Why can't we vacation like normal people?

For awhile now, Kim and I have been aware that we vacation in a slightly more "active" way than most of our friends and colleagues. On our honeymoon, we spent a glorious 3 hours on the beach at the hotel before looking at each other and saying, "so are you ready to go get a convertible and explore the island, or what?" And we did spend a recent weekend in Cancun sitting on the beach which was nice, but a little stifling after the first day. We just like to move. This is exactly the right attitude to bring to Maine because we have all sorts of active diversions and activities waiting for us there. A friend recently asked me if my parents had a boat or something on the lake. Uh, yeah. We have a three year old powerboat, two kayaks, a canoe, an aluminum dinghy, rafts, a four wheeler, fishing poles, and hiking boots, not to mention being smack in the middle of the most beautiful mountains God saw fit to bless this earth with. Except when it rains... And boy, did it rain.

Which leads us to our "project." The last few years with Alastair have been a little tricky at camp because we haven't had a real space for him to be in safely without supervision. This place is all about being outdoors, so aside from my mom and dad's expansion and building a boat house to house all the stuff, we don't really spend a lot of time worrying about the inside. I mean, you're not supposed to be in there until it is dark and you are ready to pass out, right?

With two weeks of wind and rain and a high average temp of 62 degrees, we decided the time was right to carve out a better space to grow with the kiddos. "Our" room, which we repainted and redid a few years ago is right next to a little closet at the top of the stairs on the second floor. It is super small but cozy but it doesn't have an actual door, so it is impossible to lock in a wayward toddler. Not so anymore! We annexed that little closet by tearing out a wall, replacing the sheetrock in the new space, building a more sturdy banister for the stairs, and generally creating a big mess which I hope we cleaned up well enough. The space isn't totally finished: next year we need to do casing along the floor and at the doors and windows, get the super pale yellow paint matched so we can paint the new sheetrock, and replace some ceiling tiles. In the meantime, it is a super nice space that is fit for guests and toddlers alike.

These pictures are pretty small, so if you can't see them, just go here to get a better view. Be sure to have the captions on so you know what you are looking at.