End of August: school visit and fun-day

We went with Ben to visit his Kindergarten Classroom and meet Mrs. Peterson, his teacher this year, last night...he already knew lots of the kids from soccer this summer, but it was nice to see the classroom and to get a chance to get to know Mrs. Peterson a bit...

Here you can see Ben playing with his friend Phillip in one of the activity centers...



In this picture, Ben is playing with Hudson, a boy he played soccer with this summer...


We also got to explore the bus that Ben will be riding to, and from, Kindergarten at Lake Clear Elementary, and to meet the bus driver...he really seems ready and excited for school to start...


Ben and I hung out today...in the morning I spent some time on an archeological dig in my bedroom, burrowing down through the layers representing months, and in some cases years, to expose bare floor...I organized, thinned out, and put away everything...in between exclamations of, "Oh, so that's where my dress-slacks/copy of 'World War Z'/sandwich has been all of this time..." and dancing on the vast expanses of virgin carpet exposed by the excavation, Ben and I played some sticky-frog games and a couple (dozen) rounds of "Tickle Monster"...

After lunch, Ben geared up for an afternoon of fun in such a manner (see above) as to indicate in no uncertain terms that he was ready to par-tay...yes...those are kid versions of "Matrix" shades and a trout mask over his nose...


So...we went back to school...again...to play on the sweet, if vintage, playground at Lake Clear Elementary with Ben's friend Simon (who will sadly not be joining Ben in Kindergarten, as he's a year younger)...


After playing himself into a near comatose state (like 2 hours), we went to Hoel Pond for a "sorta-end-of-the-summer" swim...it was beautiful and warm-watered and windy and fun...


You can see St. Regis Mountain in this picture, behind the kid with the melon-head...after we had been hanging out in the water for about an hour, the wind picked up and we started to get chilly, so we headed home...

{{{Apparently}}} Nothing warms my boy like a naked tango with Bruce, a giant stuffed bunny that has lived with us for years...

A wonderful day, which should hopefully seal up this great summer with a big bow of fun (and maybe some sweet potato fries at "Woods"), more to come later...

Harpswell 2007 Addendum

I got this picture via email this morning from La-La and had to add it in...but for some reason, this morning's blog will not allow editing (I suspect the Google maps, but forgive Google, since the blog comes from them and costs me nothing...)



This is a picture of almost all of the attendees of the 4th Annual Gibson-Sheffield Harpswell Invitational Picnic, hosted on Sunday the 19th of August, 2007.

Harpswell 2007

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We just got back from a wonderful week in Maine, staying in Harpswell for our fifth year (a different house each year, this one was the best, and if we come back to Harpswell, this is where we'll stay). Harpswell, for those not in the know, is made up of a bunch of "fingers" of land reaching into the ocean, making for a huge amount of shoreline and waterfront, including sunset views (which is a little weird on the East Coast if you stop and think about it). We had a great time visiting with family (Gail is from nearby Lewiston-Auburn, so this is a nice chance for them to get to see Ben and vice versa...and my sister Sarah and her wife Cynthia came to stay for a few days)...


On Sunday, everyone came over for a cookout and hangout...this is a group exploring and enjoying the beach below our house...


Manny, named after some baseball player ;) , came for her second year running, and had a fun time...


Here you can see a group of Gibsons (actually, very few of them have Gibson as a last name, but that's how I think of them) hanging out and catching up on the front lawn of our place


Ben and his Aunt Gladys had a fun time playing chase...


Laurie (La-La) and Bim and Gail had time during the picnic, and over the course of the week, to catch up on everything going on in their lives...


After everyone left the picnic, we hustled over to Este's for some serious seafood...


The next day, Monday, we went to Boothbay...it's a fun town to explore...


While Cynthia caught up on some work in an internet cafe, the rest of us went on a whale watch, which was perfect given the wonderful weather...


On the way out there were lots of little islands and pretty boats to look at...


Who would have thought it possible, but it got cold enough to wrap up in blankets after a while out away from land...it must be seriously chilly on less nice days...


If Ben were any cuter, he'd be made of puppies and kittens...


Ben and Anti-Sarah had a nice time hanging out and staying warm...


We saw a bunch of whales and seals and sea-lions (they say the difference is readily apparent when looking at their ears, but I wasn't close enough, and my camera has no zoom)...and this cool boat on our way back in was a bonus...


