First Day of School

It's finally here! The long-awaited (or -dreaded, depending on the perspective) day that the kids returned to school. I pray they all have wonderful, fruitful years, but this morning was full of a lot of grumbles.

"It's literally the worst day of the year!" said Little Man, irritated by my good cheer this morning. But I made it up to them with fresh chocolate-chip pancakes.

The afternoon and evening was a flurry of events, as all their after-school activities begin this week as well. I wish we could ease back into things, but at least the kids are happy with their chosen activities.

Linda, Tina and I celebrated with our annual first-day-of-school lunch. Tag, you're it, teachers!

Happy 14th Birthday, Sweet Pea and Little Man!

It's been a fast and furious summer, but they've been anticipating today for months: THEY'RE FOURTEEN! They're firmly in the teen years now, and so far we're all surviving. 

Little Man in many ways is a typical 14-year-old boy, enamored with bodily functions, inappropriate noises and "that's what she said" jokes. He absolutely wears his feelings on his sleeve; we always know what he's thinking. He's sensitive and honest, sometimes brutally!

His favorite foods are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (he eats 3-4 a day), mac n cheese, lasagna, and -- recently -- Jarritos sodas. He finally admits to sometimes liking some vegetables, like lettuce ("anything's good with ranch dressing!") and sauteed mushrooms.

Little Man's main activities are tennis and cross country. The cross country season is about to start, and he's looking forward to practices and meets. Oddly, he never wants to practice at home, and regularly turns down MJ's invitations to join him on early morning runs. But he likes playing tennis with me and MJ. It's always me against the two of them. It's not the handicap it sounds like; I usually win, but it won't be long before they're beating me consistently. 

This past year, Little Man got pretty involved with Boy Scouts, and has really enjoyed it. He plans to continue and fully intends to make Eagle Scout someday. So far he has plenty of merit badges, but  doesn't even have his first rank yet, which is the opposite of the norm! I tease him that he'll be the first kid to earn every single merit badge before he's even the rank of "Scout." 

Sweet Pea is a fun mix of girly-girl and tomboy: she loves skin care and hair care, but she doesn't care for makeup or dresses. She will wear skirts sometimes, but mostly she lives in athletic leggings and tops. She's a sneakerhead and has multiple pairs at any given time. She loves white shoes, but has a hard time keeping them white!

Her favorite foods are mac n cheese, burgers, and fruit. But after a recent bout of stomachaches, she self-diagnosed as lactose-intolerant, and has decided to cut dairy from her diet. We'll see how long she can go without some of her favorites!

Her main activity is still cirque, and she's looking forward to a new season of rehearsals and performances. We recently learned that her professional company will be performing around the country starting this winter, so we're excited for that!

Little Man and Sweet Pea are about to start 8th grade, their final year of middle school. And it'll possibly be their final year of going to school together, since Sweet Pea is adamant about attending our zoned high school, while Little Man is considering attending the same fine arts magnet high school that CC attends. Sweet Pea pretends to hate school, but she does very well and has tons of friends, so I take her complaints with a grain of salt. Little Man is more vehement about how much he dislikes school, which is why he is considering a different high school -- he might want a fresh start, with kids he hasn't gone to school with since elementary school. This year both Sweet Pea and Little Man will start taking some high school classes, and we'll be interested to see how they do.

They're both growing and maturing and turning into such interesting little people. I can't wait to see where they will go this next year. It's bittersweet every time they move into a new phase, but also lovely to witness them develop. We love you, Sweet Pea and Little Man! Happiest of birthdays!

New England Part III: Bar Harbor and Acadia

I loved Bar Harbor so much! Or "Bah Hah-bah" as the locals call it. Our hotel was right on Main Street, and the whole town is so walkable and friendly. My favorite place was the Shore Path, which took us between the beautiful homes and the rocky beach. I wish it was a longer route -- I could have spent more time enjoying the views. There was a huge rock on the beach that the kids tried to climb. Sweet Pea made it (with the help of the others), and Little Man finally did it on his own!

There was also a village green where families would lounge in the evening, and one night a band was playing American favorites like "Stars and Stripes Forever." I loved it!

The first evening we were there, we walked across the land bridge at low tide. Bar Island is in Frenchman Bay, and when the tide goes out, a natural land bridge forms for three hours that allows you to walk over to the island. It's so neat! We spent quite a lot of time there, skipping rocks and letting the kids explore.

The next day was spent at Acadia National Park. This park has been on my bucket list for a long time, and I was so excited to go! It definitely lived up to my expectations. We walked the Ocean Path Trail from Sand Beach all the way to Otter Cliff and back, past Thunder Hole and over a lot of pink granite rocks.

We finished the hike a lot earlier than I planned, so we had time to go to Jordan Pond and hike before lunch. We started the loop around the pond, which is largely on raised planks. At first, the walkway was novel and interesting. There were pretty views of the pond and the nearby hills, North and South Bubble. But very quickly we became irritated with the planks, because there was no room to allow people to pass. Every once in a while there were larger platforms to stand on, where you could wait and allow people to go in the other direction. Despite it not being a very busy day, we had to wait at every platform for three or four groups of people to pass by before we could continue. So before long, we called it quits and headed back to Jordan Pond House for lunch.

It's a good thing we did, because the line was already forming. We were seated in the first wave of guests, and had a lovely lunch. We enjoyed their famous popovers with butter and strawberry jam, and it was the perfect break in our day.

