More Maine Vacation

If a picture really says 1,000 words then this is going to be a heft post. Quite several days worth of adventures - mostly in pictures. Starting with what we did with the blueberries Lucy didn't eat immediately...

Making blueberry muffins.

A trip to Town Beach.

A trip to Compass Harbor.

With Gigi.

And Sylvie.

Picnic at Compass Harbor.

Airplane!

Dinner at Gigi & Bumpa's.

At the town pier.

Lots of fun walking Sylvie the Corgi. Sylvie loves Lucy. Cute.

Lucy like's Gigi's friend Vicki.

Only one rainy day. Lots of toys to play with.

Heading down to Sand Beach.

Playing in the sand.

Bumpa came along, too.

Yep. Me and my Dad.

Lucy loves Ben the Maine Coon Cat.

Ben the Maine Coon Cat fears Lucy.

Gentle pat-pats?

Hell no!

Lucy shares some chocolate ice cream with Bumpa after a nice dinner.

Every day, Lucy is having more fun - more relaxed, sleeping better, getting to know her grand parents better. Tomorrow is our last day here. Then Monday - flying back from Bangor, Maine to Portland, Oregon. This will probably be our last vacation post - unless the 30 or so pictures that Lucy just took (close-ups of the floor, mostly) turn out too cool to not share.

It has been a great trip. I was anxious about it, especially the travel, but it has been really good. My parents have just so enjoyed spending ten days with Lucy. They've been out to PDX before but this has been way more 1-on-1 quality time - and it is great to see how much Lucy loves them and vice versa. Very sweet.

Goodnight moon.

My secret shame

Here's mine: I am addicted to So You Think You Can Dance; it and Project Runway (if it ever comes back) are the only two reality shows I watch but oh, I love it so much. Last night my favorite dancers did this incredible dance, about cancer, to one of my favorite songs "This Woman's Work" (although wow, the Kate Bush original is so much better than the one they used). Moved me to tears. I strongly urge you to watch, if you didn't:

Blueberries!

Lucy put exactly one blueberry in her berry pail - then promptly removed it & ate it. All the rest went straight in her mouth. Fresh Maine blueberries? Yum! Apparently one of the best years for them in a while: lots of spring & summer rain. There were so many of them - so ripe & so sweet!

Good for eating right off the bush? Yes!

Good for eating out of the pail? Yes indeed! That too.

Will Bumpa give Lucy some berries to eat? You bet!

Lucy scans the remaining acres & acres of ripe blueberry bushes. Can she eat them all? No, but she can try. My little girl is going to be pooping blue!


An empty pail & a full belly... but when we get home & make blueberry muffins, Lucy still manages to devour a muffin or two. Visiting Gigi & Bumpa is one exciting new experience after another. New things to see and do - and lots of good stuff to eat. (Blueberry pancakes tomorrow!)

Lucy's Big Maine Trip 2009

We made it to Maine! Took 2 trips to the airport - the first red-eye was delayed & we wouldn't have been able to make our connections so we went a day later than we'd planned - but we made it. The trip itself was kind of rough. I didn't sleep, Lucy got about a half a night's sleep - but the fun began as soon as we got to Bar Harbor.

My folks were, of course, very excited to see Lucy. And Lucy got into the spirit of things amazingly well. She has met "Gigi" and "Bumpa"* a few times and is just incredibly comfortable with them - running around to find them when they leave the room ("Bumpa? Where are you?"), climbing up on the sofa to give them a snuggle, being ever so happy and expressive with them.

On our first day, we went to Glen Mary - a wading pool about a block from my parents' house. Here is Lucy dashing excitedly to the water & wading with Gigi.



My folks prepared for Lucy just perfectly: lots of art supplies, toys, DVR recordings of her favorite shows. Here are Lucy & Gigi drawing.


The highlight of the day was an after dinner stroll down through Bar Harbor (high tourist season, very crowded) and getting cups of delicious hand made peach ice cream and eating it on the grass at Agamont Park. Lucy was jubilant. Exclaming "yum" and rolling in the grass, running around with a big grin on her face, laughing it up.



