Outlet shopping and the Old Man

Friday, August 7

Friday was our designated day to go outlet shopping--the whole herd of us. It was our last full day up in the mountains, so we wanted to do something a bit low-key. Turned out to be a lot low-key for the three of us. We got there in the late morning, and only shopped a little while before we all needed to break for lunch. (We scored some awesome $3.99 deals at The Children's Place outlet.) We headed to a nearby Burger King for lunch--it was really nice, too. There was a whole section in the middle that was sunken down, with cushy chairs and couches and a big fireplace in the middle. Anyway, we got a quick picture of the kids in their crowns. Matthew's pose cracks me up.



I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that Ari had herself a little attitude problem right before we left, so we skipped the rest of the outlets (which was fine, since we didn't have a lot of spare money to blow) and returned to the house so she could take a much-needed nap. And after the go-go-go pace of the week, it was nice to have an afternoon to just chill at the house.

Tony wanted me to take a picture of this rock that he and Josh scaled earlier in the week. This was in the backyard of the house, and Tony made a point of going on and on about how climbing this rock was very dangerous, because all that wood you see on the top was all rotted and such. I'm not sure where I was when they climbed it, but I think my sister got pictures. Anyway, the rock looks twice as big from the other side, so go on and be all impressed with Tony and Josh and their mad rock-scaling skillz.



Saturday, August 8

This was our last day in the White Mountains, and before we left, we got a few family shots. I'm glad we did, too--somehow I was under the impression that I'd gotten a lot of family shots already, but I guess I didn't.

Me and my favorite sister...



Mahmon Bazorg, me and my sister... (And, no, I'm really not the tallest of the bunch--I was on a step. So was Mahmon, actually. Mary is the tallest in real life.)



Mahmon Bazorg with her granddaughters and great-grandkids...



Mahmon Bazorg, Mary, Matthew, and Josh...



Mahmon Bazorg, Ari, Tony, and me... (I don't know what Ari was doing here...probably struggling to get away)



Then the cousins said goodbye. Another blurry shot, but it's still sweet.



We were all out of the house around 10. The rest of my family headed toward Boston to drop off Mahmon Bazorg and introduce Matthew to a few other relatives out there, and Tony, Ari and I lingered in the White Mountains for a little while. We weren't quite ready to say good-bye. We made a stop at the Old Man of the Mountain... well, where he used to be, anyway. The stone profile collapsed back in 2005 (which still makes me sad), but it's still a beautiful walk down to the viewing point.

Before we got started on the trail...



And here's where the Old Man used to be. You can see by the sign what the profile used to look like... then you can look at the mountain and see what it looks like now. *sniff*



Tony and Ari picked me some flowers...



And Ari got a big kick out of presenting them to me and yelling, "Surprise!"



Tony wanted one last picture of the two of us before we left. Sadly, this was the best of the bunch. Oh well. We tried. And yes, I am wearing a sweatshirt because holy cow, it was chilly that morning.



And we all piled back in the car and drove home. We stopped for lunch along the way, and got home around dinnertime, which was perfect--we had time to unload the car and chill for a bit before it got too late at night.

And if anyone's wondering, I'm still not totally unpacked. Oh, hush. I guess now that I'm done with the picture entries, I have no more excuses.