Raising Maine

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 enamoured 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

Steamy hot parade fun

We just got home from the Gorham Days parade. The girls' dance studio asked them to be part of the parade dancers and they had a lot of fun.

They were a colorful group of dancers wearing a variety of former recital costumes.

G. was hesitant at first to agree to join the group but she was all smiles once the parade got going.

But man, was it hot! So afterwards I took my girls to get a slush to cool them off.

Now they're laying on the couch thinking they're too hot and tired to do anything but sit in front of the air conditioner ...

Can't say I blame them a bit.

Gorham Days parade gallery

Driving, jumping and duck head feathers

The Ossipee Valley Fair opened yesterday (it runs through Sunday) and we went to check out the girls' 4-H exhibits, take Seen Team pictures and have some fun.

I had extra Seen Team helpers last night with the girls' visiting cousins from California.

See our Seen Team photos from the fair (if you go, be sure to share your pictures too!)

We stopped by an animals for sale exhibit where we've purchased our ducks in past and had a moment of realization about our own Victorian lady.

We thought our duck may have had a parent that was a cross-bred from this one.

The stray head feathers for our duck make a little more sense to us now.

We loved this one's fro.

We also had to look at the bunnies and L. took yet another opportunity to argue her case for getting her own (something she has done for several years now). She wants to incorporate it into her yearly 4-H projects but Fino keeps turning down the idea. He thinks we've got enough going on in our yard with the chickens and ducks.

L. is working on new negotiation tactics.

The kids tried out the bumper cars for the first time this year and I was a little frightened with L.'s driving.

After seeing this devilish look I started counting how many years I had to learn deep breathing techniques in anticipation of her getting her license (6 1/2 and counting now).

The kids also really enjoyed the bungee jump with their cousins.

They had a big thank you for their tio and tia for buying them tickets to try it!

Bungee Jumping at Ossipee Valley Fair

Peep Fest is always silly fun

Every year after dance recital the studio has some fun with marshmallow Easter peeps and my kids look can't wait for it.

They love making art projects around the Peep theme but unlike the Edible Book Festival at the library, they can use whatever materials they want (not just edible) as long as the project includes Peeps in some way.

"Peep Winter Dance" by G. Since we've done Peep Fest for a few years she decided to expand into Peeps from other holidays for her project. L. thought the gingerbread peeps were weird looking so she explained it by telling everyone they had "big brains". I thought they sort of looked like aliens.

L.'s "Peep Love." She enjoys making shadow boxes and last year's "Peep Show" that included purple peeps with canes and hats dancing behind a curtain was really cute. She still hasn't figured out why the adults thought that one was so funny though...

There were some really great entries in the art display this year like the "Just Born" (there's great detail in that one like the dad's cigars) and "Leaning Tower of Peep-za" made by a couple of the older teen dancers.

The Peep Fest also includes a day of carnival games and relay races and you can see all the art and fun in our My.MaineToday.com photo gallery.
Peep Fest

If you go to a festival or event this summer, be sure to take some photos and share them in My.MaineToday.com too. You never know, maybe you could win a Vespa with photos of you and your family having fun!

Mugglefest Portland 2007

If you're a Harry Potter fan, then you're going to have a lot to do this July. The much-anticipated final book in the series, Deathly Hallows, will be released on July 21. And the latest movie, Order of the Phoenix will be in theaters on July 13.

As a way to celebrate the final book's release, a Portland group will be hosting it's own "MuggleFest" in the converted warehouses of The Portland Company Complex on the East End. The tickets proceeds, which are $12 per adult or child, will benefit the Youth and Family Outreach program (so although not the cheapest event, it all goes to a good cause). It's a 12-hour event that sounds like it will have something for Potter fans of all ages.

Find out more about the event

More snow, bird songs and edible books

The kids were not happy about seeing this weather report this morning. They love the snow but we're all ready to move on.

WCSH6.com graphic

But that's how April goes around here. It's hard to believe just this past weekend my family was out hiking to Georgetown Island (more on that later), looking for birds and getting excited about spring.

