Where Have I Been?

My sister is famous for lists on her blog (famous? well, she writes them.) So here is a picture list of what I've been up to the past couple of weeks.

A lunch hike at Colby College Arboretum....


Anna harvested her first peas...


We went camping at Mt. Blue State Park (we loved it, and highly recommend the campground)


While camping we hiked halfway up Bald Mountain. The campground officials assured us this was a great family hike, and there was literature that suggested 'take your grandmother on this hike'. Well, that is a lie. It was a tough hike, but we did it, and all grew through the experience.

The half-way lookout...

Sofia and me at the end of the hike...


Swimming at Mt. Blue...

Then we came home and worked on the biggest family project ever.... (I will post a slideshow on my sidebar of what this whole many month process looked like)


Now we are home and getting ready for school. There isn't a day that passes that the kids aren't asking 'when do we get to start'.

D - Guilty Pleasures

(Guilty Pleasures is my alphabetic summer jaunt through fiction at my favorite library.)

It is so me to feel guilty that I haven't finished a book. But the truth is I haven't finished "The Little Country" by Charles deLint, my 'D' selection for Guilty Pleasures. And I don't think I'm going to. I feel as though I should now go to my nearest Bibliophile support group to confess.

"The Little Country" is a fantasy book, which is not my usual choice. I think I might have enjoyed it on a cold day next to a fire with no interruptions. But I am just not connecting with it at all right now.

Of course, it did have to complete with a certain seventh book in a series that arrived at our doorstep last Saturday which a certain very cool boyfriend read out loud to me while we were on vacation. And really to be fair, nothing could compete with that.

So as a pallete cleanser, and an aid to easing back into non-vacation life, I bought "A Cat Who" mystery, and a Miss Marple mystery. I am enjoying early bedtimes, and mindless (although not entirely) reading.

Our Day today....

Last Fall at the Rotary Pig Roast and Auction, we bid on and won a day trip down the river to Boothbay Harbor with Chris and Linanne.

Today was the day that we got to go. It was such a beautiful day. I have never seen Maine from the vantage point of the River. We live in such an amazing state. The green in the grass and trees was so ALIVE!

And I felt so alive, too. The air, the sun, the water..... good stuff.

A Regular

There are two places in town that I walk into and people know me by name: Starbucks and Waterville Public Library. I think that makes me a pretty well-rounded individual.

I just called WPL and the person who answered the phone even knew me enough to ask about the kids.

After not feeling at home anywhere for 30ish years, this is such a wonderful feeling.

I'm a 'regular'.

Order of the Phoenix

It is 2:34am and Marc and I are just getting home from the midnight showing of Order of the Phoenix.

Marc loves to go to movies. This morning he woke up and gleefully asked if I was up for the adventure. After considering my age, and my three children, I still agreed to go.

What a fun experience. First of all the time with my husband... a date! Second of all, I am always sociologically interested in the crowds at movies... especially first viewings. And third, I really like the movie.

The first 20-30 minutes were slow to me. It was a broad stage to set from the book. But what I loved most about it was the spirit of Harry Potter was really well-represented. I even found myself in tears a couple of times.

A lot of the main theme was about how evil (Voldemort) wants to isolate, and how it truly requires community to live in this battle.

And now, I think it would be prudent for me to go to bed.

A Day in Boothbay Harbor

Here are the pictures I took during our day with the Maine and NH Vineyard pastors and planters. We had a great day! I LOVE ocean!

Camping

Here are some pictures from our brief camping trip on the fourth at my parents house.

Two lessons I learned.... don't camp without Marc, and put a tarp over the green tent when it rains. Caleb got soaked in the middle of the night.

C - Guilty Pleasures

(Guilty Pleasures is my alphabetic summer jaunt through fiction at my favorite library.)

Just enjoyed a breezy trip through "Black Coffee", by Agatha Christie. She originally wrote it as a play, and it was later adapted to a novel. I think it was my first read of Agatha Christie, although I can't believe that because I've really been a life-long mystery lover. It was totally an enjoyable novel with delightful quirky characters, featuring the infamous Hercule Poirot (from Wikipedia - pronounced in english [ɛʀkyl pwaʀo]).

I'm excited to moving onto D, but also sad, because I think I could camp out with Christie for the rest of the summer. I'm definitely going to have to go out of my way to meet Miss Marple.