Just Another Day...

Thane:  "Watch this Mom!"

Me:  "Be careful!"

Thane:  "Yippee!"

 

Me: "Uh, oh..."  

Thane:  !THUD!

Thane: "Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

 

Me:  "SIGH!"

Flower Girl

Annabel, for one, is loving life here in Maine.  A genuine beach enthusiast, Annabel drags us down to the ocean every chance she gets.  She loves digging through rocks and sand to find "treasures":  sea glass, sea shells, crab shells, cool rocks, etc. 

 

Her keen eyes even spotted a baby jellyfish once, which we all thought was pretty cool!

She continues to sing and dance at every opportunity, but her latest physical pursuit is the monkey bars. 

And yes, she's still super social, even with strangers.  At a gas stop in South Dakota, she somehow managed to persuade a couple of unsuspecting fire fighters to let her start the town fire engine!

Lastly, Annabel's gardening skills are as strongly entrenched as ever.  Give her a pair of pruning sheers and she'll have your flowers cut in no time.

 

 Consider yourself warned!

Thane Turned 4!

Due to circumstances out of our control, Thane's fourth birthday fell smack dab in the middle of our move cross country.  Lucky for him, though, we have incredibly supportive families who pulled together to give Thane not one, but two, great birthday parties.

First, GG and the rest of the Minnesota gang gathered to celebrate both cousin Mason's 6th and Thane's 4th birthdays.  We had a great, exhuberant time with almost all of the great grandchildren present:

He got lots of presents, including money.  Thane, being a true Lentz, was thrilled!

Several days later, on his actual birthday, my mom's family hosted another party at my grandma's home.

Thane adored all of his gifts in the comfort of his new fireman outfit (courtesy of my sister Kim and her boys, who clearly know good fashion when they see it!)

It's hard to believe that my baby is four.  Happy Birthday, little man!

Early Days in Maine

Those last couple days of our move west were packed with quick visits with friends:  lunch and goodies with my Uncle Dale in upstate New York,  Chinese food with the Sampson girls,and an early breakfast with Becky, a friend from high school.

As great as these times were, I can not overstate the relief we all felt when our road weary bodies exited our overstuffed vehicle for the last time.  Ah, home sweet temporary home. 

With our furniture and almost all of our household belongings staying with Jordan in Washington for a few weeks, the kids and I found a furnished rental in seaside Cutler, Maine.  Actually, we are living in a condo on an old naval station.  The view across the way is pretty darn great, day...

...and night:

Although we all missed Jordan terribly, we took advantage of the balmy fall weather to do a little family bonding.

I guess that they (whoever "they" are) are right.  It truly is "Maine, the way life should be."

Back East

Lao Tzu once said “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes."  Truer words were never spoken, at least for the Lentz family!  If you've kept up with our blog, you know that we put our house on the market in early summer, and since then we've been contemplating some major life changes.  I guess you could call that a natural change. 

In late July on a whim, I applied for a job in a small town in Maine.  Spontaneous, for sure!  Weeks passed with nary a response.  No biggie - this was not our path then.  Fine.  Let's cut and stack fire wood, winterize our home, etc.  But wait...  An unexpected phone call in early September turned into a phone interview, which led to a cross country flight where I met a wonderful group of folks, the chief of whom offered me a full time position at a university in tiny coastal Machias, Maine - about as far from Colville as one can get in the continental U.S.  Lo and behold, 17 short days later the kids and I kissed Jordan goodbye and blearily headed toward the faint glow of sunrise in the eastern sky. 

 

Those frantic few weeks before our journey east are still a weary blur in my mind.  Thankfully, we had already scheduled a big yard sale at our home.  This was the first yard sale I'd ever had.  What a huge amount of work - and reward as it turned out.

We gave ourselves one day to breathe, and then the box collecting, bubble wrapping, packing, unpacking, repacking, errand running, road trip prepping and farewelling began in earnest.  Those chaotic days were a mind-numbing blur, even as I desperately tried to stop time and treasure fleeting moments of snatched conversations with so many of the lovely friends and family we were leaving behind in Colville.  In hindsight, the whirlwind of activity was a blessing - it's hard to process life, let alone loss, when operating in overdrive.

Thus, two weeks flew by and I found myself making my second cross country move in less than six years.  As before, we were lucky enough to spend a day or two with beloved family and friends on the journey.  The kids spent several hours playing in the park in Sheridan, WY, with Grandpa Frank and Gramma Bobi:
 

We had a wonderful visit with GG and the rest of Jordan's family in the suburbs of Minneapolis, MN, where the kids got lots of time to play with their favorite second cousins Mason and Xeni. I took advantage of all of the babysitters to have lunch with dear family friends, Chuck & Dorris Brooks, who traveled more than three hours to have lunch.  (Now THAT's love!)  Thane was also treated to the first of two birthday parties there.

As much as the kids enjoyed the ferry ride across Lake Michigan, I was even more thrilled to shave off a couple hundred miles on this short cut from Wisconsin to Michigan!  (Thane is waving goodbye to the west).


In Michigan, Uncle Larry and Aunt Karen treated the kids with a trip to the zoo, while I got some quiet time to visit with Uncle Randy, Aunt Karen, and Grandpa & Grandma Heydenburg.  We were lavished with love and even more gifts for the kids at a second birthday celebration for Thane.

Two travel-weary days later, we were crossing the bridge over the Piscataqua River which divides Maine and New Hampshire.  There truly is no place like home, no matter how spontaneous the journey may be!