End of Summer

Here are some highlights from August as we wrap-up summer: 

Finn somehow managed to fit into Petya's stroller, and she took great pride in pushing him around. 

I climbed quite a bit. I love the sport. 

We picked and ate a LOT of berries from our garden. Finn enjoyed hiking so much more when blueberries and huckleberries were fruiting. 

We played with cousins at Grammy Haskins home. 

We enjoyed some LLBean poster-worthy views from our hikes. Speaking of berry picking...Petya was a repeat offender too. 

We played mini golf at Pirates Cove...

We tired to convince people we were pirates...

Swung on tire swings...

Read books and watched movies...

Saved the day in super hero fashion...

Stayed at a cabin on Beechill Pond...

Played on the water...

Looked cute...

Took photos of cheesy smiles...

Ate s'mores...

And just enjoyed roasted marshmallows...

Paddled at sunset...

Eating outside...

Fishing...

What a beautiful way to finish up another miraculous summer in Maine! We are truly blessed and thankful for our adventures we have in Maine. 

Happy Birthday, Madie!

I took a day off work to spend it with Madie and take her on a camping trip. It was a lot of fun! Madie was pretty clear on what she wanted to do: rock climbing, and swimming. So I did my best to make this happen. We started out by treating her to lunch at 2 Cats, which was basically breakfast or brunch. It was good food. Mal, Finn, and Petya were about to come with us, but Madie wouldn't have it. She just wanted it to be me and her. So that's what we did. We went there, and Madie went with French toast. After lunch, we went climbing at South Bubble. It took 15 minutes to hike to lower slab, 10 minutes to set up. After getting everything all set, Madie had some fears kick in. She feels a lot more comfortable in a gym, but she did pretty well. We need to work on helping her feel comfortable with the equipment, but she climbed up about 10 feet or so. It lasted about 5 to 10 minutes, then she said she was done. So I took it all down, and we hiked out. Very short climbing session, but it was a good start. We headed to Echo Lake to swim, then ended up at the Seawall Campground to set up camp. I loved playing Yahtzee with her. Once the sun went down, we walked down to the seawall to watch the moon, and look at the night sky. She was really interested in identifying planets and talking about space in general. She wanted to see a shooting star really bad, but the moon was way too bright for that! In the morning, we packed up camp and headed home for homemade donuts. Success!

Picking Madie's brain at 7 years old:

• Favorite color: pink and black
• Favorite breakfast: german pancakes
• Favorite lunch: pasta with pesto
• Favorite dinner: see breakfast
• Favorite season: summer
• Favorite month: August
• Favorite holiday: Christmas; because of presents, food, fun family activities
• Best friend: Cora
• Favorite cousins: Kylie, Lexi, and Sadie in one
• Favorite vegetable: corn
• Favorite fruit: strawberries
• Favorite book: "I can't decide! Just write down all of them!"
• Favorite movie: Sword and the Stone, because "...the squirrel kisses the boy and she is really funny. It's funny when she cries."
• Favorite game: No Way (or B.S.)
• Favorite sport: Hockey 
• Favorite restaurant: Rosalies is best for dinner. 2 Cats for breakfast
• Favorite meat: hot dogs
• Favorite place to visit: "California. Not sure why, but it just looks good. I remember the missionaries coming over when we lived there."
• If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?: "Here! Because I can't leave Conners Emerson School!"
• When you grow up, what do you want to be?: Scientist because it sounds like fun.  
• What do you like about primary?: Not as boring as Sacrament Meeting. 
• Best friend at church?: Jillian
• Favorite ice cream: mint oreo
• Favorite donut: powdered sugar, glazed.
• Favorite pizza: cheese from Rosalies
• Favorite cereal: cinnamon squares 
• Favorite thing about Mumma: "She does nice things for us, like watch movies and gives us food."
• Favorite thing about Finn: "He is silly because sometimes he puts his shirt over his legs and says he is an old lady. And sometimes he drinks water and says 'yup...thank you' really sternly. he makes me laugh a lot!" She was cracking up as she explained this. 
• Favorite thing about Petya: "That she's cuuuuute, and sweet. Sometimes when I'm crying she taps me and says sweet baby words. Her feet smell good. Her hands are soft, and when other adults tell her what to do she gets sad. She lets me hold her, and pick her up from nursery. I love it when she grabs my hand and takes me places."
• Favorite thing about Grammy and Grampy: "Do nice things for me and let me do anything!"
• Favorite thing about Nana and Papa: "Same as Grammy and Grampy."
• Favorite thing about camping: S'mores, hot dogs, and sleeping in a tent. 
• Favorite thing about sleeping in a tent: I'm not sure. 
• Favorite thing about Elvis: "He's cute. And he rests his head on my lap."
• Favorite thing about Dad: "Does fun things with us. That's probably it, that's all you really do. Like camping, take us bike riding."
• Favorite animal: cats, because they are so soft and sweet
• If you had a farm, what animals would be on it: Horses, chickens, alpacas, sheep, goats, piglets, cows. 
• If you had a super power, what would it be?: shoot sparks from hand. 
• Favorite fish: salmon
• Favorite Sunday activity: Church
• Favorite Dessert: ice cream 
• Favorite Flower: Roses, because they are pretty and pedals are soft
• If you were a wild animal, what would you be?: Fox, because I think they are pretty, but I can't choose between a red and grey fox.
• If you lived in the ocean, what would you be?: Penguin, because they are pretty and cute in the way they act.

Camping in the Bigelows

The original plan we had included returning to Katahdin Ironworks, but the Van Dongans couldn't make it due to a last-minute conflict. A family get together down in Hope also popped up on our radar for Saturday. So I pulled the trigger and decided to switch where we would camp. Cathedral Pines Campground in Eustice, ME was our new destination. It came highly recommended by some people at work. I had also seen a lot of photos of the Bigelow Preserve, which looked very impressive. We headed out on Friday morning, and it was raining pretty good the whole drive over. We stopped in Sugarloaf for lunch, and set up camp when we got there. We swam in Flagstaff Lake and enjoyed a warm camp fire. We may have woken up to pouring rain, but we did bring a very comfortable sleeping pad (our queen mattress cover), which made our bed so nice! But getting up and taking down camp with everything just soaking wet was pretty lousy. I honestly just shoved it all in the back of the car, strapped the kids in, and we took off. Rain had been threatening Maine for weeks, but hadn't been very substantial since mid-July. Of course the rain finally touched down when we decide to go camping! I suppose it is better than a drought, though. 

On the way to Seth's home in Hope, we drove through Waterville to take showers at the YMCA. Luckily, they let us in for free to clean up. Before we got to Seth's, we passed by an alpaca farm and had to stop (of course!). Madie decided she wants pet a alpaca. They had some alpaca teddy bears and other products that were so soft. She was definitely sold. 

Big bikes

I took the kids bike riding today. Finn is on a big boy bike now, with training wheels, which means Petya gets the trike! They loved riding around the outdoor basketball court. Madie and Finn enjoy being timed to see how fast they can cross the court. Petya can't quite get her feet to the peddles when they're down, so I pushed her around quite a bit, but she does like to just push it around while she hits her shins against the back.

Mangoes

Someone was caught with the bag of dried mangoes. 

And then we changed about 10 orange diapers.

8th Anniversay

Here's to eight wonderful years. I mean, really, who lucked out? We did. 

We enjoyed a picnic on the beach while we watched a storm roll in. It was a little buggy, but it was gorgeous.