Red White and Blue

Nothing says 4th of July better than a beach rental on the coast of Maine. It was everything you would expect. Picturesque views, the sound of the ocean every night, a firepit to sit by at night, and kids running and playing and eating and playing and running and eating icecream and screaming and playing. Everything but sleeping (Colin Snyder being the exception to this rule who likes to roll out of bed around 10am).

We tried this a few years ago at the Sea Cliff Motel in Old Orchard Beach. It was fun with all of Shelbys college girlfriends. This year we opted not to stay in a small motel efficiency and rented a beach cottage and carriage house. It was nearly the same money but afforded us space and a place to play. It was a good move. Not all of her friends could make it. However Lisa (and her fam) and Kelly (and her fam) and a special guest appearance by Amy (and yes her family too).



View from the yard down the beach.

Someone got a new pink bathing suit that looked like a tutu. I wonder who? She loved it and proudly wore her star necklace on the 4th.


A view of the cottage and carriage house (aka garage with living space) before the yard turned into a playground.


An example of the nightly sunsets

Nighlty firepit ritual.

Nothing says relaxing like a fire. And some cocktails. Much needed after the days that seemed to start at the crack of dawn.

We hoped the kids would wear themselves to sleep. Playing just seemed to give them more energy. Right Colin Mason and Charlotte?

Hunter and Hayden joined in the fun on the 5th for the day. Everyone got along so great.

Chris with a motley crew of kids. Notice Charlotte. She is saying, "do you want a knuckle sandwich?". No way missy. Not from you!

We even had a little luau on the final night. They really got into it!

Charlotte trying to show Mason how to do the Hula dance. This picture will come back to haunt BOTH of you!


And we could not forget marvelous Maeve.

The Quinny girls. Or at least some of them. Lisa, Amy, Shelby, and Kelly.

Shelby and Lisa after a long day. Looks like they started early this night.

A trip to Old Orchard Beach would not be complete without a trip to the amusement park at the boardwalk. They were really strict with the rides. Maeve really couldnt ride on any. But she did find a puddle to splash in. Looks like a ride to me?
** footnote. Yes Maeve is fully walking. She loves to walk, non stop. She is also talking up a storm with words. "Ball, dog, cat, dadda, mamma, down, up, more, all done", and "push da buttons" are her favorite. Yes she has even strung 1 - 3 words together. Crazy. All in a span of 2 weeks.



What do you do when you get a day of rain? You hit the indoor playland to climb and play skee ball. And what do you buy with all of your skee ball tickets? Well for Charlotte it was bad teeth. She callled them Lion teeth. Not quite honey, but for now we will let you think that.

The moon rises were just incredible. The pictures do not do them justice.

Ahhh. Fire. Full moon. Clear sky. Just perfect.

Sunset looking up the beach.

Oh and we would be remiss if we didnt include a visit to Lenny the 1700 lb solid chocolate Moose. Again, rain.
A trip to Cabella's scores a new furry hat. Dad put it on Charlotte as a joke. Mom ended up liking the hat and bought it for herself. Cant want to see her in it when it snows. Crazy mom.

A random cat who hung out on the beach named Echo. Maeve and Echo had a special bond.

Echo was the most chill cat ever and LOVED kids.

Even ones that stick sandy feet in its face. Echo still nuzzled up to Maeve.


Maeve loved to be held and snuggled in close toward the end of the trip. She was exhausted from all the excitement.

Coastal Maine = Lobster. End of story.

Lobster races. The loser gets cooked. And the winner.

Ok, the winner gets a drink with a cool straw before it gets cooked. Sorry PETA.


Everyone enjoying a meal outside.




What? The ice cream man is here! Line up kids!


Maeve with her first snowcone.


Dave really loved his icecream.



Charlotte on the rocks. She was upset that she was told no more throwing or climbing on the rocks.


Then dad caved as usual and let her continue to throw the rocks. Typical.

Brendan having some fun in the sun.


Someone snuck away to practice her ballet moves on her pretend stage in her bathing suit (I mean tutu).


Position 2.5.


Maeve just is Maeve.


