Vacation!

Well, it's officially vacation week! I was fortunate to already earn some vacation time at work, so Michael and I have been able to enjoy a week of summer festivities together.

Our first order of business was the movies. We went to Bridgton to see Grown Ups on Saturday. Usually I find Adam Sandlers movies too silly to pay ticket prices for, but this one was actually pretty funny. While in Bridgton, we discovered that the holiday fireworks were on the third, so we hung around town until dark and watched the show. For a small town, the fireworks display was pretty good!

Sunday was hang around the house and do a whole lot of not much until the afternoon. then it was off to the Eastern Prom in Portland for the big fireworks show and the Portland Symphony Orchestra concert. This year the evening was paid for by private funding instead of by the city. There were vendors selling all kinds of food, things that glow, and lots of fundraising for next year. We arrived at about 6pm to join the crowd of thousands and make sure we got a spot to sit. I brought my drop spindle with me so I could get some spinning done, we had plenty of munchies, and Michael and Grandma got to go check out the emergency preparedness situation. Fireworks started at 9:35 and continued until well after 10pm. What a show! After the grand finale, the crown packed up and we started the mass exodus off the hillside. Fireworks began to randomly shoot off again, one of a time. A firetruck broke through the crowd, lights and sirens blaring. A truck carrying extra fireworks was accidentally lit on fire during the show, and the extra fireworks at the end of the show were the result of a truck burning to a crisp.

Monday brought a day with Michael and his friend Logan. We hit the road early and headed off to the Dig For Gems place in Woodstock. They have truckloads of dirt delivered from a local mine. You can buy a bucket, dig off the piles where ever you'd like, and they provide you with the equipment to screen the dirt yourself. They also provide some help with identification and a fun way to get dirty. Our big finds of the day included a gem quality piece of smokey quartz and a perfectly formed quartz crystal about an inch and a half long. We also found lots of small pieces of green tourmaline, a few chips of beryl, and a bunch of garnets. After our treasure hunt, we were off to Michael's favorite places to eat in Bethel- Hot Taco and DiCocos. Full of tacos and brownies, we headed back home where the boys decided to go mountain biking up the trail past our house. About half an hour later, Michael called to tell me Logan had flipped his bike and there were some guys on four wheelers that were giving them a ride out of the woods... and I should have some first aid stuff ready. Logan had already taken a bad spill on his bike a few days before, so he re-injured all the injuries and added some new battle scars to his collection as well. The boys figured it was safer to stay home and play video games after that.

After returning Logan to his mom, not quite in the condition we borrowed him that morning, Michael and I decided to check out the town beach. It was small and not very beachy, but refreshing. And despite the "No Dogs Allowed" sign, we were joined by a Lhasa mix, an Australian Shepherd, and two Germain Shorthaired Pointers.

Today we are off to the ocean- not a bad plan since it was already 80 degrees here at 8am...

Boston or Bust

Every year, Michael's school sends the fifth grade classes on an annual trip to Boston. Lucky for us, Michael happens to be in fifth grade this year, and we were both able to make the trip! Our adventure began with meeting at the school at 5:40 AM. We were able to ride down on charter buses thanks to the kids great fundraising instead of school buses, which was definitely great. Off we went at 6 AM to reach our destination at 9. Our drive, both down and back, were uneventful... going to Boston, you never know if this will be the case!

Our first order of business was a Duck Tour. Amphibious vehicles are driven around the city of Boston, and the tour guide is well versed in all the great history of the city so you learn a lot. The kids had been studying Colonial America, so there were a lot of places they saw that they had studied recently. Then we drove into the Charles river, where the kids got to drive in the water for a bit before we returned to land.

After a quick lunch break, we enjoyed a movie about Antarctica at the IMAX theater. For anyone who has not had the pleasure of viewing a movie in an IMAX theater, the movie is projected on a jumbo dome shaped screen so the movie seems to surround you. The kids thought it was awesome, and I know a lot of the parents did, too!

The science museum was next. As almost every kid had at least one parent with them, Michael and I were able to go off and look at all our favorites. We watched the electricity demonstration, checked out the natural history displays, visited the animals, and made sure to pop into the butterfly garden. The butterflies really loved our orange shirts, and we had several come and check us out.

