Dad and Lisa visit

Apparently I'm a terrible blogger...I will probably be awesome at it this winter when I have nothing to do and Robert is down South earning money and enjoying the warmer weather...but for now I guess it will be just intermittent.

So, Dad and Lisa came to visit! Our first real guests to use our guestroom and to create a bathroom system that would keep us from walking in on each other due to the 1 bathroom and the lack of a lock on the original old door.:) I think I'm going to make a really professional little sign and laminate it.:)

We had a relaxing visit-dad and Lisa wisely split their time between us, cousins, and aunts and uncles which lead to no one being too overwhelmed and me not feeling bad because I couldn't take time off from work due to the necessity of having to do 2 overnights while dad and Lisa were here! PHEW! There was lots of seafood eaten and lots of visiting and just a lovely time had by all. PS: I Love my dad: look at this photo of him with the lobster!

It was awesome to see the Rockland Family all together...Robert and I have officially met all the new family members except for Kathryn and the kids (Corey's wife). What a relief that is! It still amazes me how easily Robert steps into a group because, we all know it, the Kalloch family is strong willed, opinionated and loves to get attention...I wasn't sure how this would go over, but, apparently 70% of the family is Republican, so Robert got along with them just fine and talked about other stuff with all the Crazy Tree Huggers who are like me.:) I forget how much fun it is to have such a large family sometimes. Why do we always remember the negative things over the positive? Like, why do I always think about how Mom and Amanda don't get along when, really, they will get along just fine in a family setting? I need to be more positive because I just had so much fun with everyone...seeing how they have grown and changed (mostly for the better!) and come into their own in life. It's great to see how everyone has accepted Cassie for her choices in life, to see Nikki finally ready to settle down, to see Michael deservedly happy with a beautiful wife and (almost) 2 children...life is good.
So, it's been a tiring, but lovely week.

Goodbye Bud

I just want to make a note here so I remember (I am depending on this blog to keep me in the know later on in life).

Buzz (my mom's boyfriend of many years and father to my childhood best friend Whitney) had to deal with the death of his mother, Bud, a couple of months ago. She was cremated so that her ashes could be spread in the ocean as well as some of them buried in the cemetary in New Harbor with a headstone. Bud was a crazy, opinionated, pushy, wonderfully caring woman whom I found to be a presence in my life at all family gatherings and things in the last 10 years. She was short and round and jolly and a gossip and she loved her grandchildren and children fiercely. She was amazing...my fondest memories of her are from of late when she and Nam would sit on the couch at family gatherings and admire their growing broods and gossip about people they knew while wearing their wonderfully embroidered grandmother sweaters and flowy grandmother pants with their short grandmother haircuts and glasses.
Bud will be missed, but always remembered...which she made sure of by providing for a lunch at the Samoset (to give business to my mom's place of employment) for her grandmotherly friends and providing a Lobster Bake at Reny's Lobster in Round Pond for all her family...and it was all in her will.
So thoughtful and wonderful she was. It was also great to see all the Ropes family again and for Robert to meet the extended family, because, really, they ARE all like family since Whitney, Alec, Luke, and I grew up as friends...and also because, see if you can keep this straight:
BEFORE mom and Buzz got together (although they WERE first since they dated when mom was in high school) my uncle Adam and Buzz's sister Claudia had been dating. So, not only did their kids grow up together, but mom and Buzz's siblings have been dating each other for about 5 years longer than mom and Buzz have been together! Crazy, huh?

The 4th of July in Maine!

Somehow I managed to get the 4th off from Lowe's...don't know HOW I did it, but I took it and I'll take it again next year if I can.:) We made a great weekend of it, even if I DID have to work on Sunday (which was pointless, BTW because it was SO slow). We went out to Schooner on Friday night to meet up with Boo and Lee even though I was totally exhausted (even after a 3 hour nap). It was good, though...Robert got to be social and I saw my old friend Muffy (among other people). It was fun. Spent the night at mom's, left for the Round Pond Parade at 11am with Pj. NOTE: I don't think many people understand the love I have for the Round Pond Parade. Up until I was 22 I went to the Round Pond Parade EVERY year. I haven't been in 5 years! The parade is basically a free-for all for crazy people, political zealots, restaurants and businesses advertising, kids just wanting to dress up, old cars, etc...anyone can enter a float in the parade-all they have to do is show up.:) As my friend Becca said, "I didn't realize how many people just kinda jump in and join the parade as it goes along.":) LOVE IT! This was Robert's first RP Parade and I was totally psyched to show him how awesome it was.

Things have changed a bit tho...no more parking on the side of the road wherever you can find a spot-they actually put up signs so you can't park! We had to drive all the way up to Buzz's little house on Back Shore to park...but that was fine because it was a GORGEOUS day with lots of sun, but no bugs and not too hot. We got a pretty good spot on the King Row lawn and Robert managed to acquire his own personal commentator in a summer person who happened to be standing by and heard Robert's accent.:) That's always how it is with Robert.:) The parade wasn't nearly as good as it used to be in the past, but it was still creative and entertaining with a little political flare, much more patriotism, and some good humor. Many of the same people who have always done it were still in it and Robert is all ready planning on becoming one of the regular RP Parade floaters.:) It was great! Getting OUT of RP after the parade was a disaster, but riding along with the top down blasting Luke's music makes it a lot easier to wait in traffic.:) Especially when Luke grabbed on and rode up the hill with us. HA!

We had some good food at mom's and spent some quality time with PJ, which I really needed: we watched some of our old videos of the plays we were in in Junior High and that highly entertained Robert, let me tell you!

And, finally, the day ended with the fireworks in Damariscotta, which we were able to watch from Emily and Nick's boat which was TOTALLY awesome. I've never watched fireworks from a boat before and, even just parked at Schooner Landing, it was great to watch them from there! And then all we had to do was walk back up the docks to Schooner to hang out with our friends for the rest of the night...it was great fun, greatly entertaining, awesome to see all my old friends I hadn't seen yet...I think we have really made some awesome re-connections with people and Robert feels really comfortable with all my friends. It makes me so happy that he is finally able to meet everyone and connect the names with the faces! It was a a great day and night and the fact that, once we DID leave (just before the bar closed at 1 am) all we had to do is walk to the car behind DB&T because we were lucky enough to get a parking space downtown. Awesome! I'll try to put together a slide show once I get the photos organized.:) Otherwise they're in Kodakgallery for viewing, of course:).