Kindergarten Visitation

On Friday, August 24th, I took Myles to school for his kindergarten registration. We stopped in to say hi to Grandma Faye in the office first, then we went to the classroom. Myles' teacher is Mrs. Arquiett, who was also one of Carter's preschool teachers for two years. Another interesting note about this years' kindergarten class: there are four sets of twin girls! One is named Autumn and one is Winter, but not in the same set of twins, which is funny. All the sets are split up between the four kindergarten classrooms, but there is one girl from each set in Myles' room.

Anyway, Myles and I went on a scavenger hunt in his classroom and looked for things like the calendar and bathroom. We also found his pencil box cubby, his cup hook, the painting corner, etc, so we could put all his school supplies where they belong. Then Myles stayed in the classroom while I went to the cafeteria. After the principal, nurse, and head of the bus garage talked, we got down to the main attraction: making posters.

Each year, parents make a poster about their child, which is featured when the kindergartener is the VIP for a week during the school year. Two years ago I made one for Carter. If I think of it, I'll take a picture of his poster later -- it's amazing how young he looks in his pictures. This year was Myles' turn. The poster is titled "Myles is Special Because..." and then I used these pictures and descriptions:

He is a big brother to Merlyn and Berkleigh AND a little brother to Carter.






















He helps Daddy cut wood and he helps Mommy cook (I didn't put this extra note on the poster but thought you'd like to know that when I make macaroni and cheese now I never have to shred any of the cheese because Myles does it all. He can also make an entire tossed salad by himself!)






















He's a great swimmer!
He likes to help with the chickens on By the Water Farm.






















He's good at catching fish, frogs, and grasshoppers.

I also said that we love Myles' dimple!


After the posters were done, we went for a ride around town on the school bus. Myles rode a bus to preschool last year, but it was a small one and had a bus monitor and drove up our driveway. He was pretty impressed with the big bus, and it was a good time to go over the bus safety rules. Now Myles is ready for and excited about school.

Coming Home

We left Aunt Kelley's house on Saturday, August 11, after taking a few more pictures.

Carter, Merlyn, Berkleigh, and Myles on the bench in front of the house.

Here's Aunt Kelley with the kids. Notice how big the tree is!

Here we are: the happy travellers!

Merlyn gave Aunt Kelley one last hug. Kelley arranged Merlyn's hair that morning -- it's pretty funky! Bryan had to take all those ponytail holders out that night, and he didn't appreciate the job...




Here's the bridge between Maine and New Hampshire. We drove past this marina almost every day of our trip, but only went over the bridge on our way there and back.

On our way home we stopped for a late picnic lunch in Sharon, VT. The rest stop there has the Vermont Vietnam Veterans' Memorial and the "Living Machine". The Memorial has several components and is really nice. The Living Machine is a wastewater treatment facility that uses living plants in the treatment process. There's a big greenhouse you can go in that has plants growing in cisterns. The plants treat the wastewater from the rest stop which is then re-used in the toilets. It's an interesting place to visit and there are signs describing the process.

I don't know why I didn't take pictures there, and I couldn't find a good website for it, but here's a site that has pictures of the construction if you want to check it out:
http://earth.inalbum.com/web/malibu/#

A Different Kind of Bowling

We all went bowling on Friday. This time it was candlepin bowling: the balls are quite small, with no finger holes, and the pins are tall and skinny. I'd never done this kind of bowling before, and I didn't like it as much as regular bowling (mainly because I wasn't very good at it, even with three chances to bowl in each frame!).
























Aunt Kelley demonstrated the proper bowling technique, and then Merlyn had a turn. Her technique was very different -- Kelley's must have gotten lost in translation! Merlyn would swing her arms back and forth between her legs three or four times before rolling the ball. It was really funny; just seeing the pictures again made me laugh at the memory.






The balls were small enough that even Berkleigh could pick them up and bowl by herself, although she still tended to heave the ball down the lane, making a loud thud. Myles tried hard to be able to walk up and bowl in the same motion. Most of the time he would walk to the line, then stop and roll the ball.








Grandma Faye looks happy after her turn: it must have been a good one. Carter, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have fared as well. With the picture of the bowling balls above him, it actually looks like he's guarding his head from flying balls. Rest assured, though, that nobody was hurt in the course of the day.

Another Beachy Day

On the Thursday of our Maine trip, we spent the day at the beach. This time it was in Maine, and the water was actually warmer than in New Hampshire on Wednesday. Everyone had fun in the waves. There was a ribbon of water the tide left behind higher up the beach, and that water was like bathwater. The kids spent most of their time playing there, making sandcastles and towns and moats. It's great having connections in Maine, too -- Kelley and Jason know where the little-known beaches are, and there were hardly any other people in this beautiful spot.
We set up our "little town", complete with a long line of chairs, some blankets, an umbrella, and a little tent. You can see Bryan and Faye setting up the tent while Kelley and Jason apply sunscreen to the kids.

