life in vacationland

Today being Memorial Day, we took some long overdue family time and went kayaking by Great Island.  We did some island hopping in fact, and stopped off at a few small islands to explore and snack.

And goof around

Gus was my paddling companion in the Lyza M'Aura this afternoon. (The boat that Rick and I built a couple of years ago.)

We saw hundreds thousands millions of these jellyfish everywhere we paddled today.  There were so many of these translucent orbs in the water that our paddles would send them soaring through the water with every stroke.     

What a day!  What a place to live!!

Happy Birthday Dear Moriah!

My baby girl is 9! 

And Nine years was celebrated with friends to sleep over and play silly games with, a special breakfast out with Daddy, and a truly delicious cake...4 layers of white chocolate cake with lemon filling sandwiched between, covered with a decadent layer of white chocolate cream cheese frosting, and dusted all over with coconut...I love it that my kids have such great taste!


"...Now blow your candles out my dear, and make your wish come true!"

This is a girl with a ready smile.
This is a girl with a kind word for everyone.
This is a girl who never complains.
This is a girl who is happy over others' joys.
This is a girl who brings great joy to others' lives.
This is a girl with a great sense of humor!
This is a girl I don't deserve, but have great delight in!!

May all your wishes come true and more importantly, may God continue to richly bless you as you grow in grace and stature.

Happy Birthday, Moriah.

And in closing, the birthday girl herself hacked into my blog and added her own two cents:

"Mom I'm not a baby!!!!!!" Man this blog is embarasing!!!!!!!

Proms and Plays

This is a time of overlapping seasons.  We're finishing up with school for the summer, planning the next school year, beginning (with fear and trepidation) to write high school transcripts, thinking about college applications to be sent in this fall, rehearsing for plays, going to prom--that was unexpected-- mowing grass, playing baseball, finishing up the siding project on the back of the house, and only wishing to be in the garden, but somewhat consoled by the fact that even if I had the time to be out there, the rain prevents it. 

Since I homeschool my kids, I never thought I'd be confronted with prom details...but...Zac wrote the ACT in April, and met a girl who found all of the boys at her school tiresome, and Zac so easy to talk to that she talked him into going to the prom with her.  So here they are, all decked out for the evening!                                                                            

                                                                                          

Zac was ready to throw in the towel on the whole proceeding when he learned that he had to dress up in a suit, but I think he cleaned up rather nicely!  Noelle looked perfectly sweet in this vintage dress she chose for the occasion. 

Meanwhile, we attended the play that Rachel has been rehearsing for and singing parts from for the past few months.  She is in the Gilbert and Sullivan play, the Gondoliers, with a high school group in Portland. She has enjoyed it very much, and even has a chorus solo in it. 

I've been surprised at how much Rachel has enjoyed this.  She's typically pretty quiet, and being on stage is a new experience for her, but one she looks forward to repeating next year.  The rehearsal schedule has been fairly grueling as it all takes place a 30 minute drive from home, but she's enjoyed it so much, and has such a giving nature herself, how could a parent refuse?  This is a dream child for me...she LOVES to do crafty things, which is SO not my thing, and so often does fun projects with her sisters and little brother, (things that I could only do with gritted teeth) that driving her to practice is a pretty small thing really.

She has two more performances, and almost as important, a cast party! 

                                            Break A Leg, Rachel!!  

                                                                                                                                  

2 people, 2 bikes, 2 decades.

Rick and I recently celebrated our 20th anniversary, and I'm still finding it hard to wrap my mind around that number--20 years sounds like such a long time and yet it seems to have passed so quickly! 

Since it seems like I've established a trend of "then and now" photos, I had to include one from our first anniversary in Pensacola with our then new bicycles, and the same bicycles in Acadia with us on our 20th.  The bikes might show some wear and tear, but we're not pointing any fingers here.

Since my incredibly giving parents came down to spend a few days of making favorite meals, buying treats while out shopping, and otherwise giving our kids a delightful time, we took off for a few days to the Saltair Inn in Bar Harbor where we had a delightful time exploring Acadia, sleeping in, and enjoying each other's company without interruption.  Imagine the luxury of waking in the morning because the  light is brightening the room and the smell of a delicious breakfast that someone else is making is wafting into the room rather than because a baseball obsessed 6-year old is wondering whether his baseball pants are out of the laundry yet, because "you know, I have a game tonight". 

It was a rainy, windy, foggy few days, and the view from Cadillac Mountain was remarkably similiar to my first view of the Grand Canyon, and eerily like the view we had of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany,

but that was really of little consequence in light of a few days alone!

The sun came out just in time for us to actually see the scenery from the highest peak in Acadia, and we were left with this view, and plans in the making to come back to do some more exploring of this beautiful place...maybe we'll even take the kids next time!