Couldn't even grasp the idea.....

Tonight on our way home from the Quarry Road trails, Callum and I were alone in the car together and Maira and Amanda were in the other car (Amanda met us at the trails right from work) and Callum, for the first time, asked one of the MANY 'first time' questions I fully expect to encounter over the next few years as he becomes more and more intelligent and intuitive. Out of the clear blue he just says "Daddy, wait....if Nannie is your mom and Papa is your dad, then how come Nannie and Papa dont live together?" This made me chuckle a bit, because for the entirety of Callum's life, he has known--exclusively--Nannie and Upbob living in one house....and GrammyG and Papa living in another house; as Christof, in THE TRUMAN SHOW so eloquently says, "we accept the reality which we have been given." Therefore, Callum has never asked a question about it. But like I said....he is growing up and getting smarter....

So, for the first time, I had to explain to him what 'divorce' is--he had no idea what I was talking about, and he couldnt seem to grasp the idea that two people who were 'married' could be suddenly 'not married' anymore. I have to admit, when you sound it out and try to explain it, the whole process DOES sound pretty stupid. He was so full of questions as he tried to understand what I was talking about: "So is Papa still your dad and Nannie still your mom?" YES. "So did the two of them get mad at each other?" PROBABLY. "Did you cry a lot?" I HAVE NEVER CRIED IN MY LIFE--EXCEPT WHEN THEY BROUGHT ME THE WRONG FRIED RICE. "So how can people not love each other anymore?" I DONT KNOW. "But daddy, they get along great now!" YES THEY DO.  All kinds of stuff like that. He then just sat in silence and I knew he was inevitably going to ask if WE were going to get a divorce...so I beat him to the punch and asked him if he feared this with mommy and daddy. "OF COURSE NOT!!! THAT'S SILLY TO SAY!!" This satisfied my soul. But isnt that just so funny how we have to explain things like this to kids? It isnt like we try to 'shelter' our kids from the world or anything like that....but I am elated that it took Callum six full years to even know what the word 'divorce' meant. .....

Some pictures from the last few days.....

Callum's 'fishing list" that he made to bring to LL Bean....I didnt go because I was at home painting, but Amanda said he gave this list to "Mr Sam," the man who was working at the Hunt/Fish store at LL Bean, and Mr Sam took Callum around to show him what he needed......now Callum is all set to be just as bad at catching fish as his dad and grandfather (but now his GREAT grandfather, however....Papa G used to slay some fish!)

Some chick who cries a lot around my house and has the whole world fooled.....

Making sure his rod is straight?? HA! This is a little pond that we can walk through via the "Star Dog Memorial Wilderness/ JJ and Ava Ponticelli Snowmobile Trail System" across the street from our house. Only kids 14 and under are allowed to fish here. The town of Fairfield stocks it with Rainbow Trout.....we caught nothing....

And here is a hot chick who I have bake things...............and her mom too......HEYYYOOOOOOOO

Things that go fast......

The other day Callum and I finished working on his latest Lego project--a Batman (who turned 75 today...did you know this??) air/water/hovercraft plane thing (fourth from the left). These Lego projects he does are for ages 10 or 12 and up...and he does them with great aplomb. Yes, aplomb. And now I will stop bragging about my son. But, anyway, he wanted to line up JUST the vehicles he has put together recently (this is not to mention the castles, knights, horses, stage coaches, etc...) Pretty impressive. The kid inherits his mother's intuition and inclination toward problem solving and mechanical fluency...butttttttttttt he also inherits my complete and total lack of patience or self esteem when it comes to these things....haha

And this little devil you see below is quicker than a magician's hand when she gets on her bike--she has no concept of physics and centrifugal force, so therefore she doesnt understand the limits of her bike's steering and juking capabilities....she loves just riding up and down the driveway, singing to herself, not having a care in the world. Each time she rides she calls her time her "bike lessons."

Amanda and I try each week to do things with JUST one of the kids at a time--Callum and Maira have grown to call these "boys or girls mornings," respectively. For our 'boys morning' on Saturday, we went over to the river trail in Fairfield, about 1.5 miles from our house...there is a stretch of two or three mile trail that is nice and flat and quiet....Callum enjoyed riding his bike. And, being the little flirt that he is, he was 'racing' this lady running (I dont know if the lady knew this, but does it really matter?)

