Random pics aplenty!
Cousin Gabby made some gorgeous flower crowns.
Kathryn and Izzy tried some lipstick!
Filipeks made an awesome taco bar for lunch and ice cream bar for dessert!!
We spent the afternoon chatting on the deck and then dinner was delicious cheesy shrimp and grits!
And then the annual pics!
Cousins!
The kids, then and now.
Aunt Marie put together an amazing escape room/box for the kids. They had a blast!
Then there was card playing and video games.
We were sleeping in an awesomely dark and quiet basement room so combined with a late bedtime, we all slept in! I was up at 7:30 (technically 6:30 CST) and just waited for either kid to wake up. Owen finally got up about 8:30! I stayed in bed to enjoy the quiet and when I finally came upstairs, this is where I found Owen.
And I decided to have a fully relaxing no makeup day.
The kids spent most of their day in and out of the pool. Spending time with Uncle Jim was super fun and they even had a cannonball contest!
While the kids were (still) in the pool I got some work done. Not a bad view.
The kids were finally out of the pool and playing hide and seek while we were getting dinner ready. Uncle Marcus and Uncle Jim we trying to confuse Katie as she counted.
The birthday kids!
And tonight was a campfire and sparkler night!
And it was a momentous night—Katie actually asked to go to bed!!!
The kids really wanted to get in the pool the minute we got to the house but I was a mean mom and made them look through the house first and then actually put their suitcases in a bedroom and not just leave them splayed open in the middle of the living room.
Watching intently as I opened the pool cover.
It’s like this pool house knew I was coming.
They might already be in the pool and I might have bought them an inflatable unicorn. 🦄💦
Ahhhhh.
We had a bit of time before everyone else got here. It was quite a steep journey to the water and fire pit.
Dinner tonight was shish kebabs from the Coes. They were delicious!
A Cowboy Ribeye as big as your head vacuum sealed and seasoned with fresh rosemary, onion, and spices going into a 132° sous vide water bath for a few hours and then it will be quickly seared on a 600° grill. I am already drooling just thinking about the melt-in-your-mouth smoky meat that you can cut with a fork.🍴🤤 Do you sous vide? (If not, you totally should!)
For the last 18 years we haven’t lived near family since we’re military—so when your mom calls you one morning and says they’ll be there for dinner…
WAIT, WHAT? 😳
This isn’t a 20-minute drive, y’all—my mom lives 400 miles away!
It’s doubly exciting because it’s Mother’s Day weekend and I haven’t seen her since December!
Fast forward to her arriving tonight…
The cousins had so much fun together and we really enjoyed visiting with the adults!!We really need to do this more often!!
Starting the day off right…with a lobster omelette for lunch!
Day 4: lobster #5
Unfortunately it was another dreary day for sightseeing—at Marshall Point Lighthouse.
But we made a tiny inukchuck. (It would have been much grander except it was starting to rain!)
Does this count as a lobster for the day?
The answer is no. 🙂 I wouldn’t rush to get these. I’d never be able to tell you what flavor they were if I didn’t know. But they’re still chips and I love chips so it’s all good.
Day 4: lobster # 6 — yet another lobster roll
This is mine, Kathryn’s, and a crab roll because (honestly) crab is my favorite so I bought the crab and mom made us one to share. I think I might get one more lobster in before leaving tomorrow…
Amd homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert…
Unfortunately a dreary day for sightseeing.
So let’s go candy shopping! Yummy caramels, toffee, and treats for the kids!
And let’s have lobster for lunch.
Day 3: lobster #3 — lobster BLT
Then it was off to visit the marina where mom and David left from on their honeymoon—they’re pointing to it!
Aaaand lobster rolls again for dinner. Mom makes them SOOOOO good we didn’t want anything else.
Day 3: lobster #4
I woke up to this on the table. (Yes, it was my 45th birthday!) It was tempting to eat right then but I refrained.
The view from the back deck did not suck.
Then it was off to start sightseeing. Or first stop was the prison show room (gift shop) why lots of hand made things.
Then it was off to Pemaquid Point, mom’s favorite spot in Maine. It was really quite cool and fun to walk around on the rocks.
All the girls!
Then we went up in the lighthouse.
(That big boulder toward the upper left? That’s the one I climbed on top of in the earlier pic!)
And then as we were headed out we saw some Monarchs in the garden.
Then it was off to find lunch. We ended up at Shaw’s Seafood…where everything sounded good so good so how do you decide?! I actually opted for a scallop roll because I love scallops. It wasn’t what I expected but it was tasty.
These came home with us for dinner.
We also stopped at a family market and had to try some fresh strawberry shortcake! Mmmm.
We stopped at a grocery store to get celebratory birthday drinks and got these new drinks for a birthday flight for us all to share.
Look at this delicious dinner…
Day 2: lobster #2 — fresh mom-made lobster roll
Overall a great birthday…
I’ve always wanted to experience Maine (and lobsters!) with my mom, so when she and David rented a cottage (in South Thomaston) for two weeks to celebrate their 20th anniversary and invited us to join them, I decided THIS was FINALLY going to be the year to do so. We lucked out in that my stepsisters Kathryn and Beth were also able to join us!!