This is a picture of the dining area of our house, as seen from the kitchen...it was a truly spectacular view from the house and deck, and we spent lots of time just watching the ocean...


The back yard was fenced in, which was great for the kids and for Manny, and was a bit more protected from the wind, which happened a few times during our stay...what great smells from the sea coming into the house as we slept each night...


The only thing that was a bit disappointing about the house was the furniture in the living room...Cynthia pegged it early on as "boneless"...it looks real, but if you sit in the chair or sofa, you tend to roll out of it as it lacks much form or support...Sarah and Ben managed anyway...


There was a super hammock in the fenced in part of the yard, which everyone took advantage of at some point of their stay, for napping or reading, it was perfect...



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We took a trip to Popham beach, as we do every summer, and had a great time...so much so, that we may relocate to Popham for next summer's stay...


Popham Beach is miles long, seldom crowded (it helps that we get there early in the morning), and made up of spectacularly fine sand (a rarity in Maine beaches this far north)...


We picked out our spot, set up base-camp, and settled in for the day...


Ben played in the icy water for 3.5 hours, having fun racing in and out of the waves and splashing Daddy...


He loves the beach, and is excited about the possibility of our staying here next year...


Here you can see (sort of...I can see them, but I took the picture...) Sarah and Cynthia taking a nice walk along the beach out towards an island that is a peninsula during low tide (as it was when we arrived)...


Ben likes his scuba-suit bathing suit, even though he had essentially outgrown this one...


He and La-La went for a walk out past the island/peninsula to explore some of the rocks out that way...


Anti-Sarah (and the rest of the ladies on this trip) got in some nice reading while Ben and I played on the beach and in the water, but he ran up to them every once in a while to give everyone wet and sandy and frosty hugs...


We had beautiful sunsets every night that we were in this house, and spent some time out on the deck every night just enjoying the night and the swooping bats that kept the area bug-free...


It was incredible and, on this occasion, cigar and bourbon worthy for Anti-Sarah and I...


Gail managed a post-coffee nap one morning, even on the "boneless" couch...and she stuck the landing, all told, a difficulty factor of 3.8...


Gran came over and was hustled into playing Clue-Junior with Ben...we didn't have the rules, but Ben was happy to make them up and everyone had fun...


Uncle Bim came by one afternoon and played some soccer with Ben...

We had a great time in Maine, as always, and can't wait to go back again next year...we're rested and ready for school to start...for all of us (Ben will be starting Kindergarten next Thursday!!!)...it's been a great summer, but we're ready for the change...

A drive in the country...

After we all had our coffee and such this morning, we hit the road for Newcomb...the drive to Newcomb is gorgeous on a bad day, and today was spectacular...there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the temperature peaked at about 70 degrees, and there was no humidity...

The drive south to our land in Newcomb takes about an hour and a quarter, and goes through some beautiful and empty country...Lake Clear to Tupper Lake to Long Lake to Newcomb to Goodnow Flow...Ben announced that he was going to be astronaut when he grows up, but still plans on living in our backyard...

This is one of the straight shots along the big-empty between Tupper and Long Lake...I love the feeling of the deep wilderness pressing in on both sides...


Ben was feeling a little better, although his nasties have moved into a more traditional stuffed nose and gunky chest mode (which is both disquieting and a bit of a relief as we didn't know what to make of the snotless/feverless cold)...he was excited to be on the road, and for a couple of the key components of our day: eating at the Long Lake Diner (aka "Woods") and playing at the playground in Long Lake...



Our new driveway is in great shape, although with a couple of downed trees...we walked down to the water, and made plans for thinning out the trees like crazy...Ben and I are going to come down here camping when the weather starts to turn cold...


On the way back out and back up towards Long Lake, we stopped at the Newcomb ski-hill, which Ben is newly excited about since becoming an expert at Mount Pisgah last winter...we're getting a seasons pass this winter for the whole family ($300 total...yes... for all of us)...


We also filled up our water bottles at the spring at the bottom of the ski-hill...it's great and cold water...


Ben was insanely happy to get to the Long Lake Diner {WOODS!}...he ordered a grilled ham and cheese, shared my order of sweet potato fries with me, and beamed at everyone in the restaurant...Gail also had an order of the best french onion soup I've ever tried...


Ben originally called it "Woods" because of the wallpaper that runs around the whole restaurant...the other great feature that we love is that the tables all have topo-maps under glass, and we spend time during every meal here looking at and imagining the places in the maps that we look at...Ben learned about maps and topo-lines and map-symbols in Woods, and we learn something new every time we visit...