Notice Myles' purple lips! I like Carter's "Baywatch" picture, too, and the one of Myles lounging in the water. I can't believe how far behind I am in posting, and I apologize. Maybe later I'll finish up our vacation updates so everyone can see the rest of the pictures.

The First Whole Day in Maine

On Wednesday morning it was a little rainy, so we set out to go to the Children's Museum. There were the six of us, Grandma Faye, Aunt Kelley, and her boyfriend Jason. When we got there, it was filled to capacity and there was an hour wait, so we headed for the beach instead. Even though it was hazy at first, the rain stopped and it soon got hot. The beach was actually in New Hampshire. There were two lighthouses, and we liked them even better after the foghorns stopped going off!

The kids went exploring in the rocky shoreline and found a little lobster (they thought it was a shrimp at first!). Nobody really ventured in the water because it was FREEZING.

Faye and Kelley took Carter, Myles, and Merlyn onto the rocks at the other end of the beach. That lighthouse wasn't quite as picturesque as the other one, but it was still interesting.














We ended up going to the Children's Museum in the late afternoon. I don't have any pictures from there, but it was a great place to take the kids. There were tons of activities for any age group, and even the adults had fun learning new things.. None of the kids wanted to leave, but convinced them with the lure of a Maine seafood dinner. Carter had his first lobster (claws) all to himself. Myles insisted on getting pizza, but the rest of us had seafood. It was delicious.

Tuesday's Trip

On Tuesday morning we got on the ferry from Cumberland Head to Grand Isle. It brought back memories of when we used to live in Vermont and rode the ferry often. That was when we only had the boys. The kids got excited about the ferry ride. Here's the whole family leaving New York behind. Then there's Merlyn, who was mesmerized by the other ferry passing us on its way to New York.

Soon after we crossed the border between Vermont and New Hampshire, we stopped at a really nice rest area for a picnic lunch. There were big rocks for the kids to climb on and use up all the pent-up energy from hours in the car. They were actually very good on the ride. Merlyn and Myles rode with Grandma Faye, so the truck was a little less crowded (and a lot quieter, since Merlyn talks nonstop in the car). We stayed at the rest area quite a while and just let the kids play.





















Berkleigh tested her rock climbing skills on the little rocks before progressing to the big ones. Myles followed Carter's example and climbed a tree and a rock at once.




















Bryan went on an expedition up the biggest rock, too, and Merlyn had to go with him to the very top. Myles was sliding down the rock as Carter climbed up.

Here's Carter having his turn sliding down. I'm surprised nobody's clothes got torn. After playing on the rocks, Merlyn sat down on the picnic table and got wipes to clean her feet. This was her own idea, and she wouldn't leave until she'd cleaned her feet and shoes. Keep in mind that all summer she's been going barefoot along with the rest of the kids, and her feet usually get almost black from dirt, and she's never been bothered about it before. What a nut!

Blame it on Harry Potter

We got back from our trip to Maine last Saturday, but I just put the pictures on the computer today. I'm blaming the delay on Harry Potter. I decided to read all the books over again before reading the latest one. When we got to Kelley's house last Tuesday (the 7th) I was halfway through book 2. When we left her house on the 11th, I was halfway through the 3rd book. Last week I took every spare moment to read, and I finished the seventh book on Saturday the 18th.
So, our trip began on the 6th with a visit to the Malone Fair. It poured on the way there, but we decided to chance the weather and go anyway. The kids had ponchos that my mom gave them for Christmas, which came in quite handy. Our Fair tradition is to visit the animal barns and exhibit buildings first, then to eat a picnic lunch before heading to the midway. It worked especially nicely this year, because during lunch the rain stopped and they started opening the rides. The afternoon actually turned bright and hot. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures except the ones during our picnic lunch (eaten standing near the truck!) because of the rain.

Here's Berkleigh, Carter, Myles, and Merlyn eating lunch while watching people unload the demolition derby cars nearby. Berkleigh looked especially cute in her poncho. We had to tie up the sides of everyone's poncho except Carter, who seems to have grown several inches just this summer. Merlyn and Myles were enthralled with how the demolition derby cars were unloaded from the flatbed trucks.

After the fair we drove to my parents' house on Lake Champlain, where my my mom had a delicious dinner of tacos waiting for us. We spent the night there before heading to Kelley's Tuesday morning after breakfast.