Slip and Slide

If you listen carefully, you'll hear, "Send this to Elsa!"  So this is posted for Elsa, and of course anyone else who would like to watch.

 

Red Sox Nation

We just returned from a trip to Rhode Island, with ventures to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.  Thanks to Oma and Grandpa Al for the hospitality and adventure!

 

 We started the trip with a party!  We had lots of fun playing with our second cousins.  (There are lots of them!)  Here we are with a group of our second cousins.

More second cousins arrived later (thanks for coming on your busy days, Monica, Josh, and Lindsey!) so we got another group photo.

 

 Day 2: Plymouth, Massachusetts.  It was neat to see Plimouth Plantation (not misspelled) and learn from the actors who did not deviate from their role as settlers in 1621.  Mom hopes we remember this when we are learning about this in school.  She's doesn't have good pictures to post, but her and Dad's favorite part was the Wampanoag village.  It was staffed with Wampanoag people who were not actors, and were happy to teach us about how their ancestors lived and what it may have been like for to have their land inhabited by the English Puritans in 1620, as well as teach us about their current culture.  We got to see a real fish being cooked over a fire, visit with a woman who traded grandparent stories with Oma, and learn about how clothing was made.  We also learned how to make bows and arrows from a young man who taught us a lot more about his current and past culture.  Mom was so fascinated and thankful for his time that she forgot to take pictures!

 

 Petting a goat.

 

 Checking out the livestock.



 Day 3: Pirate Adventure on Cape Cod.  We got to search for treasure.  We put together a map, hoisted the sails, shot water canons at a boat, saw a sunken ship, and pulled treasure out of the sea.

 

Arrrrrrrr, Matey!

 



 Later, we went to Sandy Neck on the Cape and got wet in the Atlantic Ocean.  Dad tells us it's really warm in September, October, and November, but in June it feels just like the Pacific!

 

 We had lots of fun climbing on and jumping off of this lifeguard stand.
 



Mmmmmm... Lobstah!

 

Day 3: Uncle Keith and Aunt Amanda drove all the way from western New Jersey to see us!

 

We went to the Providence Zoo with Aunt Amanda.

 

 Day 4: Road trip.  The four of us set out on our coastal tour.  We spent the first day at Cape Ann, Massachusettes.  Our first stop was Glouster.  The main industry is fishing, and for centuries, Glouster men (and now women) have set out to sea in all weather and conditions.  This is the Fisherman's Memorial.  It included panel after panel of almost 6000 Glouster men who have lost their lives at sea.  The mid-1800s were particularly rough, with over 500 men losing their lives some years.  It was sobering to see how many men shared the same name, likely fathers and sons on the same boats.  The crew from 'The Perfect Storm' were listed for 1991.  There was another sculpture down the walkway honoring the women who waited for their husbands and sons to return, and who often raised their children alone after they were widowed.

 

 We walked along the shore to Stage Fort.

 

 The view across the harbor.

 

 Next stop--Rockport.  It was pouring rain, but that didn't detract from the beauty of this fishing town.

 

Lovely Rockport, MA.

 

 We ended our day at the LL Bean flagship store in Freeport, Maine.  It's a destination in itself, with stuffed moose, geese, deer, bears, cougars, lynx, and more inside.

 

And a 3500 gallon aquarium filled with different trout and fresh water salmon that we could get inside.

 

 On the second day of our road trip, we drove north to Bath, Maine, to visit the Maine Maritime Museum.  It was on the grounds of a shipyard where wooden schooners used to be built, including the Wyoming, which was the largest wooden ship ever built in the world.  We learned why this part of the Kennebuc River was known for it's ship building industry (perfect slope of the bank to launch ships when they were finished and depth of the river).  In fact, right next door is Bath Iron Works, which continues to build Destroyers for the Navy.  We also learned all about how the huge wooden ships were built, and even got to launch one -- the USS Mommy.

 

 Captaining a tugboat.  We even got to toot the horns.

 

 In the afternoon, we drove south to Cape Elizabeth, home to the Portland Head Lighthouse, which is the oldest working lighthouse in Maine.  There were great walking trails along the bluff.

 

Mom's attempt to be artsy.

 

 It was a beautiful day, so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing at the beach.

 

 Cute travelers.

 

More like a fortress than a castle.

 

Whew!  All this play has got us worn out!  We're  looking forward to our next visit.  Mom is already making a list of the places she wants to go.

Bird Rescue, Night Two: The Saga Continues

Tonight we rescued our bird friend's four siblings.  Three were rescued from the vent behind our microwave (requiring removing the microwave three times) and one was smart enough to fly out of the vent to the outside of the house on its own when we opened it for him.  We're pretty sure this provided a lot of entertainment for our neighbors, who have been watching these birds fly in and out of our house for weeks, and have probably predicted this whole scenario.  (Perhaps were even placing bets on when it would happen).  Then Dad and Mom cleaned out the nests.  Yep, we think there were two nests in there, which would explain the never ending line up of birds coming to feed the babies.  We'll miss these little guys.  Well, maybe!

Then, exhausted, and a full hour after our bedtime, we celebrated Dad's birthday (a few days early).

Animal Rescue

It would seem that there might be reason for many I-told-you-so's after Mom wouldn't let Dad get rid of the nest that some ingenious birds built in our vent.  They actually have to stand on the side of the house and lift the flap to get in and out.  But the nest is safe and we hear little cheeps from the hungry babies, and can see what seems like Mom, Dad, and a few grandparents flying in and out with worms for the little ones.  Smart birds. 

 

Dad had reason to be a little smug when they came home from work to what sounded like a bird in the kitchen.  We've been listening to the babies for three weeks, but this bird was IN the kitchen.  It actually sounded like it was in the microwave, and it was LOUD.  We informed Mom and Dad that we had heard it all day.  Mom and Dad knew we must rescue the bird.  This was a little complicated.  We assumed it had entered the pipe for the vent and wandered as far into the house as it could go.  But where did the vent go?  It had to go through the ceiling and walls.  The search resulted in a panel being removed from a cupboard and the wall-mounted microwave being removed from the wall. 

 

And there he was.  The baby bird was stuck in the vent behind the microwave, which, if you are familiar with our house, you know is on the far wall of our kitchen, about 12 feet in.  This bird was an explorer! 

 

The vent panel.

We took the bird outside to reunite it with its parents.

After a bit of struggling (remember, this bird had NEVER been outside the dark nest and had never flown before), he made it up to a tree.

This is actually the second animal rescue we have done.  Last year we saved the swallows in a nest in our birdhouse, which was pushed off it's perch by a cat.  So much excitement in our house.  Next year we are going to put some strips of duct tape on the vents to prevent this from becoming an annual event.  And we are hoping that the bird's brothers and sisters, who are still in the nest, are a little less adventurous than this guy.

Summer Safety Fair

The benefit of living in a small town is that you get one on one attention from all the firefighters, police officers, and other city workers at the local safety fair. 

 

 Exploring on the ladder truck.

 

 Inside the fire engine.

 

 Another benefit to small-town living - no lines.  I got to work the fire hose more than once!

 

 Ready for action.

 

Vroom!

 

Hopefully the only time that we will ever sit in the back of a police car.  We learned that it is not very comfortable.  (Made for hygiene, not comfort, according to our source in the police department.)