We're back

Please indulge me in a bit of a vacation-photo slide show. We're just back from a week in Bar Harbor, Maine.

It wasn't perfect.  Everyone wants you to come back and say "it was great!," but to be honest, there was hardship and sadness on this trip.

But there was beauty and joy, too, and sunny days amidst the fog.

Here are a few glimpses of the parts I want to remember:

Low-tide treasure hunts. Lucy is enamored of rockweed, which she treats like bubble-wrap: pop!

The view from "our" cottage on a gorgeous day.


Lots of delicious meals and treats.




A slow morning exploring "the bar."



Exploring water flow and erosion at Sand Beach.

A gorgeous hike with our brave, strong hiker.

(and these weren't even the most-beautiful parts of the hike; those came after the camera battery died)

Lots of gliding down big hills on Lucy's balance bike.


Watching boats and marveling at the juxtapositions: big and small, old-fashioned and modern, luxury and working.


Time on nearly-empty beaches with gorgeous views.


Spectacular treat choices for our dairy-free girl (blueberry-basil, here).


Taking time to check out the view from the tippy-top of this bridge's tower on the way home.

Goin' for a ride in my car, car...

Lucy's favorite thing lately is for me to "tell me a story about when you were a little girl."  I love that request, I love her interest, I love the connection it's building between us.  But after months of retelling my stories over and over every day, I'm sick of them, and completely out of new ones.  And we're about to take a 7-hour drive twice in one week.  I cannot fill all that time with stories!  So I've been working on back-up plans.

When I was a little girl, we drove 18 hours to Lake Michigan for two weeks every summer.  My mother held the bag of M&Ms and doled them out one at a time to the first to spot "a red car" or "a blue station wagon."  She packed big piles of library books.  My sisters and I lay stretched out with pillows in the back of the station wagon, reading, playing, and eating candy from the specially-stocked mini suitcases my mother packed for us.  (One year, there was one of those things you draw on with a red plastic stick and then peel up the plastic covering to erase your picture.  What were those things called?  Anyway, I stuck the red thingy in my ear, and we ended up making an emergency trip to the doctor...)

I kept my mom's ideas in mind as I perused Pinterest and brainstormed my own list.

Here's what I've packed for Lucy's entertainment on the road:

Cookie sheet with magnetic paper dolls (made with printable magnet sheets and free downloads). I planned to make these car trays, but I just didn't have any more time to spare right now (or a large-enough clean cookie sheet).  For containing items in the car, she'll use a wooden tray rigged to her car seat.

An "I Spy" bottle.  My mom and I had tons of fun gathering tiny things for Lucy to try to find hidden in the rice (I spy mama's hair clip, a googly eye, and a button right now).  There's a photo of all the objects, so she'll know what she's looking for.  I really loved this idea, but again, limited time, so a recycled bottle it is.

Mad Libs.  I loved these as a kid and certainly spent car-time on them myself, but I would never have thought to buy them for a 3-year-old had I not happened across this one at Goodwill when I was shopping for car activities.  I realized there was no reason I couldn't teach Lucy what a verb is, and have her offer those while Andi suggests the rest, and then maybe do verbs and nouns.  I think she'll love it.

Our family songbook.

A lollipop.  Bought them for Halloween, and still have a few.  I thought it might buy us a few minutes of quiet.  (Lucy eats very little candy, so this will be a huge treat.)  There's one for the trip home, too.

A couple of favorite books with lots and lots of details to study.

Pipe cleaners, beads, and buttons.

Markers and scissors.

Goop.

A tiny flashlight.

A little mirror.

A notebook holding paper, stickers, mama-made Bingo (seen above), and printed Bingos and scavenger hunt.  There are also dry-erase crayons (borrowed from Nanny) for marking the bingo pages and I spy photo, which are all in page protectors.  Nanny also loaned us a dry-erase board to take along.

Not pictured: our iPod, loaded with Pooh and Sparkle Stories.

It's all packed up in Lucy's tote from Granny:

I'll let you know if it kept us happy in the car!

Still in vacation mode

I said I'd be posting more soon, didn't I? Oops. My brain is functioning in vacation mode. Really, I'm mostly just cleaning the house and enjoying the slower pace of a week without work. But we did escape to the Cape for two days on the beach. Perfect for me, because there was treasure-hunting along the shore...

And perfect for Lucy, because there was another carousel!

I hope you're playing and soaking up the end of the summer, too.

The Fair!

Ah. Vacation at last (I have a week off before my new "school" year). We started it well, with a trip to the fair. Lucy loved it, as I'd hoped, and I loved it more than ever because sharing it with her was such fun.

Of course we watched and petted and fed the animals.

