Time Blast

I'm on winter break from medical school, so time to relax and reflect, or as laura calls it, time to start pulling my weight (laura would like to clarify that this is a peter joke, and not a reflection of how she actually views our relationship.  It is, instead, a more accurate description of my guilt for not helping to clean and cook more during the semester).
Back in september, laura and sienna went to maine.  Given that you have to pay for a plane ticket for kids older than 2, we knew we had to get in as much travelling as possible before that mark. I'd say we've done a pretty good job thus far: since she was born, we've gone (from bozeman) to denver, to montrose, to montrose, to kauai, to seattle, to montrose, to maine, to seattle, to montrose. we've also driven to jackson holes, to city of rocks, to madison/chicago, and countless times to boulder mt.  This is not including daddy's travels to reno, new england, portland or.  In conclusion, we travel way too much. it's exhausting.  sienna thinks so too. last night, when we got back from montrose christmas travels, she slept for 15 hrs straight, without any wake ups.  !!!  ...  luckily, on this past trip, she actually did great.  was pretty playful and flexible, and unbelievably slept on the last leg of the trip in mama's arms (hasn't done that in about a year, under any circumstances.  compare to our seattle trip where she kept starting to nod off, then waking up, shaking it off, and proceeding to scream until the next time she nods off.  two hours of screaming baby in an airplane sucks).  We have come to learn that sienna has my sleeping abilities, ie not sleep unless fully horizontal, at a 45 degree angle on my belly with a cuddle pillow under my shoulder.  vs laura, who falls asleep anytime anywhere, and alway has.  this makes for some uninteresting car/plane rides, and by uninteresting I mean awful.  given that she doesn't travel well, I can't believe we've travelled as much as we have.  I guess it's just part of who we are at this point.
anyway, I'm off topic...Maine.  they had a great trip, seeing all the wonderful old friends of yore. and enjoying some tai qi on vinalhaven. not bad. 

here's the maine gang, and I have to say that it makes me sad that
sienna won't grow up with this fine bunch of kids.  It's funny that
kids are just like adults: some are nice, and some are jerks.  These
kids aren't jerks, and make excellent playmates.  here in bozeman,
there are a few families with really nice kids who you'd want sienna
to play with, and then there are some that aren't nice, and as a parent
you have mixed feelings about them playing together. I feel like
people usually only talk about this in the context of teenage friends,
but it's just as apparent at this age.  Luckily, I think sienna tends
to gravitate towards nice kids naturally without our urging, and knows
to generally stay away from jerks because, well, they're jerks.  Anyway,
above is: Jude, Lucy, Abel, Isaac, Hazel (w teresa), avery, sienna. Since
this picture was taken, Micah has joined the ranks.  When we left maine,
there was only lucy and isaac.  turns out things change quickly.

On the ferry boat to vinalhaven.

Back when it was warm, and she sported the
emma watson post-hermione haircut.

Squeek in between barfing sessions.  because of the
winding roads in maine, she got car sick and puked
a number of times.  Sorry bree for your car!!!

carrying on a strong BOC tradition of having your
kids run around the schwartz and draw on nautical charts.

w da woodruffs (minus seamus), w maeve, lucretia, us, daere, michael, and finnegan.
If you look real close, you can see bree and laura still on the wall
above lucretia's r shoulder, and me in a raft after swimming the 3 sisters rapid on the
kennebec while training some younger guides.

Dinner at the woodruffs, with john and marielynn and maya and sean too

w breezy on a breezy night

did I mention it was breezy. This was near
where the yurt was, where you could really
hear the ocean winds blowing off the water.
before we were in the yurt, our tents blew away
twice, with all our belongings scattered
across the field/woods.  sienna loves the wind.

so people around here don't know anything about maine.  most people consider it "out east," the same way people out there consider montana "out west."  when you talk to the locals in either place, they talk about their hidden treasure that no one understands and are trying to exploit/ruin (more so in montana, probably because mainers all ready experienced what montanans are now feeling, though it was 150 years ago).  Invariably, I get asked, "what's maine like?"  and "what's bowdoin?" Like montana, it's hard for me to answer the question without confronting stereotypes and elucidating my qualifications.  And in the end, I feel like I always get it wrong.  but no matter how wrong I get it, I still have my own romanticized imagery of the place, and the many smiling faces that accompany it.  In the end, what do we really know of a place other than the personal experiences we've chosen to highlight?  Laura and Sienna's trip summarize my take on maine fairly well:

Humble cedar shingled homes atop compact white granite

Tranquil expanses of water set within a quiet moment

The homes take after the trees: humble, understated, and intimate

an emphasis on what's important

look at all those mugs...and so accessible

A place to gather.

Anyway, that's it.  I'll post some videos next time. by the way, everything above is copyrighted and I'll expect a call from the maine department of tourism promptly.