Visiting Family in New Hampshire

This weekend, Will & I went to visit some of my family that live in the New England area. My mom came up to visit from Virginia with her boyfriend, so my brother & his family drove from their home in Maine to meet up with us all in my grandmother's house.

This was Will's first time meeting my grandmother, and the first time that either of us really got an opportunity to play with my brother's children. When Hugh & Sabrina moved to Maine, Caleb was just a baby, and Ellie was born up in Maine, so I met her for the first time the day before the wedding. Needless to say, "family time" around our wedding wasn't very abundant or quiet, so this was our first chance to interact and play with the little ones.

Hugh & Sabrina, and Ellie (on Sabrina's lap, 13 months) and Caleb (almost 3 years)

 My mom's family has a long history in the little historic town they live in, so anything new becomes big news in that area. My grandmother brought us all to an area with a large stone wall and a marble statue of a character from Greek mythology.

In true Guthrie/Killmer form, we mostly just took pictures at the site.

Statue of *Niobe shielding her child from attackers

My grandmother asked Will if he knew anything about Greek mythology, since he knew the Greek language. He was happy to give her the full story behind the statue. Will is working on schoolwork right now, otherwise I'd ask him for specifics, but what I understood of the story is that *Niobe was the daughter of Zeus and Diana, and she was very fertile and had around 14 kids. I'm not sure what made people want to attack her (and in Greek mythology, it really doesn't require much to induce an attack), but the story goes that all of *Niobe's children were shot with arrows in this attack. The statue is of a mother trying to protect her child.

... On a brighter note, I have lots of pictures of us playing with Ellie & Caleb at the playground!

(How does one transition to family photos after a Greek tragedy?...)

We left the statue and drove around the area, taking in the wonderful New Hampshire scenes of calm ponds and windy roads. We drove up to the "general store" which has several homemade/local foods and old school toys and candies. We left with some fudge, apple butter, and New Hampshire maple syrup.

We went home and had a cook-out lunch with the rest of the family, followed by a group outing to the nearby playground.

Most of the rest of our day can me summed up in these pictures and captions. Enjoy!

"Uncle Will" jumped right in with playing with the kids in the playground. Here he is helping Caleb climb into the slide.

This boy is the poster child for JOY. He is smiling 95% of the time he is awake, slide or no slide.

My brother Hugh and his daughter cheering on Caleb's adventures.

In true sibling form, if one child does it, the other must follow. Here's Ellie making her way up the slide...

... and Uncle Will catching her at the end. I've spared you the picture of the mega-meltdown Ellie had at the end of the slide.

Aunt Jenny's turn up the slide.

Patiently waiting my turn.

"Maybe she'll like the slide more if you're holding her..."

Nope. Still had an upset baby in my lap. But Caleb and I enjoyed the ride!

Uncle Will playing on his own on the "zip line" at the playground. The playgrounds near my home did not compare to this awesome space.

Uncle Will surprising Caleb as he makes his way down slide #2. Surprise!

My mom's attempts at the zip line. I wish I captured the audible screech she let out as she careened down the line. It was a show stopper.

Wherever Uncle Will went, that was the coolest toy of the moment. Helloooo tire swing!

"Get Ellie in there too..."

She looks traumatized.

Caleb looks confused.

Will looks gregarious.

My turn!

There was a massive rock near the playground, and we assumed it was meant for climbing and photo shoots. Here's my mom with her first grandbaby. Joy joy joy!

Sabrina was trotting around the playground documenting the fun, too.

Portrait of Uncle Will.

I couldn't resist.

This is what family pictures look like with two little ones... baby looking off in the other direction, and mom's head getting knocked by a dump truck. Smile!

New Hampshire.

He came.

He saw.

He Concord conquered.

Trapped in the tire swing. The stuff nightmares are made of.

The large yellow/white house in the background has been in my family since it was built in the 1860s. A lot of history in that home!

Mom was doing her own documenting with her fancy iPad.

The Killmers visit NH.

Fun weekend!!