Last year, due to some forces beyond my control, we weren’t able to go to the Topsfield Fair. It’s the longest-running county fair in the country, and it’s a lot of fun. There’s so much to do and see – I have so many wonderful memories of going to the fair when I was a kid, and now the girls have memories of the fair from attending every year we lived in Ipswich.

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  This year was wonderful – we started the day just like every year, with a trip on the ferris wheel. From the ferris wheel you can see all of the midway spread out before you, before you explore the Fair.

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  The other reason to go on the ferris wheel is to see the foliage – all the trees spread out with their beautiful colors. It’s a gorgeous sight that I look forward to every year.

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  The girls like looking at the Fair from the top of the Ferris wheel, but seem to prefer the fun of the ride to the view of the foliage.

• Looking at the fair is only the first step at the fair – there’s so much more!

There are all the animals to look at, feed, and pet, the giant pumpkin, and all the rides to try.

Plus the food! Maple cotton candy, caramel apples, fudge, maple sugar candies, chocolate covered apples, fresh squeezed lemonade, and so much more. If only we didn’t have to wait until next October for the next time!

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The girls are now in school, which is a monumental change. Another huge change that happened around the same time is that they can now have dairy. After 11 years of being comfortably moored in one place, we’ve starting a new journey, into waters that we haven’t charted or tested yet.

We’re zooming away from where we had been, like a motor boat speeding out of the harbor. A part of me doesn’t quite believe we can have dairy, and many of our favorite foods are still naturally dairy-free. However, now there are these new found treats – squeezable yogurt! Milk boxes! String cheese! Cheese popcorn! And “why, Mama, why won’t you buy me insert name of overly-processed, artificial edible food-like substance?” To which I reply that just because they can eat something, it doesn’t mean they will. Thankfully, many of the popular snack treats have natural or organic counterparts. I’m happy to inform my daughters, with a big smile on my face, that you can eat fruit in a roll without artificial colors, and the same is true for squeezable yogurt…

Is it the same? No. Do my kids complain about still being “different”? Yup. But you pick your battles, and keeping their bodies fueled with healthy foods is one of the battles I’m willing to fight. They don’t need artificial hormones, artificial colors, or overly-processed foods to be healthy or happy. If they want to be like the other kids, we’ll try to get something similar, or they can just start a new trend!

I remember reading a Celiac Disease book that told a story of a young man with Celiac who went to college. Rather than bemoaning that he couldn’t eat pizza or drink beer, he started a new group of wine-drinking cheese-eaters, and talked about how mature they all were. As with everything in life, it’s all in how you spin it!

So as we start to map out these new waters, we still have our map from where we have been, and we are finding that there’s a lot of overlap with where we are now. We just have some new things to add to our maps as well – and some of these waters are wonderful. (I’m still hoping we end up at a chocolate waterfall, myself…)

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LG’s school is across the street from our house, and about a 5-10 minute walk from a local beach. Her teacher is truly wonderful, and planned a spontaneous trip to the beach. We packed up shovels & pails & tubs, and went down to collect shells and build sand castles!

We worked on matching skills (collecting 10 each of blue mussel, littorina, and lady slipper shells), and then worked on the physics of molecular bonding and surface tension by making sand castles. Apparently, as we determine how wet the sand needs to be to make the sand castle work, we are making many more connections than we realize consciously.

The class was divided into groups of three, and they set to work on their castles. Some kids worked on their own, some worked together with the group. It was very interesting to see how they worked, and the questions the teacher asked to help their thinking.

I’ve really enjoyed both field trips I’ve been on, and I’m loving learning the names and personalities of the other kids in LG’s class. They are all such sweet children, the teachers guide them gently, and the classroom is a very pleasant, welcoming place. I know I’ll be working soon, so I’m enjoying the field trips I can attend now!

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Avast me hearties, we be learnin’ new lingo! We changed Facebook’s language to English (Pirate), learned small talk in Pirate, then had a second lesson about violent acts and threats, and listened to the TLAPD theme song.

Nobody wanted to walk the plank or swab the deck. Arrrr! And BG climbed the riggin’ to belay an order of keel-haulin’. She not be inclined to accede to me demands, arrr!

(quick tip – if you want to find out which of your friends has maintained a good sense of humor, start talking to them in Pirate on TLAPD and see how they respond. I was very happily surprised by my awesome friends!)

