Beautiful Maine

Isn't this photo just the greatest? It screams "SUMMER" to me in so many ways. Now, full disclosure---if you know me well---you know that there are many things about Maine that I would change if I had a magic wand (i.e. eradicate all ticks, bring in a Target, a Costco, and move family closer), but summer and especially fall are so beautiful here. Like, "I'm living in a romance novel" beautiful. Put midcoast Maine on your bucket list. You won't regret it.

Our New Home

In June, just a day before Maddie's baptism, Ryan and I bought our first home together. After 3 other failed attempts to buy a home, this one finally worked out! It must have been meant to be. Here we are in November, and while I'm still trying to find my place in our new town (and in Maine, if I'm being honest), I feel so at home in our new home. I love almost everything about it and feel like it's perfect for our family and this stage of life we are in right now. 

The kitchen is my favorite place in the whole house (no surprise). This photo just represents happiness to me. My family gathered together over food. I love it.

Ryan and Mary-Ann built me this island. When we bought the home all that was in it's place was a tiny mobile coffee-cart-type-counter. This island was a labor of love just for me and I love it so much.

We inherited a bunch of furniture with the home, which was nice to not have to buy a ton of stuff. I love that The living room and the dining room and the kitchen are all so open. 

See that Brian Kershisnik print on my wall? Love, love, love.

I also love the exposed beams.

The master bedroom.

The toy room. This is my second favorite place in the house. I love that the kids have space of their own to be wild and crazy and creative and that it's not right next to my bedroom or the main living area! And it doubles as a work-out room for me in the early morning. Total bonus.

The home lacked a mudroom (kind of essential here in Maine), so Mary-Ann designed one off of the playroom. She's a genius like that. 

More of the play room. 

A Cabin on the Coast

Finding a home to purchase here in Maine has been a challenge, to put it mildly. To not put it mildly, it's been hellacious. After three failed attempts at finding a home (I swear, they should have a frequent inspector's discount---Inspect three homes with us, get one free!!), we (hopefully) found one that looks like it's going to work out. Because all the other homes we were hoping to buy all fell through (poison in the water, bats in the basement, clay in the water, undisclosed frozen pipes, and flooded basements, to name a few of the problems that inspections unearthed), we found ourselves without a place to live for a few months after the rental we were living in was sold. No big deal, right? Just find a short-term apartment lease? Nope. Not in rural Maine. No such thing exists, at least not that we could find (and we searched EVERYWHERE. And our parents searched EVERYWHERE they could online. And our friends--several of them---searched EVERYWHERE. Truly no stone was left unturned. Luckily our former landlord, upon hearing of our housing debacle, made a few phone calls and found a friend who was willing to rent us her summer home for the few months until we could find a home to purchase (which we thankfully found right after moving into this temporary rental). The farmhouse we are renting right now is almost 200 years old and is... interesting...to say the least. Despite what I'm about to write about this home, we really are so fortunate to have found it and not be homeless or living in a hotel. That was our only other option!!

We are across the street from the ocean. On windy nights, you can hear the waves crashing against the rocks if you listen closely. 

The property is located on 10 or so acres of land, but we stick mostly to the land directly surrounding the home. 

This is the old claw foot tub that supplies our only ability to get clean. Charming but so not practical. We take every chance we can to exercise or swim at the YMCA so we can shower there! I day dream about showers sometimes (every.single.day). The sad thing is, that while it's frustrating to only have a tub to get clean, the real kicker is that the water in our home is full of sulfur. In case you've forgotten , let me refresh your memory---sulfur smells like rotten eggs. So AFTER we get out of the tub, all we smell are rotten eggs. Scented bubble baths and soaps have been only mildly effective. Anytime water is used, that sulfur smell is present. Obviously we don't drink the water, but even washing dishes is so much less enjoyable because of the stinky water. It has really helped me appreciate clean water and I simply cannot wait to live in a home with odorless H2O!!

There is a real cabin-y feel to this place. I mean, it dons a man-sized Smoky the Bear, for crying out loud. What is more cabin-y than that? I know. Antlers. And there is no shortage of antlers here. Dozens of them. Not to mention antler lamps, antler chandeliers, and even a talking deer head that sings Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks songs. 

On the plus side, the school bus still comes and drops the kids of right in front of our house. On this particular day, Maddie stayed home from school sick and she and Nathan went outside to wait for the boys to get home after school. 

Posing outside the shed (cute shed, huh?) on Easter Sunday.

We are three miles from my favorite lighthouse. We love to go down there (especially at sunset) to throw rocks in the ocean and watch the sky change colors. 

Run, Forest, Run!

Having the lighthouse and the ocean so close will be missed. And we are sad to be moving outside our current church boundaries. But we simply can't wait to buy a home together after almost 11 years of marriage!

