Deer Isle Vacation

Instead of hopping on a plane for our annual mid-August vacation, we opted to explore our own "back yard" and headed up the coast to Deer Isle. A decade ago I spent quite a bit of time on Deer Isle as a ceramics TA at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Both the school and the island are magical to me. Kevin has been there but it was a first for our boys and they both loved it. Truth be told, we could have been anywhere because what they loved most was the four of us just being together; it had been a long, busy summer for Kevin and the boys were thrilled to bask in his uninterrupted attention day after day.

"Get naked!", seemed to be Sam & Jack's rallying cry all summer long, so it was no surprise when the very first thing they did when we arrived at our rental house was to strip down and run free. Minutes after we arrived I snapped this photo of the boys and Daddy checking out the lay of the land.

Our romantic (and rather rustic) rental house.

Out our back door was this lovely expanse leading to a beautiful, quiet cove.

Said beautiful, quiet cove.

We brought our tandem and did a bit of riding with the boys. Ample snacks proved key to our success.

We went for some wonderful hikes through moss covered forests. Jack was an especially happy hiker and kept repeating, "Daddy, I hike every day!"

Barred Island Trail, as this one was called, led to a stunning spot where, at low tide, you can walk across to an island named...you guessed it...Barred Island.

Due to the shoe box sized shower at our rental house, the boys enjoyed bathing en plein air.

Just down the road from us was a place called Nervous Nellie's Jams and Jellies. Aside from selling delicious jams and jellies, it is also a fabulous, whimsical sculpture garden. We found it was a great place to drink coffee, eat scones and watch the boys explore.

We also took a day trip to Acadia National Park. Although not our smoothest day of vacation, (both boys were largely tired and grumpy), it was nice to remember what a stunning place Acadia is. It did feel a bit overrun with visitors, though, so we'll have to return when the boys are older and we can more easily disappear deep into the trails.

All in all, a wonderful vacation here in "Vacationland"...

Snippets of Summer

The title of this post sums it up...following are a few snippets of our summer:

One of the perks of Apogee is that each summer the boys get to hang out with wonderful, vibrant, fun young people from our staff. Pictured here with the boys is Mike Lessard. He has spent four summers leading for us and this year worked as support staff - which means he spent a lot of time in our garage as the Gear Czar. Sam & Jack adore Mike and were delighted whenever he was on the scene.

Here Sam & Jack share some cozy time with their sweet friend Nora. The boys and I spent the night with Nora and her parents in July while Daddy was busy with work. I was excited for camping out just the three of us in their cozy little guest cabin...but Jack decided it would be terribly fun to pull an all-nighter. He was literally awake, and chipper I might add, all night long.

Farm Camp

For a second summer Sam has enjoyed a week of Farm Camp at Crystal Spring Farm here in Brunswick. He is very familiar with the land and the farmers - we are members of their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and pick up our share of veggies from them every week during the growing season. Plus Sam went to preschool with the [very cute] "farmer's daughter" last year. Both boys love going there and I love that they are learning about the source of their food.

This summer there was a photographer on staff who shot some fun photos of the kids and generously gave the parents a little peek at how they spent their days. Here is Farmer Sam in action: