Crane Beach, Russell's Orchard, and Franklin Park Zoo

Picture Dump time!  In order to get completely caught up, I'm taking a quick break from showing you recipes (no worries, I've been cooking, just nothing new to report) to do an overview of Joseph's "staycation" with us.

After the boys went to school, Joseph and I picked them up and took them to a local park in Brookline to play.  What's nice about this park is that people bring their toys that their children no longer play with and leave them at the park for other kids to play.  The boys thoroughly enjoyed scooting around in cars and bicycles that afternoon.

William scooting around on a bike.

Traffic jam!

Phew!  All of that play made us pretty tired, so we decided to take a little cat nap that afternoon.

Oscar's favorite activity is napping.  He's pretty much
an expert in it.  He loves to snuggle with me while we're napping.

Awww.  Now he's embarrassed.  :)

Two groggy boys after waking up from nap time.

That next day, Joseph and I took the boys to Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA.  It was a perfectly beautiful day to play in the sand and the water.  Too bad Massachusetts water is soooooo cold, but that didn't stop the boys from having a good time.

We got there around 11:30, so we decided
to have lunch first and then go to the beach.

Handsome Alex, ready for lunch.

Our failed attempt at a selfie, but a cute picture nonetheless.

Mommy and William selfie!

The handsome Franses men at Crane Beach.  After going to this beach,
I don't ever want to go to another beach again.  It was absolutely beautiful,
was so clean, and had nice facilities.

Silly Alex in the sand.

Crane Beach fun!

William took to the water right away!
Here's our little water baby at play.

Alex was much more into the sand play
in the beginning.

The boys were so happy!

Joseph and the boys, splashing in the water.

William loved scooping up the sand
and putting it into the bucket.

Alex and Joseph making sand castles.

William was soooooo happy at the beach.

He found a shell.

"Here, mommy!"   Awww...what a sweetheart.

The Franses men at the beach.

The ocean water in Massachusetts never really warms up, and the kiddos were getting a little cold, so we decided to bring them back to play in the sand.

I love William's chubby little feet.

So sweet :)

Me and Jojo :)

A little less than two miles down the road was a delightful "pick your own fruit" orchard called Russell's Orchard.  I actually took Alex there when he was about 16 months old and hadn't been back since then.  I remembered that they had an adorable farm stand as well as farm animals to visit.  So, before we made the trek back home, we stopped by Russell's Orchard to get some ice cream and visit the animals.

Alex at the farm stand

Time to cool off and get some ice cream!

William, our little beach bum.

Me and the boys at Russell's Orchard,
cooling off with some yummy ice cream.

Alex at the farm in the orchard.

William and Joseph

Alex, greeting the goats and sheep.

You don't get much more "free range"
than that!  The geese were walking around
the farm, freely.

Joseph, holding up William to show him
the animals in the stable.

We visited some farm animals that day.

Back home at our ranch (because we always have little wild animals running around), Oscar decided that he wanted to sun himself on our patio.

Oscar doing his best "child's pose."

We looooove us some froyo :)

After a few days of freedom, Joseph had to hit the books and start studying for his Step 3 exams.  In order for him to have a peaceful studying environment, I had to get the boys out of the house until the early afternoon.  So, I took the boys to Franklin Park Zoo.  :)

Me and William on a ride at the zoo.
PHEW!  It was a llllliiiitttttle on the bumpy
side and was very fast moving. 
Thankfully William was fine with it.

Alex, ready to ride the 3D ride.

Woo hoo!  Let's rock and roll.

Alex, checking out the tapirs.

Alex with the flamingos.

We finally made it to the bird house!

Even William enjoyed looking at the birds.

Alex with the condor.  It was HUGE!

Then, Alex helped William up onto the
playground equipment.  So sweet.

William was very tickled to be in the structure.

Alex loved it as well.

Our cutie patooties :)

William Billiam :)

After that, we ventured to the carousel before we headed home.

Alex was totally into it and was saying,
"Yee-hawww!!"

William, on the other hand, only wanted to
sit on the bench of the carousel.

By the end of the ride, he would only sit
on my lap and was repeatedly saying,
"All done, all done, all done."

William, still working on his "jumping."

Phew!  Lots of activities in one week.  Love, love, love Crane Beach and am so glad we made the trek.  We've been back another time since then (just me and the boys) and have had such a great time.  Love the summer!


Love and kisses,
Nikki