Dress up play is less frequent now, but more lavish
Robbin's Farm Park's newest addition
I hope some day that my future self is as thoughtful as Caroline's former self
Erin made a truly useful cutting board (note the carved apple shape) at her summer camp
In prep for hiking in the Sierras, we took the tough route up Mount Cardigan
but the billy goats were not challenged
The girls earned their final Junior Ranger badge from the canal boat era from the Blackstone Valley NHP
before
and after. Thank you Katy for the fantastic work!
This summer monarch eggs were in abundance and we raised over 30 butterflies
Without any milkweed in our yard, we foraged far and wide in parkland to harvest first leaves then entire plants to feed the caterpillars
The cats were a nuisance but didn't harm any
Rest up, little butterfly, for your long journey south. It's amazing to imagine this tiny creature flying 3,000 miles to Mexico to overwinter in the high fir forests of the Sierra Madre. We hope that some of ours are lucky enough to make it there.
Finally, after 11 years of truly wonderful childcare, we said farewell to the Arlington Infant and Toddler Center
Erin chose the viola as her instrument for 4th grade
First day of 6th grade for Caroline at Jonas Clarke Middle School
On the way up north through Maine we stopped in Freeport
Never know when you're gonna need a good clove hitch, but at LL Bean for the first time ever we found some of their fancy outerwear on sale
Bluebees! These guys didn't make it out of the car.
The Saint Croix Island International Historic Site commemorates French explorers who overwintered in 1604 on an island in the river between present-day Maine and New Brunswick. On the timeline of NPS early North American settlements, this would be after Fort Caroline (1564), St. Augustine (1565), and Roanoke Island (1585), but before Jamestown (1607).
Now it might have had brick, wood, wheat, and sheep, but Saint Croix Island lacks fresh water, which is one reason that the French lost 35 of 79 men that winter before abandoning for Nova Scotia, and why the island remains uninhabited today.
And now to New Brunswick, where a combination of a strong US dollar and the misguided American sentiment that the Atlantic coastline ends in Maine led to a great beachside holiday
Poutine is French for "hot mess"
but the fries, cheese curds, and gravy were a hit with the family
and the Bay of FUNdy lives up to its name with enormous tides
and enormous tidal flats to explore. And these aren't the smelly, buggy flats that you find on Cape Cod Bay. The constant turnover of the water keeps the beaches clean and accessible due to the houses being set way back.
The strong dollar helped us afford the grand Algonquin Hotel
The Fundy Bay aquarium had a touch tank
where Erin discovered that her love of cucumber products extends to sea cucumbers
This 27 lb lobster was caught in 1962 in Maine and the card there cites the largest recorded lobster to be 42 lbs caught near Boston in 1957. The marine biologist told us that lobsters can live to be >100 years old and routine >1 lb eating lobsters are usually >7 years old. There aren't many animals out there that we eat that can outlive us, and I don't think that I will enjoy eating lobster ever again.
We met Dad's cousin Brad and Denise at the Swiss Chalet in Saint John
The girls met their 2nd cousin Callista
Aaah, don't mess with Tessie!
One morning we drove on an unusual road and stopped to explore
and found softshell clams
They warn you to mind the tides when you drive on the seafloor road to Minister's Island
because when the tide is up the road is under 12 feet of water
There is a minke whale fin out there
It drives like a boat
Back on the road
to Campobello Island, where FDR contracted polio and returned for years to vacation. Ever seen a wheelchair accessible picnic table?
Awesome beach with polished rounded rocks
Can't help but ask what that sport is on the bottom right? It looks like playing baseball lefthanded with a golf club.
Now we're in Bar Harbor, where it's OK to admit that those Canadian potato chips are as gross as they sound
There were a gazillion people in Acadia National Park, but it was still beautiful
and hot, but Tessie hiked her first real mountain in the heat
and caught up on her New Yorkers
A surprising highlight of the entire trip was the dead jelly on the beach
Erin and Tessie set aside their differences to climb the blocks
Erin successful bail from the overweight bike
Good luck finding a beach this empty in August in Maine!
