Summer Vacation - 2 weeks in Rangely!

My Boy Gets a COOL new Look - Mohawk Baby!

So - who knew 8.5 hourz in a car with my Chilliez would be so much fun!! We start out for our  Vacation! 6 am

Notice all the cool stuff (bribes!) they got for the trip!

Ferry to CT

Poured rain the whole way up to ME

THIS is what they did for a good part of the trip!

Snnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

View from the deck - Rangeley Lake

Maine - The Way Life Should Be..

It just doesn't get any better!

From the Rangeley overlook

Emperor and Daddy

Empress Sassy Basking in the Sun

Lake swimming never gets old!

Looking up the hill towards the path (to the left) other house in view are vacation rentals

Kids had a blast!

Two Beautiful Empresses in the Sun

The Beach at the bottom of the hill from Nana and Papa's

Looking left at the beach

Emperor playing in the "surf" 

Empress Sassy Pants sweet smile

She wants hugs ALL the time!! I just knew she would be fierce!

Me and My 3 Silly Chilliez - All wet and sandy (I do not swim in lakes under any circumstances!)

Can I say - I am loving this a whole lot better than "Bu Yao Mama!" A lot better!

A la Familia and some (on its way) Lobster!

My Chilliez LOVE eating out.. 

Come to think of it - we ALL love to eat out!

Last look at the lake.. it was a great 2 weeks.. we fished, we swam, we ate a LOT of ice cream, we ate a LOT of Lobster (Yum!) We had a LOT of fun and spent some great times with Nana and Papa - the Chilliez LOVE Maine!

Vacation.. Had to get away....

We ARE HOME! And not a moment too soon. We had a great time. EFP really liked having the family around and the dogs cracked her up. She liked having a playmate around all the time also. The last few days though were very tough. For some reason known only to her imperial self, she decide sleep was completely superfluous!! She screamed whenever we put her to bed and having her sleep with us was a invite to play! We were NOT AMUSED! It didn't help (at all!) that I felt that her behavior was making me look bad in front of the ILs!!!!!! They were pretty good about it but still - no one wants a screaming baby on vacation... luckily (or not) her cousin Prince R. screamed for a few days... a lot. Toward the end it was clear the EFP was a bit under the weather. Indeed there was puking and it was on Yours Truly of course. So we missed the mini-reunion in New Hampshire. I am sure it pained us more than anyone else. But it was such a long drive home that we decided a stop (even for yummy Italian food and to visit our travel mates) was a bit risky. IN the end it still took us over 10 hours to make it home. Plenty of stops and crying... and EFP wasn't that happy either. LOL I believe we will try to get up that way in late September or early October so a mini-reunion may still work out. We are also going to plan a bigger reunion for our one-year anniversary in February or March. That will be fun. The last six month went so fast I am sure the next will fly as well.

Still it was relaxing and laid back, which after the year we have had was just what the social worker ordered. I should prescribe family vacations more often!

Unfortunately - I am still trying to figure out how to email me the picture of the moose I took with my phone camera - since I was foolish enough to leave the camera at home when we went moose watching and FINALLY saw a moose on this trip. In the past we have seen tons of moose but the whole Rangeley area has seen a real boom in building and we fear the moose have gone deeper into the wilderness. It remains to be seen.

We spent a lot of time in the pool. The less said about that the better I think. I do love my new shoes..... I can wear them in the pool too.....

We had a lot of good food and great times. I also regained my title as 500 Rummy Champion from Toenail which really wasn't that hard considering the current score is 3,999 wins for me and 1 for him... LOL

DH played a lot of golf, drank some beer, swam in the lake and worked out in a place where the view is unmatched, sunned, snacked, napped and lounged. All in all a great time had by the whole family.

A few holiday snaps for your viewing pleasure!

The Empress is careful with her eyesite!

She dines promptly at 6pm whether home or out!
Here she is sampling the finest pub fare at the Rangeley Inn Pub!

Yes - this is the pool we spent most of our vacation in. If you are laughing because there is a GIGANTIC LAKE 100 feet away - laugh on!! Rangeley Lake is over 100' deep in spots and COLD! (well too cold for me - DH likes to swim in it!)

If doggie can hang under the table so can EFP! Here she is with Princess Nala! Princess Leia is near and their cousin MacCallan (Actually Leia's half-sister) is also nearby!

My two fishies!! Love Love Love the Fishies!

My lovely new shoes and where I spent a lot of time... staring at the lake!

