Winners and Losers

To start, the winner of contest #2 is Emily!  Thanks for all the comments!  Emily, since you're coming to visit anyway, I'll hold onto your winning jam selection.  It will include my latest batch which is a mix of peach, blueberry and blackberry, called Love Hurts Jam, which I made with homemade apple pectin, which I will post about separately!

And onto other contests.  We participated in our first chowda cook off at the Dumont's house last weekend.  I thought Raph should have won, because his vegetarian clam chowder was SO AMAZINGLY good!  But alas, to all the other tasters (like over 50) there wasn't enough chunks of lobster and clams to make the cut.  In any case, it was super fun.

Sam liked it as you can see!

Camille was in charge of all the administrative aspects, signing people in, handing out the testing sheets, etc.  
Bertrand had his personal accordian accompaniment in Jesse who added a few chords to every important announcement.  Jesse had bought it that day and could already play it.  We got it at a yard sale, and Evan got a Tim and Becky got a fiddle...good day for the Moore clan and instruments.

Nicky was cute as always.


Farm hands on a baby.  Good stuff.
I'm not doing the weekend justice with words, so I hope some of these images convey how awesome it was.  Rhode Island is a magical place, and I'm so glad I get a taste of magic regularly.  It is such a magical mix of stunning place, people who know how to live, and good food!

I turned 30

My day started with a table full of people I care about, scrumptious French toast, fruit salad, and mushrooms we picked wild (my French buddy actually knows which ones!)

Happy Birthday was sung to me in French, and then we spent a little time at the beach.

Makili spent some time with his buddy Sam, whose big eyes light up a room.

Evan and I went to Savers, a terrific thrift store, and then had to come home and relax.

Sam was tired too and had to be rocked to sleep by grandma.
The garden at the Moore's house was beautiful so we played with cucumbers.
Sam REALLY like the cucumbers and gummed them to death.

My birthday ended with pleasant breezes, candles, speed scrabble and friends (while the Moore's watched Makili!) So I'm officially 30. And it didn't even hurt. In fact it was very pleasant. Lovely in fact. I got gifts and what not, but mostly I just had a really great day with friends and Raph and Makili. May they all pass this easily.

In a few short months

These flowers bloomed.Makili learned to walk and build stuff.
Operate a wheel barrow.
This amazing dahila that Sarah and Eric gave us is still blooming.
In April the garden looked like this:
And now this:
In April like this:
Now this:

Interlude

So we're back in Kittery for a brief interlude before we head off again later this week. We're headed to Rhode Island to see friends and celebrate the big 3-0! Then we're off to the Matty's to see incoming exchange students, Raph will teach soccer to middle school students, and Ann and i will make pickles, pectin, and pesto. Mmmm.

Our brief time here will be busy. Today we started the monumental hill of yard tasks ahead of us. Weedwacking, mowing, weeding, staking, picking, pruning, etc. And horror of all horrors, I found a HORNWORM! I HATE hornworms. not only do I hate how they eat my tomatoes, but I HATE to touch them, so plucking the gigantor off my little tomato plant required some serious resolve. Now I'm paranoid they're everywhere, because the sucker I pulled off today was BIG! Tomorrow I will train Tamara on how to find them, because someone has to stay on top of them for the next 10 days or my bounty of tomatoes will be ruined!

Makili has been a complete doll lately. He is really into shoes and kissing at the moment. We actually put his shoes on him for the first time (extended) today. He loved it. He wanted them off and on and he prefered the pair which looked a bit big to us. When he took his shoes off, he still walked like he had them on, which made us laugh. We went to Marshall's last night so Raph could look for a new pair of flip flops, since I broke his playing basketball at the reunion. Raph tried on about 20 pairs, and Makili was right there with him trying to get his feet into the giant flip flops. Today he tried to put Tamara's crocs over his shoes. So cute.

His big cousin, Jenna, taught him how to kiss and he has been at it a lot since then. In fact, when he opened up his picture book and saw Jenna's picture, he immediately kissed it. Now he wants Raph and I to kiss all the time (poor me!). He just sits there and signs more over and over again. And then when I ask for a kiss, he'll open his mouth and "kiss" me, which half the time means my whole nose goes in his mouth. His cuteness is seriously killing me.

Scenes From a Family Reunion

Been out of touch for a few days ata family reunion. So many shots I can't trim down the numbers enough. Chilly weather, but sun and family and games and food. What more can you hope for?


Here the race: (I finished the race, which by nature, means I win even if I didn't finish first.)

Grandparents with 2 grandkids.Makili with Aunt Laurie.
The perpetual fisherman #2 (sorry dad, Austin gets spot #1)
Makili REALLY like the watermelon.
Chris and Emily. So damn cute.
Perpetual Fishermen #1, my nephew Austin.
My cousin Makendra's son, Luke just starting to learn to share. A lifetime to master this skill.
Cousin Jenna LOVED Makili.
My cousin Sarah also loved Makili and stole off with him whenever able.
Uncle Blair and Jenna.
My Aunt Nancy kayaks! Who knew.
Sisters.
My dad getting some DST (Direct Sun Time) with help from his sister and organizer extraordinaire, Jean.
Emily running to meet Chris in some awesome sunshine.
Casey. All cuteness at 6 years old.
Tamara, my cousin-in-law, my neighbor, my friend.
More sharing with Caroline and Emily.
The siblings.
Pretty Julie.
A blurry shot of everyone.
Sarah and David.
Sweet Luke.
Excitable Tim rousing his team at Beal Cranium.

Sadly, I don't have an award-winning picture of all of my loved ones, but for those of you who check the blog and don't find yourself, know that it isn't for lack of love, just too many photos.