Waiting for Santa

Saturday night we attempted to watch the Christmas parade in Waterville, but our effort fell a little bit short. The parade had been postponed from Friday night (due to pouring rain), and Saturday was dry but still pretty chilly. It started at 6:00 so after dinner we bundled up and headed downtown.

There was a big crowd and not a lot of organization. Nobody had stopped the cars from parking along Main Street during the day so there were a lot of cars blocking the view, and it was hard for us to see anything.We had a plan to put the kids up on top of this garbage can when Santa actually arrived (see Mama's demonstration below), so they could see something.But the parade started late and the kids got bored, adding to the fact that they hadn't napped and had refused to eat much of Mama's home-cooked dinner.After waiting about an hour for a glimpse of Santa, we called it a night and headed for home. Emily wondered if maybe Santa got lost, but we reassured her that he would definitely be able to find our house on Christmas Eve.Next year we might try the Augusta parade, which we hear is a little bit easier to watch.

Candy Factory

Like many small New England towns, Waterville has an abandoned factory down by the river. This one used to make Hathaway shirts, but now it mostly has broken windows and graffiti. One part of it, however, has been blessed by redevelopment and houses some offices (Maine General), some condominiums, and one blessed candy factory, which we finally visited today.

They do all kinds of fine candies and hand-dipped chocolates, and you can watch through the window while they make them. Pretty neat!When we went in the actual store part of the candy factory, the girls were kind of overwhelmed. They didn't know where to look first, because everything looked so good.The very nice lady behind the counter (it is a family business) gave them each a free candy necklace. What a nice treat!The candy necklaces took up most of their attention, but they were also finally able to pick out a couple other things they would like to try.It didn't quite compare to Willy Wonka's, but the girls thought the candy factory was fantastic! We like to shop local and we encourage anyone in the area to try out Maynard's Chocolates at the old Hathaway plant.

Ice Biking!

If you know Mama then you know how much she loves to ride her bike. Lately she has been trying to figure out how to continue her favorite form of exercise through the winter. She experimented by installing screws in her mountain bike tires....

....which turned out looking pretty cool........and after a little bit of tweaking and experimenting, her bike was ready to go!Last night the local bicycling club had their annual ritual of ice biking at the hockey rink, so Mama figured she would give it a try. She wasn't exactly sure what to wear, but figured a helmet was necessary and a tutu was probably appropriate.When word got out that Mama would be hitting the ice, everyone wanted to come and watch. Mama was just a little bit nervous when we got to the rink (wouldn't you be?).She stepped out on the ice very carefully........and then she was off and biking! It turns out there are lots of crazy folks who enjoy this sport.Mama had a great big cheering section that included Mom, Emily, Kate, Nana, Grandma, Pop Pop, Uncle Seth, Aunt Sara, Uncle David, Ron, and the Cousins. Nobody could quite believe that she was actually biking on the ice!Mama did great--she did lots of laps and got faster and faster. She got some great pointers from the other riders about which type and length of screws to use, and how to handle the bike. She's now ready to hit the lakes!Maybe Sebastian and Lili will be next to try ice biking?It was sure great to get everyone together like this to finish off Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving

What a busy Thanksgiving! We started off the day by heading over to Grandma and Pop Pop's house for brunch.

Grandma tried out a new recipe on us: Pumpkin coffee cake. It was very good!We had a real nice morning chit-chatting with them and playing with their fun toys.In the afternoon we went to Nana's house for the big meal of the day. Mama was smart and biked over so she could pre-burn some calories, while Mom drove over with the kids. Nana, Uncle David, and his friend Ron prepared a delicious Thanksgiving meal.After dinner we were watching football and somehow the channel got changed to a figure skating show. The girls had never seen figure skating before, and (much to Mom's chagrin) they loved it!

Emily kept trying to do all the moves that the skaters were doing.She was pretty good at it too. Mom is still hoping for hockey, but it looks like we might have a little figure skater (or two) in the house instead.Here is a short video clip of Emily imitating the figure skater on tv:

After all that "skating" the girls were tuckered out, and hungry as well. Good thing we still had pumpkin and apple pie to eat!

As if all this visiting wasn't enough, when we got home we did something even crazier....Ice Biking! But that will be a story for another blog.

Today we are thankful for our health, our friends, and most of all our family. We hope that all of our blog readers also enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Taking Back the Night

Tonight Mama had to spread some hay on her strawberry plants in the garden to insulate them for the winter. It was very dark out, but surprisingly not too cold.

The girls, of course, were eager to help, so Mom found flashlights for everyone.Em and Kate started out "helping", but they quickly realized how much fun it is to play outside at night.There was a minor disagreement over who got the big black flashlight, but they managed to work it out.Swinging is more fun at night.......and so is checking on Mama's baby apple trees........and of course they had to test out the reflective snowplow markers.Then somebody got the great idea to go for a walk up in the woods....Em was very excited and wanted to be the leader, while Kate was a just a little bit scared of the woods.We walked all the way to the end of our trail and back.Yes, Mama is wearing a hard hat--but only because it has a headlight on it. It was nice for the kids to realize that nightfall doesn't mean we have to stay inside. Next time the moon comes out we plan to take another nice walk like tonight!

Belfast Fun

Today we had no plans so after breakfast we decided to head for the coast. The town of Belfast is about 45 minutes from us, and as a bonus Nana's house is on the way!

We went right to the beach when we got there, and luckily it was low tide.

Even though it was pretty cold (about 35 degrees) and a little breezy, the girls wanted to take a walk along the beach, so we did.Walking at low tide is always fun--there is so much to see! The kids wondered why there was seaweed so far up the beach, so it was a great opportunity to talk about tide cycles.We even found a waterfall........and a lot of pretty shells.Despite the cold, it turned out to be a real nice trip to the beach.Next we stopped in town at the Co-op, where we picked up snacks and a nice lunch for later.Then we headed for the real attraction: Perry's Nut House! This place has been right here on Highway 1 forever and Mama remembers coming here as a kid.It was pretty touristy on the outside........and kitschy on the inside too, just like Mama remembered it.The girls loved sitting with a moose........doing some Christmas shopping........and, of course, tasting some samples of fudge.The fudge was probably their favorite part.On the way home we capped off the trip by stopping at Nana's for lunch.What a nice unplanned day!