This was dinner our first night!
Day 1: lobster #1 — fresh lobster dinner
Another week of grandparent camp for the kids and another week of respite for mom and dad! Everyone is having a blast!!
Since we live so close to family now…and the kids are getting older and more self-sufficient, we thought it was time to let them stay for a long visit with the grandparents! As scheduling happened to work out, we went to Michigan for our family Christmas and then left the kids there…and then Gramma Jean and Grandpa David would drive up to meet Papa and Grannie Lin to hand off the kids…and then we’d eventually drive up to the UP to pick them up. They would be gone a total of 19 days, 12 of which they were completely without us. Needless to say we were all looking forward to it…the grandparents were excited about having the kids, the kids were excited about fun with the grandparents, and we were excited to have some alone time and general peace and quiet.
Here are the pics from some of the adventures they had with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David!
Lake Margarethe – of course they made fast friends with other kids who where there!
When we were packing up to leave I found the bathroom cups grandpa drew for the kids.
And the meat festival begins…Of course Timmy brought a ton of his amazing brats…but this year he added smoked brisket to the menu! HOLY WAH!
And no, your eyes aren’t deceiving you…that’s a Gummy Bear brat. With real gummy bears in it. It wasn’t bad…just a sweet taste. I thought Katie would love it because she LOVES gummy bears but nope. Silly kid.
And the annual kid comparison! After last year when Owen was taller, Nick pulled ahead (which he should, as he’s almost 14).
2017:
The kids goofing around while I was getting the camera set up.
My test shot to make sure the settings were okay, and I loved it so much I kept it. It’s also fun to see how we can all pull it together for the real photo!
Nick and Owen…conspiring? Planning? Who knows.
Gramma created a project for the kids—money frozen in a block! They had to figure out how to get to it! (It didn’t take them long!)
Oh yeah! We also gained a dog for an hour or so. Mom didn’t recognize him and Tom called the number on his tag and it was animal control…?!? He was good and just hung out with us—got a few pets and belly rubs (Maggie pretty much ignored him). After awhile a young girl came looking for him—and we found out she was visiting someone in the neighborhood.
Overall it was a perfectly gorgeous day—not too hot and not too cold, lots of good food (too much, actually, but we’re Lens so it’s expected), and great visiting with family and watching the cousins play!
Tom has a TV in the garage for woodworking videos and to play music while he’s out there. Tonight it was a man cave while Gramma Jean watched Dancing with the Stars.
Grandpa and Katie were cleaning green beans for dinner tonight—not quite sure who the instigator was!
It’s deer season and 25° so he had to bundle up in orange.
A few quick pics before school…
Owen was so excited to go shooting! He’s doing pretty well with remembering the three rules (generally speaking he knows them but had trouble repeating them) so we’ll keep working on that. (If he can remember 632 things about Pokémon, he can remember the three rules about gun safety.)
His shots were all in the black!
Since we were away house hunting, it was up to Gramma Jean and Grandpa David to take the kids to opening day of our community pool.
Gramma Jean and Grandpa David came down to watch the kids while we did house hunting stuff… And they arrived in time to go to baseball with us!
We all went to see the Lego Batman movie and since it was nice and sunny, we stopped at a park on the way home. Unfortunately it was windy and getting chilly so we didn’t stay long and I only took one picture! 🙂
We always take the grandparents out to dinner to thank them for letting us stay with them…and this time, we went to McGuires Irish Pub just down the road in Destin. We happened to be sitting right at a Pokémon gym so of course we had to take it over. 🙂
The tradition at this place is to leave a signed/decorated $1 bill stapled to the wall. They have over $1 million hanging throughout the place (see lots of great pictures from RoadTrippers). This was the wall behind us (in the natural restaurant lighting):
And the same picture with a flash:
This is the bill we did. Gramma drew the heart with the year and signer her name; Owen wrote his name on the very left, going up from the O; Katie die her KAtie on three lines; Grandpa David did his GD between Owen and Katie; Major Tom left his mark; and since no one took good ol’ George, I did that plus left our JTOK.
Gramma stapled it to the wall.
Can you see it?
Look here!
Read about the last time we were there (2015).
Later when we checked the other pictures, we saw that Owen had his Halley shirt on again! Totally unplanned!
We had to visit Owen and Tom’s names on the wall…which happened to be right about where we were seated.
Katie adding her name!
Gramma Jean 2017
Grauntie Rose and Gruntie Jim also stay down here during the winter, so they came over for lunch. We had hoped to be able to take the kids to the pool or the beach but it was cold and rainy…so there were a few games of Katie’s new favorite: Go Fish!
We were a tiny bit late due to a lavatory issue that had to be fixed before takeoff (which meant we left a half hour late) but all ended well! Gramma and Grandpa were waiting for us!!
This place—Food at Northbound—came with rave reviews…and it didn’t disappoint!
Smoked pork torta (with pork, lime aioli, jalapeño slaw, cheddar, and sweet & spicy jalapeños) and BBQ fries (with beer-battered fries, BBQ-rubbed pork, white cheddar, sweet & spicy jalapeños, and bourbon BBQ sauce). TOTALLY AMAZEBALLS.
