Suzapalooza 2011

There is something totally awesome about having your birthday feel like a national holiday- at least among your very tight-knit circle of friends and family.

We woke up in a cloud at the lake on my birthday, content to know the sun would burn it off and expecting a full day of fun ahead.

I barely had time to peel my eye lids apart before the girls were shoving presents my way.  Ella braided me a friendship anklet (all by herself) and Maya made me a lovely beaded necklace.  Sandi bought me a pair of Nike Free sneaks to help me transition to "barefoot" running and the Vibram 5 Fingers that are coming in the mail (a story for another time). I love that my three girls know me so well.

I welcomed 35 with an enthusiasm that surprised me.  I love my thirties and why should 35 be any different?  My life seriously gets better with each passing year and I am holding fast to that plan I can tell you.

One of the things I love so much about having my birthday party be an annual event is that, while it is fun to be celebrated, this party is as much for everyone else as it is for me.  I guess you can't help it when you're talking about a gorgeous August day on the beach with the world's best people.  And I can't help but love knowing that Anna says to her mom in exasperation, "Can we PLEASE leave for Suzapalooza now?" 

(Thanks again Matt for coining such an awesome name! I seriously think t-shirts are in order for next year!)

Ella and her posse:

This picture could have a thousand stories to go along with:

Sandi had a red velvet (YUM) cake made with a picture of me and my two thumbs up pose.  It was hilarious and delicious. (And, yes, that is apparently the french spelling of Suzapalooza.)

I LOVE this picture of this unknown little thumb:

I got cards full of love and appreciation, biking and running clothes, gifts of well- being, a gorgeous piece of handmade jewelry, and some really cool headbands.  I just felt so loved and so very, very grateful for my life and the people in it. Instead of a card, Patti made me two blueberry glaze pies.   Save a tree, eat a pie.  Now, that's my kind of eco-friendly motto.

The crew:

Oh, my do I ever love my big sister...

Four lucky, lucky friends:

This cake eating, present opening, love fest was followed by a rousing game of dock Frisbee (pictures courtesy of Emilie).  We were trying to establish what it is that makes jumping off a dock after a flying Frisbee so frigging appealing and all we could come up with was that it is just inherently exciting. 

Case in point:
(poor guy didn't stand a chance on this one but that didn't stop him from trying over and over and over again.  I'm pretty sure he can swim better than me.)

A little healthy competition never hurts either.

(Neither of us managed to catch it but boy did we have fun trying.)

After about 150 attempts, I did finally manage a catch.  The triumph was embarrassingly sublime.  As a former couch potato, these small athletic feats are to be noted, bragged about and documented.  What can I say?

Here's to an awesome year of being 35!

la, la, la, la, la...we go around the world

August is vacation month!!

Work is at a minimum, fun at a maximum (and packing and unpacking at a level of ridiculousness)!

Sandi finished work and has two weeks before she starts graduate school so we have taken it upon ourselves to see just how much summer fun a family of four can pack into a fortnight.

Here goes with our four day trip to North Conway, NH to visit Storyland and Santa's Village:

lots of love and laughs

In July the girls and I went to Bar Harbor to spend the day with the Hawkins family- one of the kindest and loveliest families I know, whose parents have a penchant for producing AMAZING young women. I'm considering sending the girls to the Hawkins' house for some molding and shaping when the hit about ten.

We had the most wonderful day with them.   The four of them were camping on Mount Desert Island (where Bar Harbor is) for two whole weeks!  Becca, heading into her junior year of college, has been our babysitter since Ella was 15 months old and her sister, Annie, a junior in high school, came perfectly up the ranks.  Our girls simply flourish in Becca and Annie's presence.  Ironically, Becca was a whole lot like Ella when she was young and Annie very much like Maya, apparently with the dynamic between the sisters being similar as well.  All I can say is that they are clearly kindred spirits to each of the girls.

(Sadly, I did not have my camera on this day, but here is a feel of the kind of joy the girls feel in the presence of the Hawkins' girls.  I do believe Becca and Annie had everything to do with them finding themselves in this hammock laughing their heads off.)



While Becca and Ella were combing the beach for sea shells, Ella told Becca she was getting ready to take her earrings out and that she would be getting new ones.  "But probably just one pair," she informed Becca, "because we aren't made of money you know."

We went to Sand Beach (one of my top 10 favorite locales) and then to have an idyllic supper at the Jordan Pond House overlooking Jordon Pond and the mountains.  We ate homemade popovers on the lawn and I felt the only thing missing was an oppressively tight ribbon tied under my bust and a skinny cigarette hanging from my lips to be squarely in 1930.