..... and then, stopping by the riverbank, we collected (and immediately ate) some wild blackberries we found. The kids love blackberries. Actually, for some reason (and I cannot figure out why because I didnt plant them...perhaps it is from our compost) I have a small blackberry 'vine' growing at the base of our sugar maple tree....weird....

 This is a picture I like to call "NoCalzones." Why not?

Big home improvement stuff still going on here....obviously the deck was our major expense...but we are starting to re-do the upstairs bathroom...ripping off wallpaper (who the hell wallpapers a bathroom? Dont answer that.) so we ca paint....tomorrow putting in a new vanity...stuff like that. And, to compliment the deck, we have painted (the first coat anyway) the outside of the breezeway 'pine green,' which was done yesterday. What else? I dont know. I like water with lime. Our cucumbers are doing remarkably well. Tomatoes are coming along. The summer is FLYING by!!! I need to do some meanderings.

Big Indian Lake....

Tom and Katie have a wonderful camp on Big Indian Lake in St Albans (St. Albans, for all you Massachusettsans, was on the news a couple of weeks ago because a tornado touched down there a few times...we could still see the damage up there!). It was so amazing of them to let us use the camp last week, and we did a quick overnight trip! A fantastic family retreat......

I love so much about the camp on the lake in St. Albans; in particular, I love the 'master bedroom' where Amanda and I slept, since it has a wonderful skylight and these expansive windows that look out over the lake. Callum loves it too!

And, of course, my other favorite feature is the old Atlantic wood cookstove adorning the kitchen/dining room area; I hope to have one of these someday, somehow. When we go to the Adirondacks, we do ALL our cooking on this. Plus, these old stoves probably heat a home better than our woodstove!

I just love this picture of Maira. I mentioned on facebook that this is the first picture I have taken of her in three and a half years where I can honestly say she looks like ME. Maira is such an interesting little girl, who defies rules of conventionality each and every day. She is a true minimalist; she NEVER wants anything when we were out at a store...even when we ask her if she would like a treat (unlike her brother, who wants anything and everything!). She has never slept with a pillow. And, as much as she loves Lupine lying with her (and as much as she LOVES her baby dolls and her stuffed animals), when it comes time for bed, she shuns all notions of anything else--living or unliving--and wants to lie down completely alone and go to sleep. She wants NOTHING on her bed. She is so good playing by herself, and she can entertain herself with her wonderful imagination and the most sparse of objects, as seen below, when she decided to forgo a paddleboat trip so she could collect 'flowers' for the 'wedding.' As you can see, all she has are green leaves of some sort. She did this for about a half hour without fail....

Mister C, however, was borderline obsessed with the paddleboat (see last summer's blog when he and Jake paddled it!) and wanted to go whenever possible. I think he loved the fact that he could virtually power the thing on his own--he is a strong peddler (from all his bike riding) and the steering stick was simple to work. We spent A LOT of time out there on the windy, wavy lake!!

Jawnny Croquette always is so generous with sending us books, and he recently sent us a new story illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, a Maine writer we put in touch with Jawn...and thus Jawn invited him to be a keynote speaker at a Nevada Library conference (we ran into Mr Hawkes, a wonderful illustrator and writer, at LL Bean one day). Callum and Maira got to share Jake and Megan's room at camp, so they loved that...and we read this story before bed (well...it was too much for Maira, and she picked out one of the kid's Bernstein Bears books instead....)

Even though the weather was wonderful, we still spent some time indoors playing with a) Jake's Playmobil Pirate ship, which Callum has loved all his life and b) this fantastic board game we found in the living room called MAKE OR BREAK where you are up against the clock to build differently shaped configurations of wood blocks. Callum is training early to become a superintendent at Moriarty Construkkkkkshin.....he even looks stressed already.....

And here is my beautiful (yet EXTREMELY fresh and strong willed) little co-captain driving the paddleboat. I just love her.

You know that stupid song about the summer??

The one that goes "Summertime....and the living is easy....??" What the heck is the deal with that?? There is absolutely NOTHING easy about living in the summertime; it is a constant hassle. WINTER is when living is truly easy....winter, for many reasons, is the best (and easiest 'living') season. 

