We Biked

Someone gave us a bike carrier years ago that we'd never used and one of us had the bright idea to actually strap it on the car and load up the bikes and ride into Freeport from our campsite to further enhance our weekend experience.

It sounded great in theory until I started thinking about how un-athletic I am and until Alan actually tried to mount the rack on the van. One of the clips was missing and, after vainly checking every store we could think of that might have the right sort of thing, Alan was at a loss and we briefly thought perhaps it would be better to bag the idea.

But to me the missing strap was a puzzle to be solved. So I got creative and improvised with a plastic clip, some strapping, and a toy rolling pin the kids use for play-doh and I proudly presented my MacGyver-like contraption to Alan proclaiming that "If this works, I'm a genius!".



Well, it did work, but I suddenly thought "Genius?!? I'm an IDIOT!" I had thrown away a perfectly good excuse not to go on a really gruelling bikeride!
Ah...the high price of brilliance....





So we managed to get our bikes to Freeport in the appropriate number of pieces, and the weather was gorgeous, and the road looked pretty good and not too long and so my excuses all washed away with the previous night's rain.

And we were prepared. We had water bottles and snacks and sunscreen and helmets and cell phones and a spare tire tube and a toolset. We had an amazingly brilliant clear beautiful day. We were in no hurry and we walked up most of the hills without shame. We saw rambling farmsteads and quaint cottages, rolling vistas and a cool wind sculpture, gardens and guinea hens (at least, I think that's what those birds were that stopped traffic to usher their fluffy chicks across the road).


Here I am before we embarked on our 9 mile round trip looking confident...




or not [double-click the picture to see the look on my face]!



It was an hour before we arrived in Freeport's downtown, dripping with sweat. Fortunately we discovered that the new outlet village has luxurious, air-conditioned restrooms, where I changed into a clean tee and practically took a bath in the sink.

Then we shopped [see future post on the subject].

Here I am in Freeport looking pathetic because it's time to get back on the bike for the return trip:

Here's Alan contemplating the view--we're almost back to our campsite at this point, enjoying the breeze and the reasonable assumption that we'll make it back alive:



And here I am back at the start proving that I really did it (right before I basically fell over):



It was actually fun at times, and Alan never even needed to call the paramedics for me.

And eventually he even admitted that I am, in fact, a genius (at least in this case), so it was all worthwhile!

We Coleman Camped

Our weekend featured more than a few items from a certain prominent brand of camping gear, spanning decades of purchase dates, from "seasoned" items handed down to us from our parents to new items acquired via E-bay and Amazon.com.

We slept in Coleman flannel sleeping bags on a Coleman king-sized airbed, inflated with a Coleman battery powered air pump...

under a Coleman battery powered fan/overhead light...

inside a (you guessed it) Coleman 8-person tent.

We looked for our stuff with a Coleman wide-beam flashlight...

We set up our camp by the light of a Coleman lantern...

We kept our perishables in a Coleman cooler...

and cooked part of our breakfast on a Coleman camp stove (although the rest of our cooking was done properly on the fire, thank you very much!)

Hey Coleman guys! We like your stuff!!

We Camped

James spent a week at Camp Roosevelt with the Boy Scouts. He returned boggy and bugbitten but cheerful and chatty. He earned merit badges in fishing, swimming, and basketry.

Madeline spent a week at Camp Natarswi, the Girl Scout camp I attended for something like 9 years running "back in the day" (I'm refusing to do the math). We caught a mere glimpse of Katahdin on the way to pick her up but she did have some good weather while she was there. She passed her swim test, braved the tippy test (intentionally swamping a canoe so you know how to deal with it), tied a fly, got a bullseye, and earned her canoeing and archery pins.

[I'm telling you, Katahdin is right behind her.]

Jeremy spent a few days at Nana and Gumpy's camp in Hancock, learning about blueberry fields and collecting rocks.

And Alan and I camped, too. By ourselves. Just the two of us.

