the hills are alive

Signing off today for a few weeks cause we're going to Maine. Off to an awesome 200+ year old farmhouse on 150 acres, right on the coast. We went last year with my sister, her husband Ted, and their baby.

After 6 hours in the car it should have taken 5 but we spent the last hour lost and driving in circles, we drove up the half mile long driveway to this...

The kids and dog got out of the car, to this...

They ran up and down the hills 

I half expected Julie Andrews to come from behind the rocks belting one out

Mia's a little pookie here

She's much better here

The owner/host is an interesting guy who goes by "Russ". A Dutch South African, who has owned the property for over 30 years, and knows the entire pre-Revolutionary War history of this old gem in the woods of Maine.

Last year, we were there during the Democratic National Convention. We were all so excited to watch history in the making. I remember the morning after the DNC ended, and McCain announcing his running mate. We were all in a tizzy... Sarah Palin... who's Sarah Palin?? Ted, who's Sarah Palin??  If Ted didn't know, no one did. Well we sure knew soon enough. I remember Ted said she's very camera savvy. I said she looks like she should be editor-in-chief at Vogue. Little did we know...

That was also the day after we set the original hand tooled wood chandelier on fire. No, really, we did. In our excitement to hear Obama's acceptance speech, coupled by a bottle of wine at dinner, we forgot to blow out the candles in the dining room. Yup. Wood chandelier. Original to the house. Hand carved. 270 years old. How could we be the first idiots to do that? How could no one else ever have forgotten the candles were lit? In 270 years? Astounding. Burned. Mortified.

My sister and I desperately rationalized our stupidity. Ted was the brave one, and broke the news to Russ, who handled it in his super supreme gracious host way. 

He's actually allowing us to come back this year. Also astounding. Hide the matches

There's barely cell service at this lovely spot. No wireless internet. So I'll see you on the flipside of the 4th, hopefully with some funny stories and beautiful picts.