December already?

December 13, 2007

I think two years officially marks a tradition...so tradition it is as the Howell’s & Reinholdts joined forces hunting Christmas trees last Saturday. The weather couldn’t have been more seasonal with a fresh coating of powder sitting on the 18” or so already on the ground. Gareth quickly spotted a tree and decided that cleaning more than one tree of mounds of snow was more work than was necessary. With that much snow who can tell a good tree from a passable one anyhow? The Howells were back in the car within a reasonable window, a half hour I would guess. Tradition dictated that the Reinholdts inspect all tree fields for a respectable tree. A new house meant our first Christmas tree had to fill it completely. After close to an hour tramping through the snow, Sig & Eric joined Laura & Henning near a 9’ Balsam begging for a ride to Mount Desert. Sig summed the family mood up best by continuously wailing in deep snow while Henning & Eric went about felling the tree. Soon all was well and we were drinking hot cocoa and other things by a warm fire.

Merry Christmas to all our family & friends, our love and best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year. We hope to see you soon.

Sig speaks for us all after an hour in the cold

Henning & Eric looking for the bottom of the tree

It doesn't get any better than this, we didn't tell him we still had to haul it to the car, tie it on, pay for it, and then drive an hour home.

Snow angel...yeah right.

Meghan, Laura & Sig

Not for use by anyone under the age of 3

Halloween in Bar Harbor

Sugar+October 31 =

Last day of September 2007

The cold front that brought a small tornado to Blue Hill and Castine earlier in the week ushered in some very Fall-like weather by late in the day Friday. It only seemed appropriate that we gather apples at one of our favorite local orchards, Merrill's Orchard just north of Ellsworth on Sunday.

Sig sampled every apple variety he could get his hands on, which was basically any apple on the ground. I think a few knobs of protein a.k.a. 'slugs' made their way through the parental filters. Henning was particularly pleased by pulling Sig in the wagon into the pits they leave behind when they remove trees from the orchard. Laura made a fine apple crisp with the 'aid' of Henning and Sig while I worked at the house removing sheetrock and obsessing over things.

Kim & Patrick will join us for the holiday weekend beginning Friday. Can't wait to see my little baby sister with a belly like mine.

Last week is over!

Lightning McQueen - don't leave home without him

Sig shows Dad a thing or two

Did someone say bear?

Almost Fall at Bubble Pond

Tuesday, September 25th.

We are thrilled to announce that the insulation is finally completed (see the house blog for more on the woes of insulating) and the kids are now recovering from the first cold / flu of the season. The usual course after the kids recover is that Eric and I become sick. When I felt it coming on this past Saturday, I told Henning and he replied "grown-ups don't get sick".

Eric and I celebrated our 7th anniversary yesterday by actually having a conversation, which is not something we've been able to do for about 10 days. We are grateful to our fantastic friends and neighbors for lending a hand watching the kids and at the house. Just a few more obstacles (tiling, painting, assembling the kichen, moving) and we can get back to life as usual. What have the kids been up to while Mom and Dad (OK..mostly Dad) are working on the house? Sig has graduated to the "toddler room" this fall and is loving it. Henning has moved into another "testing Mom and Dad" phase. Both just barely survived their latest home haircuts.

No shortage of animals here

Sunday September 2, 2007
Labor Day Weekend is the weekend Blue Hill hosts the Blue Hill Country Fair. Sig was fond of the gigantic onion rings and tried climbing into almost any animal cage on the fairgrounds. He's clearly his mother's child when it comes to sharing an appreciation for anything living with four legs and his father's child when it comes to appreciating those four legs served up on the dinner table. The only ride we could cajole Henning into riding was the gigantic slide, sitting on Dad's lap. Sig on the other hand wanted to ride everything and anything but met none of the height restrictions. He and Laura rode the carousel together and after the initial shock of it all he had a hard time understanding why it stopped so soon and everyone got off.

Onion ring

Interesting pairing - cattle judging /beef recipe cookoff

Oreos are hard to beat

August 27, 2007
We've been pretty absorbed in our house project of late...Sig reminded us over the weekend the reason for doing all of this in the first place. He will moan and whine as if you just stole his favorite blanket if he even sees a package of Oreos in the kitchen. So after a dozen or so of Oreos Sig posed for the above sporting a chocolate goatee. Figuring out that they float in a glass of milk was almost as good as the cookies.
Henning & Ieuan had a sleep-over on Saturday night and the boys & I broke out early Sunday morning to visit Sand Beach, which we shared with only a few people.

Vacationland

We finally purchased National Park passes during Tom's visit and they're being put to good use. After Tom departed Sunday, our good friend Julie and her boyfriend Mike came to spend the night on the following Thursday finishing their vacation in Bar Harbor at 'Park Place'. Having spent the previous night at the Harborside just down the street, it was quite a few rungs down the hospitality ladder. We hoped that after a couple of gin & tonics an Aerobed was passable as a place to rest for the night.

Julie & Mike left mid-day on Friday and we welcomed Uncle John & Aunt Val for an overnight stay on Friday. Poor Val suffered not only the long drive to Maine but also the fact that her hosts forgot her birthday. Sorry Va!!! We know burgers and frozen fries don't make for memorable birthday dinners, next time lobster, we promise. Their counsel on our house project has been invaluable and I think John was glad this visit didn't involve chainsaws or heavy lifting. The only progress we could mark on the building project during their visit were the sill plates on a bare foundation. John did manage to find another rather large and rather dead tree for me to cut though (which I did Sunday afternoon). After visiting our house project, we made our way to Seawall in Manset and stopped at the top of Cadillac Mountain for a hazy view of the Maine coast. Following that we headed over to the loop road near Otter Point for a picnic lunch. Sig pulled a Jackson Pollock with his GoGurt (yogurt in a tube) at lunch and covered John, Val & Laura with active culture. We never seem to bring enough baby-wipes to cover the messes our kids make. Sig enjoyed trying to communicate with the seagulls in what Val termed a 'really creepy evil laugh'. We continued on the loop road by Jordan Pond, Bubble Rock, Bubble Pond and finally back to our place where it was nap-time for the kids.

Good seeing all of you, next time bring your paintbrushes and hammers...we're going to need some serious help if we want to be in our new home by November.