Rolling on the River

We took advantage of a sunny morning and willing grandmas and took off up the Pemaquid River on canoes. The younger 3 cousins stayed at Grandmas house for a morning of playing and walking to the lighthouse (Gita helped push her little cousins strollers the whole way!) while the adults and the 3 older cousins enjoyed a few hours on the river with the herons and turtles. We had the Carmona canoe, the Bird canoe, and the Bosen canoe...that is one original Bosen and their spouse per boat....a great success!

90 and 91 years old!

On Tuesday, we celebrated Grandma and Grandpa's birthdays. It was the actual day of Grandpa's 91st birthday. Grandma turns 90 in September but we celebrated early since so many of us were here. Grandpa did not mind sharing his special day. He said to Grandma, "This is the first time I have shared my birthday with my beloved." sigh. I hope my marriage can stand the test of time like my grandparents'.


Birthday cake with on-looking great-grandchildren


Gita and cousin Asher share a giggle while "rocking" out


Carmona girls with Uncle Tim


the "Greats" opening their presents and cards

Half Camel/Half Poodle? : meeting the Alpacas

Today we made a noble attempt to support the local farmers market in Damariscotta. Unfortunately, only 3 farmers made an appearance. Maybe it is too early in the season to expect a great turnout. So, we abandoned that particular mission and moved onto Part 2: Winter's End Alpaca Farm in Wiscasset. First we attended "Alpaca 101" to get the low down on these fuzzy creatures. Then we were allowed to tour around the farm and check things out for ourselves.

Nimuae in an alpaca induced trance

Ladies lunching: Me, my girls, and my Grandma (90 years old in a few months!)

My mom and nephew Nathan...photo by Nim

Newest baby on the farm (10 days old) with mama

Step Falls

We packed up our stuff from the Mountain Chalet on Saturday to begin the journey from the mountains to the coast to meet up with the family in New Harbor. We took our time to extend our last day in the mountains and to break up the long drive across the state. We found an amazing trail on Nature Conservancy land that led us through a pine forest to a fabulous waterfall, Step Falls. The kids were so excited that they ran almost the whole way up the trail!

Beautiful view of the top of the waterfall
brave enough to jump in the icey water?

David is!

and Noah too!

First Few Days in Maine

We planned for super simple and smooth traveling, but ended up with massively delayed flights, hovering over VA for 4 hours at dinner time, loading 3 kids on an airplane at 12:15( yes, after midnight) landing at 2:00am and then needing to take a shuttle to a hotel. But we did arrive safely, although hungry and exhausted. We took a day to recover with the help of naps, real food and gin, and then jumped wholeheartedly into vacation!

We ventured this morning to climb Sabbattus Mountain who offered us amazing views of miles of pine forests dappled with lakes. Gita hiked the whole 2 miles.....Noah and Nim impressed us with their plant identification...and the mosquitos mostly spared us.





















We then took off in search of a lake where we could picnic and the daring could swim. We found a sweet spot on Kezar Lake where David was able to fulfill his wish for the day, jumping off a boat dock into clean, clear water.

After a mid afternoon ice cream session and some relaxing at the house, we set out to find a nice spot to see the water, watch for loons, and tire the kids out before bed. We found what we were looking for at a boat dock on Keewaydin Lake. The mosquitos finally chased us away which left us just enough time for a ping pong challenge before bed. Tomorrow we will say goodbye to our sweet Mountain Chalet and meet the family in New Harbor.

Father's Day

A beautiful, sunny day to honor and celebrate the fathers in our lives. We began with (well, we actually the day began with milking the goats, but that does not seem as celebratory as the rest of the events) a delicious batch of Puffy Pancake topped with maple syrup that Alex and Kelcey picked up at a farm on their recent trip to New Hampshire. Noah, Nim, and I made up a song for David which Noah recorded on his mp3 player he bought with his birthday money. David loved it....it might make it to the top 40 one day! In addition to the gift of a homemade song, we also gave David software to turn our new computer into a music mixing and recording studio! So now he is scheming about how he can turn the bath house into his music lair.

We spent the rest of the morning in the garden with the Loomers, the potato beetles, and the sun. We got a whole lot done including finishing the cucumber frame, weeding, mulching potatoes, weeding, cutting down the buckwheat cover crop to dose the soil the nitrogen, and
more weeding. The morning was blessed with frequent trip to the berries for some tasty snacks!



This afternoon, we all received one of the best presents of all....my lovely niece Lilikoi started crawling! She has been on the verge of it for awhile now, but was apparently holding out for just the right moment. And we got it on video.....

I called my dad around lunchtime to wish him a Happy Father's Day, but turns out he is in Rome, poor guy. So, hopefully you'll read this, Dad, and know I was thinking about you today....Happy Father's Day! love you!

We also had a bunch of kids around here today, which kept the house humming. The kids mostly enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine, but we did have a lego session upstairs. I was busy checking out the photos online of the floods in the midwest, but luckily, Nim took some photographs of the
final products.



For dinner we pulled together a little neighborhood gathering involving the grill. We enjoyed a big salad from the garden along with other side dishes, and also the company of good friends and margaritas. And a batch of freshly baked chocolate -fathers day - chip cookies topped it off.



And yet another thing to be thankful for......our trip to Maine to meet up with the family begins in 3 days!

Vanishing June

This is one of those times on the calendar that I knew was coming, but now that it is here I wonder how time is slipping away so quickly.

When we made the plans to have our annual beach trip at the beginning of the month and then head in the opposite direction for 10 days in Maine in the middle of the month, I did not quite think through all the work that would entail. So now we are in that middle place in between the two trips and I feel far too busy. But I suppose the Maine vacation will be even sweeter if I feel that I really need a break!

We packed up the van and headed to the coast of South Carolina last weekend for a long weekend of camping and beaching. We left the mountain Thursday morning to embark on the 5 hour drive down from the mountains and to the coast. We spent 3 nights and 4 days enjoying the most beautiful beach weather we could have asked for.

And the most amazing part was that my 4 bottles of bugspray (there was no way I was going to be in South Carolina for more than a second without an arsenal of bug repellent) did not even get unpacked! There was not a single mosquito on Hunting Island.

Or if there was, there must have been sweeter meat somewhere else in the campground because they were nowhere near us!


The first night we were there, we witnessed a seemingly prehistoric turtle make the sloowww journey from the sea to the beach to lay her eggs. This mama was seriously covered in moss and barnacles! The ranger said that they get about 60 "nests" a year on the island.


No matter how many times we re-applied sunblock, the kids still came back pink as roses!

Blogging in Pajamas

..
News Flash:
We finally have internet service out here in the sticks!
This is huge! Our internet availability used to be limited to the three days I was at work. Not any more, baby! Now there is no limit to our access, at least for David and I...the kids need to follow all sorts of rules, regulations, and parental controls...which, according to them, is "like, totally unfair!"

News Flash #2:
Leaving today for a long weekend camping at Hunting Island, SC. It is our annual camping trip with Meredith, Kevin, and kids. Get ready mosquitos, here comes some juicy eats!

Here is what excites the kids about the beach...

Noah:boogie boarding and running around in the sand and finding sea shells
Nimuae: playing in the water, playing with Banyan and Noah, playing on the shore, playing with shells
Gita: watching movies in the car

......to each their own