A couple weeks ago,

We took an impromptu trip up to Mt Desert island after church, stayed the night at Seawall, and then spent the whole day on Monday on the island, meeting up with our friends the Hargroves. There's just been so much going on that I havent posted about it. We're really blessed that Callum loves the outdoors as much as we do, and he loves the ocean--I think-even MORE than we do! He loves the ocean, the boats, the fish, the whales, the birds, and the rocks. Good for him. When we are not camping, we prefer to stay at Seawall Motel, which is run by a great couple who are into bicycling. On the same property as the motel is the old "Seawall Restaurant,," which is no longer a restaurant, but rather a community "soup kitchen." But not in the sense that we think of soup kitchen--like a homeless shelter kind of thing. The soup kitchen they mean is derived from the post depression era, where a community gathering place is created based on the philosophy of "fearless optimism." It is unlike anything we have ever seen. All organic, delicious, homemade breads, scones, muffins, etc. Strong, good coffee. Soup and chili. Live music and open mic nights, All non-profit, and all based on donations and the kindness of the people who use it. So Callum went to his first open mic night and had a blast watching good acoustic music. Here's Callum and I checking out the waves and rocks at Seawall....
He likes it when I wear my cookie monster shirt and he wears his Elmo shirt. He asks me to wear the shirt specifically. Here's mommy and Callum.
We met up with Jesse, Ciara, Aden, and Rylan Hargrove. Also joining us was their French exchange student Marie. We hiked Beech Cliffs, which is the steep set of cliffs adjoining Beech Mountain, which shoots almost directly out of Echo Lake in Southwest Harbor. This was Callum's first hike, and he did awesome. As you can see below. I would say he hiked about 85% of the trail himself....and the only reason it was not 100% was because there were some sections where I MADE him let me carry him. Steep. Hi.
Along the way, we stopped to pick some delicious wild, low bush blueberries growing along the cliffs and granite ledges. Fun. Steep. It was fun to watch Callum try to copy and be like Aden. Aden is about 8 months older than Callum, but that 8 months makes a big difference and Aden is definitely a "bigger boy" whom Callum loves to emulate.
And here's Callum's token "funny face" which he loves to make for the camera. Such a ham. Always "on." He also loves doing different voices now too. I'll have to video.