Summer Learning & Fun

In their down time, the kids can often be found creating elaborate scenes (lego or otherwise), especially James and Ben.  This particular one is depicting the Battle of the Alamo from the book "Alamo All Stars" by Nathan Hale.  We actually have video of them describing the scene too and almost every single army man is a specific person from the book.  I am always amazed how much history they learn, retain, and enjoy from these books!

THE WESTERN MAINE PLAY MUSEUM HAS FINALLY OPENED! After 6 years of fundraising and not being sure if this project would actually come to fruition, it has finally happened.  I have actually spent most of the summer painting and getting exhibits up and running for opening weekend. The kids were so thrilled to finally be able to play here and couldn't get enough of the exciting new space.  I anticipate we will have many more adventures here in the coming months.

Summer Familytime

Gabe had a rare day off this week where we didn't have anything planned, so we protected it as a family adventure day.  We headed to Portland and spent the day exploring beaches and the ocean (and had Scratch bagels).  

This week we met up with Nanny, Trey, and Lily to use the Christmas gift certificates from Nanny to the Benton Family Fun Park.  It was so hot, but we had so much fun riding on the go carts, playing mini golf, checking out the arcade, and, of course, the ice cream!

Thanks to the Wojick family, who lets us keep our boat at their home on Wilson Lake, we have done so much boating this summer.  We also got a new tube that the kids love to stand on, sit on, jump on, etc. So far all of the kids, except Ben (who is a grudging participant), have been up on water skis. Audrey did amazing and went halfway around the lake, but I should add that she screamed/cried the whole way, but also refused to let go or stop and hasn't stopped talking about how much fun it was (that probably sums up her personality best).

Boothbay Harbor- 2019

What an amazing day we had today in Boothbay Harbor!  The Maine State Aquarium is always a favorite of ours and we always spend much more time there than expected despite it's small size, but today was our most exciting visit yet. We did the regular aquarium "stuff" and read a sign for squid dissection at 1pm. Since we are a "learn everywhere" homeschool family we (I) couldn't pass that up. Everyone was doing well so we took a break, had a picnic lunch, and headed in for the squid dissection.  What we didn't realize is that everyone would get to legitimately dissect their own squid! Complete with dissecting tools, amazing dissecting microscopes, and a fabulous teacher guiding and teaching every step of the way.  The kids learned to much!  They even dissected out the spinal tube which they then used similar to a feather pen with the squid's ink sack to write their names on a note card.  Amazing and a huge thank you to the aquarium and the state of Maine for funding such a cool community education program!  No trip to Boothbay would be complete without a stop for ice cream waffles.

Mt. Blue, More Camps, and More Reunion

This week we hiked another mountain close to home, Mt. Blue.  This was a new mountain to us and it had a way better view than I expected! It was also a nice step up to challenge us a bit more. Audrey is making all of these hikes like a champ and is so proud of herself when she finishes.

Last weekend we made another quick trip north to celebrate my 20th high school reunion. And, this past week James and Noah spent the week at Titcomb's adventure day camp.  They had so much fun mountain biking, shelter building, canoeing, playing outdoor games, and just having an all around amazing time enjoying the outdoors.

Ben, Audrey, and I took advantage of this time and ventured to Sabbath Day Beach in New Gloucester, Roy's inflatable water park in Madison, and spent lots of time at local parks and the library.