We've got a little more than a garden

Now that we've got the kids moved into their newly painted room, we've been moving onto phase II: getting seeds into the ground. We've got an acre of land and we love fresh produce, so we are not holding back. We really want to get the kids involved as much as possible.  

Our first blueberry plant. 

Finn just loved scooting around the yard. 

Madie loves being outside to play. 

Finn also enjoyed sampling the various rocks. Yum!

This is our front yard. This fall I'd like to plant a lawn here for the kids to run around and play. It's especially convenient because it's right outside our family room and kitchen. 

We have a pond on our property with a family of ducks, pretty cool!

Bonus points for anyone that can name these wild flowers. 

Lots of perennials in the yard.  

Don't know what this is, but there are a few trees like this. 

Any guesses?

Lilac. 

Ferns. 

Wild strawberries. 

Blackberries and raspberries. We've definitely got our work cut out for us!

Service and Recreation

Saturday was the first Mormon Helping Hands day for the state of Maine (as far as I know). Ironically, we did the same service we did every year in Livermore. That is, clean up the green space and trails near the river. Afterwards, we went to the Rands house for some fun at. They live right on Beech Hill Pond and have a paddle boat, ski boat, dock, etc. It was a fun day.

Finn worked pretty hard today. He was in the kid-pack and was helping me out the entire time. 

Bangor provided a BBQ for us afterwards. 

Getting the paddle boat ready to take out. 

Madie liked steering the paddle boat. 

Finn literally despised this life vest. 

In the ski boat. 

Happier moment in the ski boat...he cried for a good portion due to that blasted vest. 

Madie is going to be our little boat captain. 

When I asked her what she liked about the boat, she said "I like when it goes fast!"

First Major Project - The Kids Room

Although there were things that I really disliked about living in an apartment (proximity to neighbors that smoke, noise), there were things that I enjoyed. I had no lawn to mow, not bushes to trim, nothing to paint, nothing to replace or install. It was a simple life. Now that we are home owners, life will never be simple again. And for us, our projects have begun! First major project: kids room makeover. 

First order of business after moving in is to remove wallpaper from the kids room. I've never seen a wallpaper with a print that's held it's appeal longer than a few years. And after removing this wallpaper, I pledge to NEVER install wallpaper again for the sake of the poor soul that will have to remove it in 20 years!

First blood.

First we painted the ceiling and the trim white. Madie was a great help and commented at least seven times how much she loved painting. 

After a few hours of drying, we got to work on the walls. This was more of a pistachio color.  

Green feet!

Setting up the beds. 

And a job well done! So glad the kids will be out of our room and be able to enjoy their room. 

Dear Alexa,

I was visiting Gram the other day and was thinking about how much you've wanted to see her new addition. It is beautiful, you know. And the light comes in so nicely at just that part of the house--it has a very pleasant luminance.

The rest of Gram's house looks very much the same. Here, I have a picture:

You see the carpet and chair and couch? Yeah, that's all the same. 

Aren't the kids cute in this picture! Madie loves that Big Sis shirt Mum bought her--she even instructed me not to dry it so the lettering would last longer.

Anyway, our own house is a work in progress. Mike and I just installed a new light fixture into our hideous ceiling fan. It's the first step in our attempt to create it. Tomorrow we will take down the blades, clean them and paint them a pewter color to cover the faded green and yellow daisies that currently "adorn" it. I can't wait.

Speaking of adorning, let's have another picture shall we? How adorable is my little boy adorning this Michael Watkins original? They're becoming rarer and rarer these days--he's growing so fast.

Well Lex, I love you. We all miss you. I hope your semester goes well and I look forward to seeing you this summer even if it might be a brief visit. Lots of love, your favorite, but I won't tell kid sister, 

Mallory

P.S. Madie makes a beautiful model.

Gram wanted wicker but couldn't find anything she liked for the price she wanted, so she bought a couch, which I'm sure you'll learn either by experience or by her telling you is actually made for long-legged folks but when she tried the couch she didn't notice. We should call her long-gammed Gram!

Her favorite piece is the leather recliner--she has a table coming to accompany it so she doesn't have to place her books on the floor. I love that she bought some great floral furniture and then covered them with the dust covers. Gotta keep things neat and tidy!

She's got a lot of plants out there and she even has citronella plants outside the door--two of them. I didn't know it came from a plant! I'll have to get a few! She says when they're bigger they're keep away anything in a 10-foot radius. At least that's what they told her.

A couple of flaws though: that amaryllis on the sill by the lamp is dead. And the door doesn't work. Haha! I get a kick out of that! But Seth's going up to take a look at it sometime soon.

