The Search for Miss Direction: Pinched!

Oh sunshiny day! (Well, at least most of it) This morning as I put up the garage door to walk down to the bus and heard the beards singing, smelled the flowers blooming and realized it was warm enough for all of us to chuck our jackets I couldn't help but be in a fantastic mood. I can't wait to have more sunshiny days like today all summer. And considering that I hear we're not going to make it out of the low 60's for the rest of the week (boooo!) I soaked up every ray of sunshine I could today to enjoy it while it was here.

After getting Noah off on the bus and dropping the Bean off at school it had been my plan to meet up with a friend to catch up for awhile, but she unfortunately wasn't feeling too great (hope you're doing better, Jen!) so I hoofed it off to the library for a quick stop to pick up the award winning book "One Morning in Maine" by Robert McCluskey. The story is set in Brooksville, Maine and features "Sal" who is also in McCluskey's "Blueberries for Sal". We're going to be reading it together tomorrow so wanted to make sure I had it on hand. Also wanted to pick up a certain movie, but more on that below...

I had a little more time before I needed to pick up the Bean so I came home to put the finishing touches on tonight's dessert Maine Potato Candy. You may remember that I made a type of potato candy during Idaho week that actually had peanut butter. Well the Maine version features coconut and dark chocolate. It totally made me think of a Mounds Bar! I had them all ready except for the dipping in chocolate part which is definitely NOT one of my kitchen skills so I was glad that I didn't have an audience to watch the mess I was making. And for what it's worth, if you're reading this, Tess, I immediately thought of you and yours when I saw and then flagged this recipe for this week so I've set a couple aside for you... My crew can take or leave the coconut thing, but agreed these were pretty yummy and no one would have guessed they had potato in them.

I picked up the Bean and decided we had to get some more sunshine so we headed to Shiawasee to play for a little bit. Then it was back here for lunch and to get hands and feet on with a lobster. This week's craft project turned out adorable if I do say so myself! I mean, who doesn't want to make a lobster from hand and feet prints? These are rivaling for the top spot on my favorite state craft project so far and look adorable added to my kitchen! I let Kayla do her project early today (Noah will complete his eventually hopefully...) because of the big news around here - Noah is going to join Cub Scouts!

A few weeks ago Tess mentioned to me OLS was going to have a pack that David was going to join and wondered if Noah would be interested. Grant and I talked to him about it over the weekend and he was so excited! So tonight after a scrumptious dinner of Aroostook Potato and Cheese and Broccoli Soup (Aroostook County is where nearly all of Maine's potatoes are grown, by the way. It's also the largest county in the state and could contain Connecticut and Rhode Island in it!) and the most delicious Blueberry Tea Bread, Noah and Grant headed off to OLS for an informational meeting, which is where they are now.

While excited for her brother, Mikayla has been bummed out for the past few days when we told her that she wasn't going to be able to join Scouts, too. So I wanted to do something fun with her since Grant and Noah were scheduled to be gone from 6-8 tonight - pretty much our whole usual family time. My original intent had been a trip to the park for the two of us, but a look at the weather last night nixed that plan in the bud. So I pulled out my trusty computer and started some research. I knew the movie Andre is based on a true story about a family in Rockport, Maine who adopted a baby seal they named Andre which inspired the book "A Seal Called Andre" and thought she might like seeing that. Unfortunately, couldn't manage to track down a copy at the library. Instead, though, I did manage to find out that the movie "Pete's Dragon" is actually set in the town of Passamaquoddy which is located on the Passamaquoddy Bay in Maine. (Who knew!). I love Pete's Dragon and thought it'd be the perfect treat to appease a bummed Mikayla tonight. So currently as it thunderstorms outside she and I are camped out on the couch with Pete and Elliot! I also braided her hair (she claims she looks like Elsa from Frozen) and of course updated the color on her fingers and toes - she is the happiest girl EVER right now. Not a bad way to end one stellar day.

Quick note - I'm going to be switching things up a bit. Next week we'll be doing Maryland and then Massachusetts. The next in order should be Michigan (yay!) but I have some stuff that I actually want to do in Michigan that is going to require a bit of travel and that weekend I'm going to be gone to see the Monkees with my Mama (YAY!) and Noah is still in school so we can't go mid-week. So my plan is to swap Michigan with Minnesota (the next in ABC order). So if you're keeping track (or you'll be sending us stuff from either of those places!) Minnesota will be June 2-8 and Michigan will be June 9-15 :)

Tomorrow promises to be jam packed. In the morning Kayla and I are going to go help out a friend for awhile and then I'm so looking forward to FINALLY geting to open our Maine mail. I can't wait to share with the kiddos tomorrow how we ended up getting mail from Maine (and the amazing family who helped us out!) and the contents of the box. Plus I think trying out Maine's state treat, the whoopie pie may be in order while we read "One Morning in Maine." And more blueberries! Oooh and have you ever heard of a bean hole beans? Me neither, and while I'm not going quite the far, I do have a Maine bean recipe up my sleeve for tomorrow as well. Should be fun! Until then...

Maine Fun Fact of the Day: The White Mountain National Forest covers nearly 800,000 acres, the forest covers a landscape ranging from hardwood forests to the largest alpine area east of the Rocky Mountains.