Maiden Voyage

Well, our new impeller unit finally arrrived! A neighbor down the road works at the boat house over in Brooklin, and he was a big help to us...lending us his muffs to try out the outboard without filling a big tub of water. We eventually got our own because it was so nifty! He also gave us some oil for it. Anyway, Dad let me help put on the new impeller and we were ready to try it out. So we hooked up the hose to the muffs and it was definitely cycling the water through better. We were so thankful! Now it was time to take it out down to the town landing. So one of us called Matt and he came down to help us launch it.

We got it out and for some reason it was sputtering and not turning over. We didn't know what was wrong with it, so meanwhile we started drifting out into the harbor. Thankfully, Dad had given us some wise instructions to take oars with us in the boat...just in case. So we were able to start paddling back. The whole thing was so hilarious! When we got back Jay seemed quite confident he could get it going, so he peeled off his boots and socks and jumped on with us.

We still sputtered a little bit, and a friendly fisherman asked us if we needed an oar or needed help getting back in, but it wasn't long before the engine turned over Jay got it going.

We had taken off the cap to try to find out what could be wrong with it. It looked so redneck! We had a great time!

                                                           Big brothers are the best!

We got out in the harbor and were having so much fun that we forgot that the tide was slowly coming in on Jason's boots. When we were coming in near the land we noticed Matt was pointing to something. We were confused at first until we saw a boot floating on top of the water just a little ways from shore.

Most people use their gaff for lobstering...we use it for rescuing our shoes from floating out to sea. hahaha

Jay told us we needed new gas, because we still had the old stuff in it. So we got some new gas in it and she ran way better! We'll share some pictures of putting out our mooring in the next post.

4th of July Weekend

Our 4th of July weekend couldn't have been better. First of all, Charity and I decided that we were going to spend Friday night down at the camp. We had a thunderstorm that night, but when you plan to sleep down at the camp you never go down with the goal of being able to actually catch up on sleep. You go down with the goal of having fun and sleep goes on the back burner.

The next morning started with fog then cleared off to be a beautiful day. We always enjoy mornings at the camp, watching the sun come out and wake everything up.

Sunday night April, Pam, Charity, and I decided to have a sleep over at Gramp and Gram's. We had a great time staying up late, laughing and talking as always. "We didn't get much sleep, but we had alot of fun."

 This is the view from Gramp and Gram's back deck on the morning of the 4th. When we were little, Gramp used to tell us Clem the Clam stories. They always started the same way, "It was the most beautiful day you ever saw in all your life." Well, we definitely had a Clem the Clam morning that morning. It was gorgeous! 

                            It makes for a great place to have your devotions in the morning...sitting out on the back deck on the porch swing.

                                     Mum is always happy when she has a baby in her arms! Lots of fun!

I took this picture after we got back from water tubing out on Patten Pond. Matt got a boat earlier this year, and he got a tube so he could pull us out on the pond. It was our first experience water tubing, and we all fell off the first time, but before we left the pond we all managed to be able to have a ride without falling off. The water was really warm compared to the ocean water down at the camp. What a blast it was! Can't wait to do it again! Thanks a ton, Matt!

Pam, Charity, and I stopped for some ice cream at the store, then headed down to Stonington to watch fireworks. This is a quick picture of the sunset from the Deer Isle bridge.

You can't see this picture very well, but I had to put it in just because it was so funny. How do you expect to be able to watch the fireworks when the pier is so crowded with people? That's what your boat is for. All you have to do is get a five gallon bucket, walk up on your boat, climb up on top of the cabin, turn the bucket upside down and sit down to watch the fireworks there. I think he had a great idea!

Time to go to town meeting. They wanted to make some changes to the town dock and help accommodate some of the commercial fishermen, so we had a town meeting Thursday night to discuss it and vote on it. We voted on one other thing too, but overall, it was pretty short and to the point. We had a good turnout for it, though.

Summer Memories

Earlier this year we made a list of things that we wanted to do together this summer. We just didn't want the days to slip by and everyone just goes to work and we don't actually end up making our own memories throughout the year. So one of the things on the list was hiking. We have been trying out several new places recently. There are just so many spots that are amazing and beautiful places to go.

One day the girls and Mum met me after work and we went to hike The Great Slide Trail over on Mt. Desert Island. At first we wondered why it was called the great slide trail when it wasn't even very hard.

THEN we found out!! It was wicked steep and it's a good thing we weren't carrying much because you had to use your hands to get over some of those places.

There were rocks to climb under and rocks to squeeze between! So fun! Not for beginners or the faint of heart! It was amazing because there were some rocks that looked like they were just barely staying up on the side of the mountain, but they were solid! There was no way they were moving! It brought to mind the verse that says the Lord will hide me in the cleft of the rock. I love seeing things in creation like that. They bring new meaning to verses like that.

There's no better place for relaxation on a Sunday afternoon than down at the camp on the beach. I wanted to get a picture of this sail boat as it went by, but it was kind of far away, so I decided to take a picture through the binoculars, and this is what it looked like. Kind of pretty, I think.