Maine - Day 3

...also known as the day i took, like, no photos.

we spent the entire day at the cabin. we went straight from pjs and breakfast to swimsuits and cold beverages on floaties. landon's dreams came true when our neighbor decided to take his plane out for a spin. he couldn't believe it could float on the water.

we were just as in awe when we realized some fish we'd had on the stringer suddenly disappeared. we knew something was in the water as we discovered remnants of fish guts and slashed scales floating near our dock. i was thinking the theme song from jaws but really it was just a ridiculously huge snapping turtle. and when i say huge, i mean, like, almost as big as emi. like, the kind that can rip fingers and toes off of your body. creepy.

when we were sure the monster was out of our midst, we gave the kids a green light to swim again. emi wanted to be like the girls and float around, basking in the sun and sipping iced tea. she was a natural bathing beauty, although she wasn't fond of her photo-fanatic mother ruining her sun time.

and, surprise, surprise...papa (that's what the kids call my dad) went fishing and came back with some breakfast for the next day. this time reeling in a bass and bluegill. landon was thrilled. again. this kid never got sick of our daily jaunts to the dock to see what papa had found on his trip in the boat.

and as the day was heading towards dusk, i happened to go check on a napping emi and fell upon the cutest picture ever. how on earth her pacifier stayed like that, i have not a clue.

six to go. and tomorrow i'm sure will be just as good as today. it's maine. how could it not be?

Maine - Day 2

...or also known as the day i took way too many photos.

our little cabin is humble. it has no running water. no indoor plumbing. and the roof is tilting slightly inward. for most, it probably isn't considered to be a vacation without all these amenities, but for this girl, it's a dream.





as a kid, i always wanted to live in the 1800's. there was something so appealing about life so simple. long dresses and bonnets. being "courted" instead of dating. having to go to the well to fetch a pail of water. if there were ever any woods near me, i would immediately enter them, pretend to build a house made of sticks and fir branches and build a "fire" that i started with my bare hands. so you see why our cabin is right up my alley.

before breakfast even started, the kids and i had a little impromptu bubble blowing. landon is a pro...emi, not so much. but it is pretty stinkin' adorable to watch her put her little lips together and spit at the bubble wand for like two minutes.



after we got coffeed up and full the fam and emi and i took a little walk around the neighborhood. it was such a good time and emi got some really good personal lovin' from my parents and my sister and brother-in-law. she reveled in the special attention.

she thought she was so cute acting all shy for the camera. :)



and she learned she could fly.



hitchin' a ride with uncle tommy.



that is one happy, loved, little girl.



we spent the rest of the day, just as life should be. wading in water, sunning on the dock and playing in sand.







as the sun began to set and the cool air set in, our traditional maine dinner went underway. the corn was husked and placed in a pot to boil.



as we were preparing dinner, my dad came home from fishing with a good catch.

i can't tell you how many of my best memories in my life have come from fishing with my dad. us girls used to go out with him, sometimes before the sun had risen and often times as the sun was beginning to set. we used to make up songs about the number of fish we caught. "i got ten fish, oh yeah." there were years when we would literally catch hundreds of white perch. ah, the glory days. now, with all the speed boats and activity and more people moving to the pond, we're lucky to catch two per day. but sometimes catching fish isn't really what fishing is about.



hello, girly girl, in your cute little dress poking the heck out of that poor bass' eyes...





mike tried many, many times to get landon to go canoeing with him, to no avail. so mike went out a lot by himself, sometimes just rowing, other times with a pole and minnows in tow.



with corn in the pot we began to prepare our lobster for their big entrance. for as long as i can remember, we have put the lobster to sleep before putting them into steam. it was a trick my grandpa taught all of us. the lobsters are asleep, they get put in the water, they don't scream or tense up, and the meat is tender. hey, we may be carnivores, but we are humane carnivores.

in case you were wondering: you put lobsters to sleep by placing them on their heads, upside down, claws back, while rubbing the back of their shell. no joke. it works and they never know what's comin'!



landon was all about putting some lobsters to sleep.





we used to buy lobsters for like $1.15/lb and get like 30 of them. they are now more like $4.50/lb (obviously still cheaper than at a restaurant) and taste just as good.



we ended our night, and ashley and tommy's last night in maine, with a campfire and s'mores. yes, we are sentimental about our fires. no, we did not sing kum-ba-ya.



another day down, seven more to go.

