Happy Thanksgiving

We've had a busy week with very little work in it...

Monday was pretty normal - I went to work, went to the gym at lunch, then worked late finishing off a training website.

Tuesday I worked from home. First thing, Mike and I went to Hannah's publishing party at school to see her work on bugs. I learnt more than I ever needed to know about cockroaches - 'They like to eat dead stuff' 'They can live a week without their head.'

Then back home, where I got a lot of work done. At lunchtime Mike and I went out to Home and Hearth to look at stoves and learn everything we could about gas vs wood. We were just about convinced we should get a gas stove for the sitting room, then the guy mentioned the tax credit on wood stoves, which brings the prices to within $1000 of each other. Now I'm well and truly convinced we should get a wood stove.

Here are a few we like:

Rais Rondo


Rais Bando



Morso 8142



...and a few others that are similar.

Then we had Bingas Wingas for lunch. After school we had June over, so Ellie was the happiest girl in the world.

Wednesday - I woke up feeling rubbish and stayed that way most of the day. A migraine I think? I tried to work but struggled. Later Mike took the kids swimming at the Clarion (or as Mark called it, the Clarion-A which is a bit like the YMCA), then we went to the Great Lost Bear for a yummy dinner with even yummier beer. My migraine eased off for a while, then hit back with a vengeance when we got home.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! A beautiful day - it's very mild here at the moment. Mike put the turkey in the oven and par-boiled the spuds while I lay in bed still feeling sick with a migraine. Then we headed to Wolf's Neck where we enjoyed the misty scenic views from the beach, then walked along the Casco Bay Trail, then back along the Old Woods Trail. Ellie and I walked on ahead, and she chat chat chatted the entire way. She loves hiking and talking.









Afterwards we went to LL Bean to get the children's feet measured. Mark is a 13, Ellie is a 12, Hannah is a 4.5-5. So Mark has now officially overtaken his big sister, although really it's because his big toe points out more, while her toes are all an even straight line. We got great shoes for them all, and even better everyone fitted into cheaper Beans rather than more expensive Merrills. The kids enjoyed the new kids area - it's SO much better there now.

Back home, we had a delicious turkey dinner with very successful gravy (made by me), followed by 'English Pumpkin Pie' from Nadja (it's actually lemon meringue pie, my favourite).

Friday - it rained and rained and rained. We met up with the Brennans at the Children's Museum, then moved on to Flatbread for lunch, then took some very very weary children home.

Once home Max and Maddie came over for a playdate, then later Hannah went over to Max's for her first sleepover since we moved to America. I wasn't sure how much sleep they would get, and felt a bit sorry for Jen...

Saturday - no more rain, just unbelievable wind. Went to pick Hannah up from her sleepover, and sure enough she was exhausted - I imagine Jen was too! We did boring things like supermarket shopping, toy shop exploring and coffee drinking, then we took Hannah home for a nice nap. I took the other two off to the library, where as usual I gave quiet prayer to Yarmouth for having such a child-friendly library - they have a beautiful children's room with train table, games, books, comfortable couches, and free coffee.

We played, read books (Mr Magee Goes to Sea), checked out two DVDs of the Wire, then headed back home. Me feeling a bit sick after a cup of coffee - I'm not coping well with coffee at the moment.

Hannah's life is a social whirl - after lunch her friends Pie and Lulu picked her up to take her to the Nutcracker, lucky thing. I dressed her up in a great outfit, will post photos, and sent her off looking beautiful but exhausted. Apparently she was in tears by the time Mike dropped her off, and he told Mitch to call us if she needed picking up. In the end she had a great time from the sounds of things.

The little two have been playing together so well, it really makes a difference not having your big sister around, apparently. And Mike has been really sorting out the basement, so now it's a bit of a wonderland down there for them. So while Hannah was out, they all played, and I went for a bike ride. Then just sat round, relaxing. Weird.

Sunday - a beautiful day. Hannah wanted to go to church, and it was Mike's turn to take her. She loves Sunday school, and I suspect we're going to have to get used to spending the occasional Sunday at church while she enjoys herself.

Afterwards we met up for coffee at the Royal Bean, where Ellie met a little girl from her school and they made friends while they drew, and Mark and I played.

From there we drove to Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth - I've had a hankering to run on the beach while the weather is still warm enough. We had lunch at one of the picnic tables, then we ran all over the rocks. Two Lights is about 5 minutes walk from the house we lived in when we first arrived in America, so it brings back some very happy memories for me. We spent our first July 4th at Two Lights, and I used to take all three children there when they were 6, 4 and 2. Of course Hannah was like a gymnast climbing all over the place, but I remember being surprised at how nimble Ellie was on the rocks age 4. Now Mark is that age and is climbing all over the place.

Then we walked to the brand new playground, and the children competed to see who could swing the highest. There's a pond there that reminds me of Mum, we must have taken you there when you visited Mum. We'll go again when you're over next. It's such a lovely spot.







Then home, to find the Wallaces back from Connecticut, so the children had a lovely hour or so over there. I came over all poorly - no idea what but I felt dizzy and sick. After a lie down I felt fine, but I think I've had some kind of virus or something. I really haven't been all that well the last few days.