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Today was my girls’ first day of school. But it’s not just their first day for this school year, but their first day ever. They’ve been homeschooled until now, but with the separation and me looking for work, they needed to go to school this year. It was a very difficult decision to make, and one that has been the cause of much anxiety and much excitement for our family.

My parents were nice enough to take the girls school supply shopping one at a time. (I’m amazed at these lists – they’re so long! I know we never had to bring that much in when I was a kid.) When BG was out shopping, they ran into a friend I’ve known since preschool. She was shopping with her daughter, and when BG said she was going “back to school shopping”, my friend said, “but it’s ‘to school shopping’, since you’ve never been before!” We’ve been giggling about that – yes, today was “to school day”, not back to school day!

Yesterday’s Labor Day labor was to pack up the backpacks with all the stuff from the list of school supplies given by their teachers, lay out clothes for the first day, pack lunches, and generally get ready. Plus the older two needed to finish their summer reading, BG had to write a short book review, and both MG and LG wanted their hair in rollers so they’d have a curl. Finally, they needed to calm down enough to sleep. Phew!

This morning I woke up a few minutes later than I had planned (someone turned the volume off on my alarm clock!), so the girls were dressed when I walked up to get their breakfasts ready. After breakfast they got washed up, and then it was time to go!

Quick hugs and kisses with the older girls, and their Vovo took them to their schools. Why yes, they do start at the same time, and they are about 5 min apart… Everyone can be in two places at once, right? Well, I needed to be in 3 places at once, because LG’s school starts 5 min after BG & MG. I wonder how people do the first day with only 1 parent. Amelia’s school is across the street, so I can easily walk her over. Her teacher is lovely, and is fine with parents being in class for the first 15 min, but when the music starts, it’s time for parents to go.

The older girls quickly found friends they knew from other places, and LG was feeling OK about school when I left. I’m very curious what their reactions will be this afternoon when they are dismissed! Right now, I’m worried about them. I am certain they will be fine in time, but I worry about how long it will take for them to be comfortable being themselves in class.

I’ve been battling with a bug that’s had me dizzy, nauseated, headachy, and with a low grade fever. So, today is resting, recuperating, & resumé reworking day. There’s been a lot of excitement lately, so here’s hoping for a very peaceful day!

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My daughters have been dairy free since birth. All three of them reacted negatively to the introduction of dairy into their diet, and have had GI trouble when they have accidentally ingested some dairy. So we’ve been avoiding dairy for the girls for 11 years, and I’ve been off dairy (with a few accidents) for 6 years.

However, since my girls will be ack! starting school soon, it was important to see if they have outgrown their dairy intolerance. I know what’s happened in the past, but had no way of knowing what would happen this time. We leaped into the unknown last weekend with a week-long trial of organic lactose-free milk. I was incredibly nervous and anxious and worried, trying all three kids on cow’s milk after spending so much time making dairy-free recipes and researching how to live without milk, it just felt wrong. But I worked past that feeling, and after a week, we’ve had no reactions!

Tonight we started with organic milk. As with before, I have no idea what to expect from this leap into the unknown. Either way, we’ll know what to do for this school year – either they are lactose intolerant or not, but at least we can worry less about dairy.

I wish, when making leaps into the unknown, that I could be as fearless as the girls are when they leap into a pool!

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I was lucky enough to grow up in a town with a lot of boats. I learned to sail long before I learned to drive (and I greatly prefer sailing to driving, even now!). I sailed every summer for ages, and then stopped for a while due to the logistics of mothering little kids.

This summer, since I’m living in my hometown with my parents, I have been able to go back out on the boat. Sadly, due to weather, I’ve only been able to sail once, but Oh! How wonderful! It felt like all the worries and anxieties I had were blown out of my mind with the breeze. We filled the sails, sailed past the island where the girls go to camp, and just enjoyed the day.

This past Saturday I was able to go out on the boat just to be on the water and enjoy the gorgeous sea breezes. We relaxed, enjoyed the gentle rocking of the boat, and then after it got very hot it was time to jump in off the side (tip: take your glasses off BEFORE going in the water! I barely managed to rescue mine). The water was much warmer than I expected, but still much chillier than the pools!