The kids have been distracted lately with the Birdsong Identiflyer they got for Christmas. They identified some birds while hiking and in our backyard and now they can't put the thing down.

The Identiflyer is a handheld device that has special encoded cards with birdsongs on them. We haven't invested a lot of effort into learning about birding other than the basics (bring along the 'Maine Bird Guide' and binoculars on hikes and see if we can figure out what kind of birds we see). The Identiflyer is a whole lot more fun - and accurate - so the kids can say with confidence what kind of birds they find.

They play with the Identiflyer so much that last night they heard a whip-poor-will in our backyard and immediately knew what it was. Actually I bet our cat Toddy could identify several birds as well since they have spent a lot of time "teaching" him the birdsongs too (useful information for our blind, indoor cat of course).

So last night when they were supposed to be doing something else, they were instead playing with their Identiflyer again and lamenting that snow was on the way.

Today we're off to the Edible Book Festival at the Portland Public Library (yes, we eventually finished making our entries late last night once we put the Identiflyer away).

The basic idea of the event is to make something edible based on a book. Last year the entries were VERY creative and the winner made a rye bread bowl and put a stake in the middle with a picture of a baseball catcher for the book, "Catcher in the Rye." A lot of entries are done by local artists and are really impressive (ours however are not, we do it just for fun).

The Festival opens at 11:30 a.m. today to view the entries and vote for your favorite. It's an annual fundraiser for the library but there is no fee to stop by; it's $5 for 3 voting tickets and a plate for the feast.

We eventually finished our entries for the Festival, which were as much about trying to being creative as they were about tasting good (our entries last year were not so tasty to eat -- G. didn't like her black frosting and L.'s egg roll wrapper hand shadow book needed a little salt). This year it's all about jelly beans, candy and white cake.

Check out Seen Team's home page tomorrow for photos from this year's Festival.

Down on the maple sugar farm

We went to Merrifield Farm in Gorham yesterday (they have maple sugar cotton candy and it's our favorite maple treat) and several different family members took photos. It's an eclectic mix of shots from our time at the farm. (G. and I also took some video ... including the muddy mess and clean-up.)

The first order of business was picking up our free ice cream topped with maple syrup.

Then we listened to a farm staffer explain the process of boiling sap in the "old days." (see video below for part of that explanation)

The oxen wagon ride.

Then G. got a hold of the camera ...

'Taffey' and 'Bell'. G. took a photo of their name plates above their stall so I'd be sure to get their names correctly.

'Cow Licks'

Hopefully Toddy won't be too jealous that G. was photographing another cat.

It's not suprise that G. likes animals, Fino was playing with them at the farm too.

Then Fino had his turn ...

Snow jumping.

The long line I waited in to buy some maple syrup and other sweets.

And finally L. make her photo contribution ...

"Look at this puddle shaped like a key!"

Around the farm

Sweet season is underway

We're starting to see the taps on the trees around southern Maine and the kids are anticipating eating all the special maple syrup treats.

A couple of years ago I wrote a column about sugaring season and decided last week to compile my video clips from that sugar house visit. It's pretty interesting to learn about the process of boiling sap - and eye-opening at the labor-intensiveness of it all. It seems to me to be more a labor of love by the people I've met who do it.

Maine Maple Sugar Sunday is March 25 this year. That's the day sugar houses around the state open their doors for visitors. You can see how the process works for yourself and sample (most sugarhouses offer free samples) all kinds of tasty treats.
Find a sugar house near you

And after you've got some syrup, you can try out some tasty recipes (or take L.'s suggestion).
Maple sugar season recipes

If you or your family go to a sugar house or tap trees and boil down the sap yourself, send us your photos!
Post your photosPost your stories about sugaring season

Between the sweet treats and the mud, it's a great season in Maine to be a kid!
Visiting a sugar house Mud "fun"

Brain Power Expo at USM

Fino took the kids to the Future Engineers Expo at USM on Saturday while I was at the office. They met up with some friends and from the look of the pictures, had a great time building and making stuff.

