Last Hurrah Before Baby!

On Saturday we spent the day in Mt. Dessert Island and Acadia National Park (pretty much one of our very favorite places ever).  It was sort of our last big hurrah before the baby comes.  We went down to visit our dear friends, the Litchfields, who bought a camp in that area!  We don't get to see them nearly enough (they work with Lifelines in New Hampshire) so this was a special treat.  It was fun to see their new place...the setting was amazing and the camp itself was quite the work in progress (but if anybody can pull it off they can)!  We didn't get to visit with them as much as I would have loved too because they were knee deep in mud, gravel, chipping wood, and major home renovations but we did get to have lunch together and visit for a bit.  I wish we could have helped them more, but I'm not exactly in the best condition for helping with major construction!:)  So after lunch with them we visited a local boat launch/swimming area to let the kids and pup cool off (because even though we were on the coast it was still around 90 degrees and humid as all get out).  After that we stopped at a great sand beach on the ocean where the kids had a blast (and where Sadie and I rested in the air conditioned car because dogs weren't allowed on the beach).

And then we took a drive up Cadillac Mountain.  We have been up there so many times before, but Eli didn't really remember it and it was so fun to see him in such awe of everything (the drive up the mountain, the view, climbing on the rocks, seeing the islands, etc...).  He was certain he could see our house from the top!:)

And they probably would have been happy running around up there for hours if we had let them! And then on the way out we stopped for ice cream at one of my favorite little places (it's my favorite not because of the ice cream, but really because of these really fun swings they have for the kids)! The kids had so much fun on the swings and I had so much fun photographing them on the swings!  

By the time we got home there was just enough time for a BBQ dinner, a shower to clean up, and then right to bed! What a full, fun day and a wonderful way to spend our last outing as a family of four!

4th of July

You have probably figured out by now that I like to do little (and sometimes big) things to make birthdays and holidays extra special!  I found lots of fun 4th of July ideas...decorations, and treats, and crafts to do with the kids.  But when it came down to it this year I just didn't have the energy to plan or follow through.  So I decided for once to go a little bit more low key.   And it was a really fun day.

Lily insisted that we go to the 4th of July parade so even though it was close to 90 degrees and there was very little shade we decided to honor her request.  And do you know what?  Even though I didn't plan or make any 4th of July crafts while I was in the shower that morning Lily totally took it upon herself to get paper and markers and make American flags (which she then attached to craft sticks) for each of us to wave during the parade.  I just adore that girl!

Here she is with her flag at the parade!

And so we sat in the heat and watched the parade.  Well, okay, we watched probably a little over half of the parade and then we convinced the kids it was nearly over and we left (because Joe and I were just roasting in the heat)!:)

And then after a quick lunch we packed it up and hit the water for our first motor boat ride of the year!  I know, it's crazy that it's just now our first one, but we had to get some things on the boat fixed and it was finally finished just in time for the holiday.  Our friends, the Betters, joined us and we spent a wonderful afternoon on the water and at our favorite little sand beach.  You have to boat to get there so usually we have "our" little beach to ourselves, but this day it was a little more crowded.  We still pretty much had our own little area so that was nice and other than trying to keep Sadie away from the other dogs (or other dogs away from Sadie because one was just a little too friendly) we had a wonderful time.  We waded and swam in the wonderfully cooling weather and this very pregnant mama was oh so happy!  And we talked and enjoyed a simple picnic dinner, and let the kids spray us over and over again with their water guns!  And I hoped that the cool water and the bumpy boat ride would send me into labor and that our little man would declare his own independence that day, but he did not!:)

So instead we went home and cleaned up and went out for ice cream (and I indulged a bit because, after all, it was a holiday)!  And then we met back up with our friends and headed downtown for the fireworks.  The fireworks show was really just okay (though the finale was pretty good), but we had a great spot to watch and Eli loved every second of his first real 4th of July fireworks!  And at 10:30p.m. (hours past their normal bedtime) the kids conked out on the ride home and Joe and I weren't far behind them!

A pretty great 4th of July if I do say so myself!

Family Weekends

In June we spent a couple of weekends down with Joe's family.  The first one Joe was actually doing a back-to-back rock climbing re-certification and whitewater rescue course so the kids and I packed it up and headed down to stay with Joe's parent's for a bit and to celebrate our niece Annie's first birthday!

 

Life is always so good and easy when we are with the cousins...they all play so well together and keep each other entertained for such a long time! Add is some water like a sprinkler or a water gun fight and it's even better! And I just love this picture of Eli and Grampy in battle! I also have to give major credit to our nephew Chandler (who is soon to be a senior in high school) because he played water gun fight with the little ones for a long time...they all just ganged up on him and chased him around and he was such a wonderful sport!  

