We have been in Maine for a few years now but have not had the occasion to make it anywhere north or west aside from a trip through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Maine.
This weekend, we fixed that a bit.
We went up to an area near the Canadian border where there is a mountain range called the Bigelows. They are absolutely amazing!
Much of the range is state reserve land and is protected….and wild. We had the added bonus of being able to take our kayaks out and take a look at these beautiful mountains from the water too. The peaks are just breathtaking, and I. noticed one was even shaped like the letter “M”.
Having these places still be what they always have been is priceless, and sharing them with children is even better.
This is why protecting and caring for our planet is so important. If not, eventually, places like these will be gone.
Some great charities to support that help preserve land include
The Sierra Club
Coastal Mountains Land Trust
The Nature Conservacy
The raspberries are in high season right now and they’re having a banner year here in Maine. Its just amazing what we have in our yard.
Tons of huge, red, sweet, raspberries all over the vines. I have to pick them whenever I get a chance and I still haven’t gotten all of them.
Its kind of a crappy job cause the mosquitoes and biting flies are really bad; its like they’re guarding the berries. But, I keep reminding myself how expensive raspberries are a pint, and how much my 3 boys love them.
They could each eat a pint to themselves and still want more; especially little Orion….Mr. T. has dubbed him our Berry Processing Unit…or BPU!!
So for my little BPUs, its back to the raspberries for me! Its not so bad – I do get to eat while I work!!
There is a nice heat wave gripping the east coast right now, and our little neck of the woods has not been spared.
Its been humid and in the 90s here. To some, that may not be that bad (it’s in the triple digits and this humid in spots) – but to a northerner like myself, its rough.
Luckily, my mom is visiting and has rented a little cabin on one of the lakes by our house. The boys have been in and out of the water a gazillion times over the last few days. Poor nanna is missing her central air though. Its 10 degrees warmer where she lives, but, she’s equipped for it with her AC and there are only fans in her rental. She’s a trooper though so hopefully she’ll make it the next 2 days.
Up here its predicted that the temps will lower Wed and Thurs, but it’ll still be humid. We’ll see. I hope not. It’d be nice to get back to that lovely cool weather of Maine.
I was telling the boys its only 6 more months until Christmas! Ahhh to think about cool, fresh snow!!
Our trip to Islesboro, while fun, didn’t go exactly as planned….thanks to baby O. Such is life with a 1 yr old though!
To make up for it, we went to one of our favorite beaches in the area. Its a bit farther away than some, so we don’t get there that often. Which is unfortunate, because its so beautiful, and the closest white sand beach to us (Maine has quite a few beaches but many are rocky and others have grey sand).
We had a lovely day. O. got a bit too much sun, and waaay too much sand. But it didn’t bother him at all! The bigger boys swam in the very cold water – and Mr. T. and I got in for a bit too.
It was exhilaratingly cold water. If you’ve ever swam in the northern Atlantic Ocean you know what I mean! K. was in for a bit, but I. stayed in for quite awhile. When he got out he was soooo cold. Some time in the sun warmed him up, but, he had gotten chilled to the bone out there on his boogie board!
We got to stay for quite awhile, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day! It really made up for our….um….interesting day yesterday!
It’s always an exciting moment the first time one of your kids gets something big; walking, talking, reading. Well, K. just “got” bike riding!
He’s up on two wheels and riding all by himself! He’s thrilled, and so are we!!!
He ditched the training wheels last fall, but the snows came and he never had any time to master the skills. Then, we went to Acadia.
The trip to Acadia is important because when we were there we decided to bike some of the famous Carriage Roads. Because K. wasn’t riding on his own yet, we rented a “tag along” bike ( a kid’s sized bike with a mechanism that hooks it to an adult bike turning the two bikes into tandem bikes). This was a huge help for him in learning how to balance, and feeling strong and confident on a bike. I can’t say enough about how much this special ride gave K.
In fact, the next time he got on his bike after this ride, he rode independently for the first time, staying up for quite awhile!
Needless to say we’ve bought a piece that will turn the kid’s bikes they have now into tandems with one of ours. It’ll be a great investment because it will let us take longer family bike rides now, because, even though K. can ride now, he can’t go far since he’s just getting his bike muscles going. Not only that though, it’ll be perfect for O. when he’s ready to give up the training wheels.
So now, every day possible, K. is out riding his bike up and down the road and loving it. How lucky Mr. T. and I are to share in all that excitement! And how lucky K. is to now know what it is to ride a bike.