new willows' apparel shop!

Well, we have done some rearranging around the shop and are happy to announce we have a brand new apparel boutique that moved into the garden shop at the Willows!

We have all our old favorite brands and some new ones!

We also moved tons of items into the sale room, so you will find lots of treasures in there, too!

Come see us!

new york and boston

After Maine, my husband and I headed to New York and Boston for a few days each before heading back west.  We took along our youngest daughter Emily (whose blog I stole all these pictures from... go check it out for more!), as she is our only one at home these days...  Sometimes I still can't believe it.

Anyway... we were actually in New York for 9/11 which was incredible.  And, as usual, I managed to pretty much eat my way through that city.  There is just too much good stuff to be had in New York.  Ok, we ate a lot in Boston, too.  That's what traveling is for, right?  Boston was wonderful.  We saw lots of the historic sights and visited Harvard.  We shopped and ate and walked all around.  It was a wonderful week after the wedding! 

But we are glad to finally be home!

having the most fun

What would we do without good friends in our lives?

the wedding

Well, watching my fifth child get married was beautiful, wonderful and emotional.  It was the perfect ceremony and reception for Alex and Mary Brigid.  It just fit them so perfectly.  They planned practically the entire thing all by themselves.  I was just so very impressed by them.  They were married in Mary's hometown church and had the reception at a beautiful old farm in Bristol, Maine.  

Really, all I have to say, is that it was just perfect.

beautiful maine!

Well, to end the crazy summer of traveling, the whole family headed out to the east coast to celebrate the wedding of my son, Alex and (his now wife!), Mary Brigid.  We rented a house on a lake near Mary's home town that slept 32 of us! (Check it out here!)  It was so fun and so beautiful, it was hard to ever come home!  We visited Mary Brigid's family's farm and saw all the animals, enjoyed tons of fresh fish and spent our days leading up to the wedding relaxing by the lake watching the kids swim and kayak.  It was glorious.  We hosted the rehearsal dinner right at the rental house and had a delicious lobster bake.  We arranged all the flowers for the rehearsal, the wedding bouquets and the reception, so we spent some serious time working in the garage making all those just right.  They actually arrived by FedEx a day late, so we called all hands on deck.  Luckily, there are quite a few of us...  It was a great week and led up to the most wonderful wedding! Pictures of that to follow!

We are so blessed to be able to spend time like this as a family!

the sign up the long dirt road to the house!

Looking out at the lake from the house deck.

Fresh fish, anyone?

Learning the ropes on the farm.

Arranging flowers.

Never too little to help around here.  We don't discriminate age when we need all hands on deck!

The groom-to-be with some of his brothers.

The beautiful bride-to-be and myself, with a sneaky little photo-bomber.

The beautiful couple! We love them so!

I stole some of these pictures from my daughter Emily's blog.  To see more, check out A Passion for a Dress!