Maine Vacation 2012

The anticipated Summer Event of the Season (based on Sam's constant countdown X-marks on the calendar and howmuchtimeisleft-badgering since January!) has come and gone. But not without creating some great moments and memories! The entire stay, in fact, could not have been made possible without my Dad and his generous contribution to securing such awesome, 'cushy' digs. Thank you, Dad!! (aka, Un'klandy!)

A hot tub *AND* a lake?! Yes Please!

Kathie and i surfed online and managed to find an amazing house (we can't really call it "camp" or a "cottage" like we usually do) on Thompson Lake again, a mere 5-10 houses over from the 'camp/house' we rented last year. Thompson Lake is known for its' crystal clear waters and welcoming sandy bottom and shoreline. Once again we were spoiled by an awesome, kid-friendly water entry mere feet from our door, but this time we had a dock we could jump off. It was a running joke how deep it was at the end. I always said a good 40 feet. Ha.

Henry digs the water with Daddy!

Dad insisted on renting a pontoon boat again (this time for two days), and we all happily agreed. All the kids, who wanted to (ahem... Sam and Thom) got to drive the boat a little bit. The marina gave us a chart for rocky areas to avoid, and on one outing, it came in quite handy - - by a few feet!! Phew!

Who's gonna say THIS Mama can't multi-task?

The house accommodated all 10 of us quite comfortably; Kathie, John, Tanner and Tia, T5, and Dad. The huge multi-tiered porch was great, with just the right amount of sunshine throughout the day. Outside the living room, overlooking the lake, was a 6 person hot tub! Definitely a selling point on our trip, well-used by all.

Sam and i agreed, for MONTHS, before the trip, that we'd do a Polar Bear Swim every morning upon waking up. I gotta tell ya - we did pretty good on that promise. We jumped in by 7am five out of the seven days. Not too shabby. What, you might ask, was i doing up so early on VACATION!? Well, aside from having young boys and that whole routine, we had a skylight above our bed that made 5am look like 9:30 in the morning! Ron kept thinking of ways to rig up a cover, but we never got around to it. In the end, it was kind of refreshing to be "up and attem."

Boston!

We only made one venture away from camp, really, and that was to Boston on our anniversary, July 2, to see the ever-touring-in-Europe! band Tenacious D, headed by Jack Black and Kyle Gass. This is Jack's band from years ago, before he hit The Big Time in Hollywood.

♫ Tenacious D and the... ahem... Rize of the Fenix!!!

And as I've made it quite clear in a ridiculous way... I LOVE JACK BLACK, and Ron and I REALLY LOVE Tenacious D. Aside from a little disorientation on the streets of Boston for 40 or so minutes, the night was a ton of fun. The band rocked and Ron and i really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks once again to Kathie and Marge for helping with the boys. Kathie is my fastest learning student with All That is Hank. :-)

A glitchy lens cover makes for some fun surprise pics!

Kathie's mom Marge's hubs Dick surprised us on our last evening with his motorboat parked at our dock with a great big 4-man tube, just ready for some ridin'! The whole crew went out. Ron and i rode together (with much screaming laughter on my part!), then Tanner and Sam (my lil cautious rider), Tanner alone (wild man!) and then Tommy and I. Thomas is fearless, I've learned. Giggling and bouncing with the waves, asking to go faster! Atta boy! Ron capped off the evening with the last ride, and brought us back to shore. GREAT FUN for the last night. Thanks Dick!

That's MY boy, alright!

♥ Happy Hank! ♥

☺ Too. Much. Fun !!! ☺

The drive up and back takes about 11 hrs with frequent stops for the boys and Dad. My buddy Christa lent me her dual DVD player, which came in super handy a coupla times; the boys have now memorized "Elf." We escaped a potentially horrible accident on the ride back: a van ahead of us lost some bikes off the back rack. We narrowly avoided hitting one bike left in the road, and passed a car next to us dragging one under him, sparks a'flyin'!! This all at 65 mph. OOFAH! Yet another reason why nighttime driving is desirable: less traffic, more reaction time.



Next year, I do believe the festivities will be brought back closer to home, in the Finger Lakes Region. I'm already on the hunt online, making bookmarks for future reference...