A Trip to Gramma and Grampa's House

Cole, Heather, and I took a road trip to Gramma and Grampa's house this weekend. We made our usual pit stop in Gorham. We had a picnic at the playground.

Heather loved this dinosaur slide. She did it over and over.




Cole masters the "excavator."



Across the road from the playground is this train that has become a railroad museum. If you pass through here on a Saturday, as Wayne and I did last year, you may be lucky enough to find the freight cars open with some exhibits inside. The museum is run by the Gorham Historical Society and whether any of the cars are open depends upon the availability of Historical Society volunteers. Cole, Heather and I were here on Friday - no cars open - so we just looked around the outside.


Grampa and Gramma had not seen Cole in a year. They were so happy to see him and thought that he had gotten very tall.

Heather was grumpy from the long ride and not very friendly, but she did eventually warm up. Whan I put her to bed that first night, she cried and cried and climbed out of her "Graco." I had to let her sleep with me. It was a long, rough night. Luckily, the second night was much smoother.

A trip to the shore. Heather hurries over to show me an interesting rock she's found.



Cole was awestruck to be at the Atlantic Ocean and think that the Titanic was out there somewhere.



Tucked away in the woods by the beach is this cool playground. I don't know if you can tell from these pictures, but it's built with a nautical feel to it. I think it's supposed to be kind of like a ship.






On the way back to Grampa and Gramma's house we stop at the cemetary visit my grandparents.



Every summer, my Dad leaves a patch of the backyard unmowed to allow wild strawberries to grow. In the past few years there have been tons of them. Here, Cole and Heather are picking strawberries.


We could have filled three of these cool whip containers, but the mosquitos chased us away.



Heather and I play hide and seek in the yard.







When we got back this afternoon, Joanie drove in right behind us. She asked Cole if he was glad to be home after such a long ride. He answered, "No, I wanted to stay at Gramma and Grampa's house." She asked him how come. He said, "Because they love me. And I love them."

Boys Night Out

Friday evening Wes, Wayne and Cole had a boys night out.


Wayne came home with a lot of glory stories of their go-cart races. He said he went really fast even around the turns and pressed the gas pedal all the way down to the floor.



They also played a round of miniature golf, which I didn't hear much about, I suppose because it doesn't have the speed and excitement of car racing.



After golf they went to Wes's soccer game.



Saturday morning at 7 a.m. sharp Keoneke trundled over in his rattly old excavator and a state employee arrived for the septic soil test.


Wayne and Cole had their breakfast on the deck so they could watch the excavator dig. Later that morning, Wayne had his last t-ball game of the season. Now he'll move on to soccer and swimming lessons.

The Loose Tooth Report and Some Wildlife

Wayne lost his other front tooth the other day. I tried and tried to get a good picture of his toothless grin, but as I mentioned before, he's kind of self conscious. This picture is best I could do, so far, but I'll keep trying. He's so cute and goofy lately - toothless grins, a tangle of long skinny arms and legs, ears the better to hear you with...


Yesterday morning I was out early to go jogging when a deer thundered across the front yard right in front of me. It really startled me. I just stood there thinking, "Oh my gosh. I don't think I've ever been that close to a deer before." Then this morning, it was out back eating grass next to the garden (luckily not in the garden). It bounded away when I krept out to take this picture, and then stopped to turn and look at me. There has also been a moose around, but I haven't been able to get picture.



Wayne spotted this fox up by our raspberry bushes a week or so ago.



These are some irises I transplanted from Mom and Dad's house a couple of years ago.



And some irises we transplanted from Martha's house a few years ago. The ones from Maine are a little smaller and a lighter purple color. The ones from Martha's are larger and a darker purple. They look nice together.

Addison's Graduation Party

Congratulations to Addison for his high school graduation. There was a fun party in his honor at his house Saturday afternoon after the graduation ceremony.

Addy is playing ball with some friends on his front lawn.