G. had the camera for part of the day and snapped a bunch of photos. Another Seen Team family also took some photos.
G.'s pics | Kusturin Family pics

When uploading the photos to make the gallery, I asked L. to write the captions to identify what the photos were. I was highly amused with this one:
"A thing-a-ma-bob that has to do with something."

Yup, she's headed in the engineering field for sure...

Although she and her friend K. did make a life saver car that according to K.'s mom, they spent a lot of working on and really enjoyed doing (well, they did eat a bunch of life savers while they did it I'm told).
Read K.'s story in My.MaineToday.com

But this photo, this was my favorite from the Kusturin album.

They were making their own polymer, also known as 'slime' or 'glop.'

It's all about hockey in one form or another

Yesterday the girls participated in the Girl Scout's USM Girl Sports Day. They had reluctantly agreed to go to the event after I convinced them it would be fun. Both girls barely lasted a season playing soccer when they were each in kindergarten and have resisted even considering playing that or any other sport I've suggested. It's not that I think they *have* to play sports, I just want them to simply try a season of a team sport to have that experience.

So when this Girl Scout event came around, I thought it was a the perfect opportunity for them try a variety of sports in a stress-free way.

So what did they think about clinics where they learned how to play each sport?

Basketball - L: "It was a boring sport to play." G: "It was OK but I don't think I want to play it."

Soccer - L: "I liked soccer but I don't want to play it." G: "It was good. I will think about playing it for fun at my house."

Lacrosse - L: "It was too hard for me to catch the ball in the little net." G: "I didn't like lacrosse."

Field Hockey: L:"I LOVE field hockey! It was fun! And I was good at it too. I liked that!" (don't think I can use enough exclamation points to express her enthusiasm on discovering this sport) G: "I liked field hockey but I wouldn't compete, I would just do it for fun with my friends." (This is high praise from G. for a competitive sport; she is the sensitive one in the family and doesn't like the win-lose notion.)

I should not have been surprised at L.'s enthusiastic response to field hockey. If I had really thought about it, I should have known she would like it. Anytime I've suggested she play ice hockey - her favorite sport to watch - she has scoffed at the notion saying she doesn't want to get pushed around and beat up like they do at the Pirates games. I can't blame her for that so I haven't tried to convince her to try it. But field hockey offers the same type of action without being a serious contact sport. She's totally hooked on it now and was disappointed to discover that she has to wait until the end of the summer to join a team.

The girls also worked with the USM cheerleaders on a half-time routine for the women's basketball game that afternoon. All I can say is that my girls were not so keen on the cheerleading thing but they gave it a good effort and had fun (and they thought the USM cheerleaders were really nice).

The USM cheerleaders worked with the Girl Scouts on their routine before the game.

I realized that I hadn't been to a basketball game since college so I was looking forward to going to a game with the kids. Of course, it took me a few minutes to figure out how to explain the game to them because I'm not nearly as familiar with this sport as I am with hockey.

L.'s first question was to ask how many periods were in the game. Bless her heart, she's a hockey fan all the way.

But she and G. enjoyed the game; L. especially enjoyed yelling and clapping in the stands for the team as well as the cheerleaders (they did a lot of impressive flips). She really does know how to share her home team spirit.

The USM women's team warm-ups.

In between clapping and yelling (USM scored a lot), L. sat watching this clock for several minutes wondering what it was for. It finally dawned on me it was a play clock and a shot on net (or whatever it's called in basketball-speak) had to be made within 30 seconds or the buzzer rang.

It's too bad we've *discovered* college basketball so late in the season. It looks like the play-offs are just around the corner so there aren't many opportunities left to go to another game.

And on our way out of the game, L. caught a glimpse of the men's hockey team playing a game.

"We gotta go to one of their games too!"

It all comes back to hockey for my L.

The kids' first parade

Yesterday the kids' 4-H club made a float for the Cumberland County Fair's parade. It's a very, very small affair on the race track but it was the first one the girls had been in so they were pretty excited. They did a lot of laughing and waving with their 4-H friends.

The float's theme was "Outdoor Education."

