While Gabe's Away...

While Gabe was away for a few nights hunting birds they kids and I were able to keep busy;)  On Saturday my dad and sister came with my niece and nephew.  We forced the kids to play outside, but since Grandpa didn't really leave the couch watching Andy Griffith, they seemed to prefer that choice... They are still whistling that theme song... 

After church on Sunday the kids and I headed to Portland for the Portland Symphony Orchestra's Discovery Concert for Halloween.  We met the Bennett's there and we took a zone approach to corralling the kids in the crowd;)  The kids all wore their costumes and really enjoyed the instrument petting zoo before the concert. Noah was a Navy fighter pilot, James is a villain, Ben is a chocolate chip cookie and Audrey is "Cloudette", a rain cloud character from one of our favorite books by Tom Lichtenheld. Noah was a celebrity with many grown men coming up to him saying, "that is my favorite movie!".  More than one asked to take a picture of Noah. Noah felt so cool, but had no idea what they were talking about (Top Gun).  The kids got to go up on stage partway through the show to parade their costumes and everyone, except Ben, was so excited about that!  The kids did really well during the actual concert being enthralled with the halloween songs as well as the theme songs from both Harry Potter and Star Wars... I thought they were going to fall over when Princess Leila and Darth Vader both appeared... It was a wonderful concert that is specifically designed for the younger crowed. Even though the older three loved the concert, Audrey wasn't quite as entertained, but given that everyone else's kids were talking and moving, no one cared... at least I don't think they did:)

Gabe's Fall Adventures

Gabe has gotten to take advantage of fall this year in a more "adult" way:)  He spent one day golfing with friends at the gorgeous Sunday River course, which was timed perfectly with the foliage.  The next weekend he spent a few nights with his childhood friend, Dave, roughing it without heat, electricity or running water at Dave's family hunting camp... too bad for them that it was very cold (it obviously snowed) and they came up dry in the bird department.  It sounds like a good time was had by all regardless:)

Earth Science Day and Lynne Plourde

Although we are homeschooling this year, we are staying actively involved in the school system and get to take advantage of some fun activities they have.  Recently, the Cushing School invited Maine children's author, Lynne Plourde, to visit the school.  She did an awesome evening presentation getting all of the kids involved in acting out one of her books.  Noah got to be the main character and did a fantastic job of remembering lines and really acting the part.  James and Ben also were picked to participate as fish and did a great job making fishy faces with dramatic flair;)

Also this week, the Maine State Museum hosted an earth science day.  Another free admission day at the museum, this time with many experts in all things related to the earth.  The favorite exhibit was about solar energy since we are currently having that installed on our roof.  The second favorite were the miners who brought many free samples of rocks with them.  

Fall FINALLY Arrives!

We were starting to worry that we would miss out on the fall colors this year thanks to the mild temperatures, but they have finally arrived.  In the past few days we hiked to the top of Titcomb "Mountain" which is our local ski hill, made it through a corn maze with Grammy and Grampy and discovered a new walking trail in town (and practiced wearing our blaze orange).  

Fryeburg Fair 2015

We love the Fryeburg Fair, we look forward to it every year and we are never disappointed.  We are not yet at a life stage where we are willing to tent in the back of the parking lot (Pelkey Family), but we did decide to give a hotel stay for 1 night another try so that we could enjoy the fair for at least 2 days... Yes, it really is that big.  We were fortunate to have two days of beautiful fair weather and even got to meet up with the Pelkey's for a bit.

Monday is Woodsmen's Day and skillet throw day... I had never even considered entering the skillet toss, mostly because I had never tossed a skillet before, but when Hillary called and said, "You aren't mad that I signed you up for the skillet toss too, right?" I didn't have much of a choice.  Hillary had only tossed a skillet one other time at the Blue Hill Fair a few years back, but her whole "collegiate school record setting track and field" thing put her at a distinct advantage... To make a long story short, Hillary threw a fair record breaking throw of 69.8 feet... really destroying the old record.  The crowd went wild and we spent the rest of the day having random people coming up to Hillary congratulating her, telling her that was the best thing they had every seen, basically she had her own groupies... it was wild, Jim and Lauretta would have been proud!  In the meantime Gabe was feeling a bit huffy that men weren't allowed to participate, so I expect him to lodge a formal complaint now that we are home;) 

After that the fair was mostly uneventful. We had a great time hitting all of the usual spots and eating way too much fair food.  The one advantage we have though, as a family of 6, is that no one ever gets to eat "too much" of any one food because it all gets divided... that really just means that we get to buy a little of everything;)  Audrey was not super cooperative, again, sleeping away from home, so we will be taking only day trips for the next few months...