Happy 4th!

An all around great day surrounded by the folks I considered my second family. We are entrenched in summer traditions and I love it.

The kids are growing up so fast. James just turned 2. Connor is driving(permit). How does this happen??

MK and her family have a camp near Bridgton and they came into town to see us at the parade. How cute is her dress?

And after the parade…. boating.  A very nice tradition.

Alec went tubing too but I didn’t get any pictures of it.

Hope your 4th was happy!

A day at the lake

We didn’t rent THE Lake House with the Petit family this year as the house has new owners and they are renovating it this summer. The Petits decided to rent a house on Sebago for a few weeks this summer. We opted to not rent with them this year but to save some extra money and save a few vacation days for future adventures. They are, however, kind enough to let us come and go from their camp. The family arrived Friday night and spent the night with us before moving into their rental Saturday morning.

Alec was psyched to have playmates and what a wonderful thing when they all (well, the younger 3) started playing together as if no time had lapsed from last summer.

 

And then it was time to load up and go find this new place.

It’s an interesting place.

 

The house is full of cat stuff. Crazy cat pictures and figures and just cat stuff. It’s creepy. I have a cat and I still find it creepy. It is THAT creepy! Other than the cat stuff it seems to be perfectly functional. It’s position on the lake and the amount of milfoil in this section of the lake is not ideal but for a few week in the summer. It is not so bad.

 

Alec and I pretty much immediately jumped in the kayak for a little paddle around.

And then I floated around while Alec played in and around the water.

On Sunday Erik and Alec went back out for the day but Erik, of course, didn’t bring the camera. We are home for a few days to work and then will spend some more time out there this weekend. It’s not quite like the last couple years  but next year hopefully the house in Bridgton will be available again and we will all be together again.

Kettle Cove

Thanks to Carrie’s urging I branched out of my beach rut.

It’s just so easy for me to scoot to Bay View that I forget there are other beaches to explore. Our original plan was pick strawberries and then hit the beach but after calling 5 different places and none were open we just settled on just hitting the beach. Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth was out destination of choice. I haven’t been to Kettle Cove since before Alec was born. That’s over 5 years . My, how fast time goes these days. So, we packed up the kiddos, some snacks and off we went.

It was a bit breezy by the water but that did not deter the children from hitting the water and having a good time.

And the view?

Fabulous.

And ice cream afterwards? A must.

Chocolate bliss.

The Farm –Week 3

Last year we had pick up on Tuesdays. This year I switched it to Friday thinking it would be better because I would have all weekend to figure out how to use the vegetables. Not really such a good call on my part. We don’t spend much time at home on weekends. And it stinks to stop what you are doing to go to the farm on Friday afternoon. So, next year, back to Tuesday.

This past Friday we took the Todd girls with us. Unfortunately for Carrie, or maybe fortunately, Faye fell asleep in the car so Carrie didn’t get to see it. But Faye got a nap and I think that was win for Carrie.

Lots of greens this week.

    

They were getting ready for a wedding at while we were there. The big white tent was up and lots of preparations were happing. There was a couple down by the pigs while we were looking at them (I would assume they are bride and groom). Mya asked what they were doing and Alec told her they were picking out the pig for the pig roast. He said this very matter of fact…my child who waffles between eating bacon and not eating it because it is pig. I have no idea if that was what they were doing but it was plausible. They do pig roast at wedding there. I’m not sure how Alec knew this- I don’t really remember talking to him about it. While this was happening, a worker came down and brought down bread. Lots of bread. She handed a baguette to each child to throw to the pigs. The farm gets all the leftovers from Standard Baking Company in  Portland. The pigs eat better bread than I do!