Halloween 2020

                     

It certainly wasn't the Halloween we thought we would have, but at the end of the day the kids repeatedly said, "This was the best Halloween ever!".  That says a lot given that we have celebrated Halloween in a lot of different and crazy ways over the years.  Most recently we have spent Halloweens in Philadelphia, Edisto Beach, SC, New Orleans, Memphis, San Diego, etc. It is hard to say if it was the slower pace this year without the huge crowds or just getting to see actual people along the way, but either way, Gabe and I really enjoyed the day too:)  

This week the kids got to decorate a window downtown with various Halloween themes. They were excited to get to show off their work on Halloween to friends.  We also spent some school time this week painting some wooden decorations and drawing. On Halloween we had a great day of watching Halloween movies, making pretzels, dip, and other halloween themed food.  In the late afternoon we headed to a friend's house to join in a socially distanced and masked drive through trick or treating experience.  All of the kids we so happy to see members of the community coming out to make a fun afternoon during such a weird year.  Thank you to all of the amazing members of our community who made this happen!  

For Halloween 2020 Noah dressed as a plague doctor, James dressed as a corona virus, Ben dressed as a fighter pilot, and Audrey dressed as the solar system.  

Fall Fun 2020

 

Fall activities were in full swing by the time we arrived home from our stay-cation. On Wednesday we traveled to Fryeburg to pick up our two pigs.  It has been a few years since we were around in the fall so we were excited to be home enough to have pigs again!  With no Fryeburg Fair and therefore no pig scramble we were happy to support the fair pig farmer who has given us such great pigs in the past.  Meet Harriet and Rusty, they are super cute and so smart and friendly.  

Although we won't carve pumpkins until closer to Halloween, we picked up a few pumpkins on our way back from getting the pigs and decorated them instead.  Ben was very insistent that his go on our mailbox as a nice decoration.  

This fall Ben and Audrey have been spending a lot of time in their "secret base".  They have cleared it, cut back limbs, and make a great place to have lunch, do school work, and spend time playing in.  Last weekend they planned a Halloween party for the family that also acted as a bit of an unveiling since up to that point none of us were allowed to "know" where their secret base was. We all received invitations and followed an elaborate trail of flags with our costumes on. They set up lots of fun games including a scavenger hunt, bobbing for apples, and pin the nose on the monster. It was so much fun!

This past week has been a bit of a chaotic one, but full of great things.  Our vehicle broke down again, so we also broke down and upgraded to a new to us model that hopefully will not leave us stranded someplace.  Buying a vehicle and privately selling the old one is always more of a hassle than we remember every time!  In the midst of all that Gabe, Noah, and James headed up to Millinocket to do some bird hunting.  Although they didn't see much, as you can see from the pictures, they very much enjoyed themselves.  While the older two were away, Ben, Audrey, and I spent lots of time baking, reading, fort building, biking, and watching movies.  

Acadia 2020

 

At the height of feeling like we were trapped during this pandemic in July, we booked a staycation with friends of ours to visit Mount Desert Island over Indigenous People's Weekend.  There were four adults present at the booking, but some how we all got on board with the wrong dates...kind of... maybe it was the length of time, maybe it was wishful thinking, maybe it was the chaos of the pandemic and constantly having to change plans. Whatever it was, we had our first adventure of the trip on Friday afternoon when Gabe and I were sitting on the green in Bar Harbor having a picnic lunch with the kids when Shannon texted to ask for directions to the house we were renting and supposed to check into at 3pm.  I looked up the directions and discovered, that our reservation didn't start until the next day! Ugh, now all our commenting on the way in about all of the "no vacancy" signs at all of the hotels between Bangor and Bar Harbor seemed like a cruel joke. 

We quickly recalibrated (luckily for them, our friends were still at home) and mercifully found a place to stay for one night that was both on the island and not exorbitantly priced. Ironically, at the last minute the previous tenant had to leave a day early to catch a flight out of Bangor.  Once that was settled we now realized that our reservation was extending one day longer than we had originally planned on the other end with us heading home on Tuesday instead of Monday.  We moved things around and figured everything out on the fly and in under an hour we veered back on course with our stay-cation. Phew!

We spend the afternoon hiking the Beehive, relaxing on Sand Beach, and even ran into some friends from Wilton! Despite living in the same town we have't seen these friends since before the pandemic started.  It was great to catch up with them and enjoy a campfire with them that night at their campsite which was just across the street from the last minute motel room we rented!  Life certainly can be crazy sometimes!  

On Saturday we mini golfed, explored around the island, had a windy take-out lunch in Northeast Harbor, explored Asticou Gardens, and eventually landed at our rental house.  Obviously we knew what was at the house from the pictures/descriptions, but it turned out to be so much more impressive in person!  There was a huge yard with a fire pit, a full basketball court, a sand volleyball court, a hot tub, and so much room for the kids to run free. Inside there was an enormous kitchen, plenty of sleeping/playing space, etc., etc., etc. AND there was an indoor pool... like a legitimate full sized pool inside.  Who doesn't want to float in the pool and watch the Adams Family at the same time??

On Sunday we spent the morning hiking Beech Cliffs followed by afternoon tide pooling at Wonderland.  In the early evening we had a Halloween party.  The kids all dressed up and we had a blast playing lots of different inside and outside halloween themed games and eating way too much candy... just in case Halloween doesn't happen the way we would like it to at the end of the month;) Monday morning we took an adventurous loop on the carriage trails with everyone on their own bikes!  It was a great way to get out and see another part of the park.  The kids started to complain a bit at this point and we spent the rest of our time just relaxing at the house.  

We were so thankful to get away with great friends all while staying so close to home!