Enjoying some quiet time together before it ends.


The End

Losing it

Pictures speak a thousand words. You guess what Charlotte is trying to say:



Whatever she is trying to say it must be contagious. Her little sister Maeve is also trying to tell us something.



I think they are trying to say they are crazy girls and that they are going to drive us crazy. I dont know why I think that but I do. Hummm. Yeah.







One of the perks of summer vacation is well doing fun summer things. The girls all went strawberry picking with their friends. From what mom said, it wasn't that great. Most of the strawberries were half eaten on the plants. I dont know, it sure looks fun to me.







As fun as strawberry picking looks, it certainly doesn't look as fun as a day at Six Flags Great Escape in Lake George. Dad really enjoyed spending some time with the girls.



Grandpa had fun taking Charlotte on the rides:







Maeve even got brave and rode on some of the rides:

Looks familiar

Monkey see, monkey do. Maeve is a computer whiz at 13 months old. She hacked into our neighbors network and infected his system with a worm. Crazy kid. We love you.





Maeve has also learned to say Charlotte. Granted it sound much more like Sharrrrr-llll but its a start. Charlotte was so proud of her. These girls have been interacting more and more each day. Of course with the playing also comes a little fighting. Luckily they are learning to kiss and make up.

Dance Dance Revolution

You couldn't help but giggle at Charlotte's first ballet recital today. 3 year olds performing ballet is really as funny as it sounds. Even funnier is Maeve in the audience trying to dance along. We have the whole thing on video and will be posting best of clips before the end of the day tomorrow. Get ready for a chuckle.

We are proud of Charlotte for her professionalism and for dancing her little heart out. She really did a great job and we loved watching the culmination of six weeks of practice. Ballet practice is over for the year. School is done. Now what are we going to do to keep these kids occupied?

Neglected

Neglected seems to be the theme of the month. The blog has been neglected. What used to be almost daily posts has since turned into one or two posts per month. If I wasn't the one writing it I wouldn't be reading it. I'd be pretty pissed off that the posts were few and far between. And frankly I probably would have moved on to other things. With that being said, I will tell you that this will be the new and improved adventures of Marvelous Maeve and the Web. I can't promise daily posts, but I will say 2 or 3 a week will be common. Look for more posts. More pictures of the girls and more media hype. Ok, maybe not the media hype but we will be posting much more.

So since the last post and what has changed. Well for starters, Maeve is taking steps. She isn't officially walking yet, but is close. I would call it walking but in reality its only 4 feet at a time. Walking to me is walking. Not walking a little bit then dropping to the floor to crawl. She listens very well. When we tell her to walk she walks. It's way too cute.

Maeve is also quite the singer. She can't really say many words yet but she sure can sing. Her vocabulary is pretty small. Ball, Daddy, Mommy, Baloon, Thank you,what's that, Bunny, abby and ollie, and MINE MINE MINE MINE seems to be her favorite. Yes its very easy to tell she has an older sister.

She cracks us up. She is so different from her sister. Charlotte made us laugh, but Maeve. Well she just does things you wouldn't expect. She loves making a mess. Ok that is expected. She loves playing with water. Ok, also expected. She loves copying everything we do. She wants to drink out of cups. She wants to eat with a fork and knife. She just acts so grown up it makes us sick. She doesn't like being upside down. She isn't a fan of the thrill rides like Charlotte is. Charlotte loves fast. She will be the first one on a roller coaster. Maeve will get sick on a roller coaster but would be the first one in a haunted house taunting her older sister calling her a whimp. Thats just the way it is. We can tell already. Charlotte is emotional. Maeve is even keeled. Either way we are in for it as these girls continue to grow up.

With that being said, dad had a little Daddy Daughter weekend. We packed as much action into two days as we could. A trip to the Friendly Farm (where the animals are a little too friendly). Charlotte will now be traumatized by the goats that jumped up on her to get the bag full of food. Maeve, well she thought it was funny. Then lunch. Then a trip to the grocery store to pick up lobsters for dinner. A trip to get ice creams. And finally a trip to the beach. Exhausting but so rewarding having them all to myself.