But then Lucy realized there was another lure at the fair: "Rides!"

She watched all the biggest, highest, scariest rides with fascination, saying "Rides! Rides! Me?"

"Me?"

And so we ended our day with rides on the carousel. Pure joy. She laughed in glee the whole time. And I felt much of the worry and anxiety I've been carrying around melting away.

On Mount Desert Island, the book

Here's a project I'd hoped to finish on vacation.

A big board book for Lucy, about our annual vacation.

I'd packed the blank book, glue, and double-sided tape,

bought new markers...

gathered souvenirs throughout the week...

and found a place where I could send my photos for next-day pick-up.

Their machine was down (after an hour and a half choosing and uploading and registering...).

So it didn't happen on vacation.
But I was able to get to it last night, and Lucy loves it all the same.

I get my blank board books here (I have no connection to this company, just love some of their products).

I am not a scrapbooker (as I'm sure you can see). What I am is a teller of the stories of children's lives. Lucy loves to hear her days told back to her. I designed this book around the stories I thought would stand out most to her about our trip (tossing a seagull feather into flowing water and watching mama run to bring it back, collecting treasures, watching seagulls smash mussels on the rocks, staying in a cottage...). I envision reading it again and again now, to revisit the stories, and then reading it again and again next year, in preparation for that year's trip. My best review would be her demand for "more!"

Treasure, revisited

What happens to all our treasure once it comes back from the beach?

Mama sorts it on the ledge of the cottage's front porch.

And re-sorts, and re-organizes, every night.

(It's kind of like therapy.)

Lucy un-sorts it all each day. And dumps. And pours. And throws, and drops, and scatters. And delivers some to us as gifts.

And re-sorts.

And examines.

And shares the joy with Mama all over again.

Friday's Flowers: lupines in Maine

We're on vacation on Mount Desert Island, Maine this week, and the lupines are blooming! We come each year at this time, but haven't seen them yet; I heard on the radio this morning that the flowers are three weeks ahead here this year. (Bad news for bees and blueberries, though good news for early tourists.) One thing that fascinates us about this area is how all the flowers seem to bloom at once--things that each have their own season at home bloom here all together. Right now, there are:
lupines, everywhere!
lilacs
beach roses
irises
daisies
buttercups
tulips
day lillies
and so many others!

This bunch of lupines has graced our table in the cottage all week. I'll be sad to leave them behind; the roadsides are full of them here, and it's such a glorious sight.

Check out all the other Friday's Flowers here at FIMBY.

(p.s. It's my birthday today. 41! It just doesn't sound right!)

Hiking with toddlers 101

Choose a beautiful place with intriguing terrain (thanks, Julie, for the recommendation!)

If you come to a bridge, be sure to trip-trap over it both ways, again and again, before moving on.

Go slowly. Very slowly. Have no expectations in mind other than having fun.

Take a rest whenever you need one. Maybe a nap on a rock step.

Stop to admire the view (remember that the toddler's view is smaller and lower than your own).

Be prepared to give a boost when needed.

(We hiked some portion of the Emery Path in Acadia this morning. It was perfect for Lucy right now--almost all stairs!)

Treasure pocket

(Lucy and I looking for treasure at the pier in Bar Harbor, Maine.)

I finally made something crafty again...and I've been dying to show you! But we're on vacation with a lousy internet connection so it had to wait until today.

Lucy takes after me when it comes to picking up "treasures" on her journeys. Both of us stop frequently to pick up a special stone, an acorn, a feather, a stick... And just recently, Lucy discovered pockets. What a wonderful thing--a place to keep your treasures! But most of her clothes don't have any pockets. So I wanted to sew her a "pocket" she could wear at the beach (I knew we'd be doing lots of beach combing!)

Two days before we left--when I should have been packing or cleaning before our trip--I quickly sewed her a pocket. I used recycled linens for the bag (pinky-red ticking for the outside; orange and pink paisley for the lining) and a scrap of lace from an old pillowcase for the edging. The luckiest accident was the strap; I'd wanted something wide so the weight wouldn't dig into her shoulder, and when I sewed on this wide twill tape to this tiny bag, it made the bag stay open when hanging on her shoulder--perfect for a little hand to reach in easily.


Lucy loves it! Now if I ask her "do you want to look for treasures on the beach?" She says "Yeah. Poc" (pocket) and puts her hand down where her pocket should be.

(The best picture I got of the inside, as she's always on the go!)

(Looking for the perfect rock.)

(Tucking something into her pocket for safekeeping.)

(A collection of her treasures.)

I really can't imagine anything quite so wonderful as sharing this passion of mine with my equally passionate daughter. Now...what am I doing writing?? There's beachcombing to be done!