On the way back from ice cream we stopped at Albert Meadow for a little exploration of the shore, the rocks, the balancing boulder, there. Fun throwing rocks into the water, climbing about with a little help from dad, waving to Gigi up on the grass.


Here is Lucy on her little-girl guest bed exploring some of the great toys that Gigi & Bumpa got for her. She didn't sleep in her little bed, though, because Dad was ready to sleep before Lucy was on our first night here - so Lucy slept in the big bed with Dad. Somehow my chainsaw-loud snoring doesn't wake her up. Took a while for baby girl to get to sleep in a strange place, but I think she caught up on all her sleep last night.


Today, the big excitement was a trip to Echo Lake beach. Swimming, digging in the sand, having a picnic, saying hello to some very friendly ducks. Lucy did great. She is getting so comfortable in the water! We had a lot of fun.




This evening we made an after-dinner trip through town and bought Lucy some balloons, bubbles, a ball, and a book (and a rubber centipede that doesn't fit into the things-that-start-with-B category, but Lucy fell in love with the weird thing, so we brought it home). On the way home, we walked through the Village Green where a big band was just getting started playing in the Town Gazebo - some quaint - and we bumped into Jennifer Judd-McGee (I think she's hyphenated her last name - apologies if that is wrong). Great to see her & her kids.

Here is Lucy relaxing with an episode of Dora the Explorer - just like she is doing right now beside me as I write. Going to be bed time soon (just after 10pm here, just after 7 back home on the left coast - no clue how she is going to adjust to the time change - so we're just going to go with the flow)... she is being very sweet and happy and having a better time than I could have hoped. A wonderful trip so far.


We're looking forward to another Bar Harbor day tomorrow: relaxing, adventuring, eating, napping. Going to blow up balloons, blow some bubbles, play with the ball, and read the book we got, I imagine (cute book: it is a Bar Harbor themed board book). I think my parents' friend Alexis is coming for dinner so Lucy will get to meet her - and if the weather is good: more swimming.

*"Gigi" and "Bumpa" are the grandma & grandpa names for my parents. Others might call them "Sandy" and "Burt." Being their son, I'd just call 'em Mom & Dad. Or M'am and Sir...

They're leaving me...

Lulu and Matthew are off on a red-eye tonight for nine (nine!!) nights in Bar Harbor, where Matthew's parents live. I'm sure it'll be fun after everyone recovers from the grueling flight -- three legs there, two on the return flight. Ick.

And I'm going to be home alone in my house. In PJs all day, reading and watching movies to my heart's content...and oh, missing my peeps so much (by Tuesday or so, probably). I've never been apart from them for so long.

Lulu: chlorinated public water, what a delicacy! And 2009, my favorite vintage!

Matthew: Eeew. What's that on my hand?

Why I do what I do

Hard days recently.

For you, goofball. I do it for you, and you make it better.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Believe me when I tell you that the "real" P&P is one of my top five favorite books of all time; I read it at least yearly and oh my god, Colin Firth in the BBC version. Enough said. This setup is necessary; you must believe me so that when I tell you how much I'm enjoying Pride and Prejudice and Zombies right now, you won't think I'm 1) kidding, 2) insane, 3) a total idiot, or 4) dead and a zombie is actually typing this.

But how could I not, with lines like this (you know it; it's right after Jane goes to Netherfield and becomes sick and Lizzy walks there to check on her and Bingly's sisters say (something like)):

"Yes, and her petticoat; I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud, I am absolutely certain; and pieces of undead flesh upon her sleeve, no doubt from her attackers."

Ha! It's really good; obviously it involves zombies so not 100% true to the spirit of Ms. Austen's original, but they really work the stories together well and somehow, make it ... not better, but good. Definitely good. (When she realizes Mr. Collins might ask her to marry him, Lizzy almost pukes and has to cover her mouth to catch the potential vomit. That would have been a good addition to the original!)

I'm reading this as a break from World Without End, which I'm also enjoying a lot but which is a different kind of read entirely and so a little fun diversion is welcome. What are you reading?

P.S. Lucy used the potty twice this weekend. Totally weren't expecting it, but exciting!