Our last stop before heading back home was at the great little playground near the Long Lake Central School...Ben loves this playground like no other...we've made trips down here just for lunch and a play before...today was the first time that he scaled the climbing-wall by himself and without any help...he slid and climbed and ran and hung (from some monkey-bars...he still need to gain some confidence along with some upper-body strength before he'll do these solo)...

On the way home, we stopped off at Shaheen's Market for steaks and fish sticks (guess who got which...), along with some other necessities for sustaining life...we all enjoyed some quiet time in the afternoon, and then a great supper...

It was a nearly perfect summer day!

Saturday Chillin at Home...

Ben's cough is still hanging in, so we're taking it easy today...Ben and I went to the library this morning, both to borrow a book and a video, and to pay the shocking (but well-deserved) fines we owed for books and videos that we kept through most of July while we were at camp with Muz and D (the sweet lol at the library apologized profusely to me for the $14 fine, as if she were robbing us reluctantly)...

We also went shopping this morning, and to the Dollar Store (next to the market that will always be the Grand Union, or grunion, to me...I literally cannot fix the new name in my head)...

In and amongst the other stuff that we got and running into people that I work with and running into the Buerketts, Ben asked for, and received, an el cheapo watercolor set (it cost...wait for it...$1.08)...we got home and woke Mommy up to show her the fruits of our labor (she's feeling a little under the weather, and is treating her ailments with some couch therapy (supplemented by B&W movies and cat-walking-on-your-back massages)...

After mommy went back to sleep, Ben and I got down to some serious watercolor...I laid out a long sheet of actual newsprint (I walk into the local newspaper and ask for a "roll-end", and they happily load me down with 3 partial rolls of newsprint, 2 go to my classroom and 1 comes home for moments such as these), and we dug in...Ben was a good sport, even in the face of horrific water coloring materials...Winslow Homer could never have painted "The Adirondack Guide" if he had been saddled with this set (he might have squeezed out a doggie or kitty or rainbow, but not much else)...the colors were oily and resistant to water, they all tended to the dingy end of the spectrum, and the brushes were stiff as wire...

Rising to meet the challenges before him, Ben worked hard to moisten the tiny disks of paint, and to break-in the brushes...to not much avail...

yes, I was online with the Zombie Squad while we were art-ing it up

He did however have a great time mixing and making new colors and experimenting with drying times for different colors and wetnesses...

I love the way that he holds his paintbrush, and the serious way that he approaches his fun, and the laugh he busts out with when he spills the cup of rinse-water, and the thousand different color names that he comes up with for what all look to me like monkey-vomit green (to be fair, there were numerous shade of monkey-vomit on the sheet, some were bluer or more orange or lighter or darker)...

I've promised him a better watercolor set, but he (we) had a fun time with what he had...modifying the activity to match the materials without even thinking about it...he's so great!!!

Soccer and Swimming

Despite an Adirondack heatwave, Ben having a persistent cough, and all of us missing Muz and D and Maggie (and Camp Sunrise), we had a fun week...


Ben's soccer team shirt arrived just in time for their first series of game...the lake clear 5-6 year-olds (which include a couple of 4 year-olds like Ben) played 3 games against their counterparts from Saranac Lake and Bloomingdale...everyone had a fun time, although I'm not sure that anyone could tell you the score of any of the games...


Ben and his buddies loved getting their team shirts, and it helped them figure out who was on their team, and which goal to shoot on (a little bit)...

Ben and Jacob has a great time hanging out, as always, before and during and after the games...during the games, they sometimes had to be reminded that there was a game going on...



It was a hot day, so frequent water breaks were important...here you can see Ayla and Ben taking a minute between games to rehydrate...


At the end of each game, the teams would line up and everyone would shake hands and say, "Good Game"...we'll have more games next Monday...


Yesterday, a broiling day (for the Adks...low 90s) we went over to Hoel Pond, and ran into Ben's friends Sydney and Kelsey swimming...we had a great time and cooled off a bit...which just made it harder to go home again...


I threw Ben into the air a million times, which he loved...

He's finally getting more comfortable with the splashdown phase...he used to not like the splashes on his face and in his eyes, but now he's getting into it...



At the end of our swim, Ben donned his Spiderman towel-cape, and flitted around the woods like a superhero while we got ready to go...