Photos from the parade

The kids know how to rock now

Blue Man Group was my kids' first rock concert and wow, it was awesome. I had never seen the group perform but everyone told me they put on a great show and the kids would love it. Oh yeah, it was.

L. had the arm waving, head-bobbing and raising the roof arms down pat by the end of the show. The whole rock star parady theme the group had going was tons of fun. The kids were too busy following all the Rock Star Fan "Rules" during the show to really care why Fino and I were laughing so hard at it all.

If you ever want your kids to have a concert experience - and enjoy the show yourself - Blue Man Group is it.

There were so many glowing cell phone lights in the crowd last night I couldn't resist taking a shot of our own.

Check out our Seen Team photos of the audience last night

Good times on Day 1 of the fair

We were at the fairgrounds to volunteer in the 4-H Food Booth yesterday. The kids and Fino were wiped out by the end of the day (I arrived late from work and was a bit of a slacker) but we all agree it was for a good cause. The proceeds from the booth go to the county's 4-H programs and they offer some great stuff throughout the year. And here's an insider's tip: the booth has some of the cheapest grub on the fairgrounds.

The girls did work hard but in classic L. and G. style, they also had plenty of breaks.

Fino and Josh worked the grill and made some really tasty burgers according to L.

As a reward for a job well-done, we treated ourselves to a big bowl of fries.

The kids love the vinegar spray bottle. Good thing we like lots and lots of it on our fries.

And per usual, the kids took charge of the camera and I had the pleasure of sifting through the 100+ photos this morning. About 25 photos were from poultry house of various chickens. Apparently we don't have enough chicken photos at home. Another few dozen were taken inside the 4-H Hall. There were some really great entries this year -- the rat maze and living history costumes were a few of our favorites.

But these photos by G. cracked me up. Sometimes she really captures more than just an animal.

"They're so cute!"

The kids, especially G., has been asking for a while to see a seal pup release by the Marine Animal Lifeline. Yesterday we finally found a release time that fit into our crazy schedule.

Both girls enjoyed watching the seals swimming around once they were in the water and we asked one of the volunteers a few questions about them. She said they look really cute but they aren't so nice up close. They're wild animals and act accordingly (i.e., bite if you get too close).

There's some great photos of the pups as patients on the Lifeline's website that the kids love to look at. There is also a species identification page that gives lots of interesting details about the pinnipeds (another word for seals - a new vocabularly word for me :) in the Gulf of Maine.

G. caught all the action on the beach during the release -- and specified which pictures I should share.

The pups are transported in large dog carriers. There was a hooded seal that needed a lot of coaxing to leave his carrier yesterday.

The pups swam near the beach initially and the kids had fun trying to guess when - and where - they would pop their heads above the water.

Volunteers use large wood "shields" to re-direct any errant seals. Some were staying close to shore initially and needed some coaxing to swim out to sea.

L. can not leave any place we go without something. Note the new "seaweed collection" in her hand that she has decided to start.

Fairy leaping, fried Oreos and hopes for the Dogs

We have some friends visiting from out of town and since they read my blog, they had a few requests, including a trip to Mackworth Island to build fairy houses. So yesterday we visited the island and thoroughly enjoyed the picture perfect hiking weather.

The comment of the day was, "Wow, this fairy village is much bigger than I realized." Yeah, my camera has never really caught the size or many interesting details of the village. And in case you were wondering if the kids enjoyed themselves, I think this picture says it all.

Today we headed to the Topsham Fair since it was one-ticket ride day. The kids also wanted to see their projects in the exhibit hall. They were pleased with their ribbon placements but much more eager to go on the rides and get some fried dough and french fries. And the adults in our group were just as eager to eat our way through the fair.

Our usual treats were tasty but we felt the need to expand our horizons and try our first deep fried Twinkee and Oreos. You know, we don't like enough greasy, heart-clogging food already.

The Oreos were the hands-down favorite. The Twinkees' cream melted into the cake and the chocolate and whipped cream was just over the top for us.

The fried Twinkees were served with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. They really know how to add caloric intake with these.

We decided to play our Seen Team role and took lots of photos around the fairgrounds.

