Recharging

So far so good in 2012! Both work and home are just where they need to be these days... and it's been a long long time since I've felt so at peace with all of the puzzle pieces. After 3 years of creating and figuring out Side Street Cafe (of course with lots of help!) I finally understand how to run it enough to delegate tasks and to trust the team that works here. For so long, I couldn't delegate because I didn't even really understand how to handle much of it myself.

I'm finding myself freed up to work on everything that always seemed to slip through the cracks before, which feels very productive. But more importantly, I am finding time for myself and my family. Days are still busy, and most weekends are still spent at work, but it is a great improvement, and I'll just leave it at that :)

Lexi and I ended up on a great trip to FL together to visit my mom and step-dad. It wasn't exactly planned to be there together, but she had some conflicts where she was visiting, and so I drove to the opposite coast to get her. It was pretty much the the most worthwhile 6 hour drive I've ever made! When I got her back to the West Coast we relaxed and had fun. I was just glad to have her there with me. We very rarely get to spend time together alone and we were both appreciative of every minute! Mom and John took us out fishing and on a few other adventures to Cabbage Key, local restaurants, movies, etc. A highlight was when wild dolphins followed our boat for about 15 minutes, jumping in our wake and literally coming within a few feet of Lex :) I even caught up with one of my best best friends Sara while down there, who I haven't seen in... are you ready for this?....7 years! It was like we hadn't missed a day, of course.

Lala, Me and Sari Sar :)

Kiera is basically ready to enroll in college and get her PhD. Just kidding! But, she is a smart little cookie (spoken like a true mother obviously.) She is chatty and funny and smart and we couldn't be more proud! Don't judge this photo: A girl deserves to splurge every once in awhile ;)

Next Up: A weekend trip to New York City with my bestie, A family trip to Costa Rica, I'm turning 30, and my mom is moving up to Maine to start her own shop and live in a 3-bedroom house with us all summer while we rent our house out and live next to the restaurant in the peak season. Oh Geeze!

Here's a shot of Kiki's 1st ever passport photo. OK OK and a few other's too just because!

1st dentist appointment and a gigantic tub!

Learning to bartend at an early age with Auntie Eeeeka!

A pretend school photo and using her tiny blue stool to climb onto the counter and get into her Halloween candy... crafty.

Springtime is for Nuggles.

Here is an outdated SPRING blog that I never got around to finishing or posting. That's just classic me right there. It's hard to believe that we are in the end of July! I don't hate everyday NEARLY as much as I did last year at this time. That's a good sign right? Maybe we are getting things figured out and more balanced? Only time will tell! I'll check back in with more up-to-date info, but for now.... here is our Spring a few months late:

"Nuggle?" is what Kiera says when she is asking for some love... some sNUGGLES! It melts my heart. I can be running 45 minutes late with unbrushed teeth and if she says "nuggle?" I basically drop everything to bolt to the couch with her. Many times she would like her sippy cup to join us in our nuggles, usually she needs her blankey as well and on occasion, she will request that anywhere between 3 to 7 baby dolls join us too.

This Spring has been very wet, but also very fun! We have two new golden retriever puppies....Baxter and Bailey. They are brother and sister and we are having fun getting to know them. They are obviously a handful and we are told on a daily basis that we are stupid/crazy/insane for taking on even more responsibility with our busy lives, but as always, we will make it work somehow! That being said, we have all agreed that we should probably draw the line here for awhile :)

Leary's Landing held it's annual Kentucky Derby Party again this year and, thanks to my sister Emily, Bar Harbor was FULL of fantastic hats. She spent hours making nearly a dozen Derby hats for just about anyone who asked if they could have one. Then... the day of the Derby, she came down with what I have named the "Bar Harbor Plague." It is a horrible illness that is spreading through our town, kicking ass and taking names. Although she didn't get to enjoy much of the party, she did make an appearance and all three of the top 3 nominated hats were her designs. Pretty darn crafty.

Probably the biggest achievement of my LIFETIME (warning, I'm being dramatic) was that we turned 3 of our properties into very cool weekly rentals. You can see them here: www.youngfamilyrentals.com . Jeff has lived in the Quarry House for 20 years and has had 3 kids along the way and multiple (not as cool as me) lady friends :) haha! Transforming that very full house into a clean, neat, and nicely decorated rental home was right up there with childbirth in difficulty (again, the drama.) But the point is that it is DONE, and cleaning out the house that thoroughly is good for the soul!

We celebrated Lexi's 8th grade graduation in June and we're all looking forward to the road that she has ahead of her. If she continues to be this respectful, fun and well rounded little individual I don't think that she will have a single problem excelling in the next 4 years :) I'm pretty proud of who she is, and I wish that I had had more to do with it, but I'm just lucky to know her from here on out.

