The post that totally should be a slideshow: Maine.

 

Get comfy; this could take awhile.  We had another great visit to camp this summer and digital files are free (or at least prepaid).  I like to think I'm amortizing the cost of my Nikon.

This year we had some truly amazing weather.  When you visit western Maine during the summer, you never really know if you will encounter the fifties or nineties, and unfortunately for our luggage, we have to pack for the possibility of both.   This year was a combination of sixties and fifties at night (FABulous sleeping weather!) and mostly seventies during the day with even a few low eighties thrown in to make us feel totally spoiled.

The result:  lots of water sports!

Bill finally has a chance to pull some skiers.

My dad was very patient and spent lots of time pulling us around the lake, sometimes with a little person in his lap.

Alastair:  our favorite spotter.

Alastair loves to pretend ski, both with our real equipment (in the living room) and has even constructed tow ropes and boards out of Tinker Toys.

Along for the ride as usual.

Emery is just game to be in the boat and on the go.  Poor thing spent plenty of time trapped on the porch so she was ready to go whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Alastair looks just miserable, right?

Earlier in the summer, my dad towed one his camp buddies and his grandson around the lake.  Really, the thought would not have occurred to me if he hadn't mentioned it (so it's your own fault, Dad.)  Alastair thought tubing Papa was the greatest idea ever.  I think once was enough for my dad though.

 We wake boarded until our fingers would no longer close on the rope, which made lugging our boards all the way from home well worth it.  On our first morning out, I was cruising along humming "How Great Thou Art" and truly blissing out behind the boat when a bald eagle came flying down the lake and flew right over us.  It was really something and I've seen plenty of bald eagles in my day.

Kim always knows how to kick it up a notch.

There is a downside to all this tubing.  Alastair hasn't quite worked up to being comfortable doing a solo run and he doesn't tire out.  Ever.  We pulled that kid halfway around the lake and back again and he was still grinning and having a ball.  The tube stops when we have worn out his companion though, because we might run out of gas before Alastair does.

I love this. 

Kim and I love to hike.  Love.  And of course there is zero real hiking in Texas and don't try to tell me otherwise.  So whenever we're at camp we try to get out and hit the trails.  

This year we did the Appalachian trail for a few hours and hiked Bald Mountain again.  On our busiest day at camp, we hiked for about four hours in the morning, came home and Kim windsurfed while I read a book, then we wake boarded in the afternoon.  After that, Alastair and I went out on the four wheeler.  We really try to squeeze a summer's worth of activity into our week.

Alastair bounded up the trails and did not get tired out in the least.  Are you sensing a theme here?

Emery enjoyed riding in the pack although on the way down she started to get a little restless. Hiking and singing every children's song I know at the same time  was a new challenge.  By our next hike, we just put the iPod in the side pocket and let that sing to her, saving our breath for hefting her almost 25 pound self up the mountain.

And she looks so innocent.

The bugs were pretty good this year too, not really coming out much until twilight.  In spite of that, Emery spent plenty of time on the porch because it was a relatively safe place she could play with looser supervision.   On this trip, she discovered the iPhone and decided it really was her toy.

 

Before. 

After.

We have had a detox period for both kids on both tv and the iPhones since we've been back.  It hasn't been pretty.

 

Some time ago, Kim picked up an extra (and free) windsurfer that a friend was getting rid of.  It has languished in the garage until this year we decided to send it up with my parents in their covered wagon trailer.   He had a great time zipping all over the lake relearning how to use it, periodically falling off and starting all over again.  

The first day he was out so long and kept getting up and down that we were all convinced that he couldn't get back to shore.  I rounded up the boat keys, paddled out to the mooring, and was on my way to come collect him when he came back in.  "Oh, are you going for a boat ride?  I'll go!" he said.  At that point, I insisted we need to work out a signal so that I would know if he really was stuck.  Rolling his eyes, he told me we didn't need one, but put up with me anyway.  That's a common theme in our marriage. 