Summertime requires so much work outside--now, dont get me wrong, because I love working outside--but it still is a TON of work. The lawn needs to be mowed. The wood needs to be split and stacked. The gardens need to be watered and weeded and fertilized and pruned and thinned. Canning and preserving needs to be done with all the tomatoes and cucumbers (for pickles). The heat is sweltering and it is a constant battle to stay cool--move inside to the AC...move under the shade of a tree....move to Siberia...etc. The CHOICES available lead to sensory overload: Will we go to the beach? Will we go out on the canoe? Will we go to the lake? Will we take a hike? Will we conjure up spirits in the graveyard at 6: 46? And this myriad of choices lead to schedule conflicts. And dont get me started on schedule conflicts....swimming lessons and tee ball practice and soccer practice and playdates with friends....taxi service deluxe...lots of driving around and lots of work. There is so much PACKING and UNPACKING involved in the summer--picnics and cookouts and beachdays and camping trips all require a lot of STUFF because you will be outside for a long time and NEED stuff: Did we pack the sunblock? The bugspray? Paper towels? Bathing suits? Towels? Chairs? Games for the kids? Books?? AND THE KIDS....dont even get me started with the kids....they are in and out like a fiddler's elbow....outside to ride bikes for ten minutes....now they are bored...they come inside and play legos....now they want to go ride bikes again...then they need to have a snack inside....now they wanna go on the deck and build a hotwheel track....So much more laundry is generated in the summer because everything gets wet with a) sweat b)chlorinated water c) mud d) more sweat...laundry is so much work!!!

SO WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THE SONG????

Why can't people see the light about winter and give it the attention and love it deserves?? It is the EASY season. There is no work. You sit in a chair by the wood stove and read books and play cribbage and eat food. Even the food you cook is easier...there is none of this chopping and dicing to make your fancy little wannabee salads...in the winter you take a hunk of some type of meat and then some whole potatoes and some can of cream based soup and you throw it in a crock pot and go to work and then come home and dinner is done for you. That is all. You enjoy the fruits of your labor in the winter. It is easy. Living is simple, because you have no choice--because most people are too afraid/lazy to go outside and do anything or go anywhere.  Winter rules. Summer sucks. 

But it is great to have wonderful friends to help you get through the misery known as summer (hahahahaha)......

Tom and Katie and the kids came over for dinner last weekend, and it was a blast getting together and eating good food and having great conversation.....

Katie and Tom and Sally enjoying some corn on the cob (which was great and sweet) and some smoked chicken and sausage I made on the BBQ. #tastethemeatnottheheat. We enjoyed some lettuce and tomato we grew in our salad (now, this sentence sounds like we grew the lettuce and tomato IN our salad...as opposed to a garden...but I dont care to change it cuz I hate summer...)

Callum and Maira love Jake and Meg more than they love me or Amanda....and that is cool I guess.....
haha....but seriously, I cannot think of two people Callum and Maira get more excited to see than Jake and Meg....

Hanging out by the deck......

Katie and Amanda sitting by the fire (and some of the firewood.....and the compost bin.....haha) sharing some laughs and some wine; Amanda, I think, is conspiring with Katie to get me to take her to CapeCod) Did you notice the ambiguous HER?? Am I talking about Katie or Amanda?? Grammar is great!!)

And I told Jake that this photo DEFINITELY will NOT re-surface in 5 years when I have him as a senior at Winslow High.....haha

Summer loving....

I hate summer with the burning sensation of the sun that causes some of my hatred....but, I have to say, that all things considered, I am having a good time....

We are enjoying the new deck patio; just this morning the kids and I read shark books and played 'animal farm' with all their animal figures from Agway (along with their barn). NOTE: No Communism was involved in this. 

But it is just really nice to sit and enjoy a beer out of a glass I stole from Fresh Catch in Easton while I watch my firstborn play hotwheelzzz with his hot mama....

I have talked about our garden for this year, but I never posted any pictures--we decided to forgo our 'normal' garden for this year (since all it was last year was a weed filled headache.....) in place of buckets for our tomatoes, and pallets for our lettuce and cucumbers! Everything, as you can see, is growing very well! We put them along the walkway out front in front of these two perennial gardens Amanda and I planted several years ago....and it has a definite 'cottagey' feel to it. The pallets work wonderfully because the 'rows' of the vegetables are planted in the openings...and then the wood slats of the pallet provide a natural 'mulch' or weed barrier. A virtually weed free garden!

With some leftover materials from the deck project I made a few raised beds and such....to the left of the picture below you can see a small bed/trellis I made out of the leftover wood....Amanda planted beans there, since beans love to climb and climb and climb (also, because it is pressure treated wood, we lined the bed with plastic so we dont die of poisoning and such......but look at those cucumbers and lettuces!!

