It has been a while...

Well as usual our combined Fairpoint and People PC internet connection has made it so we cannot upload pictures so I am going to post this and hope that I can add some from my mom's house or something...As you can probably see I got the pictures on...it took me 6 hours!!!

Since summer is finally here we are generally outside most of the daylight hours (and sometimes in the evening too at our fire pit).

We have done a lot of bike riding! We go to the Bangor Forest just about every day but we have tried some other trails too. At L.L. Bean we found a bike rack that will hold 3 of our bikes (for only $35, it was on a big sale!) I am so happy to have a new bike rack...our old one only held 2 and would scratch our bikes when we put them on. I really don't like it when my bike gets scratched!

One Saturday we went to Sandy Point Beach. The water was freezing cold so Sam and I didn't go in but the kids had a great time playing in the water!

After the beach we went to walk around Millinocket. We stopped at the local grocery store and picked up some picnic supplies. We had our picnic and than did some walking.

The next day was very hot...probably a much better day to go to the beach. However we decided to put up our pool instead. It seems like such a simple job to put up the pool. Well Sam decided that we needed to make the ground level. A good idea but a lot of work. Every other year we have just set the pool up and dealt with it being a little lopsided. We have a beautiful yard that I love but there isn't a flat spot on the entire acer!

Sam, Otto, Logan (the dog) and I went out in the canoe on one of the girls last days of school. We need to get some bigger life jackets before we can all go out in it again. All 3 kids needed bigger ones this year!

During swimming lessons Otto hated his life jacket. Now he has found he can swim much better with it on. We would like him to learn how to swim without it so we have him spend at least 10 minutes in the pool without it before he can put it on.








He and Lexie both love to showoff how well they can go underwater!






Also how big of a splash they can make!








-R.I.P.

Otto's Birthday-day (6/2, Monday)

To celebrate Otto's Birthday-day (the actual day of his birthday) we picked up an Ice Cream cake at Dairy Queen. We actually went to Baskin Robbins to pick one out, but we were overwhelmed by their selection of flavors, and lack of good flavors. Who wants an ice cream cake made with Praline flavored ice cream? Anyways, we had the cake and then went to Ski-Rack to try and find a piece for Otto's "one wheeled bike." When we got his new bike on Saturday, it didn't have the hitch part that would hook to my bike. I tried to fabricate one out of stuff that I had in the garage, but I couldn't make anything that I felt was safe enough for him to drive. I had found the part online for around $30, but I didn't want to spend that much and I didn't want to have to wait for it to ship. We went to Ski-Rack and Jeremiah was very helpful in finding us the part we needed for Otto's bike. He found it in a box of spare parts that was lying around out back. He fitted the part for us and only charged us $5 for the whole ordeal. I really enjoy dealing with Ski-Rack, Rachel and I got our bikes there. The next time that I buy a bike I am definitely going buy it at Ski-Rack. I keep telling Rachel that I need a road bike, but she tells me that my bike goes down the road just fine. After we got Otto's bike going we went out to the Bangor Forest to ride. Otto had a great time riding his new bike. He kept telling me to ride over the dirt piles with him. We did a couple, but it is a lot more difficult with a whole other bike attached. Near the end of our ride Otto was copying me and riding standing up, he is sure that he can do anything!

Otto's First Night in a Twin Bed

I have done really poorly at writing the blog this week. Here it is Saturday and I haven't posted all week... To rectify the situation I will just post several entries tonight to catch up with what we did this week.

Sunday night was Otto's first night sleeping in a twin sized bed. Rachel spent the time that I was at Black Belt class trying to clean out his room to make space for the mattress. When I got home, I took apart his youth bed and help her clean some more. Otto was very excited to have a new bed with new Spiderman sheets. However, I think that every night since then he has been sleeping with all of his Monster Trucks next to him in bed. Some kids sleep with stuffed animals, Otto sleeps with Monster Trucks.

Otto's Birthday Party

So today was Otto's birthday party. I cannot believe that he is going to be 4 years old tomorrow (probably today by time I actually post this). This morning we got up and were going to go to iparty and get balloons for the party but they don't open until 10 and the party was at 10. We ended going to the grocery store to get some. The lady at the grocery store took forever blowing up the balloons so I had Sam leave and go pick up the cake that Pam (Farley) Ortel made for us...she is the best cake maker ever!




After Sam came back and picked us up at the grocery store we headed to Blackbeard's for the party.







After the indoor activities we went out to do the go-karts. I drove a go-kart for my very first time EVER!







DRIFTING





Once we finished with the go-karts it was off to a game of mini-golf. The girls went one way with nana, papa & Grace.






Sam, Otto, Ken, Robbie, Mike & I went the other way.




Angela, Michael and Kaley waved to us from another hole.





Some pictures of Otto and Robbie playing mini-golf together









The batting cage came after mini-golf. Who knew you needed to get so dressed up for the batting cage?







After much fun we went home to play with all of Otto's new stuff. I washed his new Pottery Barn Spiderman sheets that grandma & grandpa got Otto. Thanks to the new sheets Otto was moved out of his toddler bed today and into a twin size bed. It is about time he was too big for the toddler bed! Soon we will be re-doing his room. I am hoping it gets done by the end of the summer...new carpets, 2 new windows, new walls, the works!

-R.I.P.