She Dove!

Frances took a week of swimming lessons this year.  She started reluctantly but quickly grew to like it.  I think she found she was already fairly good at swimming, hence the change in attitude.  After a couple days, the teachers had her diving off the diving board!  I missed the actual event, but Frances was willing to model for me.

She was so, so pleased with herself.  

Rightly so, my Frances.

Forty-Two Months of Preschooler Chandler

Forty-Two Month Fun Fact

• Hydration:   The kid really, really likes drinking water from a baby bottle.  I fought it for a while, thinking she was much too old to be drinking from a baby bottle.  Eventually, though, I had to admit to myself that she was dehydrated.  And while having a child who never pees is convenient (her record for latest first pee of the day: 4 p.m.), I didn't think her kidneys or skin or any other organs would be appreciative.  So I gave in.  Now she drinks water from her bottle all the time when we're home.  "Can I have water in my bottle?"  is an almost constant refrain.  She can down eight ounces in no time flat.

Eighty-One Months of Rising First Grader Frances

Eighty-One Month Fun Fact:

• Drama: The girl has a flare for the dramatic and she was very pleased with her lunch on the porch.

Frances, the teacher

I found these papers in Frances's room after she'd been playing school.

From top to bottom, her students are Luk/Luke, Ulispith/Elizabeth, Angru/Andrew, Kamrin/Cameron, Mrckis/Markus, Jmick/Jay Mike, Hune/Honey and Ros/Rose.  Not bad for a six year old.

A Girl and Her Moon Sand

It's quite possible I spend too much time on Pinterest, but this recipe for moon sand kept popping up and I wanted to give it a try.

"Moon sand" is a fancy way of saying flour and baby oil mixed together.

It was actually quite a hit with Chandler.  We've used it a couple times during her letter work, excavating letters and so on.  Her letter work is a whole other story, one I may or may not gather the strength to tell.  We'll see.

Happy Kiddos...

...proving they aren't idiots.

Another New Experience!

The Linfoots came to visit!  Darby Linfoot has been Frances's big buddy since, gosh, since they were three years old.  

Frances, Chandler and Darby:

Now we're all buddies.

Chandler, Frances, Darby, Peanut, Cindy and Adler:

After a morning of mucking about, we took the Linfoots to Ship Harbor.  Yes, we've done it a thousand times.  Yes, it's wonderful every time.

Chandler and Peanut kind of adore each other.  It's a little wonderful.

And then back to the house for dinner (thanks, Andy!) and s'mores with giant marshmallows.

As far as I can tell, Chandler spent the day in her bathing suit.

That night, almost all the kids shared a bedroom.  My kids are usually very excited by the idea of sharing a bedroom with other kids, but when the time comes, they get nervous and end up in their usual beds.  Not that night.  Chandler was so tired from keeping up all day, she didn't have time to think twice.  She was asleep before she had time to get worried about the night light or her water or her stuffties or....

Bar Island - meh

Another new experience for the girls and me.  We walked over to Bar Island, the nubble that lends its name to Bar Harbor.  There were exciting bits about this walk.  The walk goes across a bar that is submerged at high tide; it's only available for an hour and a half before low tide to an hour and a half after.  That's kinda fun.  And the rocks that spend much of their time submerged are really beautiful.

See the beautiful rocks behind Chandler?

But the walk was hardly challenging enough to feel worth it.  And every tourist and his brother was on the walk with us.  Far be it from me to disparage tourists, as I am a tourist, but golly geez there were a lot of  us.  Overall, I'd give the walk a "meh."  The girls agreed.

But there were snacks.

The Experiment Continues

On another evening alone, I let the girls steer the car up and down the driveway.

It's not like I thought up this nuttiness on my own.  It's supposed to be good for the kids' sense of mastery, as are manipulating fire, deconstructing household appliances and throwing a spear.  Maine is very good for driving cars and manipulating fire.  Deconstructing household appliances wouldn't win me any fans in the extended family, though.  They're such sticklers for functional dishwashers, the killjoys.

Alone Again

I need to move.  Why would I bother living anywhere else?

Oh, yeah.  We don't live in Maine because Mark likes to work and I enjoy being warm occasionally.  Sigh.

Beka, Dan and offspring went back to the big city.  The girls and I stayed in Maine.  Seemed like a good night for a row.

They look sweet, don't they?

Blazing New Trails!

We branched out and tried another new trail called the Canada Cliffs Trail.  Our first attempt was actually a bust - we aren't as good at reading trail signs as one would hope.  But we didn't give up.  We came back a second day and discovered a delightful trail.

We first walked down for quite a ways, somewhat different from the norm.

Then we made our way out of a valley and up to a ridge overlooking Echo Lake.

Both Dan and I had read a description of the trail, but we lost all sense of how much farther we had to go.  Just as Beka and I were getting worried about the troops' stamina, a large blueberry bush presented itself.

Saints be praised.

After a long sit in the blueberry bushes, pretending we were Little Sal, we managed to push on.  We were almost immediately rewarded with a slope down to the parking lot.

Saints be praised, indeed.

It was a winner of a trail, with its valley, stream, ridge and blueberries.  We will be back.

Thuya Garden

This excursion went swimmingly, until I noticed a sign saying the garden was for contemplation; unruly children would be sent home with a candy bar and a puppy.  Oops.

Boat Ride

Kiddos, sit right down and have a chocolate cookie.  No falling off the boat.

I never did get a photo of Zak not looking intently at his cookie.  Stare on, sweet Zak, stare on.

Perhaps The Best Purchase Ever

It's hard to tell because she's eclipsed by her sister in these photos, but Chandler loves the swing, too.

The Good Life

Beka gave the girls a dessert cookbook; ice cream sandwiches ensued, of course.

Note Dan, doing his best to ignore my children's presence while his children napped.  Ah, naps, such a sweet memory.

When everyone was up and running, we headed to Wonderland for a picnic dinner.

No vitamin D for you, kiddies!

We'll be doing that again, both because of the general gorgeousness and because picnic dinners mean no dinner clean-up.  Delightful.

The opportunity to hang out near the ocean isn't bad either.

Beautiful Things Happen When Beka and Dan Come To Town

I get to go jogging without my children.

NB:  No children.  None.  Just jogging me and the beauty.

And I get to be in a photo with my children.  So rare.

And lobster.  Yum.

The many things that wouldn't happen without Beka and Dan - clearly why I keep inviting them back.  Vacation dates for 2017 and 2018 are already on our calendars.  We have our Type A moments, I'll admit.