Day at the races

Since both my girls and my cousin's girls are horse fans, we decided to check out the Family Fun Day at Scarborough Downs yesterday to learn about harness racing.

I will admit that when I first walked into the building I thought we'd made a mistake with our decision to take the kids to the track. It was the wagering booth and smoker's room that had me a little concerned about what I was exposing my kids to.

But once we walked through the building and into the track's outdoor seating area, we found the kid-related activities.

All the kids enjoyed feeding and petting the horses.

It turned out that Mimi the dog was the most enamored with the horses.

L. in particular liked the horse puzzle book she was given and jumped right into it while the races were going on.

There was also a demonstration on how the harness works and the kids were given a chance to try it out.

It turned out that the pinball machine in the clubhouse was a hit with the girls. They don't usually have opportunities to play the game so it was a treat to play it with their cousins.

We only spent about an hour at the track and although they had some interesting stuff for the kids, it was a little more *education* about gambling than I had would have preferred. But everyone had fun and the girls got to spend some time learning about horses so it was worth the trip.

See more photos of our visit to the track

Great weekend to fly a kite

It's been pretty windy the past couple of days so the kids and their cousins dragged out the kites for some kite flying in the yard.

But it took some help from Fino to get a couple of the kites detangled and flight-ready.

I doubt there's a parent out there that doesn't know what a drag this job is.

After all that work Fino decided he needed a turn as well.

And as I was downloading these pictures I couldn't get this song out of my head so I thought I'd share it in the spirit of a windy weekend in Maine.

Let's go fly a Kite


The girls have always really liked that song and were especially pleased when their dance teacher chose it for a recital number this past year. It turned out to be one of their favorite routines of all time.

Caption these photos

The girls insisted I post these "adorable pictures of Dulce, the cutest kitten" on my blog so I've decided to accomodate them. But I need your help.

I'd like you to 'caption' these photos for me. Just post a comment with your suggestions below.

#1

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And our New York cousins are visiting so their shitz zhu Mimi has been added to the wardrobe rotation as well.

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And just in case some of you were wondering, the kitten and Mimi are sporting an American Girl doll wardrobe. And Toddy is happy to have been left out.

Cumberland Fair 4-H Hall Prep

There is a lot of behind the scenes work done by the 4-H Leaders Association to spiffy up the 4-H-related areas for the Cumberland County Fair in September. The girls and I made time this year to lend a hand with the cleaning of the 4-H hall and spent an hour at the fairgrounds yesterday.

We only made a small contribution to the cleaning effort by washing windows ...

 ... and the display shelves.

Later in the car on the way home the kids were chatting about how much they were looking forward to the fair this year, especially working in the food booth.

It may be that summer is almost over and school stuff is starting but for my kids, September is a month to look forward to because it's all about having fun at the fair.

One hell of a day with chickens and bats

My day didn't really start yesterday until I pulled into the driveway after a busy morning at work and an afternoon doctor's appointment.

This is just how life is for most families ....

What greeted me in the driveway that was less than typical was one of our chickens walking funny (and no, it wasn't Lucy). After a closer look at Una, I realized the problem.

WARNING: Continue reading at your own risk. I would suggest putting down the food you're snacking on at your computer right now!

Una hadn't been taking care of herself and had so much crusted poop on her tailfeathers, she couldn't walk straight.

Bizarre but unfortunately, true.

I walked into the house, dumped my backpack and lunch box, rounded up the kids, changed into old clothes and grabbed some rubber gloves to set about giving Una a good soak in the water to clean her up.

She lost a few tail feathers in the end but she was walking more normally.

Mission accomplished.

Unfortunately the fun wasn't over at our house just yet.

Around 8 p.m. L. and I were sitting at the kitchen table reading our books and snacking on ice cream when something flew by us.

We both had a delayed reaction in coming to the realization that it wasn't an oversized moth or small bird.

Nope, it was a bat.

After she and I screamed, L. dove under the table so fast she did a number on her back.

She said she was so surprised she couldn't get under the table fast enough.

I went under the table with her (see I admitted it Fino!) while G. hid behind the counter. That's when Fino came fuming into the room yelling at me about the reason the kids are always so afraid of everything -- I overreact.

I mumbled some less-than-complementary words about husbands under the table before yelling at him to get rid of the (insert expletive here) bat.

Unfortunately the bat went MIA and the kids and I decided to take our reading material into the bedroom while Fino started looking around the house.

It turned out Toddy - the blind as a bat cat - found the bat hanging (literally) on the window in the kids' playroom and was meowing at it.

Apparently he has bionic hearing.

Our Hero!

Fino tried to catch the bat then gave that up and opened a window. With some active redirecting, the bat flew out of the house a few minutes later.

Ever had *one of those days?*

Bat in the house: Kids share the experience

Late night visitors ... and new friends

Sights around the Almeida homestead yesterday ...

An intruder in the chicken coop that was thankfully looking to eat eggs, not chickens.

The hole dug into the ground by the industrious skunk.

Turns out the fencing Fino dug into the ground when building the coop has deteriorated and needs to be replaced.

Dulce has worked her way into Toddy's good graces.

Summer audio books review

The kids turned in their summer reading list to the library the other day and a couple of the audio books we listened to while driving to our various outdoor adventures were real gems.

At the top of the list (and was recommended by a librarian at Baxter Library - Thanks Deanna!):
"The Skull of Truth" by Bruce Coville

It was a full cast of great voices and the story had the endearing characters and humor that made it enjoyable for not only the kids, but for their parents as well.

"The Penderwicks" by Jeanne Birdsall was another favorite (summer is the perfect time for this one). It wasn't the typical humorous or magical-type book that the kids usually prefer so I was pleased they expanded their horizons with a title they wouldn't have necessarily picked up on their own.

We also listened to a few books that the kids weren't so enthusiastic about. They really liked "Bright Shadow" by Avi right up until the end of the book when one of the main characters dies. The audio was great and kept their interest and they both said they understood about not getting all your wishes but didn't think the author had to kill anyone off. They were angry about it and there was no talking them in to agreeing it was a good book otherwise.

I can appreciate always wanting a happy ending. I'm pretty much an escapist reader myself.

I also took a chance on a classic, "The Enchanted Castle" by Edith Nesbit that was written in the early 1900s. The audio quality was terrible with the copy I had and the reader spoke too quickly. It was a bad combo. We kept with it until the 3rd disk before the kids said they'd had enough. We might try another Nesbit book but I'm going to have to more carefully preview it to make sure the reader and quality are better next time.

The kids 'reviewed' their favorite audio books for their YouTube channel and while there were some digressions with mentions of flying chickens, chatter boxes, Dulce the kitten and bad jokes, they did talk about the books too.

Well, they are kids and they like books enough to make a video about them.

Couldn't ask for more than that.

Favorite audio books (with title and author info at the end)


If you have a favorite audio book for kids, tell us about it! We're looking for new titles for the fall.