After tea, I watched the children making Christmas decorations up in their room, and supplied pictures of Christmas trees for them to colour in and decorate. They're getting to be so big and independent now, but they still love mummy and daddy to be involved in whatever they're doing.

A weird week at work, North Conway and Santa's Village

We're just back from a wonderful weekend away first at Santa's Village (Jefferson NH) then in North Conway NH. I think Santa's Village would be more fun in snow than in cold not-quite-rain but it was still fabulous fun for the children.

There were lots of rides that were aimed exactly at their age group, including a rollercoaster that went round 4-5 times to Hannah's delight. A ride where the kids controlled how high they flew, which Mark and Ellie loved. A teacups ride which I'll post the photo of - all three loved it. A 'drive the car yourself' ride which was Mark's favourite. Endless other Christmassy things, plus a 3D Christmas movie. In the carpark afterwards we found an enormous nutracker soldier with slides for arms, and a head that the children could climb into.

Having had a full day of enjoying Santa's Village, we drove through Crawford Notch in the dark - I'd love to do that drive in daylight. The mountains are pretty enormous and very atmospheric in the mist.

We had dinnner at the Muddy Moose - great beer and buffalo burgers - then stayed the night at the Hampton Inn, which meant of course the waterpark this morning. Mark and Hannah were in there 10 minutes after it opened; Ellie and I had a little lie-in.

Then we explored North Conway centre. We had lunch at the Chef's Kitchen deli which was absolutely delicious. Hannah had the mini beef steaks, I had stuffed portobello mushrooms and Mike had the steak pastry thingies. It was such a change to go somewhere with salads and really nice food rather than burgers and ribs.

We explored the Toy Chest shop thoroughly. We did a modern twist on Santa's list - instead Mike took photos on his iPhone of everything the children wanted.

Then it was back to Portland, stopping off at The Good Life Market, another great deli in Raymond, where we stocked up on Boar's Head meats, and delicious looking cheese and bread and stuff. Mike was disappointed by the lack of English beer there, usually they have something interesting in stock.

Now we're home, it's dark and we're about to eat all our goodies.

It was good to have a relaxing weekend after a weird week at work. Unum laid off quite a few people - I'm not sure I'll ever find out how many but there were two in our department of 41. We had a week of knowing our jobs were safe for now, but not knowing how the department was going to be restructured. Eventually Kathy was able to tell us at 3.30pm on Friday.

All of that was a bit unsettling, but worse - a colleague was shot and killed by her husband on Monday night. It was all over the news on Tuesday and Wednesday. It sounds like it was totally unexpected. I've been trying not to think about it...

Rain and the Science Museum

Yesterday I swam up the freeway - we had that much rain. It was okay in the morning so I went out for a bike ride just before the rain started, then we had a day of tag teaming with the kids.

The rain started. Ellie and I did the Christmas Tree Shops - it turns out one visit IS enough.

Mike took all children to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - our second attempt since being thrown out of the film halfway through due to some unnamed 'emergency situation'.

Meanwhile I got soaked running from the carpark into the mall, where I spent far too much in Pottery Barn on things I'll probably return. We're really trying to get the downstairs of the house 'done' ie repainted, rugs, furniture, blinds, curtains - all that stuff we've done without for the last two years. The stairs are now blue on one side and sand on the other, the sitting room is sand with cream window frames, and soon the rest of the downstairs might be cream rather than lime green/navy blue. But I'm rubbish at making decisions so it's a slow painful process.

Then I got soaked running back to the car.

Then I did about 40mph all the way back up I-295, wondering at what point someone replaced it with a river.

Was very glad to get home, and couldn't face going back out again, which was a shame because we'd planned to go to the North Yarmouth Family Dance and get Hannah to show us how to do country dancing.

Today we drove 110 miles to Boston in about 1.5 hours, then sat in traffic directly outside the Science Museum gazing longingly at the closed carpark for another half an hour, then finally parked somewhere else and got in to the museum.

It's pretty good. Not as good as the Manchester Science Museum, but then it is amazing. The best bit was the Harry Potter exhibition. I expected costumes, but not sets and animals and all sorts of other pieces. It was fabulous and a bit too scary for Ellie.

We'll definitely go back to the museum, but we'll get up early and take the train next time. It's right by North Station and I'll do pretty much anything to avoid that traffic jam.

We stopped at Bertucci's for dinner on the way home. Mmmmm. Then there was a lot of snoring coming from the back seats.

Now Mike's watching the Patriots play and saying 'Go Pats' a lot. I'm not saying people are passionate about football here, but I just read an email from Hannah's teacher and she closed it with 'Go Pats!'

H1N1

The girls finally got their H1N1 shot at school yesterday, having been too ill to make it to the clinic at the doctor's office last week. I don't know where or when Mark will get his.

It all seems a bit moot seeing as they probably had swine flu last week. It's raging through the schools in Maine at the moment, and they've been nearing 15% absentee rate. But the doctor said there was no point testing them, and that they should have the vaccine anyway.

Still can't work out how I didn't get it. I think I may be a little bit magic.

No other news other than Mark says 'I went to the barbara today and got my hair cut...'

