August 7, 2013 - Part 5

 Exterior shots of the fort and grounds.

August 7, 2013 - Part 4

This post highlights some of the views from the windows and doorways of the fort.  

This is a view of the Penobscot River and the steep side of the fort, reinforced with bricks.

This relatively new bridge over the Penobscot Narrows has an observatory at the top of one of these high beams, which is the tallest such observatory in the world.

August 7, 2013 - Part 3

 The interior of the fort was fantastic - full of twists and turns and dark tunnels.

 This is one of a dozen underground food storage areas.

 Jed particularly enjoyed the jail cells.  :)

I had to use the flash on this shot because it was too dark without it, but I hated to do so - 

it was deliciously dark and creepy in real life.

August 7, 2013 - Part 2

After the train ride, we went to Fort Knox in Prospect, named for Major General Henry Knox, America's first Secretary of War, who was born in Boston but retired to Thomaston, Maine in 1796.  Maine's Fort Knox predates the more famous one in Kentucky.

The Penobscot River, which the fort was built to protect.  The British had a bad habit of using this waterway to penetrate the interior of Maine.

Fort Know is another pentagon-shaped citadel like the one we visited in Quebec earlier this summer.  This picture shows the walls surrounding the interior court, while the picture below shows the grass on the roof of the exterior walls.

August 7, 2013 - Part 1

We spent this morning riding the Downeast Scenic Railroad with a group of homeschoolers.  In addition to riding in train cars built in the early 1900s, we got to watch the engine move on the switch track from the front of the train to the back (which then became the front) for the return trip home.  We also got a glimpse of a beaver lodge and an eagle's nest, with its presumable residents gliding above it, in the wetlands area we crossed.  The highlight for the kids, though, seemed to be waving to the vehicles who had to stop for us at the road crossings.  :)

August 3, 2013

Jed's friend Grace spent the day with us to celebrate he birthday.

First on the agenda was a stop at the water park on our lake.

To Grace, it wouldn't be a celebration without a round of putt-putt.

August 1, 2013

Can you guess what this is?

It's a boy petting a dog.

See his jeans leg and shoe on the right side?

That's his hand on the dog's back.

And the dog's tongue hanging out of his mouth.  :)

Don't tell me you didn't see all that!  :D

July 5, 2013

We spent some time at the beach this morning before heading back home.  

It was scorching out there with the sun beating down on our heads, but Jed didn't seem to mind a bit.

How in the world do kids do that?? 

Although, I have to say, Jed doesn't look none too pleased about something in this pic...

think it's the weather?  :D

July 4, 2013 - Part 2

 It sure is hard to take a decent pic of a bird that won't stay still!  :)

 Old Orchard Beach Pier (naturally).

We were near enough to the area where the fireworks were being launched 

to take this fabulously blurry pic.  :)

Happy Independence Day!

July 4, 2013 - Part 1

We went to Old Orchard Beach for the 4th of July celebration.  It was hot out, and Jed was able to swim right up to the time the fireworks started.  I'm not sure who had more fun - him playing in the water, or us watching him.

  Do you see the loon in the middle of this picture??  :)

July 1, 2013

More beautiful summer flowers!

June 29, 2013

 Jed's been busy this summer, building with his Legos....

...and reading an old copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 

a gift from our Winthrop neighbor Mrs. White. 

June 22, 2013

We made our first trip this summer to Fast Eddie's in Winthrop.  We love this place because of the 50s atmosphere, and the fact that we can eat outside and play games while we wait for the food to arrive. 

This game was so fun...there were these tubular goals with several rows of horizontal tubes that you had to try to wrap the string balls around. 

We didn't make Jed ride this by himself, in case you're wondering.  :)

After dinner, we stopped by our old neighborhood to visit with the folks who are living in the house we were renting when we first moved to Maine.  They're the owners of the house, and though we were sorry to have to move when they decided to move into the house themselves (back in 2010), we still like them very much. :)  In fact, they are very much like Southerners...they actually seem to like drop-in company, and they make us feel right at home when we visit.  Afterwards we popped over to the beach behind the house to take a peek at our old stomping grounds.  Still beautiful.

June 19, 2013

Jed's friends Ben & Ryan came over today to play in the lake.  

I have no idea what was up with the pirate hat.  :)

One of the loons was flying around quite a bit, I'm assuming on a fishing expedition.