Our Summer

This has been a great summer. Our friends, Eben and Johanna and Edison invited us on their sailboat. We had never sailed as a family, of course Jay had. We went out near the Coast Guard Academy sailed around, had a great time. The kids don't really get to go to the beach in Alexandria so, anytime we are in Niantic we head down to the beach and let Xavier get his fill in. Jazelle seemed to like playing with Edison in the sand.
In addition to our first family sail Eben invited Dad and Betty out for another trip. We had big hopes to sail to Block Island with the kids. The weather wasn't cooperating so we opted out for a day trip just out and back. We got to spend quality time with Eben, Johanna, Edison, Dad and Betty.

For Labor Day we flew to Portland. I requested we do things with the kids as if we were on vacation rather than just a visit. Zelly and Xavier loved the Maine Wildlife Zoo. There are only native animals that have been injured or orphaned. Zelly loved the Moose. He was huge and she just loved watching him chew. She was very proud to have her picture taken by him. Jay gave Xavier a quarter and he had a great time eating as many Tootsie Rolls as a quarter could. Zelly was imitating the sound the bears were making, more like a groan than a growl. I asked if we could see Herbie the Dutch Elm in Falmouth. We have visited Herbie several times. The importance of this trip was to get a picture of it before being cut down. Dad would settle for any less than all of us getting in the picture so he stopped someone driving by. She was very happy to take our picture she said she had a grandfather that was just as crazy as dad.

One of our other day trip while in Maine was to Camden, a coastal town 2.5 hours north and east of Dad and Betty. We drove for awhile to see Camden Windjammers Festival. There were boat being made, chowder competitions, Auxillary Coast Guard. Xavier and Jay toured the Coast Guard boat, but next year Xavier wants to compete in the lobster pot run. They tied lobster pots together and the kids would run across the top as many times as possible before jumping in or falling into the water.