Off to Maine

Tomorrow morning we'll pile into the van and head north for Portland, Maine. If we can leave around 6:30, hopefully we'll arrive by 5:00. You never know with I-95 and Friday summer traffic. We'll hope for the best, and bring lots of DVDs and snacks.

We're headed up for our friends Carolyn and Adrian's wedding, and then a week-long vacation with the Wengles and Bowerss's on an island in the Casco Bay. We're so excited, but I think Jake is the most excited. There's a great book we read a lot called "The Story of Ferdinand" about a bull who just wants to smell the roses, but winds up fending off the Matadors. He lives in Spain. Well Jake has been telling his friends and teachers at school that he's going to Maine to meet Ferdinand. Maine, Spain just one consonant away, really. He's excited about Ferdinand and lobsters and catfish and the ocean and a pool and all sorts of fun things that may or may not actually be related to our vacation plans. But he's excited. Yesterday, we started to prepare him by saying that when we left on Friday, we'd need to get up early for a long drive. So this morning (Thursday), he stumbles into our room at 5:01, ready for the trip.

Sadie is excited, because Jake is. She's such a great combination of a little sister and her own strong personality. She looks up to Jake so much, and closely observes all his actions and emotions and mimics quite a bit. But she's definitely got a mind of her own.

Anyway, we're excited for the trip! Cousin Lyssa will be coming up with us for the weekend to help watch the kids during the wedding, and the kids are really looking forward to that. We've had a lot of fun with Lyssa this summer, so it'll be nice to see her again. Lyssa, we owe you big!

The island where we're staying is car-free. We'll take a ferry, and then have a golf cart to ride around in. There are only about 15 or 20 houses on the island, and one quickie mart which I think sells hot dogs, milk, beer and lobsters. We should be just fine.

By the way, tripdub readers, I've been trying to decide what to do about the Facebook vs. blog issue. I think the solution is to stick with tripdub and post links to tripdub on Facebook when I make posts, which will hopefully be more frequent.

Hope everyone's having a great summer. Stay tuned for photos of our lobster wrestling contests.