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.

Uncle Tom

August 4, 2007

Hailing from Littleton, Colorado and currently on sabbatical, Tom Olezeski visited our family for a few short days. We showed him a little of the 'way life should be'...although Colorado is pretty stiff competition. Our mountains are about 13,000' shorter but Tom was none the wiser in all the fog we had. Saturday we hiked Parkman, Gilmore, Sargeant, back to Gilmore, back to Parkman and over to Bald. Tom's Colorado lungs made him hard to keep pace with...good seeing you Tom.

Maine modern

A local Maine magazine recently published an online article about a house I designed on Blue Hill Bay. No pictures???? Odd indeed, I think they're online publishing budget is slightly more constrained than their print budget, so buying photo rights wasn't a part of the package. If only I were designing more modern houses these days...

Mid-Summer in Maine

We've settled into our new digs in Bar Harbor and anxiously await any incremental progress on our house in Mount Desert. It's hard watching our house slowly take shape, but with framing about to commence we should see quick progress in a matter of weeks. Living in such close quarters has its disadvantages but overall it's worked out well for us, it's very close to town, the national park, the lab and daycare which means more time doing what we'd like rather than in the car.

Laura headed to San Antonio for 5 days at the end of July for the Society for the Study of Reproduction annual conference, where she presented her current work to a distinguished group of her colleagues. In her absence I was joined by Grandma & Grandpa Reinholdt & Grandma Kathy whose invaluable assistance made Laura's time away from home manageable (and most enjoyable for our boys).

Trips to Sand Beach in Acadia, hikes up Cadillac Mountain's West Face trail, mini-golf, trips out to eat in Bar Harbor, walks in the park, all made for an enjoyable visit from the grandparents and gave the kids (and Dad) a break from the usual routine of daycare. Thanks for all of your help with the children and everyday household duties, it was immensely helpful.

Some of the best news of the summer arrived just prior to Laura leaving for Texas. She was offered a position as Technology Development Scientist in the Genetic Resources division of the Jackson Laboratory. This marks a transition away from the ever-fluctuating world of soft-money to a permanent position within the lab. She will be a part of a group of scientists determining the direction for the lab's future research and technology development. That's my girl...I'm beaming with pride.





Sig is walking confidently now and mutters the occasional word here and there, mostly 'dog' and 'hat'. He's eating meat at an unsustainable rate so if you visit, please bring something containing protein. He graduates into the toddler room at the end of August, which will expand his daycare world tenfold, more toys, more kids, more outside time. Henning is getting taller and enjoys telling stories and telling adults what to do. His favorite subjects right now are bears, sharks, and any animal with big teeth. Although when you put a live lobster in front of him he runs into the closet. Sig on the other hand will pick up the lobster, try to pet it and then consider it food. Our kids are our life right now, they're wonderfully entertaining and equally exhausting.

Oh yeah, then there's the house project. You can follow our progress at the Longhouse blog. Things are beginning to take shape, lots left to do.

July 4, 2007

A few images from the annual Bar Harbor Fourth of July parade. After spending the better part of the day before (and previous night) vomiting Sig joined the rest of the Reinholdts and Sophie for the parade in downtown Bar Harbor. Henning's favorites: "the things that go by and throw candy", which basically describes almost every float in the parade. Sig was less fond of the Shriners driving gas powered go-karts, but managed to keep everything we fed him at the parade in his stomach and cooed at each passing animal, with a definite preference for dogs. It made his mother beam and his father cringe. (Dogs aren't allowed in new homes.)

The Center for Peace and Justice's brigade added 11 panels to the Iraq war body count representing an additional 2,000+ killed in action since last year's parade, a sad commentary indeed.

After picking up every last piece of candy thrown from the floats, Sig went home to sleep it off and Henning refueled for an evening at the fireworks, joined by Laura & Sophie. After waiting for quite a long time on the village green, the fireworks began and Henning immediately asked if they could go home. Laura responded with, "In a few minutes..." He enjoyed the 'flowers in the sky', and it was an interesting end to a long July 4th for all of us. I managed to spy a few through the trees from our new digs near the top of West St. but was happy to hold down the fort listening for Sig.

A close drive-by

Over the top

Stand back...this guy's on speed

Henning's friend Bailor, scooting.

Henning's friend Bailey riding in her Dad's lobster boat

A Sunday afternoon in June

The Howells graciously hosted the Reinholdts at Tamarack Lane on Sunday...the latest installment of the 'neighbor pilot program'
Great fun indeed...

Walking your parents beer to the refrigerator can be real work.

Ieuan & Megan

Cheerleader / Pop Star / Teacher / Scientist

?

Skip the suntan lotion Mom, I don't get any whiter.

Sig & Andrea

Hostages on the grill

Disguising stolen goods

And for your eating pleasure, mudpies.

Next stop...moshing.

Sig takes his first few steps. Thanks to Henning's encouragement and a balloon or two, Sig has been testing out his legs leaving crawling to the babies.

He's more interested in seeing himself on video than he is in walking so once we break out the video camera he stops walking, crawls to the camera and tries to watch himself, which is how both videos end.