Winter Update

I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram. I love it because it helps me stay connected to faraway friends and family, and it has even helped me meet a few "instie friends" that I really admire and would have otherwise never gotten the chance to "know." But the truth is it is also the number one reason why this blog has been pushed to the back burner. Instagram is easy! It's fast! Friends comment right away! But it's also a time sucker, a distraction, and can occasionally bring out FOMO (fear of missing out) feelings if I let it. I feel like I really have to make a conscious effort to balance my social media intake and make it worthwhile and not a waste of precious time. And hopefully I can give a little more time to this blog as I work that all out. Because really and truly, at the risk of sounding dramatic, this little piece of internet is one of my most prized possessions. It does in fact hold the memories of my time with those that mean the most to me. 

January has been an interesting month. The very beginning of it brought some stress and a little bit of heartache as the home purchase that we were so close to making fell through. It was our decision--we backed out at the last minute because we found out about a slew of undisclosed problems and it scared the pants off of us. I am SO very glad we found this information out in the nick of time. And I'm just a little bit (ok a lot bit) disappointed that the home didn't end up being all we hoped it would be. I'm certain everything will work out--it always does, but I would be lying if I said I don't get a little bit anxious when I think about where we will be living when our lease is up in a couple of months. Rentals aren't exactly plentiful in our neck of the woods, and I don't want to buy a home that I don't love just because there aren't any other good options. I do realize that in the grand scheme of things, this is a peanut-sized problem, and I try to remind myself of that on the daily. So does God. I have dear friends both near and far dealing with much bigger trials: Sick babies that haven't even been born yet, marital problems, health problems, and cancer scares to name a few. Writing down just those few things makes me realize how hard life can be and how we just need to do our very best to be kind, and to teach our children to be kind. How is that for stream of consciousness? 

So here is a little picture update of some of our most recent happenings:

Spending my days with this little guy is just the best. Except when it's not, but we'll focus on all the times when it is, because that's what I want to remember. He wants to help me with everything (EVERYTHING!) from washing dishes to making dinner to flushing the toilet (no privacy. NONE). In fact, when I do one of these activities without him and he finds out, feelings of resentment usually result. He says the best one-liners, like, "Oops! wooks wike I'm poopy!" or "How 'bout we snuggle and watch Wild Kratts?", or my personal favorite that he announced to a stranger in the grocery store yesterday morning, "My mom wuvs me SOOOOOO much!" It's true. I do. SOOOO MUCH!

I was sitting across from him, watching him build with these tiles right before this picture was taken. All of a sudden I realized he was mimicking how I was resting my head in my hands. And I had to document it. 

Maine shines brightest in the summer and fall, but even in the dead of winter she is still pretty beautiful. 

My older kids go through waves in regard to how well they get along. To be honest, Summer break usually brings out the worst in them, Can you really blame them? They spend all day every day together, so of course they are going to get irritated with one another often. But Nathan always seems to be in good favor with every single one of them. He rarely does anything less than adorable in their eyes, and they are far more patient with him then they are with each other. I willingly admit that I baby my baby, but if he needs therapy when he's older because he's been doted on too much, I won't be the only one at fault. 

When Maddie sees windows like this she says, "Look Mom! It's Jack Frost!" This winter has been cold, but nothing in comparison to some of our winters in Iowa and even Connecticut. I've been told countless times that this is a very very mild winter for Maine, but I'll take it. So mild, in fact, that our little area is experiencing mild panic--there is a huge yearly Toboggan Festival (happening next weekend) that attracts visitors from all over the country and even the world. Apparently they are making snow like crazy because almost all of it has melted, and the Toboggans, which usually slide out onto the big lake, have nowhere to go after they exit the track because it has't been cold enough to freeze the lake! 

Twinning. 

Sometimes I'm a complainer and I like to talk about how I just can't wait to be settled in a house of our own and paint our walls whatever color we want and not move again for a really long time. But when I looked at our door this past December, littered with Christmas cards, and I couldn't help but feel overwhelming gratitude for all the wonderful people I get to call friends. Ryan counted, and we were sent Christmas cards from 15 different states this year. I think that's pretty cool. We never would have had the opportunity to meet many of these people if we hadn't lived in so many places. The past 10 years have been really good to us. 

We spent last Saturday afternoon sledding with some friends at their farm. They had a small plastic snowboard and Maddie really go into it. I love how she looks in this picture, so confident and happy. It was such a fun day for all of our kids. 

These are the faces of pure joy. Every time Nathan rode down the hill, he would holler "Wooo-hoooo!" as he flew by. It might have been one of the greatest days of his young life. 

Ryan has officially been indoctrinated into the Maine culture. Look at those boots!

My friend Michelle was so good to all of my kids while we sledded down her hill and popped her tubes and cracked her sleds. She is a great example to me of how to love other people's children. She really has a gift for bringing out the best in them. 