Lexi with one of her favorite teachers - Ms. Allen

For Example....

So, you know those great adult role models from my childhood that I referred to in my last post? Well here is a perfect example :) Our dear friend Liz Hollingsworth (the woman who first taught me to use a pottery wheel and play dress up) sent us a gift recently. Everyone who I show this to is in awe and so I thought that I would share it here.....

She is a VERY talented artist. She makes one-of-a-kind masks and owns a company with her husband called Earth Spirits Masks. They are pretty amazing, and we're honored that she made one modeled after our own daughter. The resemblance between these two is uncanny to say the least. You can see for yourself! I love that their masks just exude emotion and spirit. This one will be a treasured in our family forever!

Big Kids and Little Kids

I've been realizing more and more everyday how lucky my kids are to have such great adults in their lives. I'm sure that neither Lexi or Kiera realize their great fortune, but one day they will look back and consider some of our closest adult friends a part of their extended family.

Emily and I grew up camping, partying and running around like hippy children with some of the COOLEST adults in the world. Our "Uncle" Phil taught us how to paddle a raft down Goose Creek to find clay beds and then to load the raft up with clay to take back to our campsite to make pottery. haha! He also taught us how to use a metal detector to find metal artifacts from the CIvil War, build a tree fort, build a twigloo (yes, an igloo made of twigs) and so much more. He used to sit patiently in our "music room" for hours while Emily and I put on hour-long performances which included singing, dancing, acting, unicycling and so much more.

Liz and Beth were also two of our biggest influences. Two aunts... one adopted and one real. Liz taught us the art of playing dress up and using a pottery wheel while Beth taught us how to drive stick shift at the age of 12, how to entertain, laugh whole heartedly and to be a good friend.

These were just 3 of the many many influential, kind and fantastic adults in our lives. They unknowingly helped shape us into the people that we are. Many of them are our friends today.

Between Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Babysitters, Friends and our Co-Workers, Kiera and Lexi are surrounded by a strong set of smart and fun adults. This is a giant THANK YOU to the people who have made my children a part of their own family. You treat them like your own by guiding them, laughing with them and most importantly being a good example.

Being 13 makes you a bit less interested in photo-ops, so unfortunately you won't see much of Lexi in the following collage but that doesn't make her less loved by these crazy people :) ALSO, I couldn't possibly include a photo of every great adult that we know, because we are blessed with too many. You know who you are, but here is a little sampling :)

That all being said. There is no doubt that the biggest influence in Kiera's life is (and probably always will be) having Lexi as an older sister. I don't see Kiera love anyone the way that she loves LaLa. I can't put my finger on it because she spends more time with others, but LaLa is her sister and I know from my own experience that NOTHING beats that.

Slacker Mom

I did it again. I let so much time pass between posts that I got too overwhelmed and avoided my next post like the plague. So now here we are with another 2 months of life behind us, Holidays that have been celebrated and survived, children who are 2 months older and about 3 more feet of snow on the ground. So let's just all forgive me (I'm talking to myself here) and move on :)

Here are a few changes that are just TOO good to let pass by without mentioning...

-Lexi made the honor roll last trimester and to say that we are proud is an understatement. We've watched her come a long way. Lexi got annoyed with me when she made the announcement that she had gotten all As and Bs and I was in such a state of excited shock that I blurted out "I never thought that you could do it!"... but to be honest I didn't. That sounds very harsh and mean.... but hear me out. I always knew that she was more than CAPABLE of doing it, but I didn't think that she would care enough to make it happen. No matter how smart you are, it takes effort to do your homework and care about your work. There was a big shift in her and she got focused and I think that she saw how good it felt to work hard and be rewarded. As a result of all of her hard work, we took her on a surprise trip to see Justin Bieber live in Boston with a friend and also sent her on a surprise trip to North Carolina to see her friend Laura. She has earned it. When we go into her school now, it's rare to come across a teacher who doesn't stop to tell us how well Lexi is doing and how proud they are of her. It never gets old ;)

-Kiera is at an exceptionally adorable age. She can understand almost all of what we say, but she can't talk back. She can still throw a scary tantrum with the best of 'em, but at least she can't say anything mean... yet. I've also come to realize that she has no fear or concept of danger. Totally normal for this age, but still nerve-racking. If it weren't for her sheer joy as she throws herself off of the coffee table and onto the couch (which is a foot+ away) I would think that she was on a suicide mission. I spend 100% of the time that I'm with her diving in front of table corners, open dishwashers with knives in them, cat litter boxes, chairs, bar stools, fireplaces, etc. while she runs around trying to give me a heart attack. All of that aside though, she is pretty dang cute... and she knows it, which is a recipe for trouble. She laughs a lot and she makes everyone else laugh a lot. She is constantly learning new words and ideas and skills. I know that none of this is unusual for a baby at this stage, but it's still fun to watch your own child go through it.