We drove to Freeport on Friday from Orono via Millinocket [we weren't lost, we had to pick up Madeline at camp first and then leave the kids with Nana Mary]. We arrived at Recompense Shore Campground at 11pm and set the tent up by the car headlights. We were fortunate to be so late because that's how we missed doing it in the pouring rain. Which would have been very bad.

By light of day our campsite looked like this:

Breakfast Saturday featured fried purple potatoes with onions and red peppers, bacon, and french toast:

After our Saturday adventures (see next few blogs) we enjoyed a peaceful campfire.

Yup, summer has truly arrived for the Marks Family.

Summer Crafts

We've made pipe cleaner critters a la Martha before (usually tigers and monkeys and such).
I thought we would make some woodland creatures as an homage to the local wildlife (deer and squirrels and such). Silly Mommy forgot she has boys!

Jamie made an alien:

and his alien had a pet:

And Jeremy made (oh what a surprise) an alien:

Madeline came through with a Lady Bug:

While I made two deer:

We put them in their own little habitat with real moss and a sprig from the prickly bush that needed trimming anyway...

...and presented them to our neighbors (a mother and daughter) along with the bread.

They remind me of our other neighbors who are a little shy:

Summer Cooking

Did you read Emilie's posts about that really easy Artisan Bread? I've been "into" baking bread ever since Mary Wright taught me how back in 1986. Yeast is your friend. The artisan bread recipe is WAY EASY and WAY YUMMY. We made this extra cheesy loaf as a welcome gift for our awesome new neighbors.



Jeremy and I made homemade waffles for dinner recently, with a special guest helper, sometimes known as "Kitty" and sometimes known as "Chocolate Chip Chunk Cookie" (apparently this is perfectly normal to a 5 year old).



After helping us read the recipe, Kitty moved to a safer perch to keep an eye on the waffle maker (she's on top of the paper towel holder).






Yes, we love breakfast-for-dinner (aka "brinner") and we see nothing wrong with involving chocolate. I swear there were lots of bananas under there!

Bog Blog

Soon after the Fourth there was a sunny day (aaaaaah!) and I said "Let's go to the bog!"

But first we needed special snacks, so we made "Bugs & Bark", a delightfully melty conglomeration of almonds, dried cherries, and three kinds of chocolate. Mmmmmm...

Then we took pictures of the snack, made some sandwiches, filled our water bottles, made sure everyone had used the potty, loaded the car, made a couple stops at random stores in Bangor, arrived at the bog, discovered we forgot to make a PB & J for Jeremy (sorry, bud, but you shouldn't have changed your mind about helping) and ate our lunches at the picnic table.

It only took us about 3 1/2 hours to get here:

But we enjoyed the perfect weather and lush foliage.

Here's the obligatory kids-on-the-big-rock photo:

And here's the back view to show off our homemade bandana bags in patriotic colors:

Blogged Down

As you can see in the post below, I am having issues with blog formatting, but since I am not prepared to learn html I guess I'll just have to struggle on...

Bear with me, folks.

Another Family Fourth

Gumpy's train made another successful parade appearance, with James and Nana Lois carrying a new banner, Madeline's assistance with the coal car and Nancy marching along side.

After a brief rest for the kids and frantic preparation on the part of the grown-ups, we had about 25 friends and family members over for the usual picnic food, even if we didn't have the usual picnic weather. Alan grilled during the worst of the downpour, while Madeline and Eric looked on.

Party-goers included 2 year old Samantha (and parents Helen and Rich not pictured),

Sonya and Mother Rita (and Cuthbert and Eric),

Jeremy and Nana Lois (and the rest of the Marks and Gumpy and Aunt Betty),

and several others not adequately captured digitally.

There was even a very maternal-looking spider (who enjoyed the party outdoors).

Alas, we did not venture out for the fireworks (mostly because we assumed they'd be post-poned), but Jeremy still had cause to don Alan's ear protectors due to the thunder which occasionally interrupted our reading aloud of a story about pirates.