Saturday, August 28, 2010

First Few Days

Boy, the time is flying, but so is my energy!!  I think I over estimated how much time it would take to paint and everything else before move-in!!

We have painted our daughter’s room (all with the wonderful help of Jennifer), the hall closet, the hallway, and the kids closets.  I have peeled about 80% of the wallpaper off in the kitchen – I HATE WALLPAPER!!!  I think I will never put it down just because of my experience taking it off.  I hate it!

I did skit trowel the kitchen – 2 of the 3 walls – and still have some wallpaper border to remove. 

Robert has scraped the living room and master bedroom ceilings of that awful popcorn.  He only have the kitchen left to scrap and he is pretty much done!

I have several more rooms to paint, but plan to wait on the paint sprayer for the majority of those rooms.

It is so much fun being out here, amazing I think my blood pressure is lower just being here.

The kids love the pond and seeing the fish and “trying” to catch them.  I am hoping they do not ask to go fishing every day, but only time will tell!  Meanwhile,. when they are not fishing they are running around somewhere in our yard – exploring and looking for animal remains.  They have many pieces of an armadillo already and are tickled to death – I am not!

Anyway, life is good.  We are loving our new home.  The process to make it “ours” is hard work, but I suspect will pay off – I will sure treasure this house once we have repainted the whole thing.  I cannot wait to get the kitchen done – I am sure it will be my favorite room!!

I will post some pics as soon as I can!!

Thanks for checking on us!

Country Life is…..

…. so tiring!

… much dirtier than I expected (the kids need at least 2 baths a day)

… so quiet (no constant noise)

…  really peaceful (nothing moves fast, just when it gets there)

… clean smelling (there is no Orange air pollution warning here)

… fun (feeding the fish after the kids go to bed, with Robert)

… hard work (painting, peeling, cleaning, scraping, etc…)

… perfect!!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

excited about what looms on the horizon

We can hardly stand it.  In another day we head to our new house to start painting and getting it all ready to move in.

We are going to be camping in the new house while we strip wall paper and re-texture the dining room and paint all the other rooms.  We are going to just stay down there a while so Robert does not have the commute any longer.  The kids will love exploring their new yard : 7.4 acres.  I know we are going to have treasures galore show up at the house. 

We are going to get the house ready for about a week and then head back up to Irving to pack this house up for the real move.

Next up is getting the fall/winter garden ready to plan.  Robert has it all mapped out on graph paper and the seeds are waiting to be planted : he is serious people!!  More than I expected!!

Then we plan to move on to planning the chicken coop.  The chickens should be here sometime next month – but they will not need the coop for several other months.

No telling where we will go from there, but check in here and we will keep everyone up to date on the latest Farm Happenings with the Cole Clan – and I can promise lots of pictures too!!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

A perfect day in Maine

I think yesterday (Thursday) was my favorite day of our trip!  It was so much fun to hang out with Betsy’s cousin Diane who lives on  a lake in Waterville Maine.  We were invited up when we talked at the family reunion last weekend.  So we took up her wonderful offer and had a perfect day!!

The kids were so excited to play on the jet skis, the tube, the kayaks, and anything else she was willing to offer up!

 

Our gracious hosts – Brian and Diane (surrounded by our kids)

 

brian and diane 

getting ready to head to the lake

 

on the way

 

ED jumping off dock

 

ED tubing

 AG and daddy

 

The water was tons of fun – the view was spectacular – it was just such a fun day!!

 

view on the way

another view

tubing prep

tubing 101  Jumping off the dock – lots of fun!!

jb jumping again

The kids on their own in a paddle boat!

kids in paddle boat 2

my little fish!

my little fish 

ready to snorkel

ready to snorkel

 

After lots of fun at the lake we were talked in to staying for supper – and that was great too!!  Yummy Chicken Enchilada soup as an appetizer, then we had an amazing grilled pork loin (melt in your mouth) with some tasty roasted potatoes!  We choked down some ice cream after that!  Really, it was just a great ending to the perfect day in Maine!!  Getting to spend time with family we did not really know, from here, was just great!!  We enjoyed Diane’s children too – Michelle and Nick – both in college and both so great to play with the kids!

Hoping this could be a Maine tradition!! 

Clamming

Yesterday (Wednesday) we trekked to town (Freeport Maine – home of LLBean) for most of the day.  We found some bargains (well, deals), we stocked up on shoes it seems for just about the whole family.  On the way, we stopped at Monsweag – an antique flea market/swap meet – and we did find some treasures there!

When we got home the tide was heading out but not there yet, so Robert got all his gear ready to go clamming.  This is an annual tradition – at least once he heads out to clam in the mud just below the house.  THe kids trailed along this time to watch and learn, and help too.

He gathered enough for everyone to enjoy them with our supper – the kids too!!  Here are the pics of the kids helping out while playing too!

A nice pot of clams!

cleaned up clams

A little girl and her papa playing on the rocks

AG and papa

walking to a different spot to see how that fares

hunting for clams 

a view of the mud flats

claiming the island 

digging deep to find the good ones!

finding clams 

the first few finds….

first clams

The kids have caught the bug – the helped a lot, but even more, they enjoyed the reward!!

More Low Tide Adventures

The boys’ favorite part of Maine is quickly becoming low tide explorations.  The kids have boots and several have water shoes that allow them to cover the rocks, islands and the mud during low tide.  They have mastered catching hermit crabs along the water line, finding crabs under the seaweed, and just overall boy-adventures!  They have explored the islands out here in the cove – ones that are normally underwater during high tide.

The come back covered in mud and in need of a shower, but the hours of fun are well worth all the mud!!

B&W boys in boots 2

 

wading in water PJ

another low tide pic 

 

boys exploring low tide 

 

 dirty little boy ED covered in mud

 

ED on the rock island

 

JB with his finds 

PJ covered in mud

 splashing in low tide

We sure are going to miss the water when we get back to reality!!

Monday, August 9, 2010

40th Anniversary

Today we celebrated Betsy and Leslie’s 40th Wedding Anniversary.  They are my in-laws.  It was so fun to celebrate that milestone with them, and to celebrate in Maine.

We started out the celebration at the Samoset Golf Course for brunch.  Our family headed out early to make a few stops and ended up at the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse before we went to eat.

Here is the view of the coast from the breakwater.  So pretty.

from breakwatersweet boys at breakwater

 

AG and mommy

We saw a scuba diver wandering around underwater – then we met her in the parking lot on our way out and heard about all the things she observed.  Fun!

scuba diver seaweed at breakwater   boys at breakwater  robert and janelle at breakwater

Then we met up with the rest of the family to have a wonderful brunch meal!  

Mimosas all around, Shirley Temples for the kids, and too much food to mention. 

Snaggle tooth with whoopie pie AG and big cupcake

AG at Samoset

  

Daddy and boys at Samoset 

After we stuffed ourselves, we went back to the house, changed clothes, and then we headed out to Owl’s Head Lighthouse – our FAVORITE lighthouse.  We love to go at low tide and explore the star fish!!

OH star fish 

PJ and starfish .PJs finds at OH

 pruple star fish 

5 star fish on rock 

AG and daddy

 

Microscopic (Almost) baby starfish – so cool to find these little one!Baby star fish

 

Closeup finds

JB and sea urchin

We then got everyone together on the porch for an annual picture of the family

Family at point  
It was a great day for all our families!

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