Thursday, July 30, 2009

40th birthday


DSCF0690
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

I think I forgot to blog about my 40th birthday a week and a half ago. Oops. How did that happen?

I got this fabulous card from Bobby, which I've been sniggering at ever since. And she's been putting these photos on Facebook for the world to see, so I will have to kill her at some stage. Maybe when she's here in August.

Anyway thank you to those who remembered my birthday. To those who forgot it, I'm sure I've forgotten yours too (sorry Pete, and happy birthday for two days ago).

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Jump!


Jump!
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

For some reason this picture came out really well.

We went to see the Pan Fried Steel Drum band in the Royal River Park today. It didn't rain till towards the end, and the children got to run around and eat pizza - all in all a success...

Then we explored the ruins and played tag afterwards.

Monday, July 13, 2009

SUN!

Yes you read that title right. We have sun. A little rain now and then too, at night, but mostly sun.

Spent Saturday at the Burns camp on Coffee Pond, celebrating Piper's birthday. It was heaven. It was lovely to catch up with Ellen and family, meet up with nursery friends, and watch the kids having a wonderful time.

I did swim. It was cold.

Will try to put photos up.

Sunday I went to look at kayaks. Am thinking of getting a 10' Manatee solo kayak, or possibly even two. It seems though that the kayak isn't the expensive bit - it's the roofrack that really kills the budget.

I also explored the new shopping bit in Freeport. It feels like a proper outdoor mall and I'm sure will be really nice once they let out a few more units. The Nike shop was pretty cool though.

Later I took the kids to Wholefoods where we stocked up on grass-fed beef, Irish bangers, fresh pesto, pastry cases and two-bite brownies. We usually eat complete junk but there are a few things it's worth shopping for in Wholepaycheck.

I didn't feel too well afterwards. I could tell because I sat on the settee for a little rest with Mark, and woke up two hours later.

Mike headed off to Florida for some kind of work-related jaunt, so it's just me and the kids for a couple of days. Needless to say I forgot to call Community Services yesterday to book them into camp for the next three days, so tomorrow we will be banging the door down at 8.30am to book them in, then hot-footing it to the middle school, and I won't get to work till 9.30 at the earliest.

And I have LOADS to do. Loads. Enough that I told Mike I don't want to go away on holiday next week, because I don't want to even start thinking about anything other than work till after next Monday. So we're going to take the time off in August instead.

Which means I should book some kiddie camps for next week too. Hmmmm....

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Fourth of July in Acadia

So far today we've had morning fog, enough sunshine to spend the afternoon at the pool/beach, and now it's thundering. It's never boring here in Maine. We're at Kevin and Diana's house in Northeast Harbor for the 4th of July weekend, experiencing the lifestyle of the rich and fabulous. Kevin and Diana meanwhile are in England watching boat races and Wimbledon.

This morning we went to Bar Harbor's Festival of the Sea and saw our first ever lobster races. It was pretty funny but I can't really describe it. You had to be there.

After eyeballing the queues for seafood we thought about walking into town to have lunch at Route 66, but a brief attempt at the walk brought back memories of last year's disastrous attempt to walk to a restaurant. So I insisted we bail out.

Instead we took our swim stuff to the beach club, where we had lunch, then swam in the coldest pool in the universe, then Mike and I read our books while the children dug up the beach. Gosh it's a pleasure to see the sun again. It's been a long time.

Now we're back at the house, and have eaten pasta with pesto made by Carmen - who the children are delighted to see.

There's thunder rolling, and the skies are changeable - one minute blue, the next black.

Mike and Hannah are thinking about going to Bar Harbor to see the fireworks. Mark was fast asleep on the settee by 6pm - which would explain why he's spent much of this afternoon either arguing or crying. And I'm thinking about having a shower in the 3-head shower room...

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Slip n slide


Slip n slide
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

How can it be that the UK is having a heatwave, and we have now had 26 days of rain so far this month?

Yesterday wasn't so bad. Mike put the new slip n slide out and the children slipped and slid (and argued) happily.

PM I went to a sex toy party - well you've got to go to one in your life haven't you?

Today it poured. I mean it POURED.

We'd never been to Augusta, and they have a children's museum there, so we headed over there.

Had a very strange experience driving there up I-295. The northbound side is being rebuilt, so they've redirected all the northbound traffic onto the southbound side, and the southbound traffic has to go down a completely different freeway (actually not even free, which must be annoying).

It's very strange driving on the wrong side of the freeway. It just feels wrong. The yellow line should be on the left, and the white line/breakdown lane should be on the right. But they aren't. It was even more confusing to me, because I felt like I was in England, except I wasn't. It's hard to describe, I just felt a bit confused the whole way.

So anyway... Augusta on a Sunday in the rain = totally dead. We found the children's museum and the kids had a fab time there, but there was no food to be found anywhere within a mile or two, and of course we arrived right at lunchtime. So after an hour of exploring, we headed off through the increasingly heavy rain to find food.

Ended up at one of Augusta's ENORMOUS shopping malls. They're not indoor sadly, just huge carparks with huge shops around them. Had a meal at Longhorn Steakhouse. Meh. It was all right.

Then we found an Iparty shop - which was sort of fun then the kids started asking for things and it quickly became unbearable.

Back home we wrote hundreds of thank you letters, which will shock everyone who knows us, and Mike cleaned his car, which shocked me.

Mark got a taste for the vacuum cleaner and has been going round looking for things to vacuum ever since.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Nashi - any idea of breed?


Nashi - any idea of breed?
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah and Nashi


Hannah and Nashi
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

More birthday stuff

On Saturday Nadja and Carl came over for a birthday cuppa and cake. Carl's working away in Bangor at the moment so we haven't seen much of him. Mark misses him, especially. We all ate cake (as you can see) and Ellie got a fabulously flowery hat. Hannah got lots of classic books, which she and I are now fighting over.

Nashi came over. She snuffled around under the table (especially under Mark's chair), then nibbled on toes and noses.


How wide can you go?
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Ellie delighted with her present


Ellie delighted with her present
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Two happy guys


Two happy guys
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Happy 6th birthday Ellie and happy 8th birthday Hannah

It's been an expensive and busy week. Ellie turned 6 today, and Hannah turned 8 last Friday.

Hannah's birthday was also the last day of school, so she did a school concert, then a show in her classroom, then we said a sad goodbye to her teacher.

Later the girls had a fantastic birthday party - well, I thought it was fantastic. Mike arranged the whole thing. We booked David Spark from Spark's Ark to come and do his animal show. As always he was interesting, funny, informative and entertaining.

He brought a Saw Whet owl, a Great Horned Owl, a baby seagull, a cockatiel (who sat on everyone), a chinchilla, a skunk, a nest full of baby mice, and a huge snake. The kids all got to hold a baby mouse, then those who wanted to also got to cuddle the snake. There was a lot of giggling and a big of screaming.

Then there was macaroni and pizza, followed by cupcakes a la Nadja.

And then a lot of running around the garden in the rain (we had the party at the Cousin's Island Community Center - and boy was that a good move!)

Everyone had a great time as far as I could tell. Even I enjoyed it...


Great horned owl eyeballing the camera
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

A lot of children and a lot of cupcakes


A lot of children and a lot of cupcakes
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah and Ellie and birthday cakes


Hannah and Ellie and birthday cakes
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Mike dancing with snake


Mike dancing with snake
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb

Hannah and Ellie and snake


Hannah and Ellie and snake
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb