We went camping for Liam’s birthday near Wolfe’s Neck state park, and took archery lessons.

These were the bows they had us use. Very nice. Strong and comfortable to hold and they really  look the part!

 

 

On the Fourth of July Katie organized a trip to Stockton Springs, on the Penobscot Bay. We biked around a state park, swam in the ocean, explored the impressive Fort Knox, and the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, and had a gigantic amount of ice cream. We also had lunch at an adorable community church barbecue stand in Searsport, and finished off by watching the fireworks in Bangor from the Brewer side of the river. It was a great way to spend the fourth!

We hiked Mount Katahdin for the first time as a family with Jenny and Isabel Shemwell and their friends, Sam, Lizzie and Chung. The hike starts out easy and we pass over a beautiful stream. As the hike started to get more rocky and steep Reid and Nathan and I went ahead together. Reid versus the mountain. it’s really a stunning mountain. The view from the top is like mountains in the west: The summit: Going down again: As you can see, it gets pretty steep and challenging: At the end we had the bitter pleasure of soaking our tired and bruised feet in the icy water of that perfect little stream:

The trip to deer Isle included a number of highlights. One of them is hiking on Barred Island. Barred Island is covered in deep moss, and has a lovely beach of shell-sand, on which we were too busy to take any photos. Here is the moss: With the central roads of the island are very dangerous for bikers. Instead, we biked around a bit on the smaller roads: The kids helped a lot at the campsite. And up close view of the lichen and spruce cone fairy house we made on tea kettle island. The fairy house itself. Reid and I made this one. Reid is sitting on a ledge that oversees the low tide section between deer Isle and tea kettle island near the Crouse’s camp.The water was cold and refreshing. There were tide pools with crabs and there were jellyfish in the ocean. Being close to the ocean is always so special.

For Katie’s birthday celebration our family went biking and camping on Deer Isle. We stayed near an old granite quarry which was interesting enough, but nearby we also discovered this derelict shipyard. It contained a gigantic warehouse for building boats of many sizes. It was covered in graffiti. And there were trees growing inside. It was beautiful.I took all these pictures before I went back to get the family and show them, so there are no pictures of the family.

So a few weekends ago I ran the 5k Bangor Color Run with the boys. Two of Reid’s classmates were there and joined us, as other parents were not running. Here’s the team. Daddy, Liam, Reid, Jack, and Seamus.

and groveled in the colored powder.

Today is Reid’s 8th birthday, and in celebration, here is a little post from the past!

In celebrating Reid’s fourth orbit of the sun, I have had the chance to review some old video from his younger days. There are lots of wonderful moments, but this one was short and sweet. I like to think of it as a daring collaboration between Reid and myself. Here it is. We call it, “Baby stored in airplane luggage compartment.”

Reid’s inventiveness keeps rolling, and rolling. Wood blocks are but one of the domains in which he is always creating. Another is his comics, which have truly taken off. More on that (and the adventures of Bob and Bob) soon! In the meantime, here is a stuffie airplane.

You’ll notice that is has forward facing but angled windows, large wings, tail fins, jets, a nose cone, guns, and propulsion at the rear. It also holds a great number of stuffed animals in the fuselage.

In a stuffie ship like this there are many crew working the deck. The pilots are on the top deck, and the captain is inside, behind the window. The captain is Penzi, of course.

The pilots.

The whole ship from a distance. Note the bowsprit. Also note the two life boats. They were used once when I was on board and some locals had to be pulled from the sea. It was a dangerous operation, but the rescue went like clockwork.

Apparently there is quite a captains quarters in there too!