As I spend time with people who have never been on a private boat, nor swam in the ocean, I realize how special my childhood was. Which makes me so glad the girls are able to have some of those same benefits. Plus, shouldn’t we all have days where we can honestly smile this big? Everyone has something that makes them very happy, and I’m treasuring all the days I have around boats!

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You go to camp on an island, taking a boat each day to and from camp.

One set of grandparents take you sailing.

Your other set of grandparents have a motor boat.

On a visit with those grandparents, you are allowed to drive the motor boat.

Your grandfather has a few lobster traps, and you get to go lobster fishing.

You are also allowed to catch the lobster buoy, and help bring up the lobster trap!

Then!

There are actually lobsters in 2/3 of the traps!

And then, magic of all magic, 1 of the 10 lobsters in the traps is a keeper -big enough to be legal to bring home!

So now, you can imagine your camp lunch contains a bit of lobster salad from that keeper lobster.

Yum!

(Check out all the pictures in this photo set on flickr)

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My daughters are finishing their second full weeks of camp today. The girls have two more weeks of camp left, the lucky ducks! All three are attending camps my younger brother and I attended as well. It’s a bit odd to be seeing your children doing things you did as a child. And while some things have changed a lot in the intervening years, a lot has not.

LG is attending Small Fry Camp, which is for the little kiddos in the K-1 grades. She’s been so excited to go, and even insisted on staying for the extended day program so she could have more fun with her friends! She’s ended up with a wonderful counselor for this first session, and we’re hoping her counselor for next session is just as wonderful!

Small Fry camp is at our new YMCA, when I was a kid it was at the old facility, and we would sit on the front steps and sing to “wake up the bank”. Funnily, my mom and I both remember the song, and I’m disappointed they don’t sing it any more. We taught it to LG anyhow, though.

We are from Small Fry.
Small Fry are we.
We never lose our pep-ability!
rah rah rah
We are the best kids
We are the best camp
We are the kids from Small Fry Camp!

Meanwhile, BG and MG have gone out to Children’s Island, which is an island off the coast of our town that has a camp on it, and that’s all it has. It’s a lovely small island with a few buildings (Sailing lodge, Arts & Crafts, Main Lodge, a small building near the Pool, and a couple other small shed-type-things. They get on a boat early in the morning, and come home in the evening, spending all day (practically) rain or shine on the Island.

Right now, one of BG’s favorite things is to swim in the ocean in the rain. MG loves swimming and kayaking, and they both love Rangers, which is a nature focused type program. They aren’t as big on sailing as I was when I was a kid, but I’m sure we’ll get them hooked. At least they are learning the knots they’ll need as sailors in Rangers! MG’s big joy yesterday was that she found a buoy that had washed up in Pirate’s Cove, and then brought it home to decorate her room!

I spent 10 years on Children’s Island – from 6 to 16. I was a camper, a sailor (we had a separate sailing camp then, now sailing is integrated into the main camp), and a CIT. My brother was out there for years as well, and he ended up being a counselor for a while, too. I loved my time at camp, and looked forward to going to camp every summer. I remember one year being disappointed my father was taking us to England because it meant I would miss camp. It’s so wonderful to see the girls following in my footsteps and loving camp so much!

I spent part of last Thursday taking scenic pictures before we went out to the Island, and I’m finding it amazing that the picture I took from the Island to the Lighthouse (at right) is so incredibly foggy, but the picture I took (above) is clear and beautiful. And these pictures were taken just a few hours apart. It was a wonderful late morning for looking at scenery, and then the day got progressively foggier and rainier. But, there are still quite a few beautiful pictures from the day, so go check them out!

MG and BG spent last Thursday night on the Island for the Parents’ Night, and BG spent last night on the Island as part of the Rangers Overnight – you have to be over 10 and have your “blue patch”. This year MG is working on her blue patch so she can stay on the Ranger Overnight next year when she’s ten!

It’s obvious to me that the girls’ counselors know them well – BG was given the award for “future counselor”, and given how she’s been acting with LG and other small children, I can see why! She’s even talking about wanting to be a CIT at Small Fry, not just on the Island. I know not all YMCA camps are great, but this camp is amazing, and I’m so grateful that we are able to send the girls – it’s a wonderful way to spend the summer! I wish I could go with them, relive some time as a camper… It’s just so gorgeous out there, well, if you can ignore all the seagull poop!

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