All caught up.

Take note: I have managed to complete my backlog of posts! So here are events from the past few weeks.

This afternoon, I went outside and happened to see this:


Which is as cute as can stinkin be.

Apple Picking

Violet's first field trip of the year was to the Giles Family farm for apple picking. I, like most of the other parents, opted to go along. It's always a lot of fun.

Here is the class - these are the kids that are there on Mondays anyway. Olivia, Sylvia, Emily, Violet, Caden, Colby, Colin, Brady, Alayna, Rachel, Sydney and Kelsie.


Stella had a great time as well. She loves the preschoolers.


I realized recently that I have far fewer pictures of Violet than I would like. Mostly because the vast majority of them look like this.


Stella on the other hand, is a much more willing model.

Violet was in her first bike race recently. She was in the training wheel division of the Portsmouth Criterium. First she had her bike and helmet checked out.

Number three-hundred-sixty-one. There were a lot of kids racing. I was shocked.


And they're off. See the pace car? That is the entire length of the course (600 meters). I have lots of pictures of the progression of the race and Violet has had a fantastic time flipping through them like a movie.


Violet finished somewhere near the end of the pack, but by no means last. I think they had to hold up the next race for the kid who came in last. Something to be said for determination, though.


And a well deserved ride back to the car.


Next year? She's talking about being in the '4-6 year old without training wheels' division.

General cuteness

But man, aren't they just the cutest?

Another First

Today I brought a little desk in from the barn. It has been waiting for Stella since before she was born. Happily, she's very much into coloring and crayons and pencils and notebooks. I've actually seen her carry around a pencil and a smidgen of paper no bigger than a square centimeter for more than 20minutes. Every so often stopping to jot down her thoughts (??). I'm hoping that her desk will be a little sanctuary for her amidst the household chaos.

First Day of School

At last!!

I was a little more enthusiastic than Violet.


But she loves school, and was happy to be there once we arrived.

Eeek! A Shark!

A dogfish shark, that is, at the Maine State Aquarium in Boothbay.


We make a yearly trek up there to the one room aquarium, where you'd think the main attraction would be petting the sharks, but really it's rubbing the bumpy picture.




They also have a big touch tank where they actually let you take the critters out of the water, but Stella wanted nothing to do with them. Not even a little bit.


I really love the aquarium for it's relative peace and mild activities. Same puzzle year after year. There's something refreshing about the consistency of the place.

You know, it's just fun. You can't help but feel good out on the coast like that with the blue sky and bluer ocean.