How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Well, the good news is that I can talk about how I spent my summer vacation because I actually had one. We've had a surprisingly good summer with a kick off trip to Mexico. Who knew that a return trip to Mexico would be on next year's wish list. We bookended the June trip to Mexico with an August trip to Maine.

We drove home Sunday from our annual family trip to an island in the Casco Bay, where for the second year family was defined as our wonderful dog Miss Murray, Kate, her friend Lile, Grandma Dot, Arnie and me. The weather was a little iffy at the beginning but then turned gorgeous which in Maine terms means hot enough to go without a sweater but not so hot, for me anyway, that I feel compelled to brave the incredibly cold water.

Our car trip up took a record breaking 5 hours and had plenty of time for an unrestrained shopping spree through Whole Foods which just sets up the entire vacation mood for me. I play house and mostly do all the cooking. Then onto the Standard Bakery which is a devine local bakery run by aggressive vegan types who seem to really resent their customers plelasure in their delectable brioche bread and gingerbread cakes. At this point we stagger gratefully onto the Casco Bay Line for the last leg of our journey. The boat makes stops at Cliff Island, Diamond Head and Long island before it docks at Chebeague and we pile into the Island Taxi. Home please.

And suddenly we are there with Miss Murray running around the grass looking for the perfect place to pee.

Spaghetti Bolognese is always the de rigeur first dinner and this year we had a real reason to light a fire. No flies at all but plenty of September-like weather. The next day we went out to get our bikes which on this island means a trip to the Byccyle Man who lends bikes to one and all but you have to be very, very polite and also manage to get there when he is open. One year we had to make several trips just to get our hands on bikes which is our only transportation. The girls love these bikes and from the moment that they have a bike, they are gone. It's a wonderfully independent moment for them and I feel super safe with their biking all over the island. Because this a super small island, everybody knows what is going on and we heard about sightings of the girls every day which makes me feel very secure.

Our big discovery was the outdoor shower. Oh my gosh. The plumbing would only allow a very stingy trickle of water in the one shower so when I siddled up to the outdoor shower and thought that I would just quietly try the water...I was stunned when it gushed out immediately with full force and plenty of hot water. So I jumped in. And was ebullient when I jumped out. The girls and Arnie all snickered about my new obsession until they too tried it. Lets hear it for outdoor showers.

And my second BIG discovery was that 5 people are quite capable of eating 15 small gingerbread cakes in 5 days.

Need I say more?