The minute we crossed the bridge, I felt at home. Passing quiet, tiny towns in the dark of a late autumn evening, I felt welcomed by this tiny Canadian island. Home, like the potato fields of Aroostook County, but with a salt smell in the air that reminds you the sea is just on the other side of the horizon. Home, with Pride flags flying and rainbow stickers in the windows, and with more diversity on one tiny island than I’ve seen in my whole home state. Home, a safe place with a deep sense of community and the same stoic resilience I’m used to from New Englanders, just in the Maritimes.
No place is perfect, but I think PEI is perfect for me.
As family vacations go, it was a rich one. We explored Charlottetown’s restaurants and shops, and ate Cow’s ice cream every night. We drove up to Brackley Beach, enjoying a warmer-than-average day searching for sea glass and shells and skipping iron-rich stones into the briny, ice-cold water. I forgot to pack my painting kit, which gave me an excuse to support a local art shop and try some Canadian-made paints from Beam (now I need all of them, damnit). I had the fried fish at Richard’s seafood for the second time in my life, and it’s just as tasty as I remember. Gwen and I took a late-evening walk to her favorite playground at Victoria Park.
When we left, I felt a familiar pang; the sinking feeling in my stomach I used to get when returning to boarding school after spending a long weekend with my family. The feeling that I was leaving something vitally important behind. I, not for the first time, Googled our eligibility for citizenship. Tim started looking at homes, eyeing the prices.
I think we might do this. Not right away, but someday, sooner than retirement.
I think this might be my mid-life crisis, but it’s a good crisis.
It’s finally summer, and I am soaking it up. I may have gone a teensy bit overboard with early summer plans (I blame being cooped up in pandemiclandia for the last two years) so the next few weeks are pretty booked.
We celebrated the end of the school year with a family vacation in Bar Harbor. Our hotel was right on the water and within walking distance to basically everything except Acadia. I didn’t make specific plans, which kept things laid back and gave me time to paint and do puzzles and unwind. I treated myself to a facial and a pedicure at the hotel spa, and the kids enjoyed the heated pool (even if it was only 60 degrees outside, yikes 😱). We saw our first movie in a theater since the start of the pandemic (Bob’s Burgers, funny!) and ate MDI ice cream every night. I think this is going to be a yearly tradition; being on the coast is rejuvenating.
Later this week, the kids and Mom and I are road-tripping to upstate New York to visit with family. (Tim opted to stay home and keep the pets company — he wasn’t thrilled about the idea of the 12-hour drive one way, can’t imagine why! 😜) We’ll spend the 4th in New York, then make our way home with a few days to spare before shipping the kids off to camp for a week.
After that, I’m taking two weeks to do a “trial” –basically a long test — for a role change at work. This role change has been taking up far too much of my brain space for too long; it will be nice to see it through.
Ironically, all of this happens *before* my three-month sabbatical…during which I have nothing scheduled. 😂 I expect there will be lots of painting and lake time, and maybe we’ll try to squeeze in a trip to PEI now that the border is open.
Happy Father’s Day to the guy who matched me diaper for diaper, bottle for bottle, and late night for late night. Now you’re the stay-at-home dad, coordinator of appointments, lessons, and lunch boxes. I couldn’t ask for a better partner, and our kids are lucky to have you as an example of what a great dad should be. <3 🙂
The tree didn’t get decorated until Christmas Eve, but that’s normal.
Coooooookieeeessss om nom nom
Christmas Eve
Bokeh!
Everything wrapped and ready to go.
Her face when we told her we had to eat breakfast before opening presents.
The big kids get LEGOs, too. 😉
Santa’s gift to our family. He’s good to us.
Someone got what she wanted! LEGO Elves.
Ready to get this party started!
Tim knows me so well.
Even Mom got in on the LEGO action.
Bunchems! She’s hooked (pun intended).
Breakfast of champions, with my new Pantone mug. Thanks, Automattic!
Father-daughter bonding over elves and dragons.
Dragon!
Fight the Future throw from Nana and Toom.
Machi Koro
Wrapping up a successful Christmas; Santa was good to us this year. He seems to know how much we enjoy LEGOs, but he also came through with new card/dice games and expansions for old favorites, and sleds for outdoor fun.
We’re having quite the Classic New England Winter (TM) so far; lots of snow, regular pristine, white coatings of the stuff, which means a fair amount of plowing and shoveling and sending the kids outside dressed like waddling, hot-pink-and-purple marshmallows. In an effort to ward off the winter blahs, I’ve strung lights up to the point where our living room can probably be seen from space.
I scheduled an extra-long winter vacation, without realizing it would be almost as long as my summer break was. Not that I’m complaining, but I’m at a bit of a loss since I didn’t have any plans save for 1) surviving the holidays and 2) catching up on a backlog of fanfic reading. With the first one out of the way, I intend to start on the second, with a bit of writing of my own thrown in for good measure.
This Halloween was a blur, as we spent the first half of the day driving back from the wedding. We’d stopped in Freeport overnight, but that meant 3.5 hours of driving with two wound-up kids and two tired parents.
I considered skipping trick-or-treating this year — I think the kids would have been OK with that — but after spending the majority of the day cooped up in the car, it was a relief to walk around and stretch my legs. After we got home, I told the kids to put on some costumes from their costume stash and we were off for the candy hunt.
Gwen went as a ladybug (note the pants are inside-out and backwards, a personal best), and Ellie went through a few costume changes before she settled on the above, claiming she was a maid.
My brother, Julian, and his fiancée, Julie, have been together for seven years, and last weekend, after months of planning and preparation, they made it official.
Welcome goodies!
Weddings are an exercise in patience.
Our family was in the wedding party; the girls were flower girls, I was a bridesmaid, and Tim was a groomsman. I told everyone to expect pictures, because this is the nicest you will ever see my family dressed up. Ever. We aren’t annual-portrait people–hell, we’re barely print-and-frame-the-Instagrams people–but we looked pretty great:
This family is ready to wedding!
Let’s do this.
Pretty kids.
Pretty petals.
Watching the swans at Buttermilk Falls.
We clean up nice. 😉
I’m so happy for my brother and his new wife, but selfishly, I’m also happy for me, because I get a sister! And I couldn’t ask for a better one. 🙂
Hair ready.
Spoiled.
Makeup ready.
The wedding was lovely, and the reception was a joyous party. Much of our extended family made the trip to upstate New York, so we saw relatives I haven’t seen in years. I was sore from dancing for days afterward.
Bride & groom. <3
So pretty!
Mother & son.
This 31-year-old “kid” has grown into one of the sweetest, funniest people I know. I am so glad he’s found happiness with Julie. Here’s to the rest of your lives, J’s!
The end of a season is always bittersweet. On one hand, I adore fall and all the wonderful things that come with it; on the other, it feels like summer flew by. The hottest days were relatively few and far between up here in the north, there was not nearly enough lake time, and I could have taken a few more weeks’ vacation and not felt the pull of work.
Library work buddy.
Time to get the hairs cut!
Post-haircut treats in the park.
Post-Pokewalk selfie.
Playtime at Monument Park.
Hmm, I don’t think that’s how it works, girls.
Hello, Ms. Moose!
Northern Maine lakes country.
Lake time is good time.
Hill-rolling is a new favorite pastime.
Swinging sisters!
Swimming in the clouds.
Hoping the rain will let up (it didn’t).
Rain, rain, go away!
Playground time.
And LEGOs, of course!
Letters from camp. <3
Life at the lake.
Lake time.
The Boy and the Boot.
Treats from Darling’s ice cream for a cause.
Selfie with my favorite kids.
7 Wonders of God Warriors
Jesus’ parking spot.
End-of-camp celebrations.
Rainbow!
Presque Isle explorations with my big girl.
Gymnastics antics.
Sisters, reading.
The kids are clinging, driving both their father and me nuts, so it must be time for them to go back to school. Tomorrow we’ll put them on the bus and restart the school-year routines. I feel entirely unprepared and frazzled. I may be in a bit of denial, particularly with regards to Gwen, who turns five in two days. So many mixed emotions!
September also begins a three-month-long string of events that will probably make the rest of the year fly by. There are work trips planned to British Columbia and Spain, my brother’s wedding, more home improvements, birthdays, and holidays.
It was a good summer, a solid summer. Looking back on these photos and thinking about everything we’ve done, it’s clear we made some new memories. Bring it on, autumn. We’re ready for you!
We made this trip last year with a minimum of fuss, and once again, it went off without a hitch. I think we might be getting the hang of this traveling-with-kids thing, or maybe we’re just lucky. iPads and a portable DVD player for the win! We took our time on the drive down, leaving early in the morning. Someone (cough ELLIE cough) was awake at 5 a.m., so we had a head start.
