by the bishop to the very very edge of the diocese (but also happens to be ten minutes from a great beach) and we were able to go to Mass beforehand.  It was such a blessing to be able to go AND unbeknown to us they had their children's Adoration scheduled for right after Mass.  Seriously, children's Adoration once a month.  Isn't that the best?  Father gave them a mini lesson, helped them pray two decades of the Rosary and then led them in SILENT prayer for ten minutes.  And it was beautiful.  Even David knelt there the whole time.  The other mothers and I brought the toddlers into the cry room for that part or else there probably wouldn't have been anything silent about it.  As we were leaving he gave us a beautiful anniversary blessing.  I remember part of it being about leading each other to heaven which was such a great reminder of what this whole thing really is all about.

The beach was beautiful.  I think it's neat to celebrate our anniversary with the kids.  I mean, it's awesome, too, to be able to go out for a romantic dinner or get away for a night or whatever (anyone want to come babysit?), but this day is about them, too, so we like to include them in at least part of it.  The day two became one...so much so that our oneness eventually ended up needing a name five times over.  That love becomes embodied in real little adorable PEOPLE.  We are so blessed and God is so amazing.

{pretty}

This beach is about an hour from us but it's worth the drive.  The closer ones are pretty gross and this one is never that crowded and is relatively family friendly.


My view from the chair where I got to sit and read a book and be altogether useless.  At least for a few minutes.



{happy}







{funny}

Poor John Paul.  His mother never remembers that he has no water shoes that fit him so he ends up having to wear his mother's twelve year old pink ones.  No one is jealous of the first who usually gets the new clothes if the eldest child also has to wait until mom can get her act together to have clothes and shoes that actually fit.  See, it's all about fostering brotherhood and them learning to grow in detachment and humility.  Or something.


{real}

Food.  Oh my, God has blessed our pear harvest abundantly this year!  Last year we got one tiny little pear out of our fourteen trees due to the late surprise frost.  This year this tote was not even half of one of our trees.  The boys have been munching on them nonstop and I've started the dreaded canning.  I've got 14 quarts of sliced pears and 4 quarts of sauce done as well as about 4 more quarts of sauce in the slow cookers right now.  And the tote is not even empty yet.  We will be well fed with pears this winter which I think is really rad and we will have plenty to share with friends.  More on that next week, I think. (Linking up with Cari for today's theme of food!)

And I was right about those blueberry coconut dreamsicles I made.  Incredibly underwhelming and pretty bland.  The only ones who would eat them were Luke and David but they enjoyed theirs (and everyone else's) immensely so I suppose I can still claim it as a win.

Hope you all are having a happy feast day!  We were able to get to Mass again this morning which was lovely and later on we'll be treating ourselves to our Coronation parfaits.  The boys will also be tasked with fashioning a crown for Our Lady and I think I overheard them discussing some pretty specific and elaborate ideas for some original headwear for the Queen.  We'll see.

Head on over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {phfr}!

18 comments

  1. Happy Anniversary! (I'll buy some pears!)

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  2. Oh my I love pears! Do you just can them or do you make jellies and whatever else you can with them? I'm so going to make a pear pie for Thanksgiving this year.

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    1. I've mostly done pear sauce and plain sliced, though I did do a pie once! There are SO many and they can go bad quickly so I have to preserve them as soon as I can and there just isn't a lot of time for the more fun stuff! Maybe this year, though!

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  3. Ooh, love the pears!! I'm told we can get some apples to grow up here, but they need to be protected in a high tunnel or something. I don't know of anyone successfully doing pears yet. I'm learning more each year about canning and putting things up for the off-season. LOVE it! :-)

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  4. It takes a confident boy to pull off the pink shoes! Happy 11th, you guys are just 3 months behind us!

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  5. Happy belated Anniversary - I still remember when the two of you stopped by our house in Vermont on your way home from honeymooning.

    Your harvest is amazing. I'm a teeny bit jealous...but then I remember I don't really like pears or tomatoes all that much. My neighbors have a ton of tomatoes and I just went over and got 4.

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  6. happy anniversary! what a fun day!!! :)

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  7. Happy Anniversary! Love the beach! What a perfect way to celebrate!!

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  8. So much fun to look through your life via the camera lens. Congratulations on the 11 years! I wonder what that equals in dog years, lol! We planted 2 pear trees this year so hopefully we'll get some next year.

    Suscipio4women
    3-2-1 Party

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  9. I love pear butter so, so much. Do you make that?

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    1. I haven't yet but maybe I should try this year? I'm not much on the fruit butters preferring much healthier spreads like butter and cream cheese...but Christmas gifts, perhaps?

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  10. The food and kiddos are so lovely - thanks for sharing!

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  11. How do you make pear sauce in the slow cooker? Thanks and happy anniversay!

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  12. How do you make pear sauce in the slow cooker? Thanks and happy anniversay!

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    1. SUPER easy...just put em in and turn it on! Then when they're soft, you mash them up! In the past, I've peeled and hand mashed because I like it lumpy. This time I'm even leaving the skins on and pureeing with the immersion blender. I plan to use a lot of it as an oil replacement in recipes. Some people add sugar and spices but you don't need to at all. I don't like it overly sweetened like that...I don't think it's necessary because the pears are so naturally sweet!

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  13. Ohmigosh! You are the one who did the Coronation Parfaits! (DUH!) I looked that up a couple days ago for ideas for the feast, love all your stuff! I did a little modified version because of ingredients on hand, but it was great inspiration. That is really the best way I can get my kids interested in the Feast Days, to actually FEAST!

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  14. Happy anniversary!! What a lovely day!

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