Lostah

Last week (sorry- we've been out of town) Matt finally got the chance to do something he'd been wanting to try ever since we got the news we were moving to Maine- boil his own lobster. It was actually quite entertaining...

The guys drove to the Marina down the road and brought home their catch (well, actually their purchase)

I wonder if they know the end in near

The turkey fryer turned lobster pot

boil, boil, boil

20 minutes later

(by the way- that's a chip Bruce has in his mouth- he's not a lobster eater)

The Car Wash

I guess when you are 15 months old it doesn't take much to get you excited. Since Isaac didn't want to take a nap this afternoon, I decided he could come outside and help me wash the car. He acted like it was the most fun he'd ever had. It was really funny watching him, but between fishing things out of the bucket, trying to keep Isaac from eating soap, and of course taking pictures, it took a really long time to actually get the car washed.

Portland Head

Since we had 5 of Matt's friends visiting on Sunday, we decided to take them to one of Maine's most famous landmark- The Portland Head Lighthouse. It's the most photographed spot in Maine (there's your Maine trivia fact of the day!)

Isaac and Dad take in the Maine scenery

The boys on the porch of the lighthouse- (left to right: Noah, Matt& Isaac, Nate, Bruce, Jonathan)

The family (For anyone who thinks I don't look pregnant- here's proof)

Just for fun I thought I'd post a picture we took in the same place about a year ago with Matt's parents

Life's a Beach

Finally- summer has arrived in Maine! It was beautiful weather on Saturday so we took Isaac (and Matt's friend Bruce who is visiting from VA) to Reid State Park, which is about 30 min. from our house. The water was 53 degrees according to the sign, but that didn't seem to faze Isaac one bit.

"Come on, just let me get in!"

That's a piece of seaweed... I know, I should have been there to take it out of his mouth, but I was too busy taking his picture instead

Maybe he'll be a marine biologist

Who needs sand toys when you have a stick?

Time to go- apparently this is the best way to carry a soaking wet baby

The Teddy Graham Game

This is a game that Isaac invented the other night. He thought it was the best idea he'd ever had.

Objective: Be the first one to successfully eat the teddy graham

What you need : 1 box of teddy grahams (obviously) , 1 overly energetic baby , 1 hungry and easily manipulated dog

Steps: 1. Point to the teddy grahams and say more, more, more until mom gives you a cracker (Start whining if

necessary)

2. Show teddy graham to dog to make sure he knows the game is on

3. Run as fast as you can away from the dog (preferably up the stairs)

4. Laugh hysterically as the dog chases you and tries to get the cracker out of your hand

5. Repeat 50 times or until the dog realizes it is a waste of his time and gives up

In this case, Dutch did give up chasing Isaac (after about 49 times...)

The grass isn't always greener on the other side

That's what they say, but in our case it really is true. Our grass, or lack thereof, has been a thorn in my side ever since we moved into our house almost a year ago. Currently our backyard has nothing growing in it at all, which is actually an improvement over the weeds that were there earlier this spring. Last week we struck a deal with our contractor and he agreed to have the "grass" stripped off and spread a bunch of new loam for us. Now we have to figure out the rest...

Our backyard- a work in progress.

Our front yard wasn't much better, but we figured we could work with what we had. Thankfully it finally stopped raining long enough this weekend for us to be able to get out and spread some
new topsoil and put down seed and fertilizer. We'll see what happens. I guess now that it stopped raining it means we'll have to water the lawn ourselves. Bummer.

If you look at our neighbors lawn in the backgroundyou'll see that their grass really is greener... much greener. I guess that's because they actually have grass growing in their lawn.

Isaac was a big helper! Acutally since he was running around outside for most of the afternoon he was ready for bed by 6:30 that night. Maybe he'll have to help us with yardwork more often.

The Rain in Maine

Apparently there is a saying, "If you don't like the weather in Maine, wait 5 minutes." Well, I've been waiting for a week and it is STILL raining. Seriously- there have only been 2 days in June without rain. The weather people try to make the forecast sound different each day by using words like rain showers, periods of rain, thunderstorms, light drizzle, scattered showers.... Whatever it's still wet and we can't go outside! Poor Isaac and Dutch.

"Rain, rain go away!"

Veggie Tales

Isaac usually doesn't get into watching TV or videos- which in my opinion is kind of a bummer. He prefers to spend his day literally running all over the house leaving a path of toys behind him. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have him sit still for like 10 minutes- even if it is to watch TV. The other day my friend Sarah gave me an extra veggie tales DVD she had. Isaac seemed pretty excited by the case, so I figured I'd pop it in. He got a big smile on his face when he saw the giant talking tomato come on the screen. He was laughing and pointing at the TV. Jackpot- now I can use the bathroom in peace and maybe load the dishwasher too!
Yeah- he watched the tomoato for about 15 seconds and then proceded to turn off the TV- a new trick for him. Then he returned to running around the living room. Since the DVD was still playing he would stop running every few minutes and turn the TV back on, laugh and point for another 15 seconds and then turn the TV off again. For him it is just another pit stop in between jumping on the couch and chasing the dog.

My European "Vacation"

Last week Matt and I got back from our first trip alone together since Isaac was born. Matt's idea of a "vacation" is cramming as many sights as possible into a 7 day period. Here's an overview:

* visited 4 countries. We considered driving into Canada since we had a long layover in Detroit before we flew back to Maine, but decided against it...

*walked and walked and walked some more around 6 cities ( Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Delft and Frankfurt)

I had 7 blisters! (Gross, I know)

" It's fun climbing up the Eiffel Tower after being up for 24 hours with no sleep"


*toured 3 art museums (Prado, Picasso, VanGogh), 2 homes (Ann Frank and Corrie ten Boom), 1 palace, several parks, churches, famous (and not so famous) buildings, statues, and lots of other random stuff:

" Museo del jamon" (Ham museum- it's really a restaurant)

*missed 1 flight (and almost missed 2 others)

*rode on way too many subways, buses, trams and trains to count

ate churros, lots of baguettes with cheese, paella, pancaken, and thai (our favorite meal on the trip) *never had enough to drink with our meals- one miniature glass of coke for 3 euros doesn't cut it!

Ok, this was the one exception- you don't even want to know how much we had to pay for that!

*realized it's fun touring Europe, but hanging out at home isn't too bad either. We were glad to get home so we could get some rest after 10 days on vacation.

(I have some other pics I am trying to load- however I'm having some technical difficulties, so check back...)

My first blog

Ok, I was thinking that I was probably too old to have a blog (really too non-computer savvy), but I'm going to try it anyway thanks to the inspiration of my little sister - the only other person I know who has a blog. My life right now as a stay at home mom revolves mostly around the antics of my 14 month old son Isaac, so I'm guessing he'll show up in most of my posts. We'll see how it goes!