Tag: parents

Wells Harborfest: Straight Lace

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, local fun, tweens
Rotary Chicken Barbecue

This past Saturday was the annual Wells Harborfest at (you guessed it!) the Wells Harbor. There was a chicken barbeque by the Wells Rotary. This year it was extremely well attended. More than once during the time that my daughter and I were in line they thought they were sold out. We were lucky enough to get there in time. The dinner was $10 and consisted of a half chicken, scoop of cole slaw, soft white biscuit with butter, a bag of chips (which my daughter immediately appropriated, along with the roll), and a drink. The sodas were all gone, so we split a bottled water.

For dessert, Sundaes at the Beach was ready with a cooler and 2 scoopers of 4 flavors of their delicious ice cream: the holy trinity: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but with a nice bonus flavor: kahlua chip, which is one of our favorites. One scoop was only a buck.

We finished just in time to grab a seat on a bench for the Straight Lace concert at the Hope Hobbs Gazebo. This has become an annual event for us also. Last year, Helen (one of the singers) even invited some of the younger fans (my daughter included) up on stage to sing with the band, and gave them a percussion instrument to play! This year that didn’t happen, but it was still fun to watch everyone dancing.

Have you been down to the harbor for any of the free concerts? They are every Saturday night at 6:30pm this summer. Pick a band and go! It’s free fun for the fam. 🙂

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Children’s theater

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, restaurants, tweens

Consider taking a break from the movies this weekend. There are shows this summer at the Ogunquit Playhouse for kids of all ages. If you have some free time this weekend, head over to the Playhouse to see this week’s show: Jack and the Beanstalk. The show times are Saturday August 7th at 10AM and another show at 12:00 noon. On Sunday, August 8th there is one show at 10:00AM. The price is reasonable, and almost any seat will give you a good view of the stage.

You can order your tickets online at the Ogunquit Playhouse website (full disclosure: my daughter is in this play!).

Have plans already this weekend? There is one more event for children’s theater this season: My Son Pinocchio. There are 3 shows; the dates are August 28th and 29th (also a weekend).

After the theater, cruise (or crawl…it is a summer weekend in Maine, after all; traffic will most likely be heavy) on down route 1 toward Wells for lunch or a snack. There are so many great restaurants and ice cream shops that your only problem will be deciding which one to pick. 🙂

Despicable Me, the movie

by Karen, posted in family, tweens

I took my daughter to see “Despicable me”  this past weekend and we both loved it. It’s no “Toy Story 3“, but definitely is worth the price of admission (so to speak). 

Promotional Poster

The main character, Gru, is played by Steve Carell, and he becomes a dad after he adopts 3 orphaned girls for bad-deed-doing purposes. He plays the role as a kind of  “anti-dad”…for example, he says out loud the things that some parents may find themselves thinking at the end of a long hard day of work and child rearing, but would never actually say to their children. 

Gru does say these thoughts he’s thinking.  Out loud. There is no censor. Pay attention to the scene when finally, after they beg him night after night, he relents and reads the girls a bedtime story; it’s hilarious. 

Be careful though; make sure you employ your own censor if you are watching the movie with your tween. You wouldn’t want to embarrass her by laughing out loud inappropriately (read: when none of the other parents are laughing) at a movie moment that particularly resonates with you, as I inadvertently did. Okay, more than once. 

It was worth it though. It’s one of those funny movies that manages to move you as well.  Definitely worth seeing at the theater (read: do not wait for dvd for this one).

New baby gift

by Karen, posted in books, family

Maybe you have a lot of new babies to buy for this year.  After a long time with the arrival of no babies within my personal sphere of (gift-buying) influence, I find that having just finished putting together a gift for one new baby girl, I have two more baby girls in the picture. One is here already, one is due in the fall.

I used to have a formula for baby gifts, kind of like the wedding day rhyme: “something old, something new…” Too bad that it has been so long, I can’t recall exactly what that formula was.

So, here’s my new top 10 list for what to put in a baby gift basket:

  1. If the sex of the baby is known, consider a pink or blue addition. You may want to have all of your gifts (and even the basket itself) be pink or blue, but I’ll leave that up to your discretion.
  2. Add something handmade to the basket. I’m a sporadic knitter, so I like to add a hat or a blanket if I have time to make it myself, or buy one at a craft show if I don’t.
  3. A favorite book, like (of course) Goodnight Moon, is always a nice addition to a baby gift basket. Pat the Bunny is another good choice. You might consider having your entire gift consist of children’s books that you like.
  4. Babies excrete. Often copiously. An extra outfit or a nightgown or jammies of some sort will be needed (soiled, stained, and appreciated) over and over .
  5. Babies spew. They will need bibs. Multipacks of bibs (because, did i mention? babies drool. A lot).
  6. Babies visually track. Get some colorful, cheerful toys that appeal to many senses: crackling, ringing, textured…and safe. Check that you are buying a toy appropriate for a newborn.
  7. Babies sleep. Blankies and extra jammies are always needed, often in large quantities (reference #4 and #5).
  8. Babies travel. A diaper bag, pack-type baby carrier, and so on may be nice.
  9. Babies get dirty, so bottles of baby wash, shampoo, little facecloths and hooded towels are another idea.
  10. Babies get red bums. Butt paste, desitin, vaseline…all might be helpful for their little bottoms at some point.

