A Trip to Maine

We just arrived home from a trip to visit Grammie Eva in Maine. Alexa had been referring to it as Camp Grammy, as in " When are we going to go to Camp Grammy?" She LOVES it there and is very angry about having to come back home. We have another trip scheduled for later this summer so hopefully that will make her less grumpy about being home. Well, that and a good nights sleep. It is  a LONG drive. Anyhow we arrived in plenty of time to take in the water and sunshine while waiting for the boat.

They love a good boat ride.

The held their "sale". For two days and made over $40 dollars. Chloe sold art work she made out of shells (She also sold one of her mosaics she created before we left and brought with us). Alexa sold lemonade and brownies and added in dog treats the second day.

They split the profits.

There was lots of beach exploration. I will add more photos in phases as the site is not being terribly cooperative about adding pictures this morning.

Art Day

The girls were working on an art project today.

Actually they have been working on this one for about three months now but yesterday I kicked it into high gear. Chloe asked a friend of mine who does mosaic art work if he had any left over supplies that she could work with. He happily lent her some, and she and Alexa sketched out pictures and started it. Then she stopped. They both did. And this bin of supplies sat on my floor for about three months. "It was a lot harder than I thought it would be she told me." And it was. They both had sketched really small pictures- even though I had suggested just creating a simple big design. They quickly became frustrated with the attempts to find the right shape and fit everything where they wanted it. This were set aside and all but forgotten I think until yesterday. Yesterday I stubbed my toe on the box and announced that either they were finishing these things or I was handing back the box. One way or another I was clearing it out. Well they decided to take a putty knife and scrape off (OK I did that part) the original attempts and start over with something bigger. The result was MUCH less frustration and after two days Chloe has hers all pieced together and Alexa is well on her way.

I don't know why no one listens to me about these things.

Biking

Bike



Bike

Bike

Snack, snack, snack.

From Clouds to Flooding

The kids are spending the day with their dad. It was a pretty warm day (mid 80's) so around 6 I decided that I wanted to take a little bike ride. Some clouds had moved in and I felt like a ride to the lake to look at the sky. At the last minute I grabbed my camera, you know, just in case. I took some nice pictures at a few places along my ride.

I could see the dark clouds moving in and saw some lightening mixed with some distant rumbles. I knew that I had some time so I rode for a bit longer. Just past Leddy Arena I heard a louder rumble and a little voice said now.. it is time to turn back now. I turned my bike around and shifted up the gear. I made it home just as the rains started to fall. And then just after I got the bike in the shed the storm intensified to nothing I had ever seen.

Sheets of rain blowing down the street. I know it is blurry... but that is kind of what it looked like.

We had a tree come down at the corner of the street you can see it laying across the intersection and our street looked like a river.

It was over your ankles in the middle of the street.

I have never seen anything like the rain that fell in that half hour period. I think we got the entire summer's worth of rain in once 20 minute interval.

4th Flowers

We decorated for the 4th for the first time this year. In our cleaning the other day I came across these small flags that the girls had been given. We added them to the flower boxes.

As you can see some of the summer blooms are coming along very nicely this year.

The 3rd of July

I believe we have been over this ground before, Burlington celebrates the 4th of July on the 3rd. We rode our bikes down to the waterfront after dinner. I had picked up some lights to put on our bikes for the return ride.

There were inflatable obstacle courses and bouncy houses.

We added ice cream into the mix.

Before the fireworks start there is an airplane show that is pretty cool. The plane is turning and twisting.

We rode our bikes home after the fireworks show and comforted our poor Cabbie who has only been known to bark at a few things shiny reflections of light... and fireworks.

Green Bean Harvest

We harvested the first green beans today. Well, OK the other day we picked three, but today was the first harvest that would amount to enough for us to have with dinner.

We did end up with more than two!

She was determined to pick a couple peas too even though I told her to wait a few days before picking them again.

Alexa cleaned them dutifully then use the new salad spinner I bought for drying off garden veggies.