July Who?

So after Newsies came July and now it's August, but I'm left wondering what happened to July.  Can a whole month just disappear?  I mean, I know some pretty important things took place during the month, but now I just can't believe an entire month can feel like it never happened.

We started out the month with a July 4th Blowout party, as we knew this would be the last time we could enjoy celebrating the holiday on our porch.  But before that took place, Spike and I wanted to take a bike ride around Boston to enjoy all of the festivities around town.  We got to see the Hatch Shell all dressed up for the 4th and we rode our bikes down a deserted Storrow Drive, which was extra cool.  We made our way over to Charlestown to see the Constitution sailing and then we stopped at the "fair food" trucks on the Esplanade where I got a giant ice cream cone and Spike got a sausage.

Then we went home and prepped for the party, which involved red, white, and blue food, of course.  We greeted new friends and old as everyone came to celebrate the fourth and to say goodbye to the porch.  Later that night, Spike and I laughed about how our parties used to involve heavy drinking and usually ended with the fireworks at 11pm and now they included babies and ended closer to 8pm.  It was still a great time and my nostalgia was banished the next day when I found out that Wakefield has the largest 4th of July parade in the country.  More on that later...

 The next day we drove through New Hampshire and Vermont to Lake Champlain.  My cousins and their families were there visiting from California and we wanted to see them, as well as to enjoy some quality lake time.  We had a great visit with the cousins and swam in the lake to our hearts' content.  Hanging out with these two cuties wasn't bad either.

The next week, we bought a house.  We'd been looking since last year and finally found a beautiful four square colonial in the town of Wakefield.  Although it was a long time coming, it wasn't any less of a shock to the system.  I'm so glad we found our "forever house," but the realities of home ownership and a thirty year mortgage were a bit surprising to me.  Did you know that when you buy a house you even buy the dirt in the basement?  And that you also purchase the washing machine that almost starts a fire in the aforementioned basement after its third use?  We moved in last weekend and I'm so excited to get everything unpacked as we slowly make it our own.

On top of that major life change, I started a new job on Monday!  It's still at MIT and still even in the same building, so it's not that dramatic, but it's different people and different things to learn, so I'm trying not to be completely overwhelmed.  "Change is good," I keep telling myself!  If it all happens in one month, so be it!  I'm sure that someday I'll look back at July 2012 as one of the happiest months in my life, so I just wish I could remember it better!