Maine - Day 1

emi woke me up early, kinda to say, "hey mom, we gotta get going. we don't want to miss a thing." and had it been anywhere else, i would've been grumpy, but because of where we were, i had a pretty good skip to my step. so i put the kettle on the stove, warmed up some water and poured me some coffee. hey, a girl needs coffee at 6:30am, whether she's in maine or not.

it was another half hour before anybody else woke up so emi and i slipped outside, her with her cup of milk, me with my coffee, and sat on the front porch. not long after, we heard the ziiiiiiiip from the tent out back and emi immediately knew what that meant...brother was up.

yup. mike and lando slept in a tent. some may call that torture, but for the two of them, they call it awesomeness.

can i just say that i seriously love landon's morning eyes.

swan pond was absolutely breathtaking. a slight mist over the water, the sun not completely up yet. the contrast between a bright yellow canoe and the blue-green water was something i couldn't help but admire. i seriously took my camera everywhere. if there was a swaying reed to photograph, i was going to be there.

and like each morning after, landon and mike hurried to the dock to see what they could see. several mornings some large bass swam around looking for minnows to prey on. another morning a ginormous, and i mean GINORMOUS, snapping turtle hung around devouring some left over fish we fileted. don't worry, i will put a photo of him up here. but that's another day.

and me with my camera attached to my hip was able to capture some sweet shots of papa with miss ruthie. that poor man, living his life with a house full of girls. fighting over bathroom time and music preference. but he did learn a few things about loving well even in those war zones. and it was more than rewarding to see my dad and emi bond.

around mid-morning we hiked it to the portland lighthead (otherwise known as a lighthouse, not totally sure why its name is different). every year, on one sunday of our trip, we go there to picnic and enjoy the company of some long-time friends, don and pat. there's always cold-cut sandwiches and iced tea or lemonade.

it was breezy and a little chilly but for us folk who live in 90% humidity and high 80's most of the year around, it was a welcome change.

and our attempt at a family picture was slightly ruined by landon throwing a fit because we wouldn't let him climb on the rocks and emi, well, she just didn't want to have to do anything she didn't want to do. so no smiles from the children, but at least no one is screaming. (see the group photo below...)

my sister, ashley, and her husband, tommy

don, my mom, my dad, and pat

tommy, ashley, screaming emi, shelly (my sister, abbey's, best friend and roommate, my mom, abbey, me, lando, my dad and mike

while the others went out exploring and watching the kite-flyers, our little family went back to the picnic site and dozed. well, the kids wouldn't really let us doze, but we rested just the same. and for real, i can not for the life of me figure out who took this picture.

we celebrated abbey's 23rd birthday, as we always do at the lighthouse and pat made a delicious cake. it was a pretty sweet day. and the fact that we had little-to-no child meltdowns made the day that much sweeter.

we headed back to the cabin and landon and emi ruth partook in a goodwin family tradition that their cousins, their mom, their aunts and many other relatives have all done at some point in their lives. a bath in a cooking pot.

and after being up since 6:30 and getting to bed around 11:00, the day felt long and full. i laid down and thought to myself, "i can't believe i have 8 more days like this."

Maine - Arrival Day

when we stepped off the plane in portland, maine all my childhood memories flooded my head. although, as a child, we never flew to maine, just knowing i was there reminded me of everything i loved about it.

back then, we would all cram into our wood-sided station wagon, later to be replaced by a conversion van, none of us wearing seatbelts or sitting in carseats. (remember, these were the days when it wasn't the law, so no judging my parents please.) as we'd pull out of our driveway in pewaukee, wisconsin the absolute first thing out of all of our mouths were, "are we there yet?" followed by hysterical laughing. we'd trek the 21-odd hours of driving, stopping to pee about a million times and always stopping at this huge truck stop/overpass station in new york. it was the first sign that we were close. we'd always get breakfast at mcdonald's, use the restrooms and scour the new york souvenirs in the gift shop. i always wanted to buy something there but never did because i wanted to save my allowance money for a new maine t-shirt and, of course, homemade fudge from kennebunkport.

so as i smelled the fresh air and piled suitcases in cars i felt it, the peace that i was looking for. the rest i was needing. the feeling of no agenda.

