"Can I please, please, please go to childcare?"

Lily and Husdon

Dropping Eli off at Childcare

Childcare time down by the cove

Lily and Hudson- good friends- too cute!

I just love this picture of Lily!

Above: Eli in the childcare room (in the church parish hall)

Below: Lily and her boys (Jack and Husdon)

While we were on the project in Bar Harbor we had full time (40 hours a week) childcare! Of course I couldn't quite take full advantage of that because I couldn't be away from Eli for too long (since he was still eating every three hours). But I was able to be pretty involved in the project and many of the other moms were able to be very involved so it was wonderful in that way. We had two AMAZING childcare workers- Anna and Elizabeth. Anna is a good friend of ours (with a one year old daughter of her own) and Elizabeth is a student from U-Maine (and now a friend too). These too did the most wonderful job with our children. In fact, Elizabeth is now the only other person besides Joe and I that is able to get Eli to go to sleep! We are thrilled that she will be living only a few minutes away from us this fall (and willing to do some babysitting).

So not only was childcare a blessing for us, but Lily just absolutely LOVED it! In fact on one of our days off she said to me, "Can I please, please, please go to childcare?" She just loved being with the other kids (her little friends)- she is such a little extrovert. Not only did she get to play with her friends but they also got to do many fun things like crafts, playing games, taking trips down the road to the cove, time in the sprinkler, daily song/music time, etc...

Hip Hip Hooray for wonderful childcare!

P.S. Thanks to Anna for these great pictures she took of the kids in childcare!

Scoot

On our last day off in Bar Harbor we actually arranged for childcare for all the parents- which meant that Joe and I got to go out and have a little fun together (without the kids)! So, here

is where I fulfilled another summer project dream that was left unfulfilled two year ago. That's right- I've been dreaming about riding a motor scooter through the park and around the island for years now! Okay, maybe it's a little corny, but somehow I just knew it would be fun. And I was right. Joe and I convinced our friends Gabe and Amanda (who are just so much fun to be around) to join us in renting four sweet little yellow bikes and we formed our own little scooter gang. I'm sure it was a pretty entertaining sight. Actually Joe's parents who got into town that afternoon did see us riding around (only they didn't know it was us)! We spent three hours riding around the island and the park and even riding up (and down) Cadillac Mountain (where we got an incredible view of the fog banks lifting up off of some of the smaller islands). It was kind of cold, pretty windy, and at times a little rainy- but overall it was so much fun!! I actually think that this is pretty much an ideal way to see Acadia National Park (especially if it were on a warm, sunny day). I'll definitely do it again (and next time maybe I won't need a lesson to learn to ride it)! Thanks by the way to Gabe who gave me the pictures from his camera (I thought it best that I leave my camera at home for this little adventure)!

Rock Climbing Mamas

On our last outing day of the project the staff men decided that they wanted the moms to have the afternoon to be able to climb as much as they wanted. It was so sweet of them to realize that, as moms, we never get as much time to climb (or do other activities)- both on the project and in everyday life. This was my first time rock climbing since becoming pregnant with Eli and probably only my 4th or 5th time climbing since Lily was born! Needless to say I'm a little out of practice and a little out of shape, but I had a great time anyway (as did the other moms). I did make it to the top of this climb and my friend Emily got some pictures in the process. I'm already looking forward to the next time!

Staff Climbing

And here are some of the pictures I got of a few of our staff climbing another afternoon!

Otter Cliff

I fulfilled another dream this summer when I was finally able to get out and photograph some of our rock climbing trips at Otter Cliff. I got these shots of the students climbing while suspended half way down the cliff out over the ocean. It was incredible (but more about that in a future post). Enjoy!