Chris cooked burgers and hot dogs to perfection. The burgers were HUGE. And really, perfectly cooked. I'm so fussy about hamburgers, but these were juicy and tasty. Thanks Chris.




Heather experimented with using a knife instead of a fork. It didn't work very well.



Cole, with a fresh haircut, devoured Joanie's fruit salad.




Wayne, also with a fresh haircut, takes a sideways bite of his hotdog. As mentioned in a previous post, he's lost one front tooth and the other is moments away from falling out. I'm loving this toothless stage of his life. I think it's just the cutest thing.

Someone get Lizzy a modeling contract.

Notice the brace on Katie's leg. There's talk of knee surgery.



Elijah just keeps on growing.



Jacob and Danny arrived after winning a game (actually I think there might have been two games) in a World Series Little League tournament.



Wayne thinks Martha's pool is much more fun than our little wading pool.

Mary listens intently as Cole does his Titanic performance. You can't really see it, but the Titanic (yes, he brought it with him) is under the water.



Jeanne and Martha enjoy the indoors, away from the humidity and bugs.




I think Cole looks a lot like his cousin, Matthew. They have the same haircut, anyway.

The rain held off until after everyone had eaten and enjoyed the pool, and when a gentle rain did start, it actually brought a welcome relief to the heat and humidity. It was a fun day right up until the moment we were ready to leave and the van wouldn't start. A quick jump start was all the battery needed to get us going.

Thanks Martha and Chris for a great day. And congratulations again to Addy.

Father's Day

So here we are again, on the measley one day a year dedicated to honoring all the Dads in our lives for everything they did and do to make our lives comfortable, secure, and fun.

Thank you, Dads, for all of your hard work, support, advice, guidance, silliness, and fun. As I wirte this, Wes is downstairs playing "Kitchen Hockey" with Wayne, Cole, and Heather.

Happy Father's Day everyone.

Happy Friday the 13th

And more importantly, Happy Birthday from Wayne, Cole, and Heather to Aunt Julie over in France. She's told me stories about all of the unlucky things that have happened when her June 13th birthday has fallen on a Friday, so let's just hope today is full of good luck. Happy Birthday Julie. Hope you're having a great day.



And this picture has nothing to do with anything, but it's so funny and goofy, I just have to put it up.

Ernest and Cecile

Sunday afternoon Ernest and Cecile (Wes's aunt and uncle on his mother's side) stopped in for a visit. They're a really good humored couple and it's aways fun to see them. Cole entertained them with his usual performance and taught them all about the Titanic. Cecile said she never knew as much about the Titanic as she does now.

Ernest looked good and said he's been feeling good these days. They told us about a trip they had taken to Virginia in April in which Ernest had driven most of the way, so things seem to be going well for him. He had a long involved conversation with Wes about property lines. Cole also treated them to his Spider-man costume. Cecile thinks Cole is going to go into show business. He's certainly handsom enough. Look at him. Isn't he the best looking kid you've ever seen in your life? (along with his siblings of course)

Wayne seemed to be quite taken with Cecile. He sat next to her on the couch the whole time and told her about school and his friends.

Heather's stranger anxiety kicked in. This is about as close as she would get to either of them. She did dance to some music for them, which they thought was very cute.

It was a hot and humid day. Earlier in the afternoon before Ernest and Cecile came by, Wayne and Cole cooled off in their sprinkler and wading pool.




Yesterday morning, while having breakfast Wayne finally lost a tooth that has been loose for a long time. I think it was ready to come out weeks ago, but I suspect he's been nursing it along, hoping to get by until school ended. He's getting to be self conscious about his looks. Yesterday was Wayne's last day of school, which consisted of a field trip and then a party at a classmates house, so he did have to be seen with a toothless grin after all. He shouldn't be self conscious about it - most of the kids in his class look the same way.

So today is the first day of summer vacation (for Wayne, not for Wes yet) and it feels great not to have to herd everyone out to the car to get to school. It feels nice to have Wayne home. I may change my mind about that later when he's complaining about being bored all day and arguing with Cole. But for now, it's nice.