Day two rolls around and he's out there bombing around in some seriously beautiful and windy weather.  

 

The kids are playing on the beach, so I lay on the dock with a good book and just enjoy the calm.  From the dock, it looks like he is spending just as much time in the water as he was the day before.  After an hour or two, my dad walks on the dock and waves at Kim, who by this point is now almost in the middle of the lake.  Kim waves back.  I look up at this point and think I see Kim executing the signal (making an X with his arms over his head).  He is so far away that's it hard to tell, but with the white fingers on his gloves, I can just make out the signal.  

Another twenty minutes and we retrieve a tired and cold Kimbo after his adventure.  Apparently he requested rescue a good hour before but was so far away (and not because I was reading as he claims) we couldn't see him signaling.  It was so windy that the rope attached to the sail kept getting ripped out his hands when he tried to pull the sail up.  And then once he finally got going, it would flip around or try to pull his arms out of the sockets.  Lesson learned:  light wind = good thing, strong wind = using the emergency signal your wife made you agree to.

Meanwhile, everyone else was having a great time.  Emery and Alastair were digging and dumping.

 

And the gREMIlin was lying in wait.  

Waiting in disbelief that the ball being tossed around was not for her.

Alastair didn't mind in the least. 

All the while, Remi plots and plans, silently wagging her tail and looking at everyone with those doleful eyes.  Until the opportunity is ripe...

She strikes!  Strikes with heartless cruelty, knocking another of the Bowling children off the dock and into the lake.   Poor pitiful Emery.  Pay no attention to the smile; that comes out whenever there is a camera around.  Inside this child is crying.

 

While we were there my parents were in another craft show.  Seems like they have one every other week during the summer.  This show is a fancy schmancey juried affair and it sounds like a big deal to be in it.  You can see some of the stuff my dad turns behind him.

This is Rangely on a really hopping day, seen from the window of Sarge's where we were enjoying burgers and beer for lunch.  Super busy, eh?  There was actually a traffic light in town this day (one on wheels) because they were doing some road construction.

 

The advantage of going up in early August on a warm year is that the blueberries are ripe.  No one who has followed my blog for long could have missed my obsession fondness for blueberries.  

Alastair enjoyed running around picking berries as usual.  This boy has a great understanding of where pie comes from.

Did I mention we're moving to Maine?

We have our house picked out!  This beauty was in construction when the money dried up and we understand that the bank took it back.   We all enjoyed walking around the huge porch and peering in the windows at the beautiful floors and massive fireplaces everywhere.  The lakefront side was even prettier with huge windows facing the lake.  The blueberries all over the field/front yard were the official draw, but wow, what a house. 

A first this year was that Alastair got to fish.  And boy, did he like it!

We do need to work with him on how to hold a fish for a picture though.  I'm not sure the chub minds.

On our last day, we went on a cruise on Rangeley Lake, aboard the Oquossoc Lady.  My mom bid on the cruise at a Ducks Unlimited thing last year and it took to this summer to get it done.  What a gorgeous day we had for it!

While we were out, we got up close and personal with some locals.

They did their best to put on a little show for us.

A word about loons:  I think most people are used to seeing super close up pictures of loons from books, etc. and don't realize that it is really hard to get that close to them.  They are about twice the size of ducks and, it seems to me, much smarter.   When we get a little close for comfort, loons go under and then pop up a few minutes later 30 yards away.  It was really neat to see them acting like this so close.

No trip to camp would be complete without a ride on the four wheeler.  Please don't send the link to CPS.  It is Alastair's and my special thing to ride up the mountain and then pick flowers and eat raspberries together.  He remembers that all year round and will bring it up at the oddest times.

Yes, I did make that skirt, thanks for asking!

How I love this boy.

It was another awesome trip. If only there were a way to have a real career and still be in the mountains...  Maybe we could call up the bank and make a feeble offer on that house.