Car Talk

Tavish and I were running errands yesterday, here is a conversation that occurred while we were driving and listening to our favorite CD...

Tavish: I can't see it! (anxious voice)
Me: What can't you see? (thinking it must be a bus, police car, fire engine, taxi,
etc...the exciting things we usually see)
Tavish: my tongue!
Me: (I look in the rearview mirror to see Tavish sticking out his tongue and trying
to get a look at it)...well buddy I can't see mine either...

Beach towels for blankets...

Maine and Acadia National Park have been high on my bucket list for the East Coast and we finally had the opportunity to go...I obsessively checked the weather prior to going because I'd heard the weather can be tricky in June there. The average for this time of year is 70-75 which sounds heavenly when it had been 100 in DC just a couple of days before we left. Well the forecast was a little cooler...mid-to-upper 60's for the whole week except Sunday which was supposed to be a high of 57 with a low of 50. PigHogLiars (this is a family swear word from my friend Jonathan). The high Sunday was 50, and Monday and Tuesday weren't any better. We had to use the fish beach towels that Tavish loved so much as blankets for him at night. Rafal said he's sick of me bringing my Seattle weather on vacation with us...

This is Bar Harbor the night we got in...bagpipes playing at twilight...

a moose and lobster claws twinkling as the sun sets...



Then the next day it looked like this...and stayed this way.






But we got to see lots of these...





And eat lots of this (YUM!)

There was even lobster ice cream! (ok, maybe not)

We went on boat ride with Diver Ed who dives to the bottom of the bay with a video camera and collects sea creatures for up close viewing back on the boat. Here he is being pushed off the back of the boat by all the kids.

Here are some of the sea creatures...Tavish has no fear, he wanted to touch everything, here Diver Ed is giving him a lobster to hold.

A sea urchin...

And here's the look you will get if you try to touch his sea star.

Another day we went to Echo Lake, and despite it being in the 60's and sprinkling...Tavish wanted to play in the lake, in his clothes of course.

There is an actual sandy beach in Acadia and we took Tavish one of the few sunny days...I'm forbidden from showing actual beach footage because Rafal says he looks sooo fat without a shirt on, so here is a picture of Tavish and the strainer he insisted on bringing everywhere. And what else would you use a strainer for...but to collect rocks.

On the other sunny day we went for a little "hike" along Jordan Creek, stopping to throw rocks (our favorite activity) until Rafal fell into the creek trying to rescue one of Tavish's more wonky throws...

A view from the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point along the eastern seaboard and the first place to see the sunrise in the US. You will note it is not sunrise in this picture. Sunrise is at 4:30 here. Chandra does not rise at 4:30. Brett and Rafal do however and rode their bikes to the top of Cadillac Mountain one morning to see the sunrise while Shelby and I remained blissfully asleep.

Our last morning was rainy and dreary for the three hour drive to Portland (the other Portland) to catch our plane. The sun did come out long enough for us to see the Portland Head Lighthouse, one of the 60 lighthouses in Maine. Then at the airport it started hailing, not just a little, but huge chunks of hail. Then we came home and it's back to hot and humid.



We did have fun despite the weather...
Rafal got to break in Black Beauty.
We ate lots of lobster.
Acadia was completely beautiful.
We even learned to play canasta.
But maybe our next vacation we'll leave the Seattle weather in Seattle.

Black Beauty

How to get a new bike for (almost) free...

First ride your bike home from work.
Next, despite using all safety precautions, looking both ways, riding outside of traffic, etc...get hit by a car. Not so bad that you end up in the trauma ICU but just enough so that you get to ride in an ambulance, have a broken wrist that requires a three month cast instead of the normal six weeks (half of that in a long arm cast), bang up your other shoulder so that it is still sore 10 months later, both of which required physical therapy...oh, and total your bike.
The insurance company then sends you a check towards a new bike.
Rafal named his Black Beauty.
He loves it.
But I think he would have rather not been hit by a car...just a guess.

Petting Zoo

Fire truck and Lamby in left hand.
Rock in right hand.
Ready to go pet some animals.



