Strawberries & Biking

It always feels like the official start to summer when we get to have strawberries and peas for dinner. The strawberry picking wasn't great this year.  The strawberries were still amazing, as always, but it was such slow picking.  The kids were good sports and we got enough to make jam and a few pies. Hopefully we will get a chance to go back to pick a few more if the season picks up.

One upside to not being able to go far due to COVID is getting explore so many new places and activities right in our back yard!  Yesterday we loaded up two vehicles between 2 adults and 6 kids and headed to Carrabasset Valley to try out the mountain biking trails there.  We are somewhat limited because I still have to pull Audrey behind my bike, but we have so much more flexibility now that everyone else is on two wheels. 

After a fun bike ride we stopped for a picnic lunch at the wire bridge.  Although we had been here earlier this year, I didn't realize it was also a swimming/wading/beach area too.  We spent the rest of the day here exploring the currents, relaxing, and building dams. So much fun!

Beach Day & Father's Day

We did it, we went out in public and braved the beach (all precautions intact of course!).  Shannon and I took the kids to Reid State Park.  We were 3rd in line when the gates opened. I was very impressed at all of the work the state park service has done to keep everyone safe by making regulations easy to follow and obvious. We set up a "natural" drift wood barrier around us and played happily on the beach despite the cold water.  Ironically, the parking lot temperature was in the low 90s, but we were all huddled in long sleeves and towels on the beach... the ocean breeze was no joke. The kids were all so happy to get back to the beach! Around lunchtime things started to get a bit too crowded and when people started encroaching on our space we called it a success and headed home.  It was so nice to be able to move around a bit outside of our neighborhood:)

Sunday we celebrated this guy! Father's Day is always so much fun for the kids to celebrate and for once, Gabe had the weekend off AND James' birthday wasn't on the same day. We spent the day relaxing and celebrating the best dad around.  Thanks for all of your hard work and patience, we love you!  

James Turns 11!

James turned 11 today! He is growing up to be a kind, soft hearted, black and white deep thinker. He works so hard everyday to navigate his world and try to make it a better place.  He is a loving brother who is always up for playing legos, Magic, or for a discussion about literally anything to do with history.  We can't wait to see what this next year holds for him!  We love you James! 

James was thrilled to have a day all about him.  We started with waffles, he got to spend the day with his best friend Mason out on the boat.  The weather was beautiful and the water was surprisingly warm for June.  Hopefully this will be a pattern for the rest of the summer:)

Bears, Social Justice, & Birthdays

We woke up to the evidence of a larger visitor in the night.  The kids were surprised that the wind blew so hard to knock over our bird feeder, but upon closer inspection, clearly a bear came to visit last night.  I guess the upside here is that because our bees didn't survive the winter we didn't loose the bees and all of the hives to this bear.  

This week we were fortunate to have a bit of fellowship with our church family who we haven't seen in months.  It always makes our hearts happy when we can raise our voices for social justice for all groups in the spirit of our faith family.  

We actually saw friends this past weekend and got to have a catch-up birthday celebration.  When I say friends I really mean just seeing two other families, but when we have a birthday party in the mix it is always more fun.  Technically this is James' birthday time, but he was kind enough to share a small gathering with Audrey (and Noah, but he insisted we not celebrate his birthday too). It was fun to spend the afternoon playing outside with friends again!  This bottom picture also shows evidence that we are making steady progress on our tree house. More pictures to come soon!

Hiking Mt. Blue- 2020

 

 

Now that public school here is officially done for the year we practiced some more (not super successful) social distancing with friends we haven't seen for months!  The Mt. Blue road was open for sure today and we made it up to the peak of Mt. Blue, but it was SO hot... like pushing 90 degrees hot and so humid.  We were really wishing there was a pond at the top, but settled for the breeze that helped and kept the bugs at bay. We checked another peak off of our list in preparation for Katahdin in July.  Needless to say, Noah was glad to have stayed home for his last middle school fiddle group Zoom meeting;)