After a great adventure and a visit to the gift shop, we headed back to the school. Our stop along the way led us to discover a great "fast food" restaurant in Portsmouth that had the best Mango smoothies... we opted for real food instead of McDonald's for dinner.

Home at last, Michael was exhausted and even climbed into bed early. Me too! Nothing like a day with 60 5th graders to wear you out!

Michael made the news

On one of our trips up to Sunday River this weekend, Michael and I encountered a channel 8 news crew filming all the people enjoying the multiple feet of new snow we had over the past week. The camera man filmed Michael strapping onto his board and taking off down the mountain, which they used at the beginning of this video http://www.wmtw.com/news/22699870/detail.html

The picture with this post was from February Vacation week, where Michael taught himself to grind a rail. He also taught me to do a land 180, a land 360, an ollie, and to ride a box. I taught myself that my snowboard likes to stay comfortably resting in the snow and not flying through the air. It keeps my head from hitting the ground...

Maple Time!!!

Well, the end of ski season is approaching... how do we know? Well, the sap is starting to run. And seeing as we live in the middle of the woods, I figured Michael and I would have some fun making maple syrup this year. I have 30 spiles, and am working on rounding up jugs to capture the sap. I did spring for 10 used buckets and covers, which I used the other day. I made my first round to the buckets last night to gather sap and poured about 2 gallons into a storage jug. The plan is to get a fire going in the stone stove out on the patio and boil the sap down out there when we're not snowboarding. Hoping to have lots of mapley goodness very soon!

Winter Fun!

Even though we haven't had much

snow up here in northern New England, Charles, Michael, and I have been making the most of it! We have hit the slopes at Sunday River every chance we get, and Saturday was no exception. Charles worked teaching kids to ski all day, Michael had an all day class with David, and I tried to get my mojo back while riding with my glasses on- yikes!

Michael's class started off with a group of 5 or 6 experienced riders (the term used for what you do on a snowboard) that were 7-14 years old. They were evaluated for their abilities and spent the morning working on some technical skills like working on turns, turning on the snowboard on the snow (180's and 360's), and other control techniques. The afternoon was the fun part, with just Michael and one other classmate. They learned to do ollies (jumping off flat ground), buttering (like a wheelie with the front of the board), and riding the box. The box is a large, long wooden platform that you slide across on your board. The trick is that you usually ride your board with one of the edges cutting into the snow- if you do this on the box, you flip over. I got a chance to see his skills after the class and got the picture in this post. After that, we finished the run down the trail by riding across the top of the half pipe. Michael is super excited to take another class, which looks like it will be next Thursday. Wednesday, I might try to ride the box...

Another Sad Farewell

Last weekend, our dear Tinkerbell left us at the ripe old age of pushing 16. Tink was the last of a line of dogs that Charles raised on Frost Hill, and Tink was his favorite. Her sweet disposition and love for anybody or anything made her name so appropriate in spite of her large size. Tink had grown weary in the past year, opting to say goodbye to us at the door instead of coming for rides, but was always happy to see us when we returned. She spent her time speaking to the pups and trying, in her own sweet way, to keep them in line. And she never stopped smiling...

Tink, we hope that peace and love finds you now that you have joined your pack once again. You will forever have a place in the hearts of all who knew you.

Happy Birthday Charles

Well, the title about says it all! Unfortunately, Charles had to work today at Sunday River, but that left me home to cook the cake he really wanted to try this year- a Chocolate Stout cake.

I haven't sampled the finished product yet, although I did try the Sam Adams Cream Stout that I used for the cake... and have affirmed that I am NOT a beer drinker. The rest of the recipe involves a lot of chocolate, a lot of sugar, and a lot of butter, and the batter was quite tastey. So it was baked, it was cooled, and it was frosted and garnished, and I am waiting patiently for the birthday boy to arrive so we can have it for supper!

For those of you who would like to see the recipe, here's the link

http://thebittenword.typepad.com/thebittenword/2009/03/chocolate-stout-cake-revisisted.html

He's home! Off to eat!