Well, hello!




Feeding the sheep while holding a sheep.
The funny thing here is that some of the animals were pretty loud and boisterous and Tavish just stood in the middle of the aisle and yelled "Baaa" back at the top of his lungs.







At the rooster house he yelled "Coo-coo-ri-coo" (the Polish version of cockadoodledoo).








Some zookeepers brought by a turtle and an alligator to pet which he was excited to do until it was right in front of him, then he got a little shy. Later we asked him what it felt like to pet an alligator, he said it felt like a turtle, we asked what it felt like to pet a turtle, he said it felt like a dragon, we asked what it felt like to pet a dragon, he said it felt like a turtle.
We stopped asking.

We went on a wagon ride and got chased by an ostrich.

We saw a one-hump camel and a two-hump camel and if you read the book Everyone Poops you will know what the difference is between the two camels.

(thank you Auntie Wana and Uncle Joe).

Tavish got to ride a rhinoceros...

...and a lion. When he got off the lion he put his hand in the lion's mouth and said "He bit me!"

We finished off our adventure with an elephant ride and went home and took a nap!

Memorial Weekend

It's been busy around our house lately...Rafal was on an assignment with the military in Poland and came home right before Memorial weekend. I was a little worried because when he went to Texas for his military training in March somehow the Honda Civic he drove out there came home as a Lexus, so what kind of weirdness could happen in Poland? It's so much farther away...well, he brought me back a necklace and some toys for Tavish...whew! So after he came home off we went to Rehoboth Beach for the long weekend. It was really nice to relax and just be a family again...

Here's our beach boy...making a funny face.

Digging with daddy.



Kicking the always-deflating beach ball.




"I can almost get it!"

When I pulled out his beach towel he got so excited because it has fish all over it, he was hugging and kissing it...I guess we've watched a little too much Finding Nemo...

The other thing he loved so much was Bunny and Mouse...on the third day at the beach Tavish was a little bored and so he and Rafal went to play some games at Funland and this is what they won. Bunny and Mouse came everywhere with us after that.


The hotel we like to stay at is just off the boardwalk right near Funland and finally this time Tavish was big enough to go on rides and really enjoy it. Most of the rides are perfect for his age group but of course he saw me go on one that flips you upside down and around and he was crying because he couldn't go on that one. Here's a few that he could go on...

An ace flyer always brings his bunny along.

He just had to ride the purple motorcycle...

...and the red boat.

He loves fire engines!

Rafal would not go on a girly ride with Tavish or anything that would spin really fast so he got the helicopter while I rode the hot air balloon and the fast cars.

Since we are on the wrong coast the sun sets over the boardwalk not the beach...but it's still pretty.


The bigger Tavish is getting the more fun we are having...
This trip to the beach was a milestone because he actually made it the whole drive without having to stop and get out to run around (this was also the shortest drives we've ever had). And he actually sat through an entire meal at a restaurant one night (we ate quickly!) but it was a treat :)

Call a cardiac surgeon...

to remove the knife that's been stabbed in my heart.

I knew this day would come...I just didn't think it would come this soon...

The last few days when I try to give Tavish a smooch he says to me "don't kiss me mommy!" or "don't kiss my cheek mommy!"

He doesn't say it every time but once is too much for me :(

Thank goodness I stole as many kisses as I could when he was a cuddly baby...

Festival Fun

The clouds that have been hanging around the last week finally parted today so Tavish and I took advantage of the sun and headed over to the McLean Festival to see how our rich neighbors have fun...

Tavish was in little boy heaven because he got to "drive" a fire truck.

He did such a good job he got his own fireman hat which he wore to Trader Joe's later...

We waited in the slowest line ever to get a balloon turtle bracelet which he also wore to Trader Joe's later...

Then he got swallowed up by a giant octopus (which he says "oddopos")...

...but because we play pirates at home he knew how to escape swashbuckle-style.

We finished off our day with Tavish's first pony ride (pardon the pic-I had to take it one-handed while holding the boy on a moving pony)