That’s it. What are some of your favorite baby gifts to give? to get?

Late Summer Wish List

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, tweens

Now that summer is underway, I realized that I forgot some of our “must do” activities, not to mention several

that usually make the list but don’t get done (after all, summer is only a few short weeks and getting shorter every year, with kids having to go back to school sometimes in August (what is UP with that, anyway??).

Portland Head Light

So, here are a few more activities to squeeze in if you have time:

  1. Acton Fair runs August 26 through August 29  (consider it a warm up for the larger Fryeburg Fair coming in October). It’s not too large, so you can go in the morning before it gets too hot and the children (and possibly you) get too whiny. Depending you where you live, there are many other fairs over the next several months; find a schedule here: http://www.mainefairs.org/fair_dates.htm
  2. Perkins Cove and Ogunquit Village. There are lots of shops and restaurants in both places; park the car in the middle of both (sorry; most likely you will have to pony up some cash to park, but it’s worth it if you are spending the better part of the day, which you will definitely want to once you arrive) and explore. Once nice thing about Ogunquit, especially with kids in tow, is that there are public restrooms that are (usually) clean and easy to find.
  3. York Beach is another great place to go for a day at the beach. Short Sands Beach is great, again, because if you have kids, you can part once then spend the day. Beach, playground, bathrooms, restaurants, shops (many of which sell excellent fudge!).
  4. Downeast Duck Adventures is on my list every year (like the South Berwick Strawberry Festival) but I never get there.  In the spirit of  ‘write it down, make it  happen’…I’m writing it down. Here’s hoping.
  5. Wells Harbor Concerts run every Saturday night rain (held at the Wells Junior High School) or shine (held at the Wells Harbor Park) and are FREE. Enough of the concerts are both child and adult friendly to make it work for families (hint: bring the BUG SPRAY).
  6. The Wells ChiliFest is an annual event that will be held this year on Saturday, August 28 at the Wells Junior High School. This is a bonus because if it rains (like last year) you can still go and have a good time (hint: bring bottled water, or something to drink; sampling chili works up a thirst).
  7. Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth makes a great day trip; there are walking trails, picnic areas, and beautiful beach roses! Stop at JulChris Cookies for an amazing mid-afternoon treat on your way home.
Beach roses!

So that’s my late summer addendum. Hope you try something from this or the prior list.  Have any of you made up any lists of your own for this summer?

grieving my dead relatives, part 2

by Karen, posted in good grief

march 15 was the anniversary of the day my father died and joined my mother.  had he not been addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling in his 20’s,  he’d have been 72 years old. instead, he’s been in that great rehab in the sky (i hope…) for 12 long years. as i have often done since he died, i had a fried clam dinner in his honor, because for me, the inherited addiction gene has (in my post twenties life) been expressing itself  in relation to food (as in “it’s all about the food”). (is this wrong??). why fried clams? well, for one thing, unlike my opinion of my mother’s food favorites (see prior blog post entitled “grieving my dead relatives, part 1) which i mostly deplored, i shared a love for many of my father’s favorite foods: coffee, black  (the beverage, NOT the jello), almost any kind of doughnut,  liver, lumberjack breakfasts, lamb chops, hot fudge sundaes, all things chocolate…all good things. the other reason is that fried clams were on the plate for his Last Supper. after days of existing mostly on air and water (the lung tumor had the upper hand by this point and the dying process was well underway), he suddenly sat up in the hospice hospital bed in the living room and said, “i want a fried clam dinner!” which my brother promptly procured and which he really did sit up and eat, every last bite. then, he went to sleep and never woke up, dying about a day and a half later. so, some years i just buy a box of fried clams and eat it myself, no fanfare…kind of an eating meditative prayer. this year i invited my husband to join me and we went to the Maine Diner (http://www.mainediner.com/). we muddied the tradition up a bit; we ordered buffalo chicken fingers for dessert, a food that my father never had, to the best of my knowledge. (was that wrong??)

what do you thing about observing the anniversary of a parent’s “deathday”?

grieving my dead relatives, part 1

by Karen, posted in good grief

necco wafers, tootsie rolls, pepper and egg sandwiches, chipped beef on toast, coffee jello, split pea soup, hermit cookies… what do these foods have in common?  well, for  one thing, they are all foods that i don’t like much. also, they were some of my mother favorites  (i’m sure there is something very freudian in that admission). Her birthday was march 13, and if she hadn’t been dead since 1996, she’d have turned 70. do your loved ones that have died live on in your memory in the context of food, as do mine?  well-known grief expert elizabeth kubler-ross states that “Mourning can go on for years and years. It doesn’t end after a year:  that’s a false fantasy.” how much more pleasant are the memories when viewed through the lens of one’s own (or her own!) preferred foods? i say: much more!

here’s elizabeth kubler-ross’ website: http://www.ekrfoundation.org/