My girlie loves the noodles! She had a blast the whole time!

Yes, that is my foot in my brand new crocs!

Sunset over the lake!
It's quite a sight and the meteor shower is breathtaking from this vantage point!

Vacation... all I ever wanted.....

It has been GREAT up here this past week! The weather has been a little unpredictable but nice. A little too cool for swimming but great for taking walks, going to the swings, moose-watching and ice cream eating! EFP has been enjoying herself immensely - all her aunts and uncles have been attentive and loads of fun! We saw a giant bull moose last night - but EFP was nicely asleep so she missed it!

We are relaxing A WHOLE BUNCH!! We did great on the drive up and EFP really liked having her Mommy in the back seat for a little while.. but she slept a bit on both ends and we managed it in 9 hours. I wish the restrooms on the way were a bit more acomodating to diaper changes but whatever! We managed just fine.

We are visiting all our usual haunts especially PTF (Pine Tree Frosty) for black raspberry ice cream but we have already visited some of our other favs and got some cool croc clogs - which are SOOOO comfy and cool! I got hot pink and I am talking DH into the chartruese! LOL

Well this pic will have to do till I have better access to the net. I am currently in the public library on their wireless internet with my laptop but I don't want to hog the access and I left EFP napping with her Daddy. Last night we left her sleeping and the grans were on the monitor and what do you thknk happened???? That's right - Night Terror! We hadn't left her this whole time.. we finally sneak out to have some ice cream and go on a Moose Watch and sure enough she was doing great this whole time and then she goes and falls apart. GranD finally yelled at her to STOP! and apparently that woke her from the cycle and she stopped screaming - I think she scared the heck out of her granparents!

Still we are having fun and she is really having such fun here. I hope she doesn't mind that everyone has left over the last few days.. so now it is just us and the grans. Today we are hoping the water warms up a bit and we can have a swim.

Countdown to Road Trip!

This is the view from a nearby hill in Maine overlooking Rangeley Lake



Another view from the hill in Rangeley Maine



The backyard with gazebo


Yes - our summer vacation will actually begin tomorrow! With the arrival of Three of my favorite people (and relatives) of all time!! My fabby sister and her two chillies Miss T & Mr T! I am SOOOOOO Excited! They have not been here in a while and I miss them all the time. It is better now that we live closer but I still don't see them near enough! I know EFP will love seeing her cousins!! She and Miss T are two peas in a pod and quite a pair!

Here you see THE TERRIFIC TRIO!


After having a great weekend including a dynamite time at the Long Island Feis where I am sure Miss T is going to WOW them big time with her really big smile, pointy toes and high-stepping kicks! After we exhaust ourselves with them we will say goodbye and head North for our two-weeks in Rangeley, Maine with a possible stop in Vermont. Did I mention that the whole family will be there? My DH's whole family. What's left of my family will be here this weekend. We have been going to Rangely for the last 11 years and for many of them the whole family has been there. Lots of laughs and silliness and some well-established rituals.. like every day we swear we will not eat ice cream again. Then around 7:45 we all look at each other and say - "well, the Pine Tree Frosty will be closing in 15 minutes........guess we better get there before they close!" Then we pile into a car or two and head out - then we eat ice cream in the car while we look for Moose and other wild animals!

We are also hoping to see some of the folks we traveled with in our China trip. We will stop in New Hampshire for that. I can not wait to see the girls!! I know ours has changed so much it will be great to see how the others have grown also. We had a great group of people to travel with and it will be nice to see them again.

I am continuing on my path to figure out how to pack for this trip with out having to drag a bunch of cr-p behind the car! I would really like to be able to pack what we will need to keep her majesty happy! The Grans have gone ahead and bought a kiddie pool because the lake can be cold sometimes and we may not want to let the babies go swimming. Just the equipment alone may fill up our car.. hence the whole "now we hafta get a minivan angst." But I am really digging the idea of the power sliding doors! Do I dare get a moonroof? Hmmm.... I am also seriously considering the onboard entertainment and navigation system... well, we'll see.

I am hoping the weather is good (not too hot or cold) up there and I believe I have some shopping to do... I realized I NEED to go to Freeport ME I mean Baby NEEDS new shoes, a winter coat, some galoshes, a new coach bag, some socks/tights, a few long sleeved shirts, cute things, fall shoes and perhaps some killer hair bows! Yup, I see a side trip in our near future. I also need to do a little shopping before we go - since we decided to take a portable DVD player and I think I need to get her a life jacket. Oh Maaaan!