trippin'

We're on Day 5 of our road trip, arrived in Rockford, affectionately Rock Vegas, yesterday afternoon. Binbin has just exhumed from the basement depths a cardboard treasure box of old toys, containing Jack's old miniature plastic soldiers. The happy little boy has been on a roll. Yesterday Yeye led Binbin up to his room where...voila...the much longed-for Lego Creationary game lie atop his bed. His cup runneth over.

Our journey to the midwest began Monday morning. Jack and I caught a few more Z's after the town siren sounded around 2:30 am. Jack's own alarm chimed at 3:30. We packed our last remaining items (cooler snacks and bed pillows), before rousing Binbin for the drive to Cleveland. Yup, you heard right: Lisbon Falls, Maine to Cleveland, Ohio in one day. We eased the car out of the garage right on schedule: 4 a.m. Binbin, amazingly, sat awake in the back until about quarter to five. He and Jack snoozed until 7 or so, when we made our first pitstop. A second, longer stop came in Bennington, where we ate at the historic Blue Benn diner. It was nostalgic for me (I ate there with fellow students while studying art history at Williams), and delicious for everyone.

The rest of the drive included only brief stops for gas, picnic lunch, and bathroom. We rolled into the Holiday Inn in East Cleveland area around 6 pm. Unpacked a few things, had a simple dinner of fried chicken, then enjoyed a relaxing swim. Cable TV kept Binbin entertained (when jumping from bed to bed didn't), and we had a nice sleep.

Tuesday's drive brought us to Chris and Joelle's place in Union Pier, Michigan for a 2-day visit. It didn't take long before Binbin and Eli were as thick as thieves ("Wanna' go catch fireflies?!" "Yeah!"). Lexi joined in and held her own against the two older boys. On Wednesday, we had a fantastic day at the beach on Lake Michigan. Joelle's cousin taught Binbin to look for Crinoids, a fossil found commonly on the shores of Lake Michigan (see crinoids). He quickly became a pro fossil hunter and we now have a collection of fossils that looks like a package of smarties; they're small and round with a hole in the middle.

Thursday we woke reasonably early and we all went back down to the beach to enjoy the morning before we got back in the car to Yeye and Nainai's house. The Lake decided to show us some of its variety and kicked up some nice waves that everyone enjoyed. Mama got knocked over by one wave while holding Lexi in one hand and Binbin in the other. They all got wet and had a good laugh about it.

Our ride to Yeye and Nainai's was uneventful except for a bit of traffic through Chicago. Binbin has settled into his temporary home and has decided to sleep in his own room rather than in Mama and Baba's room. (Although we love him dearly, it kind of nice to have a bit of a break.)

Playdate with Anja

Binbin's new friend, Anja, invited us all out to her Pepe and Mimi's lakeside home for a super fun-filled playdate. Here they are in Pepe's speedboat. The first ride was definitely speedy, as Anja spurred her Pepe on with shouts of: "Faster, Pepe, faster!" The second ride was a more leisurely troll around Thompson Lake.




Part of the afternoon was spent on a little sandy beach. While Anja practiced some swimming skills, Binbin quickly took to catching minnows. He netted over two dozen, sometimes catching three in one swoop.

Bath Heritage Days ferris wheel

The city of Bath on Merrymeeting Bay hosts Heritage Days every July 4th weekend. We drove up early Friday evening to catch a ride on the ferris wheel. The view is pretty great, as you can look over the freeway, the bridges, and down into Bath Ironworks.

summer adventures

On one of our mother-son summer adventures, Binbin and I went down to Two Lights State Park. Binbin had just picked up a Maine State Parks "passport," with pages for stamping your visit to each of Maine's 48 state parks. The first snapshot has him making a goofy face at the little playground, which featured an interactive wheel of truth. You make a statement like: "I'm the most awesome Mama in the whole world" or "I'm really really good at Legos" and then give the wheel a spin. It responds with "right on!" or "kinda" or "nah!"





The rocky terrain at Two LIghts is pretty spectacular. We picked up schist (?) and bragged, "I'm so strong like a superhero that I can break rocks with my bare hands!"



Here' Binbin taking a closer look at a natural quarry.



AFter our time at Two Lights, we realized that, despite the name, there were no lighthouses to be explored in this state park, so we drove up to Portland Headlight to get a closer look. Well, that light is a working light, so there is no public access. Still, we had fun, ate a snack, and Binbin posed with the lighthouse for this photo.