First week of summer break

This week has been filled with typical summer break stuff; Noah playing with his friends all day (rain or shine), eating popsicles, riding bikes, trading Pokemon cards, and playing at the Orange Park with all it's drama....

We managed to leave the neighborhood one day though and go to Old Orchard Beach with some friends and had a really nice time. OOB is outside of Portland and it has a boardwalk with restaurants, shops, and rides. It was Katy's first time at the beach and we made sure that her precious skin was protected by keeping her in the shade the whole time. I was a sand Nazi the first hour or so and barked at everyone to stay off my blanket. But, Lily just didn't get it and would walk on it or walk by it and fall on it all covered in sand. So, I gave up. Noah and his friend Adam had a sand fight and Lily layed down and let the waves roll her around for the longest time. We had to drag her away when it was time to go. We left just in time and were pulling out of the parking lot when there was a thunder storm.

We leave in a few days to go to GA for a couple of weeks and are looking forward to seeing family, hitting our favorite restaurants, running the Peachtree Roadrace, and a nice week long beach trip with Carol and her boys. Can't wait!

Summertime in Maine

There are beautiful little harbors like this all around the Mid Coast of Maine where we live. I think it's so cool to drive down a road and stumble upon a little treasure like this. Just gorgeous!

Lily and the terribly terrific two's

She is so adorable. She is very SMART. She LOVES books. She wants to be read to often, but especially at night before bed with hot milk. She knows her colors and shapes. She's a Mommy's girl, but likes to tell Mommy what to do. She loves her brother and sister. She loves the "Princess Lily" stories that Daddy tells her. She loves to be the center of attention and whines if she's not. She loves lemonade. She loves "ice tream tones".She loves to sit on Daddy's shoulders. She loves to wear dresses and when she has on a Sunday dress that is extra pretty, she likes to show Daddy so he can make over her. She likes to be held after her nap until she feels ready to get up or she is grumpy. She can destroy a room in 1 minute or less. She can drag baby Katy from her playmat to the other side of the room in the time it takes Mommy to walk into the kitchen and back. She is so happy in the morning and always greets me with a "good morning Mommy." She is very loving and gives the best hugs and kisses.

Big Man on Campus

That's my Noah, the B.M.O.C. I didn't realize just how popular he really was until I went to have lunch with him yesterday at school. He has lots of friends and a few kids asked if they could sit with him, but he pulled out a list he'd made of the friends he wanted to sit with him. (OK Noah, where is your tact). I noticed all of the lunch ladies knew him by name and he just seemed to own the place. I had Katy with me and he was very proud to show her off to everyone, and at least 10 people told me that she looks just like Noah. Mrs. Ringrose says that he is just a great guy and she has really enjoyed having him in her class this year. He just naturally seems to be a leader, (I wonder where he gets that from) and it's a great quality to have. I'm happy he has had such a wonderful beginning to his school career here in ME at Coffin School. I hope that he will have just as good an experience in GA for the next school year while T is away. I don't worry about him too much because he learns things quickly and is quite the social butterfly.

Katy at 6 months

She is a beautiful and delightful baby. She has gorgeous sparkly blue eyes. She is so easy going. She has a smile for everyone. She loves to be held upside down by Daddy. She loves Daddy's butterfly kisses. She is very interested in food now and bananas are her favorite. She is rolling over. She hasn't quite mastered it by herself yet, but she loves to sit up. She squeals and makes these gutteral noises (Daddy calls them gremlin noises.) Noah and Lily just LOVE Katy so much they want to play with her all of the time, and Lily will even will even wake her up to do it.

I heart Maine

It was such a beautiful day today with sun, easy breezes, and low humidity. I decided to take a drive with the girls after lunch, hoping they would fall asleep, but also because I wanted to see the water. I drove over to Cundy's Harbour because I hadn't been there before and wanted to check it out. There isn't much to it; a restaurant, general store, marina....but the water was so pretty, almost emerald looking against the dark rocks. Then we drove down to Orr's Island and Bailey Island and stopped along the way to get ice cream. Lily loves "ice tream tones" and is so happy when she gets one. She never actually eats much of it, just licks it until it melts and makes a mess, then she's done. Neither one of them fell asleep, and actually Katie cried quite a bit of the time, but it was still nice. Taking a drive on a day like today makes me feel alive and ready to explore. I think I'll take them again soon when I have my camera with me and I'll let Lily get out and explore the beach and collect shells. Maine is so beautiful and it makes me sad to be leaving soon. I have mixed feelings about moving onto our next adventure because part of me wants to go ahead and get the move over with and get settled in GA, but then a part of me really likes it here and will miss it.

