First day of school = snow (storm) day

 Hurricane Irene made a mess of the East coast!  Tons of people are without power and have downed lines, trees, etc.  Somehow we managed to make it through unscathed and didn't even lose power, a benefit of being hooked up to the North Windham shopping grid!

My first day of school was cancelled several days before it began so I go to have an extra day at home with my little ones!  Luckily, it was actually a nice, sunny day!

 We had no agenda for a change except to sleep in and relax at home.  The kids had breakfast and wanted to keep pj's on for awhile.  We painted pictures, watched big trucks haul off downed trees and checked out the garden for damage.  Luckily, the veggies seemed to make it through okay too.

Our big find, was a bird's nest near our big spruce tree.  It was perfectly intact and the kids were quite excited to find it.  Tucky told all our neighbors that he found an eagle's nest at our house!

 Biking was also a big hit today!!!  There were a few puddles left over that the kids aimed for and Tucky was dying to pedal his new bike.  We found a bike for him Saturday morning that is a 12", slightly bigger than his Rock-It bike.  His legs are long and he picked right up on this bike no problem.  He can crank a lot faster on it and loves the idea of a handbrake.  He's growing up too fast!!!

 Our big activity for the day was driving to the Mountain Division Trail in South Windham for a nice bike ride along the 4 mile paved trail.  The kids love it!  Tucky biked several miles and it's great because there are some smaller hills, nothing he couldn't handle.  Brooklyn was totally content on the back of my bike, she could take it all in!  We had snacks on the tailgate before making our way home to meet Daddy for dinner.  Fun day for sure...back to work tomorrow.

 After hearing stories of all the devastation around us, we are feeling pretty lucky we made it through the storm as well as we did. Many friends and family are without power and Sugarloaf lost two bridges making it an island for a day or two!

Surfing w/great friends....and the kids too!

Ahh, the calm before the storm.  With the hurricane approaching the east coast this past week, we took the opportunity to get out on the water a few times.

After last Sunday morning's surf session, I was amped to go surfing again, as was Meghan.  So when the opportunity came a few days ago, we all took it.

Auntie Amy graciously came up to watch the little ones for the evening and get in some Tucky/Brookie time.  She found us knee deep in tomatoes in the garden and out in the backyard.  Tucky and Brooklyn were both so excited and had to show her everything we've been doing lately...too funny

After the kids were left in good hands, with dinner going and Amy and Derek watching them, I met up with Jay in Portland.  We then met Josh and Meghan at Higgins for a very rare date night...sort of I guess.  With four little kids between us, these don't come easy.

The surf was amazing and we had a ball catching waves and taking pictures.  Meghan and I were on stand-up boards and Jay and Josh on long boards.  We surfed well into the dark and it was absolutely amazing.  I can't remember the last time Jay and I surfed together!


After stopping in for some food at Silly's in Portland, we drove back to the house and found the kids sleeping and Auntie Amy sleeping peacefully on the couch too.  She did great, with a little help from our friend Derek, and had a great time!  Thanks Ames!

Hurricane Irene changed our plans a few times this past weekend, but it all ended up working out just fine.  After spending Saturday morning at home preparing for the storm and playing outside, picking tomatoes, etc., we decided to get in some beach time.


Daddy met up with Josh and went surfing just after naptime and Mommy's friend Kim joined us at the house.  We finished picking all the veggies we could and starting to pack the car.  Meghan and the kids met us at the house and then we were

off to Higgins beach as well.  We figured we'd have a couple hours before the storm really started rolling in.

We had surfboards and boogie boards to try out.  Tuck and Sage instantly grabbed the boogie boards and flew to the water.  It was so nice out and the waves were just right for the kids.  Despite the cold ocean water, they jumped in and had a ball running around with the boards.  We did try laying on them a few times but that wasn't really a big hit yet.  Brooklyn and Sam even got a few rides in.

We watched the Daddy's surf and played in the sand.  The kids thought it was really funny to chase Kim around, she's a good sport!

At one point Daddy came in and grabbed Tucky who wanted to surf with him.  They caught a few smaller waves near shore and rode in on their bellies.  It was really cute!  Tuck kind of liked it but was nervous about the waves.

I thought he'd like the stand up paddle board better because it's significantly bigger.  We caught a few waves and he even stood up at one point.

By the third wave he told me, "Mommy, this is not my deal, poopy waves, bad waves!"  I took that as a sign to stop.  Apparently though, he told Daddy that he liked the paddle board best, go figure.

So maybe the kids are still a bit young for the waves, but they were definitely into the water and sand.  We found some remnants of someone else's digging and Brooklyn had a ball jumping in the puddles.  They were all just so cute in board shorts and rash guards!  Plus, they entertain each other so well.

