2017 Bethany Beach

Immediately after our Maine road trip we headed south to meet Lois and Mark at the beach in Delaware for a week. Jacob wasn't thrilled with the timing, considering our travel day was his actual birthday but once we arrived and celebrated for the second time, all was well. The weather was a little iffy at times, but we stayed in a great house right on the beach, got to visit with Mike's cousin Greg and family who lived nearby, went bowling, made a stop at Funland of course, the arcades, did a little shopping, played lots of Canasta, and took too many pictures as always, but apparently never one with all 7 of us, oops!

 A fun week with Nana and Papa!

Owen won big on the Rehoboth boardwalk. I remember this being my favorite game when we'd visit Funland growing up. I don't think I EVER won, though!

Cousins! Mike's cousin Greg lived nearby and so we got to spend some quality time together playing at the beach with his kids Finley and Grant.

  

 The drama!

There was a lot of yelling from the sidelines. Happy for the most part.

Our annual family picture.

 

I present the following 2 pictures because to me they sum up the relationship my kids have with each other. The boys are always together, wrestling or picking at one another, and if not wrestling it's only cause there's a TV on, and Amelia is either completely in her brothers' space or wants absolutely nothing to do with them. There's no in between. I do appreciate that the boys seem completely content with her whims.

Another fun beach trip with Nana and Papa!

Road Trip - MAINE 2017

When we heard there was going to be a solar eclipse and everyone was heading south or west, we thought let's go NORTH and have Acadia National Park in Maine all to ourselves. We were wrong about that, but it was still an amazing adventure. We (with Nancy and family and my mom) rented a house in a fantastic location on the eastern side of Mount Desert Island, off the main road between Bar Harbor and right near several park entrances. We were so lucky with the weather and got to hike and swim (the most daring and least affected by cold of us) and kayak and bike and eat popovers and lobster and see the partial solar eclipse at Sand Beach and walk to Bar Island during low tide and take a nature cruise (the waters were a bit too rough for us for whale watching). What we did see was just fantastic and there was still so much we missed. I think Mike and I could happily spend a few more weeks there. One day!

 Here we are, on the Holiday Road again!

First day there we did a hike around Jordan Pond with its beautiful views and afterwards we tested out the famous popovers at the Jordan Pond House for lunch.

The next day was the solar eclipse day and we started the morning on top of Cadillac Mountain - at 1530 feet it's the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard. We did not see a sunrise (next time?) and we left before the eclipse, but we enjoyed the view and bouldering.

Later, we viewed the eclipse from the beautiful sand beach, where the water was frigid, but Jacob didn't seem to mind. It was fun to be at a national park for the eclipse, even though it was just partial for us, they gave out the special glasses and set up a few ways to view the eclipse safely.

Our friends the Thorners, who live right up the street from us in MD, happened to be in the area the same week so we met up and did a bike trail together in Bar Harbor. L to R: Jake, Jacob, Ben & Owen. Not to forget Millie and their baby girl Abby in the trailers in the back. Amelia ended up needing to hitch a ride with Abby when the trailer she was in broke off from Mike's bike! Yikes.

Mom was a huge trooper when we found ourselves on a slightly more difficult hike than we expected. It really was very deceivingly easy and then suddenly bam! boulders. But she did it. Amelia did too, she loved all the hiking we did, especially the challenging parts. I believe this was the Ship Harbor Trail...should mom ever want to do it again.

I have about 15 attempts of this picture. One of us just COULD NOT bring himself to eke out a smile...

That is, until he was free to climb rocks instead of sit still in a restaurant. This was a quick side trip to see Bass Harbor Head light house. Unfortunately we were in a rush but this view was amazing and one day I'd love to go back.

This was along the Seawall area, another place I'll visit again, a little longer, next time.

In a belated celebration of our dear mother's birth, we went back to the Jordan Pond House because of THIS. YUM!!!

What a great trip. 'Til next time!

Jacob's (belated) Birthday - NINE!

Just catching up...

Jacob turned 9 Years Old!! (...last August)
We celebrated this momentous occasion over the course of many weeks and all along the East Coast -  Maine, Delaware, & Maryland. That's what you get with a summer birthday in the middle of vacation. At least it wasn't the first day of school.

   

For the Record Books:

Jacob is as energetic, busy, loud, thoughtful, curious, optimistic, kind, and earnest as ever. He (almost) always has the best of intentions and is kind to others, he loves to chat and ask questions and learn and laugh and be silly and play and just continues to have a great big warm and sweet spirit about him. His brother might disagree, but I'm his mother. "Sports" is still his native language and he spent much of this year memorizing sports stats from his and Owen's vast card collection, if he's not speaking it, he's playing - his favorite sport is based on the season and he plays soccer, baseball and basketball (winter). He really loves football too, but my sanity requires a break from weekend sports at some point in the year (not counting summer!). He loves to write...a LOT. Like, a lot of very descriptive words, sometimes I think he's competing to write the most words - which is fine unless he has a deadline. He shows a real interest in history and math and PE and says he might want to be a teacher or a lawyer when he grows up. And that's our little, but big, Jacob, at 9.