After crossing into Massachusetts, we stopped for dinner with long-time friends Sarah and Tim and their kids, which gave Ellie and Gwen a chance to run around and play with Toys That Are Not Theirs And Are Therefore Fascinating.
I’ll admit, I came home feeling pretty bummed that we don’t hang out with most of our friends on a regular basis. Like I said in my previous post, we only see each other once or twice a year, and I miss them! I love Maine, and I even love living in the country, but my friends and family in the south make a strong case for migration.
Fuddrucker’s with the Donahue / Paterson clan.
Running in the Seaport park.
My brother and his fiancée let us take over their apartment for the weekend. We didn’t get as much time with them as I would have liked because they were away that weekend, too, but we’ll get plenty of face time at their wedding in October (!)
Sunday meant Comic Con! It was my first con. The kids were excited at the numerous costumes (“Pikachu! Mulder! Scully! Wonder Woman! Batman!”), and they met one of the artists who works on the My Little Pony comics. We let them pick out a couple prints of favorite cartoon characters for their room.
But I had other priorities; I was there to meet Gillian Anderson, which meant standing in long-ass lines while Tim went exploring with the kids. Next time we do a con, I’ll plan to stay at least two days to soak it all in.
I am such a dork. I love it. And my kid has been blessed by Mother Gillian.
I paid for an autograph and a photo op, because why not? I have no regrets, but I think I’ll skip the celebrity extras next time (unless David Duchovny is also there, in which case, gimme). Meeting her at Streetcar was more intimate, less rushed, and she seemed more relaxed. It was still a cool experience, though, and Ellie was thrilled to join me for a photo with “Scully”. Ellie told her the X-Files was one of her favorite shows, which was cute, and GA asked, “Doesn’t it scare you???” Ellie shook her head, of course, and then we posed for the picture.
Gillian’s Q & A panel was amusing. She was feeling pretty snarky, apparently, and gave the moderator hell. She swore, apologized for swearing, and then kept swearing anyway. She talked a bit about being a mom, having “mom guilt”, balancing work life and parenthood — all things I can identify with. She recounted some fun moments from filming The X-Files last summer. It was neat to finally be in the live audience instead of watching from a shaky iPhone video on Tumblr.
The highlight of my Comic Con experience.
OMG JUST LOOK AT HER RADIANCE.
My signed print got a booboo. :-/
Fixed it, sorta. The print coating rubbed off, and it will probably never see life outside that frame.
After the fangirling, I went looking for my friend and former high-school roommate Sheryl, of Noadi’s Art fame. She is a ridiculously talented sculptor and painter, and you can see how much effort she’s put into building her business. I’m commissioning a Scully painting from her “kickass women” series whenever she’s available.
We headed home because the kids were getting grumpy and it was hot and my signed print got a spot, which soured my mood for the afternoon. Dinner at West on Centre cheered me up a bit, though, as did laying like a beached whale in an air-conditioned bedroom for several hours.
The next day, we went to Assembly Square and Legoland. We were able to get our tickets for cheap online, and the facility wasn’t crowded, so they let us in early. The kids played, tried the rides, and took the “Master Builder” class. It was blissfully cool and relatively quiet, which was a nice change from the swarm of people at the con.
Hey, Boston!
Pre-Legoland lunch at Earl’s Kitchen.
Big man, tiny chair, don’t care.
LEGO my kids!
Bunker Hill Memorial bridge, LEGO version.
He looks pretty good holding a baby, huh?
We also visited with our friend Amanda and her new baby boy. Tim and I are out of the baby-making game, but there’s nothing like holding someone else’s adorable four-month-old to get my ovaries all whiny and mopey. Sorry, ovaries, you’re out of luck.
Amanda and her S.O. co-run a new restaurant, so we had tasty pizza for dinner. If you’re in the Malden area and need a bite to eat, try Sillari’s Pizza. We over-ordered and took home a leftover cheese pizza, which was promptly devoured by the adults for breakfast the next morning.
After one more night in Boston, we headed northward, promising the kids a stop at Target to get the LEGO sets we couldn’t find at Legoland. When we finally got home and staggered from our tiny car like road-weary zombies, we were coerced by small children into building said LEGO sets until our fingers were sore and our eyes were red. Not a terrible way to end a long weekend, right?