And kudos to Sally for signing up for her first half marathon!! She has her training schedule printed out and she has been sticking to it. I am super proud of her diligence....and I cant wait to see her cross that finish line in October (oh man...does this mean I have to drive to Portland?? That ride is so boring!!!). Here she is after her training run this past Saturday....

And I cant believe these are the first photos of this: This is the longest in GoldsmithFamily HISTORY that it took us to get out to Lake George (one of our favorite places!). We are usually out there in late MAY, even!! But, for whatever reason, we just took forever to get out there....but we finally did this past weekend, and all is right with the world! Truly a gem of a place...right in Skowhegan/Canaan about 20 minutes away....gorgeous park and trails and picnic area and everything....water was SO warm....

We bought our season passes (good for a year since we enjoy snowshoeing on many of the trails) and we will be back soon!

Summer project, even

So we just put a little patio/deck kind of thing on the back of the house, in between the house and the garage; I built it with the help of my friend Rod, who is the same guy who did the breezway enclosure for us several years back. 

I guess it isnt a 'deck' per se, since it is not in any way attached to anything. We get enough heaving in the winter (we are on all clay being so close to the Kennebec River....the river is probably only 800 yards away from our house actually....most folks dont realize that) so I didnt want it rising and falling with the house and garage. Rather, the whole structure is 'floating,' and is just resting on some 2x6 boards/joists and such...Then, for a little 'flair' and privacy, we put up some 4x4s and some lattice work and such on the corner facing Weeks Street....

Dont let the picture fool you.....I dont even know how to use a drill....lol,, even.....

The easiest (yet slowest) part was actually putting on the decking itself....lottttttttts of screwing (DONT!) and new bit buying as we kept wearing out our bits with all our screwing (DONT!!!)

The 4x4s up and just fitting the last piece of decking around the posts before putting up the lattice. I am saying this now that I have a feeling I will be fighting that ancient Hosta on the right for years and years to come....

The finished product! It is bigger than we thought it would be (we are pleasantly surprised!) and, of course, Maira thinks it is a stage on which to dance, and the first thing Callum did on it was dump his box of Hotwheels and start racing....but that is awesome! That is exactly what we want this deck to be! We left our picnic table off and put it on the lawn under the shade of the cherry tree thing....and we will just put some chairs or a little table or whatever....we dont even care...we are just happy to have a nice, flat, clean place to sit. We have a small yard, so we try to take every advantage of it, and I think this will serve us well!!

Sally was talking about growing some peas or Clematis up the lattice...perhaps I will try hops! So come on over and have a drink with us!!!

Oh yeah...and Maira got stung by a bee on her lip today....she is fine now...she was checked out and all...but look at this picture.......but dont worry...she is back to being her sassy little self!

BUD/S Class 614

Callum began the first step in his career as a Navy SEAL at an intensive 'swim camp' kind of thing...I had mentioned this before on here, but I had not gotten around to posting pictures. Today was his final day of lessons, and he was almost in tears at bedtime tonight because it was all over and he is really going to miss all his new friends (he made lots of friends). He LOVES swimming lessons and asked if he could keep going; this is SUCH a change from this shy/petrifiedofwater kid I used to know....he has overcome SO MUCH in the past couple of weeks, and proud doesnt even begin to scratch the surface of how I feel. In the life of Callum Stuart (and if you know him you will agree) this is huge news! 

Whether it is in swimming lessons, tee ball, school, church, etc, it doesnt matter: Callum LOVES following directions, getting in line, walking with his 'class' places, etc. He loves order and organization. Hmm...who is his dad again?? 

Here he is at the start of lessons peeking at us in the 'secret room' where the parents sit--parents arent allowed in the pool area....

Each practice follows pretty much the same formula: Practice kicks, go under water, practice backstrokes, go underwater DEEPLY, go to the deep end and do some sweet jumps, swim back, play for the last few minutes. At the beginning of the week, Callum was VERY nervous to jump in, and his 'jump' entailed 'stepping' into the pool while holding the hand of his teacher. Now he jumps with no prob-bob!

You can really tell the powerlifting he has been doing is paying off dividends....

Getting assistance from his teacher while he 'swims' across the pool. At no point during the two weeks were they allowed to use any float thingies whatsoever....it should be pointed out that Callum SMILED for virtually the entirety of every lesson...no matter WHAT he was doing. It was actually pretty special; I have rarely seen him get into something so much.....he is very independent with the way he handles his lessons in the pool....

One happy kid!

Drowproofing...just like Indoc Week at BUD/S.....