Grandpa Mike and Grandma Maddie Visit Maine

My parents were in town last week and I don't think I've ever been so excited to show them the place we call home. It's not that I love Maine any more than I loved Iowa or Connecticut or Arizona. It's just that it's so different than anywhere else we've ever lived. It really meant so much to me to be able to spend a whole week exploring with them. 

We live almost two hours from the nearest international airport, and the drive to pick them up was full of excited children. At one point when we got really close to the airport Maddie started squealing and shaking her fists, declaring with a big smile on her face--I.am.so.excited!!!!

As per usual, they brought an entire suitcase full of spoils from Utah. Hello Costco, we miss you!!! Beef jerky, mixed nuts, chocolate-covered mangos, jelly bellies, to name a few. 

It's not exactly easy to travel from Utah to rural Maine and we really appreciate the sacrifices that my parents made to come visit. Red eye flights can be pretty exhausting, not to mention jet lag on top of that. But they did it without complaint. We felt so loved.

The first place we took them after they got settled and rested up a bit was our lighthouse (aka the Forrest Gump Lighthouse). It's one of our favorite spots and it's right on our peninsula. 

The first couple of days of their visit were really foggy. I personally love the fog but I was happy when it lifted and we had 5 sunny days so they could see Maine in color :) Here Nathan is watching the boats in the water, one of his favorite pastimes. 

We ate a lot of ice cream while they were here. Grandpa even treated the kids to a double scoop this particular night. Two flavors in one cone? The kids were in heaven. 

My friend Amy was kind enough to come over and teach us how to cook lobsters so now Ryan and I are pretty much professionals. Can you tell? There is something extra thrilling about throwing a live crustacean into a pot of boiling water. We thought we were owning those lobsters until Ryan noticed the one that my dad was holding up for a photo op (you know, for social media) had somehow lost the rubber band on it's pincher claw. Then we all kind of freaked out and put it back in the refrigerator (where it escaped from it's bag since there was no band on it's pincher!!!). My mom was the most freaked out about the live crustaceans. She was the one who first discovered that the one escaped. "Sara! I looked in the fridge and the one without the rubber band is just crawling around in there---outside the bag!!" "Really? What did you do with it when you found it that way?" I asked. She cried in despair, "I just hurried and closed the fridge before it could get me!!" When it was time to boil the shellfish, Ryan, being the brave soul that he is, proceeded to use the longest pair of kitchen tongs we could find to drop it into the boiling pot. 

I think they are kind of pretty when they are cooked and bright red.

One thing I learned during our feast-cracking a lobster shell is NOT glamorous. It was a full-body experience. And a lot of fun. Can you believe that a lobster is cheaper than a value meal at McDonald's this time of year in Maine? We bought them from our neighbor down the street at about $6 a piece. He pulled them right out of the ocean for us. 

My dad brought his selfie stick on the trip. It was awesome. We took a drive to the top of Mount Battie so my parents could get a view of Penobscot Bay. I really do love how beautiful Maine is.

 I always worry about Nathan when we have visitors. He just takes a while to warm up to people, which can be exhausting as his parents and disappointing as his grandparents. Until this trip, he never had actually warmed up to my dad. So it was so sweet to see him comfortable with his grandpa only a few minutes after picking them up from the airport. It gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, Ryan and I won't have to hold him constantly on our next visit out west.

On day two of their visit we took my parents to the Rockland Breakwater. It is almost a mile walk to the lighthouse, so I bribed the kids with ice cream if they didn't complain. It totally worked (despite Grandpa trying repeatedly to trick Davis into moaning about how tired he was--Dave didn't fall for it). It was such a peaceful, foggy day. 

At the Breakwater. The granite path that leads from the harbor into the ocean was built more than 100 years ago. It's 0.8 miles long and it's my favorite lighthouse because it's so unique. 

This schooner was passing by the lighthouse just as we were arriving. It looked like a ghost ship on the water because of all the fog. These ships can be seen all over Penobscot Bay. 

When my parents come to visit we usually try to squeeze in a small trip. In Iowa we hit up Nauvoo. In Connecticut we ventured out to Boston and NYC. And this time around, we headed North East to Acadia National Park. Davis and I are posing for a picture here at the top of Cadillac Mountain. During certain times of the year, the sun can be seen rising atop this peak earlier than any other spot in the United States.

We scored a sweet hotel right on the coast. Can you see the ocean behind those deck chairs? When we asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was, all three older kids said "the swimming pool at the hotel!" Typical. I think Nathan agrees with them. 

Traveling with kids can be so so exhausting (Does it get easier? Please tell me it does.), but I've decided that we keep doing it over and over again because the challenges that come with it fade very quickly and all I remember are scenes like this one with Nathan hanging onto my mom's back, boldly declaring, "Wook mama! I swimming!! I swimming wif gammaw!"

