Navigating the hilly terrain of motherhood
Inspired by her newest "Fancy Nancy" book, Grace made herself a clubhouse over the weekend. Adam put up his old tent, and Grace used the illustrations in the book to get ideas for what is needed in a clubhouse: an umbrella, a table (with tablecloth and flowers), a rug, and a water bottle.
We enjoyed a visit from "Grandma Ha" over the past few days, filled with the kinds of things you do in Maine in the sweltering heat (not that I'm complaining). Probably the coolest, and most exciting, activity was a seal watch boat trip out of Boothbay Harbor. We spotted a couple of seals popping their heads up out of the water and three lighthouses. Mostly, though, we just enjoyed each other's company and the views of the rocky Maine coast. And it's possible that the cool, refreshing sea air might have made us a little giddy.
Oh, I'm being eaten
By a boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor,
And I don't like it–one bit.
Well, what do you know?
It's nibblin' my toe.
Oh, gee,
It's up to my knee.
Oh my,
It's up to my thigh.
Oh, fiddle,
It's up to my middle.
Oh, heck,
It's up to my neck.
Oh, dread,
It's upmmmmmmmmmmffffffffff . . .
The other day, we had a lovely outing at Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth. I really need to remember to go there more often. We climbed on the rocks, stuck our feet in tide pools, studied barnacles, and watched the waves crashing. We even had a picnic lunch. All of the fresh sea air brought on a bout of silliness, but that's okay — I can endure just about anything when I'm within earshot of the ocean. If only I could bottle the peaceful rhythm of the waves and the calming sea breeze…
It's full-on blueberry season here in Maine, and we're making the most of it. Besides blueberry smoothies, blueberries on granola, and blueberries all by themselves, I've made scrumptious blueberry-lemon crumb bars. And tomorrow I'm making blueberry crumble.
Little Daphne came home to Nana's house on Friday. She is calm and sweet and perfect in every way. We're all in love — even Maggie.
Last night we took the girls to see Circus Smirkus, a very cool youth circus that stops in Freeport each summer. Two years ago when we took Grace, she didn't like the clowns because they "hit" each other. This made her cry. But ever since, she has talked about the circus and even plays Circus Smirkus on our swing set. So we were very excited to bring both girls this year.
I walked into the big top carrying Tess, and two clowns on unicycles happened to come barreling towards us as part of the pre-show entertainment. This scared the bejeezus out of Tess, who tried to scramble out of my arms and back out the door, saying "I not like this! I not want to be here!" I am pretty sure she had a flashback to the Freeport 4th of July parade, when a clown on a unicycle headed right for us and sent her into a hysterical fit.
I spent the first half of the show standing outside the big top with Tess, and Adam spent the second half of the show outside with her. She would let me stand just inside the doorway for brief moments, watching the acrobats, but as soon as the clowns returned, she freaked out.
The good news is that Grace was mesmerized by the show, and paid attention to every detail. She was really impressed by what those teenagers could do, and even had a favorite performer. We're pretty sure that someday we'll see Grace hanging from a ring in the middle of the Circus Smirkus tent, and that's okay with us. Just as long as she's not a clown on a unicycle — that's way too scary.
Travelingjenny 