Just another morning in Maine...at 743 AM Callum was adorned in 'tickle mitts,' a Rudolph nose, and his Santa hat. And Maira had dumped her whole pet net of stuffed animals. And in a VERY rare show of relaxation, Orso decided to veg out on the rug. That was a joke. I never thought anything could be less active than a cat. Then we got a Saint Bernard....

This morning I took the kids and the dog out around ten--before it got too hot--to do a hike. This was Orso's first hike. He loves to ride in the back of the station wagon..he jumps right in back, and he lies down. We went over to the Messolonskee Stream trail in Oakland, which borders along the (you guessed it) Messo stream. For just being ten minutes away in Oakland, it is a really magical and enchanted type of place, with dark forest glens, bridges over bubbling brooks, steep cliffs heading down to the stream, and lots of twists, turns, and switchbacks. A very 'technical' trail for this close to home. You definitely feel like you are farther north/west in the mountains someplace. We want to get the kids as into hiking as we can, in hopes of taking them to do some White Mtn stuff when they are older! Orso had a great time, sniffing and peeing and marking to his heart's content. He walked two whole miles which, for him, is quite the accomplishment. He did, however, sleep for the rest of the day...haha. Here we are at one of the bridge crossings...

And here we are at another crossing. Maira's new thing is to give the 'thumbs up' for all her pictures. She randomly--and without any rhyme or reason--started this two days ago. Sure.

We did a lot of other cool summer activities this morning. We fingerpainted. The kids built a 'fort' out of the bunk beds. We put together lego helicopters. We played GO FISH out back at the picnic table. And then, to round things off, we saw the Carlton ladies (Andy is at a conference) walking Lola the Pug and we got to talking to them...we found ourselves over their place shortly thereafter for a lovely pre-dinner swim. Another great summer day...

Hi. Nice to be back. Happy summer vacation. I have been on summer vacation for about a week and a half, and we have been having a blast. I dont have the time to do retroactive blogs, so I'll just start at what we've been doing lately. 

Callum, as I have mentioned so often before, is shockingly good at Legos. I mean, the kid is a savant of sorts. He stymies me. He got about 8 Lego sets for his birthday and, today, being a cold and rainy day of 50 degrees #globalwarming, Callum finished his last set--a 493 piece "Coast Guard" set complete with the Cutter, a hovercraft, a helicopter, and a rubber raft thing (and sharks, men, lighthouses, etc). Unreal. I asked him what he was going to do now that he put his last set together. His response? "I'll start taking old sets apart and then I'll put them together again." Sounds good. 

Yesterday was a beautiful day and we went to Camden and had lunch at Cuzzy's restaurant and then hiked Mt Battie. Interestingly, this was our first trip ever to Camden where we didnt go in ANY stores whatsoever...and we go to Camden all the time!

We werent sure how the day was going to do because on the way there, Maira kept telling us she was going to throw up in the car, etc. And even through lunch she was pretty 'removed' and despondent. But, shortly thereafter, she became excited to tackle the mountain!

The trail we took (off of Megunticook Street in Camden) was billed a a great trail for dogs and kids...yeah, maybe kids meaning "baby goats," even!!! Lulz. The first half was grand and Maira had a blast. Then things got kind of crazy and Kathadin-esque. So, then, Callum and Amanda kept on pushing towards the summit (which they did because Callum hikes with great alacrity!!!) and Maira and I kind of hung out, built cairns out of rocks, and took some pictures. I just thought it was too steep for Maira's four year old physique...hehe...

See the harbor in the background?

 This was right before it started getting too steep for Maira...sheer, smooth boulders that were hard to scurry up for her...but, like I said, Callum was like a little gazelle...or ram...or some other quick animal that climbs things or whatever...

We finished the hike, headed home, and stopped for ice cream at the Purple Cow in Fairfield before going home to a very excited and animated Orso!

A great summer day