We started out the weekend by readying the house so we could go to Grammy Haskins'. The kids are always excited to visit her because she has toys, Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast (or any meal for that matter!), and hearing Grammy's stories. Madie specifically requests stories.
We brought the kids' bikes with us and let them get some practice in. Madie is getting really good at starting and riding on her own. I commented to her that she learned to ride at a younger age than I did. She was pretty impressed by that. Finn enjoys riding on his trike. He loved riding to the top of Grammy's driveway, and letting gravity do its job on the way down while suspending his feet in the air away from the pedals for a wild ride. It was good for the kids to ride there to learn how to be aware of traffic. We usually practice riding in a large parking lot, and don't have to deal with cars as much.
Baby Nell was her cheerful self and enjoyed the bounty around...such as grass, rocks, and leaves.
We even hooked up the red wagon to Finn's trike and he gave Nella and Thomas rides. It served as his "truck".
Monday we went to the Blue Hill Fair in the morning. Let me say, that is the time to go! Cooler temps and fewer people.
The kids won some prizes like a sword, and a red ball. We sampled doughboys (Madie's request), maple candy, crab cakes, maple cotton candy, and lemonade.
The kids were most excited to ride the merry-go-round. Every time Madie passed me, I hooted really loudly, to which she turned the opposite direction to ignore me. Teenagers...
After the fair we headed to the park for our branch lobster bake. Only in Maine. At one point when I was holding Nella, I saw an open baby swing and started to walk toward it. When I was ten feet away, I saw it wasn't a baby swing, but a toddler swing. When I began walking away, Nella started to ball her eyes out! She loves swings, and spots them from afar with anticipation of riding in one. So when one finally opened up, I put her in and this is the face that I got every time she swung toward me. Very happy, to say the least.
After the branch activity, we took a drive to Deer Isle. None of us had ever been, but figured we should since we were close by. I've always been intrigued with it since I read Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. In it, he describes it by saying, "This Isle is like Avalon; it must disappear when you are not there."
Following the excursion, we went back to the Blue Hill Park and went swimming. It was a really cool swim area that has a large granite boulder for jumping off. The big story that will likely be remembered from this swim will likely be how Madie's red ball went into the water and started to float away. Madie and Finn went into a panic after it left shore. Madie was too scared to go in and snag it. Part of that has to do with not having the confidence to swim yet, and the other part is fear of what may be lurking in the ocean (she asks about sharks a lot). Mal had a good suggestion to cope with the loss. Write a story about it. I don't think she has done that yet, but maybe we will get a graded assignment from school one day with that written story. You never know.
No comments:
Post a Comment