It started to cool off fast so our wet, sandy, salty, cold kids stripped down to nothing and put on some dry clothes.  We fed them all and tried our best not to feed them sand.  Brooklyn tried to pick up some yogurt that fell out of her yogurt tube...we let that one go...

Eventually the Daddy's got out of the surf and grabbed the cars.  The kids were wiped and all fell asleep on the way home.  We figured we'd bathe them all in the morning.  It worked out well though, because Jay took our kids home and Josh was able to do the same for his.  They left a car for Kim, Meghan and I so we could stay and surf a little too.

At this point, the fog was rolling in and the surf was building.  Meghan and I went out for about a half hour and caught a handful of waves before calling it quits.  It was still really fun but definitely building in size and neither of us was really comfortable at that point.  Plus, everyone else was really good and we had a couple close encounters...meaning we couldn't steer....haha

With the kids asleep again, the three of us headed into town and had some food at Binga's before driving north to drop Kim off.  The rain was rolling in hard so I crashed at Meghan's for a few hours and then drove home around 5:30am so I could be there when the kiddies woke up.

What a fabulous few days and a great end to summer for us!  Back to work in a few days...

My little gardeners...

 We love the garden!!!  The kids love venturing into the garden to see what they can find, lots of surprises, especially since we gave up weeding awhile back.  The biggest excitement lately, besides our tomato boom, is our friendly garter snake.  He lives in the garden and left us a nice, long snake skin the other day.  We've seen him almost everyday and they are both really interested in him.  Luckily, they haven't asked me to pick him up or anything!

The vegetables are growing well and we're eating our share.  There's nothing better than popping out carrots, washing them on the spot and munching away, our new favorite hobby!

 Jay was off for a couple days and had planned on taking the kids back to Moosehead to spend a few days at the lake with EE and Papi.  I had to work guiding sea kayak trips on Saturday so I had wanted to do something altogether before they headed north.  Since we've listed our house, Jay's been wanting to get some of our firewood to camp so we packed up and drove later in the day on Thursday.

 It was a gorgeous day, so when we finally hit Kingfield and the kids had finished their naps, we pulled over and found a nice swimming spot on the Carrabassett River.  The water was beautiful and just shallow enough for the kids.

 We threw rocks, learned how to skip them and splashed about for awhile.  Brooklyn and I tried floating in the only deep spot we could find.  What a water bug she is!  Tuck was content playing with the rocks and getting just wet enough to cool off.

 We must have stayed for at least an hour before we had cooled off enough and decided to head for camp.  The kids and I walked around and checked out camp while Daddy unloaded the wood.  At one point we tried to help, but stopped as soon as both Jay and I got stung.  Luckily the kids did not, that would have changed things a lot for us!!!

Dinner time was approaching so we hit the Stratton Plaza for pizza.  There's an outdoor deck with a nice seating area and plenty of room for the kids.  They loved it because they could run around and one guy even gave Tucky his old handcarved walking stick.  That made his night.  He and Brooklyn also ordered chocolate milks and the nice man at the counter added whip cream and a cherry for them...looks like we'll have to come back another time, kids had a ball!

 Tired kids = good time to drive the two hours to Moosehead so Daddy put the kids in pj's and let them crash in the car.  I was worried about moose and all but they made it safely.  I had a little Mommy time before working on Saturday and spent the day hanging with Meghan and her kiddos at the lake.

After trying to get some words in on the phone with the kids and sharing stories, I learned that they took part in a lot of different adventures!!!  They played with water tables, went biking, fishing, took wheelbarrow rides, built fairy houses, pounded roofing nails into old railroad ties, swam had  and lots of fun with EE and Papi.

They also got to feed the ducks.  However, this posed a problem when the time came to go fishing.  Apparently Tucky took the matter into his own hands and tossed a few little rocks into the water to scare them away.  No one got hurt...

I talked to Tucky on the phone at one point and asked him if he'd been biking a lot and the response I got was, "Mommy, I've been too busy."  So Daddy was helping to roof the new woodshed and Tucky spent quite a bit of time helping (on the ground of course, I did ask though).  He learned how to use the hammer and nails and EE told me that he wouldn't even stop to come eat....sounds like someone else we all know.

 The kids had a ball up at camp and EE was very excited that Brooklyn can now say her name!  She told me that Brooklyn shouts out the letters "E.E." in a very loud, husky voice.  It is actually quite funny.

On Sunday, we all met up in Wilton at Aunt Ann's house for the Groleau family reunion.  A ton of Jay's Aunts, Uncles and cousins were there and it was great to see everyone.  The kids had an especially good time playing with all their 2nd cousins!  More on that to come!