And of course we celebrated the birthday girl!! It's so hard to believe that this last little girl Cousin is already one year old!

   

And the next day we spent time enjoying the new swing set that Grampy built for the kids in their backyard!  

And zapping bugs!

  

And sometimes swinging and zapping bugs at the same time!:) 

And the day after that we joined up with our cousins again (just the little ones this time) and all visited the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center near Portland.And enjoyed the frog pond filled with many frogs and tadpoles, explored the children's area (where the glass viewing area of the beehive was the biggest hit), had a picnic, and wandered through their amazing peony gardens!  

What a fun weekend! The 2nd weekend we were down with family was really fun too...except that I didn't take any pictures! We went down for Joe's cousin Katie's wedding. It was an incredibly beautiful back yard celebration and even the kids loved it (you should have seen Eli, our normally shy little guy, busting a move on the dance floor)!

 And the day after the wedding we had a great visit with our wonderful friends the Winslows. We have missed them so much since they moved a few years ago and every time we see them it's still just as good and easy to be together. They just got a new puppy so Sadie was able to join us and the pups were fast friends as well!:) 

 And if that weren't enough we spent the day after that visiting a local fort (where our puppy may or may not have used a historical landmark as a bathroom...which we did clean up). After our visit to the fort Joe's parents graciously watched the kids while we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening visiting with friends in Southern Maine that we don't get to see often enough (including one friend, Stef, that we haven't seen in years)! We had a wonderful dinner at a little lobster roll cafe (Four Mile Lobster) in Cape Neddick that our dear friends just opened (Joe says it's the best lobster roll he's ever had so be sure to stop in if you are ever in the area)! And finally Joe spent the evening speaking at a men's Bible Study (and fundraising) while I visited with two wonderful friends! 

Aaaahhhh....two great weekends with family and friends! And that wrapped up our overnight trips for a while. We are headed to Bar Harbor tomorrow to visit for the day with friends there and then we will plan on being home for a bit as we welcome baby boy!

Nap Time!

Both Lily and Eli go without naps now.  Eli started giving them up (aka refusing to take them) towards the beginning of the year which was at a much earlier age than Lily did, but it just wasn't worth the fight anymore. Every great now and then he will get so tired that he naps in the afternoon and if we are in the car in the afternoon driving longer than 20 minutes he will often fall asleep...and sleep so hard that we can usually move him inside without waking him and he'll sleep for a good hour or two.  Of course there are consequences...usually it takes him up to two hours longer to fall asleep on those nights...so it's sort of a toss up!

On this day the kids were up in their rooms having "quiet time" for a bit in the afternoon.  Quite often we will let the kids play quietly together during this time if they want to and if they are behaved, but this day they were each having time in their own rooms because we felt like they each really needed some down time.  Lily was working on some sort of art project and Eli was just way too quiet.   I was pretty positive that he fell asleep (since he's never that quiet for that long)...but I didn't expect to find him like this...all snuggled up, fast asleep with his blanket, in his hanging hugglepod chair!  He slept like this for some time and woke up quite happy!

It's Berry Time!

It's that wonderful time of year...berry season!!

And as you probably know by now I'm a bit obsessed with picking our own fruit!:)

We've been strawberry picking 3 times so far...well, I should say that Joe and the children have been strawberry picking 3 times!  First it was Joe and both kids, and then just Joe and Eli for the 2nd time.  He insisted both times that the strawberry fields were no place for me being so pregnant and that I was better off staying home.  I guess it didn't take too much convincing.  But...the 3rd time around I insisted that I had to come, even if it were just to get a few pictures!

So, this was our last strawberry outing.  Lily was still really excited to help, but apparently Eli was over the whole experience.  He picked a couple to eat and he helped move the carrier Joe built around, but after that he was finished and actually hung out in the van for a bit while the rest of us finished.  And though Joe was convinced that I would be useless in picking (it IS rather hard for me to bend over these days) I did manage to pick 2-3 quarts!  

All told it was a good strawberry season and we picked 25 quarts.  Truth be told though I'm not sure it was enough.  We made strawberry shortcake, an AMAZING strawberry,lemon bundt cake, strawberry jam, and of course we ate a few and froze the rest.  I'm wishing we had more.  If the fields were a little closer or I was able to move a little better I would be trying to convince Joe that we should go back out one more time. I still might...but I don't think he'll fall for it!