Littlejohn Island Preserve

We've been meaning to try out the Littlejohn Island Preserve trail for ages. I tried to find it once but there were signs up saying 'Private Way' and I didn't have the courage to drive past them. Of course the hike - which is supposed to be open to all - is beyond those signs.

To get there you drive along a beautiful road down the middle of Littlejohn Island, with trees crowding on either side and the sunlight dappling through. Driveways either side lead to millionaire's mansions. I could live there. If I had to.

We packed gloves and hats, but then once parked up and ready to walk we decided we wouldn't need them so we set off glove-free. Hmm, won't make that mistake again this year.

It's a short trail leading to long beaches with lots of rocks to climb on and plenty of seaweed. Classic Maine beaches, really.

It was amazing to see how much Mark has changed in just a year. He ran on ahead, climbed everything he possibly could, and clearly adored every minute of being outside. He really is a puppy in disguise.

Hannah found a really cool shell which she's brought home to display in her room.

Other than me falling down and scraping my wrist enough that I felt sick every time I looked at it, we had a fabulous fresh air walk/scramble. It was so good to remember why we live here. Casco Bay was ripple free, and the seawater beautifully clear.

On the way back we realised that it's deer hunting season, and that in fact a deer hunter had parked alongside us and headed off with a tree stand over his shoulder. Hmm, we really do need to buy some orange vests for everyone to wear this time of year.

We treated ourselves to lunch at the Royal River Grill in Yarmouth, which meant we got to spend some more time gazing out at Casco Bay and feeling pleased with ourselves. Then we had to leave so that Mike could have a little lie down.

Everyone except Mike is almost back to normal now. Mike goes through phases of being okay then needing to lie down for a while. He's been hit hard by the flu or whatever it is.

I'm assuming everyone's probably had swine flu. No one was swabbed, but the schools full of swine flu right now and the symptoms seemed swine-flu-ish.

Strangely I never got ill. Mike's theory is that it was through sheer force of will - I had a big day on Friday at work and I really really really needed to be there. But I think I was just lucky. And it could all still go horribly wrong...

Gay marriage will not be happening in Maine

The law passed earlier this year making gay marriage legal in Maine was last night over-turned by a referendum.

I sat up to watch some of the results, but gave up around midnight.

Ho hum.

In other news, all of the children are now sick. Ellie is finally pulling through her cold. Hannah is in the thick of it - hacking away to my right. Mark has a temperature of 101 and we're just waiting for him to start really struggling.

Mike has spent the day at home feeling awful, after spending half the night awake and slightly delirious.

I'm hoping to make it through Friday - I have a vendor visiting from Chicago and have five different meetings scheduled for/with him.

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

All three children ready to party. I would've posted one of the other photos, but in them Hannah's belly was totally on display and she was standing in a position reminiscent of Christina Aguilera...

Not sure what look H is going for here?

Not sure what look H is going for here?
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah fell in love with this wig but struggled to keep it on. So Mike wore it instead...

Ellie the witch

Ellie the witch
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Notice Ellie's black eye? She fell out of bed a week ago and the black eye developed nicely and is taking forever to go away.

Mark AKA superguy

Mark AKA superguy
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Mark all ready for the Halloween party. He wore this mask for about 2 minutes.

Halloween and sick Ellie

I'm sitting in the downstairs spare bedroom, on half of the sofa, thinking how this really should be the sitting room. We're about to have the sitting room painted so we've moved as much out as possible, but only half of the settee would fit through the door, so the other section is in another room somewhere.

Hannah is beside me writing her diary to 'Dear Eliza' and very pleased with herself. She just told me she kissed Max last year - should I be worried?

We seem to have spent the last week doing Halloween. Well, we are Americans and therefore into celebrating the occult while being as self-indulgent as possible, of course.

Last Saturday the inhabitants of Acorn Circle had a bonfire, so we dressed up the children, snuck through the woods, and joined them. Mark spent the entire time scootering. Hannah spent the entire time running with a pack of screaming kids. I'm not sure what Ellie did. I chatted to people like Mike my neighbour, who I last bumped into while getting onto a plane in Chicago.

So that was Halloween 1. Then we had the Halloween party at the Casco Bay YMCA. I voted not to go, through sheer exhaustication after a long week at work, but I got out-voted. It was fun though. Hannah did the haunted walk, then took me into a dark room to probe a pretend body on a pretend operating table (hilarious but my fingers ended up smelling of Purell and pickles). Mark and Ellie went on the bouncy castle as much as possible. It was surprisingly fun.

Then last night was the actual real Halloween. Only Ellie was sick. We knew she was sick because Mike said 'Ellie time to go trick or treating' and she said 'I don't want to.' So Mark and Hannah walked about 1.5 miles around Oakwood, visiting 20 or so houses, and came home with mountains of disgusting chocolate. And Ellie and I stayed home and cuddled.

Her temperature has been between 100 and 104 for the last 24 hours, and she has been very hot and unhappy. She threw up at one point, and we both spent half the night awake with her. I'm hoping it's not swine flu, and that it passes soon. Only I hear her feet above my head, so I'd better go and check her...