In the afternoon, we headed to Bass Harbor Head Light. It's managed by Acadia National Park, but located on the other side of Mount Desert Island. It's one of the most popular lighthouses in Maine, and we spent quite a bit of time exploring the area. 

The next morning, we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain. Despite my efforts every day, we were not able to secure a sunrise pass. The passes are extremely limited, released at 10am two days prior, and are gone in seconds. But we visited the peak later in the morning to see where the sunrise first hits the continental US every day. 

The last activity we did was to hike the Beehive Trail. MJ didn't do it with us -- it's definitely not the best hike for someone who doesn't like heights. But the kids and I loved it. It was fairly short, about one hour, but intense. And it had some of the most unique hiking I've ever experienced: ladders, planks, rock climbing, etc. I was constantly concerned that the kids wouldn't take it seriously, would goof around and plummet to their deaths. But despite my fears, we all survived, and the kids truly enjoyed such a challenge.

That was a wrap on our New England adventure! It was gorgeous and memorable. Tomorrow we head back home, because the following day is very special for two twins I know ...

New England Part II: Salem, Portland, Kennebunkport

On our way to Maine, we stopped in Salem to learn a little about its witchy history. We ate lunch at the Witchside Tavern, and the girls learned that they love blueberry lemonade. Then we took an audio walking tour of the historic area, and learned a lot about the events that happened back in the 1600s. We wrapped up our stop with a visit to Harbor Sweets, a chocolatier that Grandma recommended. There's always time for chocolate!

Then it was off to Portland, Maine. The weather was significantly cooler, especially in the mornings. Our hotel was right on the main street, and we had fun walking up and down the wharfs, watching the boats and peeking in the shops. The first morning we headed to Kennebunkport, which was about 40 minutes away. It was cute, but packed with cars and people. I understand August is peak season, but I can't imagine how bad it must be on the 4th of July!

We took a lobster tour, which explained a bit of the history of the area, pointed out the Bush compound, and demonstrated lobster fishing. We even saw a seal frolicking in the water!

Sweet Pea and CC were enjoying blueberry lemonade at practically every restaurant we visited, so out of curiosity I looked up when Maine blueberry season is. What luck -- it's August! And there were several blueberry farms close to Portland. It was the best $18 I've probably ever spent. We had a peaceful, quiet several hours where we all picked (and ate) blueberries to our hearts' content. The farm grew 18 varieties of blueberries, and it was really interesting to compare their different flavors, sizes, and textures. We loved the Chandler, which were huge (about the size of quarters), but I also really liked the Toro and the Liberty.

We couldn't go to Maine without seeing some of the beautiful lighthouses! So we set off to see the Portland Head Light, the oldest lighthouse in Maine, commissioned by George Washington. It was the perfect afternoon activity. The lighthouse is situated in Fort William Park, which is a large piece of property with plenty of room to roam. The coast there (like most of Maine) is lined with large rocks, and the kids had a blast climbing. They probably would have happily stayed all day!

And then it was time to drive up to Bar Harbor, and Acadia National Park, which was what I'd been looking forward to the most!

New England Part I: Boston

The Morrisons had a great trip to New England! This trip has been on my list for a while, and I was so excited to go. We started off with a few days in Boston.

Naturally, we had to walk the Freedom Trail! Our hotel was at the waterfront, so it was only a few blocks away. Unfortunately, Boston was experiencing an intense heat wave ... and this is how we learned that a lot of places in Boston don't have air conditioning. Ugh! We had hoped to escape the oppressive heat when we left the South! (We ended up making a lot of stops for ice cream and cold drinks.)

The kids were less than impressed with "all the history stuff," but they definitely enjoyed Quincy Market and all the fun street performers in that area. Little Man ate two lobster rolls within our first 24 hours, and decided he'd try them at every opportunity during our trip, to see which one was best.

The next morning, we took a Duck Tour. Boston is full of these amphibious vehicles -- half bus, half boat. Ours was captained by a stand-up comedian, who was really funny. He discussed Boston history (mostly Revolutionary War events), and pointed out a lot of Boston landmarks. My favorite part was when the duck went out on the Charles River -- we had a beautiful view of the city, and a nice breeze to mitigate the heat.

Afterwards we headed to Boston Public Garden. Grandma had given us several assignments: we absolutely had to visit the statues of the duck family from "Make Way for Ducklings," and we had to ride on the swan boats. Check and check!

One of the best things about Boston: Anna is there! We got to spend a lot of time with her, including two dinners with her and her boyfriend Anthony, who we really enjoyed getting to know. 

On our third morning, it was time for us to move on. We rented a car and headed north, to Maine.

Happy 4th of July!

A happy, safe, and fun Independence Day to everyone!

Summer Swim

CC is a coach for our summer swim team this year, working with the "Shrimps," our swimmers who are 6 and younger. They're adorable, and they love CC, and she loves them back.

Her favorite is George, who refuses to swim with any coach other than CC. Here he is swimming in a meet, wearing his goggles adorably upside down.

She still swims for the team as well, but she prefers the coaching aspect. Not only does she love the little kids, but the job pays good money! And as a swim coach, she's allowed to teach swim lessons at our pool (which she does frequently). Add in her recent lifeguard certification, and she's making a bundle this summer -- and practically living at the pool!