Vacation!

We've just returned from a wonderful week-long vacation far, far away in Downeast Maine. We loaded up our car on Saturday, the 16th, and headed out on the road. Our first stop was to drop Gritty off at Boot Camp. Gritty is a wonderful dog- he is genuinely sweet to the bone, adores everyone, is really loving and gentle with our kids... and very excitable. We brought him home when Maia was 15 months old, and while we've done some very basic training with him, it's never been enough. When our plans changed and we needed to board him somewhere for the week we were in Maine, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to try some intensive training. We got a recommendation from Sean's colleague, and so we found ourselves driving into the strangest backyard we could have imagined.

Linda, our dog trainer extraordinaire, lives in the midst of a huge sand and gravel pit. Literally. We drove down a beautiful street to its very end, and entered a sand and gravel company. We drove down a dirt road between towering piles of, well, sand and gravel. We took one of the many dirt roads turning off the main dirt road, following it about 100 feet before stopping at a little red house and dog kennel. There was a training class going on when we arrived, and wow were those dogs being trained! We knew we'd picked the right place, in spite of its interesting appearance. When Sean walked Gritty into the kennel, nine dogs erupted in a chorus of barking hellos. Linda walked in, whispered "Quiet," and all nine instantly stopped. Sean was almost speechless. We bid goodbye to our sweet pup and looked forward to seeing him in a week.

We then drove. And drove. And drove. And drove. All in, the drive lasted a little over six hours with one stop for coffee. We had a few complaints from the backseat, but the girls mostly entertained themselves with books and looking at the changing landscape out the windows. (We were shocked when we realized that Maia read 143 pages in a non-illustrated book of fairytales during our journey. We did a quick reading comprehension check and yep, she really read it all. She is now officially a reader and can read anything we throw in front of her, occasionally asking for help with a particularly challenging word. And this Momma is both very happy and very jealous that she can read in the car without getting my funny-in-the-head car sickness!) We were all very, very happy when we arrived at our rented house. It was beautiful! Over the next few hours the kids repeatedly bounced with unrestrained joy and excitement as carloads of different family members arrived. In the midst of various arrivals, the girls rushed down to explore our beach with their great Aunties, returning weighed down with amazing shells and rocks (the start of a collection we would ultimately return to the beach for fear of being visited by someone noticing half their beach missing). After a yummy dinner, it was time to tame them for bed. Just as Sean got them settled and was ready to turn out the lights, I burst into their bedroom and hurried them all to our sweet balcony to watch the moonrise... it was breathtaking.

The next morning, Cecily and I decided to explore the beach. I wanted to get a few photos of our beautiful house as well.

Cecily leads the way down the path to our beach.

Maia and Cec were both fascinated by the sweet little waterfalls that came down onto the beach. Hard to see, but the photo was too important to both of them to leave out.

Crocs- the best summer shoe for kids! (And so sweet to see scattered in a haphazard rush to the water.)

Cecily gingerly makes her way across the rocks and then it's playtime.

Cecily bravely decided to "swim..." It turned into more of a quick dip when she discovered how cold the water was.

Both girls were fascinated by the "poppy" seaweed they found. They spent the entire week collecting it and then popping the bubble-like ends of it.

We had a great little adventure, and then headed back up to the house for a warm shower and an exciting afternoon watching Sean destroy Uncle Adam in ping-pong.