July & August

July and August were packed with lots of summer fun!!

Corinne spent a week at the Maine Youth Fishing Game Association summer camp and loved it. She stayed with Grammy Robin for the first few days and then the last two nights were camping overnight there. She had fun with archery, shooting .22 rifles, fishing, learning how to start a fire, and how to flip over a capsized canoe. She had fun doing a ropes course as well. She made some great friends and enjoyed being outdoors.

Ayla went to LL Bean's day camp the same week Corinne was gone. She had a blast paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking and playing games. Her favorite was paddle boarding, although she said since all the water sports were in the ocean, it was a little cold!

Corinne also went to a writing camp, which obviously was absolutely PERFECT for her. Her only complaint was that it was too short. It was great for her to be surrounded by other young writers who are as passionate as her about writing. She loved her teachers and promised to keep in touch and publish her writing. She's been sharing a few pieces each night with Trevor and I and we are blown away. She writes with vivid description and has an amazing vocabulary. We've finally convinced her to start typing some of what she's written into google docs so that, one, she and anyone else can read it (handwriting isn't her strong suit) and, two she can share it with anyone who has an email address. She has been really excited to share her writing with us and it's been a great topic of discussion each night before bed.

In between camps we had a super action-packed week with Grandma Connie. We took her to Monkey-C-Monkey-Do for some fun on a ropes course and zip lines. We all had a lot of fun and definitely want to go back again. We also went to a water park and enjoyed the wave pool and water slides. We spent a day at the beach and enjoyed silly games in the pool. The week went by way too fast and we were sad to see her go, but glad that she was able to come for a full week and was always happy and excited to take on any adventure we threw at her!

Corinne has started guitar lessons with a local music teacher and is already pretty awesome. Her teacher is impressed by her ability and willingness to work hard. She practiced one day for 8 hours, no joke, only coming out to eat lunch. This is a good example of how being stubborn can be a positive! ;)

All three girls took swim lessons for two weeks. Corinne passed Level 3 Stroke Development and is at Level 4 Stroke Improvement. Ayla is on Level 3 and Sophie is on Level 1 Introduction to Water. Ayla was happy to participate, while Corinne was a little bored because her skill level was above most of the other kids. Sophie shed a few tears the first day, but tried everything the instructors asked of her, despite her trepidation.

I spent two days at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute at a science workshop for teachers. My partner teacher went as well and it was fun to mix up the summer routine with grown ups! I learned a lot and it was an added bonus that I even got paid to go!

We enjoyed a weekend with family at the beginning of August. The kids liked spending the night with Grampy Tim and Grammy Kelly while Trevor and I went to my cousin, Lindsay's wedding. It was nice for Trevor and I to have a night out and the kids were able to have fun with grandparents.

Trevor had a week of vacation near the end of August and we loved having him home with us! We spent the first few days getting things done around the house. We went to Sugarloaf and stayed at my brother's cabin for three days. We hiked to a waterfall, went on a few bike rides, (YES, Corinne learned how to ride a bike!!!!), and played in the river. Ayla and Trevor also went mountain biking and Ayla loved being able to use Corinne's mountain bike with gears.

Ayla was super excited to get a mountain bike for her birthday from Trevor and I. After our trip to Sugarloaf we decided her one speed wasn't cutting it and found a great deal on a nice bike. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, so she'll open her presents from grandparents then. She is looking forward to spending the day at a friends house, while I'm at school. She is having five girls over for a sleepover to celebrate her birthday the first weekend in September. They're planning to tent out in the backyard, so we'll see how much sleep they get.

Trevor, Jeremy and I completed the Tough Mudder, 10 mile, obstacle course along with other members of our gym. We had a ton of fun! The obstacles were awesome and we definitely got muddy. My personal favorite was the straight down water slide with fire at the bottom that you were catapulted through. Trevor enjoyed the human pyramid obstacle where we worked together to get over a high slanted wall. Jeremy found laughing at people falling face first into the mud after being shocked absolutely hysterical and commented that he could have watched them all day. All in all, we had a blast and would definitely do it again. A huge shout out to Emily Cote, who stepped up to the plate to watch three of our four children, when our babysitter cancelled the day before because of a family emergency. We couldn't have done the race with out her!

Lincoln didn't do swim lessons or go to any summer camps, but he was busy! He scoots around like nobody's business and keeps us all entertained with his hysterical faces and his continued fascination with playing the guitar and "singing". He can walk if he's pushing something in front of him, but we're thinking any day he'll be doing it on his own. It's hard to believe he's a year and a half in a few weeks.

Sophie is definitely the most excited for school to start next week. She has a good friend that she's played with several times this summer in her class, so I think that has helped with her excitement! Corinne and Ayla are neutral about summer ending and school starting. I'm always excited for school to start and get back into a routine.