-Kiera is in obsessive love with 2 things..... toothbrushes and Lexi. Lexi is called "LaLa" and anytime that Kiera can even get a glimpse of her big sister is the greatest moment of her life. If she can get away from Jeff and I for even a second, she runs as fast as possible for Lexi's room to bang on the door. Also, when LaLa leaves for school in the morning, Kiera begs to be put up on the counter where she can watch her walk down the driveway to the bus stop. This is where she presses her face against the window to say repeatedly "Bye Bye La La." When the bus comes Kiera yells "BUS!" It's funny to think about how capable Kiera is of unconditional love, and you see that when she's with Lexi.

Much has happened in the past 2 months with birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and so on, but at the end of the day, we are still working hard, laughing hard and loving each other. The rest is just details. Maybe I can get back on track with this blogging. Look for my next post, which will have updates from our first real-life actual FAMILY VACATION in Florida. We have gone on family TRIPS as a 4 person fam, but we are making this one a VACA!

Dear Ollie

Dear Ollie,

It didn't take your death for us to realize how lucky we were to have known you. We knew that we were lucky all along. Even if we had somehow been oblivious to how special you were, we would have eventually realized it from the never ending comments and compliments that you received from friends and perfect strangers. When we first met your litter we immediately had our eye on you. You were our perfect match and you were meant to be with us.

In the first few weeks of having you in our lives we couldn't believe how many people, especially complete strangers, would approach us on the street to tell us how amazing you were. At first we thought that it was just because you were a puppy. OBVIOUSLY puppies are cute, and you were no exception. But it didn't stop. The attention kept coming long after you outgrew your puppy stage. Sometimes we would leave you outside of a restaurant or store and would watch dozens upon dozens of people flock to you just to give you love. When they would discover that we were your parents they would gush over your sweet demeanor and handsome looks. Your dad used to joke that your head was going to be rubbed off by the time we got back to you. We wondered to ourselves if all dogs get the same reaction that you did or if you were something special. We knew that WE loved you, but how did you stop so many people in their tracks? We were told every single day that we were lucky to have you as a dog and we never doubted it.

In your short 2 1/2 years you became very popular. You went everywhere that your dad went and saw everyone that he saw. From job sites to lumberyards, gas stations to hardware stores, the Cafe, Lexi's sports games, parties, boats and weekend getaways. When we got in the car it was rarely ever a question of whether or not you would be joining us.... you were part of our family. When the news of your death spread we were flooded with comments, calls and messages from friends who had been affected by your life. So many people missed you, loved you and couldn't believe that you were gone.

Do we wish that we had done anything differently? Of course. You may not understand this, but sometimes humans take things for granted.... even the things that we love the most. We take each other, our jobs, our homes, our food, our vehicles, opportunities and... our pets for granted. I know that you don't understand this because you appreciated every single thing in your life. You treated every meal, walk, game, boat ride, snuggle on the bed and moment with us as if it were your last. You especially never took us, your family, for granted. You were there when we needed you, patient when we didn't have time and appreciative when we did.

If we had known that you were going to leave us so soon, we probably would have fed you another bone, taken you on a long walk, let you ride in the front seat all day long, let you eat the cat food in the pantry without being yelled at, given you more room in the back of the Suburban, been grateful that you loved us enough to follow us around rather than annoyed, taken you for one more swim in the freezing ocean, let you shake your wet fur all over us... I could go on and on. The point is that while we loved you more and more every day, we still took your devotion for granted. But thank you for never doing the same to us.

We know that you had a good life, heck you had a GREAT life. What other dog spends every single day with his dad, plays in lakes and the ocean, rides on a jet skis, snowmobiles, excavators and goes tubing on a lake with a bunch of kids? You lived life to the fullest and never passed on an opportunity for fun.

Even though you may have been a little jealous of Kiera at 1st, you didn't show it. You loved her and the attention that she gave you. "Ollie" was her 1st word... even if she didn't say it perfectly. You were the reason that she learned to clap and as soon as we pulled her into bed with us every morning she would pat the bed and call your name to jump up and join us. I think that it was some kind of deal that you 2 had worked out ;)

Thank you for sleeping in bed with Lexi every night - it comforted her and she misses you more than you could know. She has had a hard time sleeping since you left. Thank you for potentially saving our lives. You went out in a blaze of glory. We know that you sensed danger near your family and ran toward that bear to protect us, but we are so sad that it cost you your life. It doesn't surprise anyone that you would do such a thing though, because you loved us more than anything. No other dog will ever compare to you in our eyes.

Thank you for sharing your amazing life and spirit with us and for reminding us how quickly we can lose our loved ones. Thank you for protecting us and for loving us unconditionally. You will always be remembered as the dog that saved our lives :)