I saw Meredith today

Meredith is my/our therapist. We have been seeing her for a few weeks now to work some issues in our marriage and I think it has been going well. We are learning to communicate better with each other and it's amazing how much better we are getting along. I really like her and the way she makes me feel. She is so warm and non-judgemental and I feel like I can tell her anything. And, there really is something to be said for talking with someone that is unbiased and doesn't take sides because she tells it like it is and that's what we've needed. I left there today feeling better about myself and like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I love being able to say whatever is on my mind and it's OK. I mean it really feels good to know that my feelings are what they are and it's perfectly OK to have them.

Sisterly Love

Lily just loves Katy! But, she also loves to sit on, lay on, roll over on, scratch, bite, and pinch her too. It's so hard right now to give Lily all the attention that she craves. She was the baby before Katy came along and she still wants to be the baby. When she feels like she is not getting the attention that she needs she starts to whine and cry, and fall apart. When that doesn't work she turns up the volume and then continues to whine, cry, and fall apart. We know that this is the way things are right now and are hoping that things will get better as Katy gets older and they can actually play together.

Revised 6-11-08
Katie was laying on her baby Einstein playmat on the floor and Lily was laying next to her playing with her. It seemed like things were OK for a minute so I went in the kitchen, but just a minute or so later I hear Katie scream so I went to check it out and she's not on the mat anymore and Lily is standing over by the love seat looking guilty with her hands behind her back. She had dragged Katie off the mat over behind the love seat and she was laying on the hardwood floor. Of course I let Lily know that wasn't nice and to stop doing things like that to Katie, but it made me laugh a little because this is such typical Lily behavior these days.

Ottawa

We spent Memorial Day weekend traveling to Ottawa so that Travis could take part in the ING Marathon. It was also a good excuse to see a new place and make a family trip out of it.

Ottawa is a beautiful city where everything is in French and English. The weather was great- sunny with temps in the 70's. We stayed downtown at the Crown Plaza on the 24th floor with an awesome view of the river. We had a nice room, but it was a little small for the 5 of us. Lily and Noah would sit on the ledge by the window and say "let's look at the city", "let's eat our snack and look at the city", and sometimes we would tell them "go look at the city!"

While we were there we spent time walking around downtown exploring looking for restaurants, checking out the local markets, and seeing the sights. I think our favorite restaurant by far was St. Hubert! They are a chain and serve roasted chicken with gravy. Their sign has a silly looking chicken on it, so you think you're getting a casual place, but it's really a pretty nice. Travis and Noah could not stop talking about the gravy so we had to make sure we ate there before we left Canada and found one right on the border. Another fun place that we went to twice was Midway, a Family Fun Center with games, go carts, and a jungle gym. It was a nice place to take the kids to get some extra energy out. Travis and I also enjoyed going to this nice Mediterranean Market where we got a little sampling of things: hummus, falafel, olives, and several kinds of baklava.

We totally enjoyed our trip even with the hairy moments that happen with 3 kids. Thank goodness we have a DVD player in the van because it really helps on long trips. We watched "Annie" for the first time and the kids loved it so much that they wanted to be orphans. Our favorite songs were "NYC" and "Easy Street" and we were singing them even when we weren't watching it! The next trip we will be taking is to GA at the end of the month, but we will be flying, so that should be alot of fun. Not!

Peace, Love, and Ice Cream

How cool is that? This is Noah from our trip to the totally awesome Ben & Jerry's Factory in Waterbury, VT. It was fun for us all and we enjoyed the sample of Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream at the end. Of course you are welcome to buy more and we did! Noah chose his favorite Chunky Monkey, and Travis and I chose the Coconut 7 layer bar flavor that is not available in stores. Vermont is so beautiful! We stayed overnight in Stowe at the Golden Eagle Spa and Resort and Travis and I both enjoyed a massage. We all ate dinner at a neat little place across the street called Pie in the Sky and had some great thin crust pizza. "The Blond Vermonter" was especially good with local Vermont cheese and apples.

I LOVE VT!!