Building a bird house

Eve got a bird house kit for her birthday last year (or maybe the year before?) and has been patiently waiting for a day that Alan was around to help her build it. Well, a day he was around and she remembered that she had a bird house to build. :) Today was the big day. She was so excited. :)

Eve, busy at work... but she is missing something...

Eve, busy at work… but she is missing something…

That's better!  That's a nice looking bird house too.

That’s better! That’s a nice looking bird house too.

When she was done building it she came upstairs and painted it, telling me stories the whole time about how she is going to entice the birds to come live in her house. Free food, light (mini battery powered candle), warmth (blankets), and more. I don’t think she full understands how birds work, but she thoroughly enjoys the stories.

Meteors

What do you say to the sweet girl leaning over your bed at 4am asking if you will go out and watch the Perseid meteor shower with her? What else can you say but of course.  So Eve and I snuggled in our chairs in the driveway shortly after 4am, eyes on the sky, and watched for meteors.  She saw four and I saw none.  I think we were a tiny bit too late.  Also, the neighbor’s bright flood light didn’t help. It was a sweet and perfect experience anyway.  We both agreed it would have been better at Mema and Grandpa Tom’s house.  Maybe next year. 

Block party

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My neighbor and I are planning a neighborhood block party to welcome some new families to the neighborhood. She stopped by today to discuss plans and Eve said, “Oh, are we having a party?!” She saw we each had a pen and paper, so she grabbed herself a piece of paper and a pencil (“Purple, because that’s the best color!”) and joined the meeting. She offered to make a banner and promptly flipped her paper over to sketch it out for us. She also volunteered to make a cake (also in the sketch). I added “cake” to my list of things to bring. She paid such good attention and took great notes! It was fun having her at the table. Fortunately the other woman is also a teacher and likes kids, so I think she enjoyed having Eve at the table as well. :)

Bye Aunt Mandy!

We said good-bye today as Mandy started her move to Florida, with Alan along for the ride. I remembered at the last minute to take a picture.
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I could’t decide which picture to post! Neither are perfect, but after two tries everyone lost interest, so that’s that. If I had better software I could merge them together for perfection, but instead we get reality and blinking eyes and silly smiles.

Happy travels and may you have a wonderful, sun-shiney life in Florida!

Back to the Ocean

We have a lovely Maine tradition going on for the past few years. This year we decided to kick it up a notch and stay the night. Truthfully I think about it every year, but this is the first year I’ve gotten my act together enough to book a hotel room. :) It wasn’t the best hotel (motel, really) but we had fun.

I was hoping to head up first thing Saturday morning, but Alan had his company picnic that morning we we did that first. Delicious food, good company, and a little swingset mediation. Good times all around.

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She “meditated” like this for six minutes. I know because she insisted I time her. It was the longest stretch of quiet from her in ages. :)

After that we headed to the ocean!! We had a yummy meal at Inn on the Blues and then put our toes in the ocean. It was a beautiful night!

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Such a beautiful night.

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Boogie boarding past bedtime.

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I like this picture. :) Handsome hubby. Kids playing in the background. Sweetness.

The next morning we headed to breakfast at the Lobster Cove to take advantage of our “free breakfast” as advertised by the hotel. Turns out it was “free” as long as you don’t eat more than $6 worth. :)

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Waiting for breakfast.

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Pre-breakfast selfie.

Then off to the beach to set up camp.

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The beach was CROWDED by 10am when we got there!

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Luckily we found a little place to snug in our fancy new red “easy-up” tent. It was an excellent addition the beach gear!

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This one had chocolate pancakes and pancake syrup for breakfast. Can ya tell!?

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This one did too!

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Sand beard!

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Boogie boarding!  The water was so cold it was painful.  It literally brought tears to my eyes and each wave crashing in felt like torture.  The kids loved it!

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I love his face. :)

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Beach babe!

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Handsome beach boys.

When were were done at the beach we headed for ice cream and taffy. It’s important to get good and sugared up before a long trip home.

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Can’t do a Maine trip without checking out the taffy shop.

Next summer maybe we’ll try for two nights! :) Good times at the Atlantic!

Cookies in bed

We got in bed last night and Alan asked why there were crumbs in our bed. I replied with, “Earlier today I found Eve hiding in the bed, under the covers, with the lamp, turned on, eating a cookie.” Only after I said those words out loud did I realize the full ridiculousness of my days! I laughed very hard. Life with kids.

Eve’s third track meet

We spent today at Eve’s third, and final (for the season) track meet. It was hot and sweaty and fun. Mandy joined us for the weekend and came to the track meet. Eve has a great time. Fast and friendly. :)

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We bought a new tent (easy up, one up, awning… there seems to be many names for them). Last night Eve decided it would be fun to make a sign! Good thing we are speedy with construction paper! :)

Eve did the running long jump, the 100m, and the 200m this time. This was the final meet for all of the rec teams in the state. It was by far our biggest meet yet!

Crossing the finish line of the 100m, way ahead of the crowd!

Crossing the finish line of the 100m, way ahead of the crowd!

Eve didn’t do as well this meet. The long jump was slightly different and she faulted her first jump. Also There were so many people that they had to run heats for many of the races. Eve finished her heat in the 100m way ahead of the rest of the runners, but not fast enough to qualify in the finals. She was disappointed because she thought she had done so well. We had a long chat about beating your own time, not just the other people on the track. It was a different experience for her. Then we had to wait several hours before the 200m race and by that time she was hot and bored.

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Crossing the finish line of the 200m.

Her final scores:
* Long jump – 6’2?
* 100m – 0:19.34
* 200m – 0:41.45

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Driving home. Eve is protesting Alan’s choice in music. :)

Now we are home and crashed. Alan, Lex, and Mandy are playing Minecraft, Eve is “coaching” Mandy, and I am writing this. A friend just invited us to a local fair this evening for rides and fair food… but we are done. Well, Eve is raring to go, but the rest of us are happy to kick back. Maybe we’ll do the fair tomorrow. :)