Well we're back from our Memorial Day weekend in Acadia. We headed up for Emily's first camping Friday afternoon under the bright 90 degree sunshine with great expectations. It was a beautiful ride to Bangor where we, and the weather, turned and headed south to Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park. As we got closer the temperature dropped steadily and when we finally got to within a few miles of the coast a thick coastal fog set in over the campground and most of the island along with 58 degree temps.

The cool weather there did make for nice campfire nights so I guess it could have been worse. At least it didn't actually rain until the 4 am thunderstorm Monday morning and everything but the weather was great. The camping, family, friends, food and drinks made up for the lousy weather and we had a great weekend in spite of the fog. It did limit the hiking we had planned since little kids and kids in packs didn't seem to mix with wet slippery rocks and cold viewless summits. We squeezed in a decent four mile hike along Ocean Path Saturday and for some reason downtown Bar Harbor was sunny on Sunday so we spent most of our time away from camp there that day.

Of course on Monday after the thunderstorm the clouds and fog lifted and it turned into a beautiful day so Jen, the girls and I drove around a bit and walked the Cadillac summit loop before we headed home around one. I felt bad for the people who hadn't been there before and drove 4 hours to see a fog bank but hopefully they all enjoyed the rest of the experience and will go back sometime again with us to see what they missed out on. Or maybe they don't even care about the scenery, who knows. Overall Emily's first camping trip went great and we're ready for summer to arrive now. So now that my book is written there are a lot of pictures if you're interested right here. If you check them out and this looks like fun to you we love to go every chance we get so let us know if you want to plan a trip sometime. If we're free we'll be there.

Well another full weekend has come and gone. This Saturday when I got out of work the sun was actually shining for a while so we decided to go for a few walks around town. We went to Swazey Park first and then over to Gilman Park and tried to go for a walk over there. There were too many mosquitoes on that trail so we turned around pretty quickly. We did get a little fresh air and sunshine though and if the bugs ever go away it looked like a nice spot to explore.

Sunday we went down to the New England Aquarium in Boston. Travis, Chelsea and Evy drove with us and we all spent the afternoon at the crowded but fun aquarium. Unfortunately the sharks that Brooke wanted to see the most were not in the big tank because there was some bacteria or something in there that was being treated with a chemical that was harmful to them. She was bummed about that but there was lots of other stuff to see and do and the girls had fun anyways. After that we went to "Buppie and Dews" house to visit with Jens cousin Sarah who was visiting from Florida.

There are some pictures from all of that here if you'd like to see it. Also today Emily tried rice cereal for the first time. She didn't love it but she didn't hate it either. Jen took a few pictures and some video of her first attempt at food. That's below if you want to see about a minute of it. Other than that things are going well. If the weather shapes up for the weekend we'll be up in Maine. Were looking forward to it so hopefully the rain can avoid the island for most of the weekend and let us get a little R & R. Check back soon but that's all for now.

Brooke's New Bike

Not a whole lot to put up here with all the rain we've had lately but here's a quick video of Brooke cruising the open road on her new bike. She's getting pretty good at it too. Other than that nothing is news. We're heading to the New England Aquarium tomorrow so there should be some pictures from that to put up so check back soon and if the rain goes away we're headed to Acadia for the long weekend but that's about it. Bye for now.

Happy Birthday To Us!!

The past week has been pretty busy around here. Brooke's birthday was last Sunday, which was also Mothers Day, and mine was yesterday. She turned 3 and I made it to 34. She wanted to have her birthday party at Bowl-A-Rama this year so we had a little party there with lots of her friends and family. Bowling, cake, video games and more. After that lots of people came back to the house for a pizza party and more cake and ice cream. It was a busy but fun day. Then on her actual birthday we went out and got her a bike and I made a seafood pie as a present for Jen and my Mom for mothers day. She seemed to like the bike a lot and has been quickly getting the hang of it too.

My birthday was yesterday and we had another party for that and the night before went to Petey's and braved the winds at Odiorne for a bit because Brooke wanted to go there after dinner. Chris, Katie, Tyler and Anna were supposed to come down but half way here the window on their car blew out so they had to turn around. That really bummed Brooke, and the rest of us, out but other than that it was a great weekend. Thanks again to everyone who came by for the parties. There's some pictures of the festivities here if you're interested. Even if you're not they're still there. Bye for now. 

Anyone want to buy a camera?

Just curious if anyone out there would like to buy a DSLR? It's a great camera and I've only had it for a couple years but I've decided to upgrade to one that takes video also, rather than carry around both regular and video cameras everywhere. If you're interested in the next week or so it's my Canon Rebel XSi with a wide angle 18-55 EF-S IS lens, a 55-250 EF-S IS zoom lens, the BG-E5 battery grip with two batteries and twice the battery life (or AA's in a pinch if your other ones aren't charged or die on you), and of course the charger, cables and editing software. It's all in great shape and works perfectly except it's missing the $10 rubber viewfinder eye cup/cushion that I found useless anyways. Everything cost $1600 new when I got it. Now you can get it all for about $1200. I'll sell it all for $750 if you're interested. I don't really expect anyone to be and I'll just list it on ebay if that's the case but maybe someone wants to get more serious or creative than just point and shoot photos so I thought I'd offer it at a little discount to the followers of our blog first! E-mail me if you're interested at all. I can hold it for a while but if there's no interest I'll just list it next week. Bye for now.

Well we're finishing up another busy weekend. Yesterday afternoon we went to Farmington to climb Mt. Blue Job. It is supposed to be one of the best hikes in southern NH, especially for families with small kids, and I suppose because of a lack of competition it probably is but I wasn't overly impressed. First of all it's in the middle of nowhere. It takes longer to find it than it does to climb it. It's a short hike (1 mile loop) to a summit with a fire tower which provides some decent views, especially for the effort it takes to get there. You can see from the coast to the White Mountains on a clear day but binoculars or a zoom lense are needed to see anything really well. In my opinion Agamenticus for the same effort is much better and has better views. Pawtuckaway takes about twice the effort but is well worth it too. The black flies were pretty bad on the trail up and not bad at all on the trail down. They weren't biting, just swarming around so the girls used some bug nets. Due to that we decided to put off Pawtuckaway for another week or two so if you want to join us for that you'll still have a chance once the flies are gone.

Today we decided to avoid the bugs and stay out of the woods. Brooke wanted to go to the beach so after we ran some errands we went down to Odiorne Point State Park and the Seacoast Science Center for the afternoon. Brooke had lots of fun on the playground and in the SSC, especially with the touch tank after she realized the starfish couldn't eat her, so it turned out to be a good day. No bugs and bright sunshine made the 55 degree temps at the coast pretty enjoyable.

Next weekend is Brookes 3rd birthday and Mother's Day so that should be a busy one, but for now there's some pictures of these things right here if you're interested. That's all I've got. Thanks for checking in and check back soon.