Matinicus

I was able to spend an entire week on Matinicus with my family this summer. What a blessing! We have a new rental cottage out there...so my extended family (grandparents, aunt, uncle and children) all stayed in the new rental cottage. At one point, we had a total of 19 people that we were feeding!

So, my first night there...we had lobster. Not my favorite thing. I got sick on lobster when I was a little girl...and I haven't really been able to each it since. However...I have always wanted to like lobster again. But every year I try a bite...and I never like it. But I was determined that this year would be different. So I ate a lobster. And it wasn't bad actually! So, I ate a second one. Seriously. I ate 2 lobsters. And then the following night I ate the lobster linguine that grammy made. I am so proud of myself. :)
Grammy pulling out lobster meat for her linguine and lobster stew that she makes every year.

Meaghan and I decided we needed a little quality time in the hammock together. So we spent quite a while sitting in the hammock...giggling...and taking pictures of ourselves. Here are just a few that we got.

as the sun set behind us....

this is the beginning of a sunset from a different night. Robert is sitting on the picnic table. He is a high school friend of Alex's. It was fun to have him out there with us too!


It was so nice to have Alex out there with us. We had some great sibling time.

And...just like every year, we had to take some family pictures. This is everyone in one shot!

Our Christmas Card for this year maybe??

This is our new publicity shot for the rental cabin.

And in the new field between the two cottages, there were tons of Monarch Butterflys.

One night we got a special show from Meaghan, Brendan and Aidan. It was called the "Magical Kingdom" and it was a dance and acrobatics show. The boys were very funny and silly. They ran all over the place, jumping and falling...just like you would expect from little boys. Mae was shy at first, but with a little prompting she finally showed us a dance routine that she had learned! It was great! And then we got a great grand finale. I got her to repeat it for me so I could tape it. Click on the picture below to see Mae's Grand Finale!

The island is such a relaxing place. Especially to do some much needed reading! Here is Dad...reading on the porch.

and Matt sitting in the hammock swing, which is such a fun place to sit.


Then, our last weekend there. Matt Woolley came out with his new wife Lizzie. And since Rachel (my aunt) had to be packing up her cabin. Matt got assigned to watch the kids while Rachel packed and cleaned her cottage. I call this Day Care by Matt Woolley--as only he can do it.

First, he played a game of checkers with the 4 year old. You can imagine how that went. But it kept Aidan quiet for a time anyway...

Then, activity started to pick up a bit. Matt ended up giving the boys rides around the house. Fun fun!

And then that turned into, beat on Matt Woolley, which is always a fun activity.

Thankfully, Lizzie stepped in and started playing "I spy" just like the good teacher that she is. The kids calmed down, and all was good again. :)

Our last day there, we had to burn the trash--as is tradition on the island...there is no such thing as a dump. So Robert, Alex, Janna and I took the trash down to the beach and set it on fire.

And then after that task was done, we headed back up to find matt in a sleeping bag in the hammock reading his book. How could we pass up such a tempting opportunity??? Let's just say he didn't stay in the hammock for long...

That afternoon we got on the boat to head back to Rockland. We had only been on the boat for a few minutes when the engine stopped. Thankfully we weren't very far from Matinicus Harbor. Close enough to limp back there to see what was wrong with our engine. We got back, and Matt dove under the boat, to find that barnacles had built up in the cooling system. The engine pulls ocean water in through it to keep it cool, and barnacles were preventing any water from getting in---thus overheating the engine. So once that was fixed, we were on our way again.

There is a rainbow in the wake.

The beautiful sky in the (almost) open ocean

I took this self portrait of myself...trying to stay warm and dry on our trip back. I kept getting sprayed, hence the raincoat.

It was such a fun time, and I am so glad I was able to go out for the whole week. It was a much needed vacation for me!