Saturday, July 9, 2011

4th of July on Nantucket

 
 We spent the 4th on Nantucket with Christine and Chris, at the Braunohlers.

There were sun-filled gardens.

Naked babies.

Booby traps.

And assorted adult shenanigans.

New parenthood with an amazingly calm and graceful little person named Avery, which incidentally means "King of the Elves."

 Liam had a crafty idea for the parade.

And a sweet ride, too.

The patriotism was palpable.

 Reid would also like to point out that he had a sweet ride as well.

And that he chose not to be buried alive and turned into a sand monster, like his brother.

No matter how much fun that was.

We found a number of dead squid, which was really neat.  
They make great beach toys.

And we posed for an all-baby Hawaiian shirt photo.

Thanks C&C!

North Haven Island, ME

 We visited Sara Ann and Merrick Lockwood on North Haven Island with the Kids for a few days.
  
A 2 hr drive and a 1 hr ferry ride.
Not bad! 

 The beach and Dorothy's Bench.
 Reid leads.
 Morning mist.
 A wonderful wooden camp, build over the generations by Lockwood folks.
 SEA WEED!
 STROLLING!

And mostly, a lovely quiet, filled more with the sounds of water and birds than people and motors.
 Liam had an awesome time.
 So did Reid (obscured by KQ, note the shoes)
 The coast was just fantastic.
 Sara Ann, walking down to the beach from the house.
 The troop.
 We look a couple handfuls of these beauties back with us.

And, wonder of wonders, we went "Musseling"!  Katie was the first to get her hands on some.

And Liam found some mussels too!

Daddy smugged like a snerk.

Reid dubbed it all disgusting.

Merrick captured a small snake that Tim and Reid got to play with. 

And life was awesome.

We steamed and ate the mussels, and they, too, were awesome.

And we spied on passing sailboats.

And used them shamelessly as props.

So, thank you Lockwoods~!

Honeymoon in Quebec City

Katie and I were given a most excellent gift - a trip to Quebec (as in vieux Québec, aka Quebec City), sans enfants.  So, while we were enjoying views of the Frontenac:
 Tim and Sally (known to the kids as Sal and O'Da, irrespectively) got to hang out with little dragons:
 

On the drive north we spotted moose.

And when we arrived were greeted by true classic architecture, some of which went back to the 1700s.

And, refeshingly, lots of French, everywhere.  It was lovely.  Katie speaks very excellent French and found that she could just jump right back in to it.  I did a lot of very successful listening, and said a few things too.

I love this image.

The buildings were awesome, especially this shop of antiquités.

We visited some  religious sites, such as this Anglican church (note the subtitle on this image that was done as a memorial of someone's sister: "She did what she could").

Being by ourselves was an amazing mental recharge.  We visited a waterfall, a fort, art galleries, farmers markets, night street music, the Isle d'Orleans, walked, ate good food (including crepes and lapin), had perfect café au lait, and desserts.  In this scene Katie walks along the fortress wall.  
She did what she could, you know.

Tim and the Frontenac.
He did what he could, too.

Style and color coexist with history and stone.

Beautiful living art coexists with street performers.

Fresh framboises!

This is the classic Quebecois swooping red roof.

Another little gem of a part-house.

An awesome cafe.

We hiked Mount Ste. Anne on the dernier jour, and lost our camera...

and miracles of miracles, we (Katie) found it again!

The old city is 100% European.  We'll be back!

And it was all thanks to these sweet folks,
who made it all possible.
Thank you, Sal and O'Da!