Nana's Visit

Teresa came out to visit us for a few days over her spring break this week, and we had a great time. I think we did pretty well at seeing 'Maine'. We went to Crescent Beach and explored tide pools and plants and we splashed in the ocean.

























Thanks to a recent 'Best of Maine' article in the Portland Press Herald, we knew where to go for the best of everything. We had Maine's best pizza at Ricetta's. We had Maine's best 'Cheap Eats' at Becky's Diner. We went to Freeport for some outlet shopping and while we were there had some of Maine's Best coffee at Dunkin' Donuts. We went to the famous DiMillo's Floating Restaurant for dinner, something I've heard more than a few people say you should do before you leave Portland, and I was really glad we did. We steamed our own lobsters for dinner. And one night Teresa took care of Claire while Mike and I went out to Maine's best restaurant, Fore Street, for dessert. If you click on 'Dessert Menu' you can see what we had, the Chocolate Souffle Cake, in the picture (back right). I'd recommend it. We had a great time, and we look forward to her next visit.

to the beach!

The last time I posted about how winter finally seemed to be giving way to spring, we got over a foot of snow two days later. So this time, all I'm going to say is, boy today sure was a nice day! Claire and I spent just about the entire day outside. First we went downtown and spent some time on the Maine State Pier watching the boats. We walked up to Old Port Candy Company (this is the only place I've ever found my favorite Jelly Belly, pink grapefruit, in bulk) and then wandered around Old Port a bit while we ate the treats we bought.

After being downtown, Claire and I agreed going to the beach would be nice, so we drove to Old Orchard Beach. We spent the afternoon playing in the sand, exploring, and collecting shells and other treasures. It was a little cooler and much more windy than downtown was, reminding me of a typical spring day like you'd have in Wisconsin. It was warm enough to take our socks and shoes off and stick our feet in the (cold!) water, but not warm enough to take off our jackets while doing so.

I haven't posted many pictures lately, but I'll make up for it today. Here are a few of my favorites, and you can check Flickr for more.

Truth be told...

Today Claire and I were discussing babies and their teeth. A friend of ours has a little boy who started teething, and Claire has been interested in the whole idea of 'getting teeth'. I was telling her how it can hurt for babies when teeth come in, and so they might cry or be a little crabby sometimes. She thought about it for a while and then said,
"Mom, when I was a baby, I cried when I was getting my teeth because it hurt."
"Actually Claire, you didn't cry at all when your teeth came in, it didn't bother you."
(sigh) "Well, that doesn't surprise me."

I'd say it was a good deal.

Claire and I were playing store today. I chose to buy a lemonade and I have to say, I had a little sticker shock.

"I'll buy this lemonade."
"Okay. It costs 55."
"55 what?"
"55...thousand dollars."
"55 thousand dollars? Thats too expensive for me, I can't buy a lemonade for 55 thousand dollars."
"Hm. Well...how about three dollars?"
"I'll take it!"

55 thousand pretend dollars for a pretend lemonade? The only thing I can come up with is that it was bottled in pretend 24 karat gold bottle that was encrusted with pretend diamonds. Or maybe that the pretend lemonade came in the drink holder of a pretend Lexus, which is included in the sale.

In Bloom

Things started to bloom here a few weeks ago and it is a wonderful feeling! I love the colors and the newness of it all. Here are a few images from around the neighborhood.

Getting Nowhere.

Claire and I were in the waiting room of a doctor's office, and Claire was reading a book she brought along when another little girl came and stood next to her. I nudged Claire, reminding her to say hello.

Claire: Hi.
Girl: Hi.
Claire: My name is Claire.
Girl: My name is ... (I couldn't understand her when she said her name)
Claire: I'm reading a Dora book.
Girl: Thats not your book.
Claire: Um, I'm just reading my Dora book. (goes back to reading)
Girl: You can't keep that book, its not your book.
Claire: It says 'This book belongs to C-L-A-I-R-E, Claire'.
Girl: Thats not your book.
Claire: Um, my mom's first name is Sheila. My dad's first name is Michael. My first name is Claire and 'This book belongs to Claire'. See that line? My name is on the line. I'm just going to read this Dora book now, okay?
Girl: No, you can't keep that book.
Claire: Um, actually this is my book.
Girl: Thats not your book.
Claire: Actually, that is incorrect.

At this point the nurse calls our name, and the girl goes a little crazy about Claire taking the book with her. Claire, on the other hand, hardly even remembers it happened. I thought it was great, and tried not to laugh out loud. I kind of wish it would have gone on a little longer.

And if you couldn't tell from the conversation above, lately she has been throwing 'actually' and 'correct' and 'incorrect' into conversations, and thats pretty entertaining, too.

Warming Up.

It has been beautiful the past few days, and today has been the best so far. The skies are cloudy, but the temperatures are in the upper 50's. We didn't use our backyard a whole lot this winter, I guess we took our snowshoes and sled to more scenic places, but now that its warming up, I'm remembering how nice it is to have your own backyard. With a fence. And I think Claire is remembering, too.

Pictures from Wisconsin

Sheila and Claire are back from Wisconsin. Sounds like they had lots of fun playing in the snow, celebrating Dave's birthday and going to the Appleton Children's Museum.

Race in the Mountains

So long story short I had a couple days off and ended up driving four hours in a blizzard to be in a 25k cross country ski race even though I don't own skis and my previous history of cross country skiing was when I was 8 years old at a friends house.

Tile Hearth

Here is my latest project to prepare the basement for carpet.