Heading due north!!

 my helper getting 'packed'

 loooong car ride, but the kids did amazing!

 somebody loves her grampa mike!!  And "ms Lynn" too but she got stuck working all week.  I didn't get a single picture of her.  :(

 L L Bean headquarters

This is just a teaser post.  I am actually going to do a separate blog book of just this trip.   Blog spot would not like me uploading all 600+ pictures I took on this beautiful visit to Brian's home state.   In a nut shell, we had an absolute ball visiting the Vacation State.  :)   We were able to stay at Grammie's condo in Kennebunkport that was just wonderful.   We could spread out, be our noisy selves and we didn't completely drive Grampa Mike and Ms Lynn crazy with our loud  life 100% of the time.  And the 25 min trip in to Westbrook gave the girls chances to nap frequently making them much more agreeable.   We squeezed as much into the week long stay as we could.   A day shopping in Freeport, a visit to Gray animal farm to see my first moose,  a day at the Friarburg fair, and Portland Head and finished w/ good old touristy browsing through Kennebunkport.  The trip ended with a meal at the Maine Diner and the most amazing crabcakes and lobster sandwiches we could imagine.   A memorable time for sure and I have a ton of work to do to put the photos into a book to enjoy the photos for years to come.  But just to not leave it out of this book and blog this is a taste of a very special time. 

Fall Fun Run

 this was the cha cha slide, amazing how everyone knew it and performed it in unison

Today was Abigail's school fall fun run.  A wonderful idea to avoid those pesky wrapping paper magazines and bugging all of your family members for money.   The PTA decided to sponsor a fun run to raise money for the school.  The kids loved it.  It turned out being very much like a field day...but with a DJ.  They were blaring some Michael Jackson when I arrived. and all the students were boogieing on the track and field.  Me and Chloe quickly found our Bit and lined up to do our turn on the track.  Every so often the DJ would announce to either run backwards or run zig zag.  It was a lot of fun.  We followed Abigail's class to all the events and cheered on her and her classmates.   It was a lot of fun and I think Chloe had a ball.  My favorite moment was when they played the Cha Cha slide song and the whole field and school stopped where they were and danced along.  I took lots of pictures but still photos just didn't do it justice.  Good times. 

kids say the darndest things,

Ok I have to catch up on some of the profound hilarious things that come out of my children's mouths.    Abigail has had a plethura of brilliant comments over the past several months.  I have had a bad habit of posting them on Facebook instead of here where they will be archived for later.   So for the record we are 3ish weeks into kindergarten and she's doing really well.    She has gotten green lights every day since she started.  That's their report paper sent home each day to initial.  She has gotten a few character bricks too for good behavior.  We are proud of our little lady doing so well.   She's making good friends at school and on the bus.  When she gets off the bus at the end of the day there are 2 boys who consistently lean out the window to wave and shout good bye to her.  Sometimes she looks back.  It's pretty funny.  Her world has been changed to a very male environment but it's been good for her.  Her daddy doesn't think so but she was awful pink and pretty going into this year so they are shedding some rough and tumble dirt into her princess fairy world and it's doing some good.    
   Her sister is doing good holding down the home front.   Chloe is really sweet how she waits with us all out on the porch when the bus comes.  She waves and bounces as Abigail heads out for the day.  I'm enjoying the alone time w/ her.   It's quiet, very quiet which is taking some getting used to.   But we have fun and are glad when our motor mouth returns back to us in the afternoon.   Chloe is a whole different kind of entertaining.  Some days I will be glad when we are all potty trained and we have no more of the baby neediness that goes w/ this age.  But then other times she is so stinkin cute bounding around here in her onesie and drooly toothless smiles.   She is still so cute...trouble!  but cute. 

     I have to share a funny story Abigail said the other day.  I was looking for the lost remote control and we had moved the couch in the den to find it.   Much to my horror I found a floor full of dirt and crumbs that was just awful so Abigail and I  began to clean it.  She pecked through for toys worth keeping and I vacuumed up the rest.   After we were done she was asking me where all that dirt came from.  I explained the way life makes dirt that falls off of our plates and shoes and bodies and that's how it gets there.   After a few minutes she made a very profound declaration.  "Mommy?"  ...."yes dear"..."there are three things in this world that you can't hide from"...."really what's that?"....."You can't hide from Jesus , dirt, and your mother!".   I was so proud I about peed myself.  I love that kid!  Her wisdom at 5 yrs old is just amazing and incredibly entertaining.  I just can't wait until Chloe can start to blow our minds w/ her deep thoughts as well.    For now she's just the mischief behind the passy face that brings us smiles so far.