half of us took off for the cabin while the other half booked it to Michael's to buy authentic italian sandwhiches and mom and pop pizza. i'd been waiting for its taste, anticipating how incredible all of the rich flavors would take me back. and, oh, did it deliver.

my car arrived after our stop to grab dinner and as we drove down the woodsy path i felt the urge to look at everything. take in every piece of this land. memorize it in order to store it away for a day when i needed a little reminder of how good life is.

and as we pulled up, this is what i saw...

kids already in bathing suits, splashing in the water, people lounging in american flag chairs. i stared for a minute, a bit in awe at the fact that these were my kids playing in my pond.

being grown up in this place is not much different than when i was a kid. it smelled the same, felt the same, looked the same. the only difference was, my parents. i reveled in time spent with them. fascinated by the fact that they are now watching their grandchildren play in swan pond instead of their own kids. finding a balance between watching my kids play and craving conversation and memory-fishing with them. it was so much sweeter than i imagined.

emi's been a little moody lately and quite honestly a little too clingy towards me. i know its hurt mike's feelings a little bit and i've wanted so desperately for her to cling to him again. and that's exactly what happened. she's felt some of mike and i's stress lately and just as i'd seen it so many times before, maine melted all worries and stress away in seconds. she clung to him and smiled her cheesy smile and loved on mike like he was the best thing since sliced bread.

our little ones knew this was a special place. a normally shy and reserved landon jumped into everything he could find. he was enthralled with all the critters he could finally put his hands on after weeks of talking about them. those poor minnows. they had more "love" than i think God ever intended for them.

i am not spontaneous. in fact, i am borderline obsessive compulsive. always needing to stick to routine and stay on schedule and finish my check list. my prayer, before this trip started, was that i would have no agenda. that i wouldn't stick to a plan. that i would let my kids see a side of me that they've never seen and probably longed to. god answered that prayer and then some.

as i walked into our little cabin to set down my bags, i cried. like all the tough things i've been holding onto weren't allowed to enter into that sacred place, so my body expelled of them before i had a chance to pick them up again. i'd never felt so much joy, than in that moment, when i let it all go away in tears and walked my baggage-free body back to watch my kids swim.

Maine Teaser

at the end of august, mike and i loaded the kids up on an early morning flight to portland, maine. i ran across this photo and couldn't resist making a quick post. now, i just need to find time to sort through 1,000 photos and pick my favorites to put up here.

Back-tracking: Visit to Aunt Ashley's

i am attempting to back-blog about some of the great things that went on, even though they were long in the past. our summer was so busy that I just didn't have time to document our family very well. so here is the first of a series of posts (not sure when they will all get up here, still) that will encompass some fun times had a little while back.

we visited one of my sisters, Ashley, and her husband, Tommy, in april. it was a quick visit and really didn't get to see much of Tommy, but me and the kids had some good quality time with Sash.

it's an interesting dynamic, being grown-up sisters, as life changes so much from childhood to adulthood. Ashley and i are polar opposites. i don't think two people could be more different. which in the world of kids usually also means, lots and lots of fighting. i don't remember many days where we didn't fight, except when on vacation to maine (which you will see posts about that soon, too.), but I'm happy to say that all that is behind us. something switched when we were in college. when we didn't compete over silly things. when we embraced our differences. when we just kinda realized, as different as we were, how incredible the other one was. i have a friend now, not just a sister.

since our lives have taken us far apart, her in north carolina in her third year of pediatric residency and me, a missionary in the dominican republic, any chance at a visit is one i grab by the horns.

we went to a park near Ash and Tom's home and the weather was just right for going down slides, playing in sand and swinging on swings. there wasn't a bit of sun and the air was crisp, but it felt beautiful and comfortable just the same.

we discovered Nohemi's deep-rooted fear of swings, only to find her life's greatest joy on the next to-and-fro. as a side note: these three pictures were literally three frames right in a row. kinda funny to see an irrational fear become something of the past...in literally two seconds.

i see you baby girl.

the kids tired of the playground and we were ready to head back but Sash and Lando discovered a secret little spot.

this boy loves him some water. if i believed in reincarnation, i'd believe he was a fish or a turtle in his past life.

there's something so energizing about your family loving on your kids. when i was a kid i could hardly wait for the day i would be a mother. and its even sweeter to be a mom and watch Ashers be an aunt.