Maine Family

While we tried to do everything (and I mean everything) during our 2.5 weeks in Maine, much of our focus was on seeing our families.  My dad's birthday is right after Christmas, so we got to celebrate with him this year too; fun, but his favorite cake is a german chocolate. 

 Grandpa, likely making some ridiculous or overly modest statement, or perhaps just posing for the photo.

 Note the balloons were a much bigger hit than the cake.  It seems I'm not the only one who doesn't care much for german chocolate.

 

The in-law shot.  Not sure how I got Eric looking at the camera and actually smiling for this one, but I'll take it.

 

I think for once we really outdid ourselves on birthday gifts for Grandpa.  I always feel like it's a scramble to get something for him the week after Christmas and that my good idea was already used, but not this year.  No 30-pack of golf balls in this stack!  Dad is the proud new owner of a gorilla torch, by LL Bean, a powerful flashlight on bendy magnetic legs, good for positioning to light a work space, not so good at sitting on top of your head.  It's something I spotted a while back and had been planning on buying.  Happily it lived up to my expectations.  In this picture it's on the end of Dad's new automated caulk gun.  Boy, did we get a lot of mileage out of the electric caulk Ryan and Grace got for him this year!  At 62, it's what every man needs.

On to other family-related fun.  We said a quick goodbye to Eric's Mum, Aunt Pam, Sara and Jacob over a dinner at Governor's in Bangor.  It's not easy to take good family photos in a restaurant, so this was about all I got.  It was nice to see them one last time before leaving.  I think next time we're in Maine we'll probably rent a hotel in Bangor for a few nights and have a bit more time with family and friends in the area, rather than trying to drive back and forth so many times, but who knows.

Finally, this is how Lucy spent much of the lazy week after Christmas, propped up on her "prapoline" watching movies.  I'm surprised she doesn't have a bowl of chips and a sippy with her selection of toys and books Grandma kept close at hand.

Isn't it nice to be loved so much?