Soaking

Soaking: 1) To make thorough wet or saturated; 2) To absorb

OK, so I'm paraphrasing a bit above, but both definitions apply today.

I got thoroughly soaked on my mediocre 5 mile run this morning. Lagged the whole time and felt as if I was being melted by the heat and humidity from the inside out. The one high point of the run was stopping to pick a few warm and sweet blueberries along the powerlines. Yum.

And, more importantly, I am soaking up every minute of what feels like a new-found freedom. I have worked over the 4th of July weekend every weekend since we returned to Maine almost 8 years ago. The past few years we have had openings at the gallery on the Saturday of the 4th of July weekend, meaning a long day before hanging the show and a long Saturday at work, getting home late, hoping to catch Sam before she fell asleep. I honestly am loving having weekends free, and we've been packing the days full of activity, with today being no exception.

I couldn't help but smile this morning when after my run, I realized today was a stay-at-home day (Sam's term :-) )! I didn't have to work. I could have the long weekend with my family. Hurray! We headed into town to pick up some goodies at the farmer's market and then out to Harpswell where we spent this warm, sunny July day with friends down by the water. Phil's parents have a house out by the ocean with a little cabin that Phil, Kristen, Anne and Thistle use in the summertime. It's perched up at the edge of the woods overlooking the rocky ledges and the stretch of ocean that separates their land from Orr's Island. It was beautiful!

We took a boat ride...

Being goofy

Sam's first time in a boat!

Silly faces from the girls

The island we motored out to at the edge of the peninsula - those black dots on the rocks are cormorants! They were nesting there - a whole colony - their nests in the little grooves and ledges on the edge of the island. Lots of babies! Very cool

We did some fishing... I haven't been fishing since I was probably Sam's age, and somehow I was the one to catch all the fish (three mackerels!). I let out a big yelp when the first one came out of the water. Ha. They were very pretty. We let them all go. Bye bye fishies.

Reeling in the first fish

The girls had a great time together... they are so cute!

Friends

And we went down to the end of the point to Phil's grandmother's house and enjoyed their saltwater pool. There were water fights and lots and lots of swimming by Sammy. She did a great job!

Sammy swimming

By the late afternoon we were all exhausted from the sun, the heat, the water and all the fun. Soaking it all up! :-)