While bicycling around the back cove, we decided to stop for a little family game of baseball. The children enjoyed the obstacle course while the Mr. and I set up the game.
Angel climbed up one side, over the top, and down the other...
Wiggles stripped down to her swimsuit and played in the sand.
When we were finally 'set up', we told each of the children to grab a mitt. I had to take a picture of Wiggles with her mitt on the wrong hand. SO cute!
I know I take too many pics of this little gal, but can you blame me?
And Wiggles is ready to go!
Angel struts her stuff!
Grins doesn't waste time posing - he's just anxious to start playing!
It's not hard to get action shots of this boy - he's always on the go!
I took a break from pitching to snap a photo - look at those cute little outfielders!
It was getting hot, so Angel decided she'd rather pose for pictures than play....
So the girls sat and enjoyed a snack break while the Mr., Grins and I played on. It's amazing how much easier it is to play with the Mr. - when it's just me and the children, things don't run nearly as smoothly! We all love having the Mr. around!
The Mr. actually got a day off (the first day off in a month!), and it just so happened to be beautiful and sunny, so we decided to go on a bike ride around the back cove (about 3 1/2 miles around).
Check out the gorgeous view! We are loving where we live!!
Halfway through our ride around the back cove, we decided to turn off onto the Eastern Promenade, which we rode down to get to the Est End beach. (more on that later.) So, by the time we got back on the path, we had already gone a few miles, and needed a little break. Grins couldn't comfortably reach the drinking fountain, so he got creative.
We sat, ate a picnic lunch, and enjoyed the beautiful view.
Wiggles was tired - riding in that trailer can be hard work! :)
I finally learned how to upload videos onto youtube, so watch out! This one is a year old, but it's fun looking back on how much these adorable little munchkins have changed in a year!
During April break, the children and I decided to visit the Gilsland Farm Audubon center. We had never been, and it was incredible, and definitely a place we will return to again and again! There was a lot to see and do, and it was wonderful enjoying nature all together!
Who doesn't love a good climbing tree? This one definitely had character!
At the pond, some new friends shared their nets with us, and we caught several tadpoles, and even an adult frog!! (It's much harder than it looks, but Angel caught one all by herself!)
Grins put his net to good use as well.
While walking through a flower garden, we saw a groundhog run through the garden and down a hole. We knelt at his hole and could see his little nose poking out, so we shared some pear with him and lured him out. He was actually surprisingly friendly (or just brazen?) and spent quite a bit of time sharing our snack with us!
We enjoyed building fairy houses, and ultimately, lean-tos, out of some fallen logs.
Finally, we went inside the vistor's center where Angel found a bird's nest and we all worked on some projects.
Angel's class at school has been studying penguins for the past several weeks. Recently, they (along with the other First/Second grade classes), put on a little 'show' to display what they had learned. It was adorable and a lot of fun to watch! (And, from the looks on their faces, a lot of fun to perform, as well!) My camera was having problems focusing / dying battery / etc. so I got some very poor quality shots, but they're better than nothing. :) The pictures make very little sense out of context of the performance, but the actor who put the performance together was very creative, and did a beautiful job putting to life all the various facts they'd learned!
Angel had 3 'roles' in the performance. Role number 1: The Flag (her friend 'raised' her, and she then 'flapped in the breeze')
Role Number 2: Computer Screen - She held up her arms in a screen-like fashion and made 'screen pictures' with her face while a classmate 'typed' on her knees.
Role Number 3: Papa Penguin - She 'sat' on her 'eggs' (some friends) and fought off the squa (a predator bird).
Maine has a wonderful tradition called, "Maine Maple Sunday", where all of the maple syrup producers in the area open their doors to visitors, often including maple samples and tours of their facilities. It is commonly on a Sunday, so we missed it last year. This year, though, some friends invited us to go with them on Saturday, so I packed the children in the car and we headed up North!
(Unfortunately the Mr. was working, so we took lots of pictures to show him later...)
First stop - Hilltop Boilers
We met our friends at the Hilltop Boiler maple farm. We started out our visit with a Scavenger Hunt - each child was supposed to fill it in with pictures or descriptions to answer various questions about things they saw around the farm.
Of course, we had to climb all over the various tractors around the farm!
We also got to have a tour of the facility, where they showed us the boilers and explained all about how they make maple syrup. It smelled sooooooo good!
The highlight of the visit, of course, (well, for me, at least) was the samples! They had pancakes with maple syrup, maple cream with pretzels, ice cream with maple syrup (yum!!) and, my personal favorite, maple fudge. Heaven!!!
We visited the animals (cows, calves and pigs) and learned that Wiggles is TERRIFIED of barns (at least that one!)
We listened to some great Christian country music (I think you would call it....) - Red Flannel Hash. I even caught Wiggles dancing on video! :)
Sap Lugging Contest - The farmer gave each child a bucket of 'sap' (water), and they were supposed to run all the way to the bale of hay, around it, and back. If they returned in under 14 seconds (without spilling any sap), they won the prize. All of our children did very well - Grins ran it in 14 seconds, and Angel surprised us all by coming in at 13 seconds and winning her very own (huge!) Maple Whoopie Pie! Apparently, our kids were born to run (like their daddy!).
Angel wins the prize!
We were having so much fun, the children and I decided to head over to another nearby Maple Farm - Sugar Hill Boilers. (Since we had an hour drive back home, none of us were anxious to climb back in the car quite yet!) There, we got to sample some maple cotton candy (yum!), enjoyed more maple samples, and even got our faces painted!!
Grins chose a 'monster truck':
Angel wanted to be a puppy (of course!):
And Wiggles selected a 'kitty' face:
Imagine our surprise when we returned home and received a phone call that Angel had won the Scavenger hunt contest! So we headed back the following weekend for her to select her prize (maple syrup and some maple fudge), and had even more fun, getting a more detailed tour of the farm, etc. It was cute watching her select her prize....they said she could choose $10 worth of maple products from the store. At first she selected a very tall lighthouse shaped bottle for $10. Then she changed her mind and chose one with a lobster on it. Then she wanted a snowman bottle to give to Grandma. At last, she finally settled on a smaller bottle that was easier to pour, and some fudge. When I asked if she was certain (since she kept changing her mind), she looked up and whispered "I definitely have the best deal now!" She was quite proud of her winnings, especially when she learned that they even printed her name in the newspaper! Two wins in one day - she's one lucky girl!
Oh, and I may have finally figured out how to upload videos on here! Check out Wiggles dancing to the beat:
