Moments of the Month | August 2011

August 2011 will go down in the McLaughlin history books as … wet.

Even before Hurricaine Irene had us running for the hills (more on that in a minute), we already had experienced several rainy days and one major flood caused by record rainfall combined with full moon high tides. The floods created some interesting opportunities for fun — boogeyboarding on the ballfield and wading in the dunes, for example.

Of course, there were a handful of sunny beach days, but once memory plays its tricks, those will be categorized as having happened in July, and we’ll think about August with thanks that the damage was minimal and (hopefully!) that everything eventually dried out.

Our trip to the Berkshires was a highlight of August. Because of the hurricaine, it involved less biking, hiking and rafting than some of us would have liked. Others among us might admit that the slower pace felt just fine before our return to ‘real life’ — we did lots of reading, strolling, fort-building, playing board games and generally just lazing around.

I’ve put together some of my favorite photos from our trip in the slideshow below and as usual, the pictures tell the story better than any words could. The song choice was inevitable — it was stuck in my head the entire time we were in the Berkshires, and I couldn’t stop singing it (much to the annoyance of my fellow travelers). Enjoy …