Our Maine Cottage and Newest Family Member

One of mine and Mal's favorite things to do together since we have been married is to 'dream', or pick a location on realtor.com that we can imagine ourselves living, and go house hunting. We've been hunting in Idaho, Utah, California, Washington, Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts...Europe...Alaska...We've been everywhere, man! Some of our dreaming has been within our price range, but plenty of it has not been. Either way, it's fun to dream. We have had our eye on some properties in Bar Harbor for a while now, but our dreaming never became serious until the possibility of moving here became reality. 

The bidding began at the end of January when we found a property we liked that was in town, but that did not work out for us. A few weeks later, we came across a property that was about five miles outside of town. It features a cottage on an acre of land, within a mile of the Atlantic, has a 1200 sq ft green house, and a detached two car garage. The only problem was it's situation. The seller owned two homes on a two acre property and was proposing that they split the properties upon agreeing to terms for selling. We were okay with that because of all that the property had to offer. So we agreed to close on April 30th, and the seller went to work on splitting the properties. 

Step 1: The town of Bar Harbor approved the split, which was a huge step because they had a reputation of not permitting such property splits due to zoning, etc. 

Step 2: The seller went to work on splitting the two properties. The homes water and electricity needed to be split from each other, and this actually didn't get done until April 30th. We moved our closing date to May 6, just to be safe. 

Step 3: Surveying the property didn't get done until about May 6th...hence, our closing date was moved again to May 15. Hopefully, the final time we had to change the date. 

Step 4: Leading up to the closing date, we were on pins and needles. We still had no official word that we would make the May 15 closing date. We got a call on May 14 that we were going to close the next day and to be prepared to sign! We did a final walkthrough that night and got the keys. 

Step 5: We sealed the deal on May 15 and began moving. Good thing too, because our lease for our rental ended on May 18. 

We've already got many plans for the home. We are going to do our best to give it a Coastal Maine Cottage style. Any ideas are welcomed! The seller had a lot of eclectic tastes, some good some odd. But it's so nice to have the assurance that we can make any changes we want. We've already installed a new faucet and ripped the wallpaper out of the kids room. More improvements to come...

 Madie loves our new house. She is being so silly here, getting ready for our walk. Behind her is looking down our driveway. 

Our garage and home. 

Of course Finn is a happy camper in his stroller with blankie in hand, fingers in mouth, sporting his pajamas & booties, and getting love from big sister. 

Madie gave me a great pose for the green house. 

On our Sunday evening walk. This is something we used to do every Sunday when we were in Livermore and we have missed it! Sure, we have been on Sunday walks since we have moved to Maine, but the house we were renting was situated on a busy road that wasn't ideal for a walking family. We had to drive to a trail or path. Not anymore! 

And we are only a ten minute walk from the Atlantic. The ocean breeze smells so good. 

Doing some stretches by the water. 

This boy loves being outside. 

Oh yes, our newest family member? Meet Lemon, our kitten. 

Mothers Day Weekend

Mothers day weekend was such a relaxing one for all of us. Maybe it was the stressful week leading up to it that involved final exams, planning an Eagle Scout court of honor, poor Mal being the victim of a fugitive puzzle piece scratching her cornea? Whatever it may be, the weekend was a great time to recuperate. On Saturday we went for a walk on Acadia's Park Loop Road since it's still closed. It was very windy, as you can see in the photo. 

Fiddleheads (infant ferns), a real food delicacy in Maine. 

We walked for 5 minutes, but then turned back to head somewhere else. Didn't feel like walking into 20+ mph winds that day. We headed to the Asticou Azalea Garden Preserve, which is a privately owned garden in Northeast Harbor. It was a great time of year to visit, and apparently an appropriate day. On Sunday, we found out that Saturday (the day we went) was National Garden Day! Definitely didn't plan that one out. 

Madie absolutely loved this place. Even though it was sprinkling a little bit and she didn't have a rain jacket or umbrella, she was still heart broken to leave. 

Mothers Day was another great day. We started out with some pancakes, went to church, at some gnocchi with salmon, and topped it all off with strawberry shortcake. Finn even slept all night. We are so blessed to have Mal in our family and are thankful for all she does. Happy Mothers day to all of the mothers in our lives. 

Sand Beach

The day after Mal and the kids got home, we headed to Sand Beach. It was such a nice day, we had to take advantage!

We tried out our new baseball gear with Madie. 

Finn was loving it!

Nothing like playing in the sand. 

Happy to have the family back home.