The class was actually part of the "Michael Phelps" foundation thingamajig...he got a fancy certificate and on the back was a 'rubric' of all the stufff he did/accomplished during his two weeks. I thought cuz it was the Michael Phelps foundation that he'd get some weed too, but he didnt....

And here are two goofballs a couple of weeks ago at the cabin in Whiting....I have blogged about that week, but have yet to post pics!! Sorry. Coming up!!!

Mass visit!

Last weekend we made our way down to Mass for a couple of days to see my mom and dad....we left on Saturday morning and had our trip delayed probably a whole hour while we got stuck behind a Chinese funeral motorcade originating somewhere the Kneeland St exit in Boston and leading ALL THE WAY til I couldnt take it anymore and got off the highway somewhere in Brockton....

We got to Nannie and Upbob's on Saturday afternoon and we went for a nice dinner at Wright's Chicken Farm in East Japeepee RI (only about 20 minutes away from my mom...........................) where they have only two things on the menu: Chicken or steak. No one gets the steak. It is all you can eat roast chicken, salad, rolls, pasta with sauce, and famous fries.....a nice dinner!

Callum and I really enjoyed playing with the water guns Nannie got for the kids...we ran around the whole condo complex looking for, as Callum described, 'stupid liberals.' Kidding. He was looking for robbers. 

I am really beginning to think Maira a) has no conscience whatsoever b) is really not biologically ours. She has more sass/drama/attitude/spunk than any human I have known. She astounds me each day with the stuff she comes up with. She was obsessed, as usual, with this TALKING SANTA game or app that my mom has on her ipad. The kids always love playing with either MeeMee or Nannie's ipad because we dont have an ipad at home.

On Saturday night my mom and Amanda and the kids went to the dollar store to buy crap, and I took advantage of the forty minutes to head out for a run...I always love finding new roads on which to run....it is easy to get bored running 'at home' all the time.

My mom got mad at me for pirating her FB and writing a status that said something about having a rash on her butt, so she went upstairs at like 8 or so and we didnt see her for the rest of the night. So I went to Wendy's to get Frosty's for me, Upbob, my mom  (thinking she would come down), and Sally. The three of us watched some CNN show about the 60s (the 1960s) for a couple of hours. Did you know MLK was a REAL person???

We went to Fresh Catch with my dad and Babs on Sunday....here is Maira just being her sassy self at the restaurant. When GrammyGoldsmith told Maira that she liked her pink shoes, Maira responded with "Umm....Grammy.....those are NOT shoes....those are KEENS." Maira will tell you what you need to know....

And look at this guy.....twin lobsters for 17 bucks. Cant beat it, right? Callum did pretty well....he ate a couple of claws and some of his tail...he also sampled some fried clams and such from my meal...and in the end Papa did a bit of charity work making sure none of the lobster meat went to waste....

We spent some time at my dad's house before going to lunch; he made sure to have plenty of theeeeeeee best donuts ('franchise' donuts, anyway...I mean, Hillmans are the best) from HoneyDew. Maira was so happy about this that she did her 'angry pirate face' for Papa....

We spent some time outside with my dad and Barbara, and the kids played with some little toys the grandparents got them--Callum got a pretty neat helicopter that launches and spins through the air...you pull a cord and it just unwinds quickly....very cool....and Maira was enamored with her battery powered bubble fan!

One thing I always have to do in Mass is get as much Honey Dew coffee as I can; this makes me a happy man. Callum asked me if he was old enough to drink coffee yet. Why not?

At Fresh Catch I got a seafood platter to write home about. So many clams. SO MANY. And the bellies were huge and plump and beautiful and the scallops were tasty and all was good with the world. It made Helen's #RestinPeace look like FirstDayFood....

My mom got this great picture of the kids--they look like very happy kids because they are. I dont know how they manage to be happy with their sulky, moody, OCD, short tempered dad always in their way...but they do. So at least they their mom to show them how to be happy!!

If Jay, Jawn, or Timb read this, they will see the same BOPIT! that we used to play with when we were in freaking junior high and I was going out with Jenn Digiantommaso and Rich Schifffer said HOLE IN THE HEAD and such. The batteries have never been changed. Do all of you readers know what a BOPIT is??  Callum played this game ad nauseum with my mom and bob....he LOVES it!! If you havent ever seen one of these, check it out:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL5bB5fpgms

And here is Maira sequestering herself playing that TalkingSanta game I was telling you about....