As we were eating this classy meal of crab cakes, seafood stuffed haddock, lobster chowder and the like, Maya started to get a little wild.  Some sort of flowering tree just above us had literally thousands of bumble bees buzzing in its midst and Maya kept taking my head and jerking it upward to see this amazing sight. 

Soon she had her hands down her pants and I found myself saying the things that only a parent of young, wild children say (other statements from this category include "Maya, the dog does NOT want her toe nails painted!").  I said, "Maya, please take your hand out of your shorts!" which was a wide open invitation, I now realize, for her to take her entertaining to a whole new level.

Allow me to insert here that when we eat with people, unless she is absolutely starving, Maya doesn't eat much.  Her main goal is to make everyone at the table laugh.  She turns up her favorite foods in favor of one good guffaw.  So the next thing I see is her little, squishy hand pop out of the pant leg of her short shorts and start waving to everyone saying in a cartoon-like voice, "HELLO EVERYBODY!"

Why I dare to take her out in public I do not know.

As if just spending the day with the Hawkins on beautiful Mount Desert Island wasn't enough, they showed us such generosity, surprising me with a year pass to Acadia National Park and treating us all to dinner.  You simply don't get better people than these.  To count them as friends is a treasure.

Some other recent silliness from Maya:
Maya believes that we have bikinis growing in the garden.  I wonder if bikini bread will taste as good as zucchini bread.

She is obsessed with bugs and when she finds them not moving she says, "that one got dead."

Maya's expressions: 
"Oh. A my.  A goodness."
"Theresiously?"  (she has the cutest little lisp.)
"No matter."  (when she wants to convey that it isn't a big deal.)

And my favorites:
"Momma, you are the best in the whole world.  And Mommy too, right?"
"You are my best girl."

vacation...unplugged and sitting back

There is something incredible about going deep into the woods (or in the case deep into the blueberry barrens) to sit by a lake for vacation.

No bills to pay, no calls or emails that must be returned, no errands, no driving. The biggest decision in the day is if we should have flatbread with fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil for lunch or supper and the only reason to know the time is to determine if you need to reapply sunscreen.

I've found that I have been very tired on vacation, likely a reflection of how hard I have been burning the candle since spring sprung 3 months ago.  At camp my eyes close (involuntarily) early and I sleep late!  We've got the kids set up to watch the ipod (totally cheating and TOTALLY worth it) when they wake and I've been sleeping until between 7 and 8 am.  That hasn't happened, honestly, since we HAD kids.

I've run a little, done lots of yoga, unfortunately battled a GI bug, read a book and half ("Born to Run"- oh, oh, a MUST read!), gone swimming every day even in the rain, and spent lounging hours in the sun with Sandi, her family, my mom, the Smith's and Manhart's.  Everybody loves Schoodic.  It is a magnet that draws all the best people together.

We've also been swimming, turtle hunting, kayaking, eating delicious food, playing games, and watching Ella turn into a fish right before our eyes.

Sandi's mom (owner and keeper of this lovely camp) and my mom:

One night we had Sandi and I and the girls, Sandi's sister Kristi and her two kids, Patti and my mom,   oh, and three dogs in a close quarters camp.  It was kind of cool that all our mother's were there, though.

The many faces of Schoodic:

And can I just say the sun hasn't been the only thing smokin' up the beach?

We've been putting all those muscles to the test by making Sandi do drills like catching frisbees whilst jumping off the dock.

(If you think our kids look like they are sporting a lot of bandages you would be correct.  They are obsessed with Koban, that self-sticking bandage stuff that comes in such cool colors it is hard to resist.  Most of these "wraps" as Maya calls them are covering small scrapes and even bug bites.)

Dressed for some dock time....

Kristi caught a frog and then had to release it because the kids couldn't leave it alone.   She found a spot under a nearby dock for it.  Soon after the kids realized there was also a giant frog under there to keep the little guy company.  Except that next time we checked on them, we saw just the flipper of the little frog sticking out of the big frog's murderous mouth.  Kristi, a devoted animal lover, was riddled with guilt.

Blue-eyed baby Beckett.  Now you see him...

now you don't.

There have been many sports as well, from daredevil lifejacketless skiff paddling drills,

to dock-jumping tennis ball catching,

and some good 'ol baseball,

We are soaking up every second.

Favorite picture so far:

We actually have 2 more days of vacation. It rained so hard yesterday that we drove to the Carver's (35 minutes away) to dry wet clothes, get refueled on lobster and get a break from the damp. I think more rain is expected today but then sunshine tomorrow and no one can resist a sunny day at Schoodic!  We are so grateful for the use of this amazing place.

Ella fell asleep one night and said, "Schoodic is my favorite place in the whole world."