Otter Cliff. As I believe my dad so eloquently put it, "Where the hell are all the otters?"

The morning that we were packing up to head up to Acadia, my parents offered to get up early and go to the grocery store to pick up some snacks for the trip. "What would the kids like to eat?" my mom asked. I told her that anything would be fine, but "Go easy on the junk. They don't need any more treats. Some fruit and crackers will be fine." She agreed. Somehow, I wasn't surprised, though, when they pulled into the driveway an hour later with bags full of ding dongs, hostess cupcakes, lunchables, fruit snacks, toffees, milanos, and oreos (both mega-stuffed and thin crisps). Oh, and 4 cans of Pringles. All my mom said was, "You know I have no control over your father, right?" The junk food came back to haunt us when Davis tossed his cookies (quite literally) late that night after eating almost an entire can of Pringles all by himself. I can't think about that story without laughing. And my dear husband, true to form, cleaned the whole thing up. 

Lobsters and ice cream. Two staples in Bar Harbor (or as the locals call it, "Ba Ha Ba) and all of Midcoast Maine.

Our kids loved Sand Beach at Acadia. It was the first time they played in ocean waves that were big enough to knock them over. We don't get very big waves at our local beach. They LOVED it. Not surprisingly, there was sand everywhere. EVERYWHERE. 

Choose the left when a choice is placed before you. 

Our last couple of days were spent going to church, getting kids ready to start school, and exploring Camden and Rockland while the older kids were in school. And just like that it was time to take them back to the airport. It was such a great visit. My kids can't stop talking about it. Saying goodbye is never easy and living far from family isn't my favorite either, but I sure do love having so much one-on-one time with my parents. It's totally the silver lining to living far from loved ones. Visits are just the best.

Life Lately

I'm not really sure how to sum up our summer so I'm going to take the easy way out and just post a barrage of pictures along with a little caption for each. We have had a pretty gorgeous summer here in Maine. It has been lonely in some respects because we are in a new place, but I'm so glad the kids have some neighbor friends down the street that they just adore. And that they have each other. They are really lucky to have each other. I hope someday they will realize that :) 

Maddie loves summer in Maine.

This tree fell over during one of the storms last winter before we moved in. The kids have loved having it as their climbing spot, but our landlords had to remove it for safety reasons. We took one last picture with it this particular morning.

I rarely do crafts with my kids, and while flubber is far from crafty, it's a start, right? Our kids and their friends ended up playing with it for days and days.

Maddie taught Nathan how to plug her nose and they play this little nose-plugging game almost every time they're in the car together. Incidentally, we are in the car A LOT because we live in the country and most things are further away than they were when we lived in suburbia---shopping, swim lessons, and even the park. But not the beach. The beach is really really close to us. I'll take it.

My friend, Becca, came with her family for a visit to Maine and we got to spend an evening with them. It was so great to catch up with her and see her sweet kiddos.

Me and my girl at the beach.

Davis, Isaac, and Maddie spent a week at a day camp last month. It focused on nature and they got to go hiking, to the beach, and to build fairy gardens in the woods. I would drop them off each morning and pick them up each afternoon and they loved it. I think it might become an annual thing. Nathan and I got a little taste of what life will be like when the kids go back to school at the end of the month.

Superheroes unite!

This girl loves taking selfies with her baby brother.

You have to use your imagination with this photo, but if you look really close in that tree, you can see a Bald Eagle. A BALD EAGLE! It was just hanging out in a tree outside our library. I don't think I've ever seen a Bald Eagle outside of captivity. Ever. The librarian told me that it comes to that tree often. It flew away after a few minutes and it was huge! It seriously looked like a man flying through the air it's wingspan was so big.

Ryan and I recently started a new tradition--we cook together one night a week. We take turns choosing the menu. This particular week it was grilled thai chicken kabobs. I love this tradition. It gives us a chance to talk to one another and make yummy food at the same time. And believe it or not, it was HIS idea to start this little tradition of ours. He's my favorite.

These tiny little frogs are all over our yard. Sometimes the wildlife in Maine is really charming--like the Bald Eagles and the tiny frogs, and sometimes it's really creepy--like the skunks stinking up our yard or the mice in our basement. And the ticks. Don't even get me started on the ticks. Is it weird that I'm only partially dreading winter? The silver lining to the frigid temps is that all the ticks die. I can't wait for them to die. But I can wait for winter so I guess I'll deal with the ticks a little longer.

Ryan and Nathan walking up to a lighthouse near our home. We were able to climb up inside the lighthouse because it happened to be open to the public. Pretty cool. 

I know I already posted a camping picture but this one is a little different and Davis' face just cracks me up. I think that this is the picture that I will remember forever when I think of our first summer here in Maine. I love these kids so much.