Tomorrow we're headed to the Sea Dogs game and we're really hoping they break
their losing streak.

Ant treks and traffic-stopping ducks

We went to opening day at the Ossipee Fair yesterday. The kids have a bunch of their 4-H projects in the exhibit hall so in addition taking in the sights around the fairgrounds, we also served as monitors for the hall for a few hours (an expectation for each 4-H club entering exhibits).

The highlight in the exhibit hall, besides the girls being pleased with their blue riboons for their photography projects, was the ant dragging string across the floor.

Yeah, we even took video of the little ant that could. We were all just kinda fascinated watching it work its way across the floor.

And I really enjoyed this photo by L. "It's tail action mom, just like (G.'s) chicken action!"

And no trip to the fair is complete without some of these.

Or this.

And then I noticed that the girls had some kind of animal leg theme going on with their photos yesterday.

The pig scramble was enjoyable to watch until the pigs were put into bags. "Those poor pigs. They put them in bags without air holes! I don't like that," huffed G. She had a similar reaction at the Oxen pull with the whips. The girls like the animals and don't like to see them being hit or distressed. I guess they're really not cut out for the farm life. They'll stick with their errant ducks and crazy chickens.

And speaking of ducks, we had another run in with someone else's pesky birds last night. We had to come to a very quick stop driving home on Route 25 in Cornish because several ducks decided to cross the road around 9:45 p.m. They took their own sweet time getting across that road too (and blowing the horn didn't even phase them, let alone get them moving faster).

"Geeze mom, ducks are a pain in the butt aren't they?"

Yup.

The U-Pick season is here

We have a small strawberry patch in our garden and last night we found a bunch that were ripe but not enough to satisfy our taste for the fruit.

So we're making time this week to go to a pick-your-own farm to get as much as we can eat and make our annual batch of strawberry jam.

Actually, we go to a bunch of the u-pick farms' seasons - strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and apple - because we love the fresh fruit. There's nothing like eating the stuff the day you pick it.

My mouth is watering already for more strawberries...

A really sweet day

Oooh, we love sugaring season and spent the afternoon at a couple of maple sugar farms today.

The kids are hosting some international Flat Stanleys right now so we took the travelers along to learn about sugaring season since only a small portion of the world actually produces the stuff.

The circled area on this globe at Snell's Family Farm indicates the only area in the world that can produce maple syrup.

The kids love the maple cotton candy at Merrifield Farm in Gorham.

The open fire boiling at Merrifield Farm was actually pretty interesting. We had never seen a demonstration like this before.

At Snell's Family Farm in Bar Mills (yes, we did some driving today), the kids tasted the sap before it was boiled (clear liquid on right) and agreed with their assesment last year that it's "not that good (sweet)." Well, 2% sugar content from the tree's sap (how it comes out of the tree) versus the incredibly sweet syrup that is produced after boiling isn't a fair comparison anyway.

And if you were wondering, both kids drank at least a full cup of syrup today.

I bought Light Amber syrup at Merrifield Farms since that was what was available in the size jug I wanted. Then I bought a bottle of Dark Amber from Snell's. We did a little comparison at home and although you can see the slight difference, they both tasted the same. Yummy.

When we got home, L. decided to show our Flat Stanley friends all the treats we like to eat during this season.

My favorite is the maple cream, especially on crackers and toast. G. loves the maple fudge and cotton candy. L. likes the syrup on vanilla ice cream and drinking it directly from a cup. Fino likes the syrup on pancakes but he hasn't got the same kind of sweet tooth as the rest of us. He doesn't get nearly as excited about sugaring season as the females in our household.

I also must make a note here that although I lamented more than once about the lack of snow this winter, it was really nice that the mud was minimal today at the farms. There wasn't any snow to create the mudfest L. enjoyed last year.

That really broke me up.

Opening day at the fair

My family spent yesterday afternoon and early evening at the Cumberland County fair.

Highlights include the carousel action shot, our nutritional dinner, the rabbit and poultry barns as well as our volunteer time in the 4-H Snack Bar.

Check out the photos of our visit.