Day 11.171: Hot, beach

It was hot today. Exile #3 was a bit of a zombie having not slept much during her birthday sleepover last night. She tells me that all three of her visiting friends did better than she did.

When it cooled a little in the early evening, the rest of us managed a little outing to the beach where we took a picture:

and walked:

Not surprisingly E5N1 got wet:

Slightly more surprisingly, so did Exile #4:

Day 11.170: E5N1 at the beach

After a briefly stormy and extensively rainy day yesterday, today was the beginning of a little heatwave with temperatures climbing into the 80's or 90's even for us coastal dwellers.

E5N1 and Exile #2 decided to make an early trip to the beach - leaving before the heat of the day. It looks (and sounds) as if they had fun - especially this sandy boy:

Day 11.169: Peak "Maine"

I can't remember if I mentioned it last time we went to the Sea Dogs baseball, but one of the between-innings entertainments is about as Maine as it gets - a race featuring a blueberry, a potato, a pine tree and a lobster:

On 80's night this year, the lobster got to the line first having stepped over a pile of his competitors - started by the blueberry after an early lead. On reaching the line, the lobster seemed to fall over just inches short, but it wasn't another twist in the race standings - he was just executing a "lobster roll" of course.

Day 11.168: Doggy class

Exile #3 has got herself a job for a few weeks in the summer looking after this old guy:

and his younger cousins. Tonight I went with her to meet the dogs and get some tips from their owners. I think it will be fine!

Day 11.167: Paper talk

E5N1 and his classmates were in the local paper related to their presentation at City Hall to the School Board:

This was a hard year for him in many ways, but this interdisciplinary class was a great opportunity for him to stretch himself and think about some current affairs and literature in a deeper way.

Day 11.166: Traveling fair

Exile #3 was pretty tired and hungry after her performance, so we didn't stay very long at La Kermesse on Saturday. We watched a bit of a magic show and some circus skills and Exile #4 and E5N1 chose to go on the Tornado.

E5N1 looked confident enough before it started:

but a little less so when it was going:

It was a teacups-style spin-yourself kind of ride and Exile #4 was rather kind to her little brother contrary to appearances in this picture!

Day 11.165: Exile #2's Sunday Column #210

Exile #2 writes...

We started the day with a little footie, having eventually found where Fox was hiding its coverage.

It’s safe to say enthusiasm for the World Cup is down a little in this part of the world, although hopefully there will be some renewed excitement by 2026 (and a little less friction with Canada and Mexico). While Exile #1 and I watched the match, E5N1 got to work on making some of his signature microwave scrambled eggs. This method was a revelation when Exile #1 taught it to him, and since then E5N1 has been offering to make eggs for any family member who might be passing.

The rest of the day was a little sleepy. I think the last couple of weeks finally caught up with me, at least, but E5N1 disappeared into the neighborhood for much of the afternoon and had fun playing outside. Hooray!

Day 11.164: Dance show, rain shower

Only four of the student company could make the late-season performance at La Kermesse French heritage festival today, but they worked hard to produce an hour long show (with a little help from two younger sisters (not Exile #4!) and a bit of audience participation.

The crowd in the tent was probably increased a little by the rain shower that almost exactly coincided with their performance time - it felt a little like a British summer fair as we sheltered from the rain!

Day 11.163: Parade...altogether now!

A rare appearance by Exile #4 at a dance school event meant that we were all in the La Kermesse parade today:

Along with a lot of other people from the studio:

 and quite a lot of other people too!

Day 11.162: If they don't win it's a shame

It was 80's night at the Sea Dogs game at Hadlock Field as we met up with a group from church for baseball, junk food, music, fun, dancing and fireworks.

The home team didn't give us much to root for as they went down by 5 in the first inning and never recovered, but we had a lot of fun!

Day 11.161: Moving on up

Today was E5N1's step-up day - he spent some time at the Middle School seeing the school and meeting some of his teachers for next year. Meanwhile, it was Exile #4's last day of Middle School and in the evening we visited the High School for her promotion ceremony:

Exile #3 does not have a new school for next year, but today was a pretty significant occasion for her too - her 16th birthday!

Happy Birthday Exile #3!

Day 11.160: Perfect day for...

...an outdoors concert tonight. But that was last night and we had no such plans today. Alternatively, as Exile #2 said - or any day this week (except for yesterday) or as my boss said - or any day last week or this week (except yesterday).

Never mind - it really was beautiful today - at lunch time there was hardly a cloud in the sky:

- in fact no clouds - the thing that looked like a small wispy cloud was actually the moon. Unfortunately, this was a little too much clear sky (and sun) for E5N1 who caught the sun a bit during his school field day - despite leaving slathered in high SPF.

Tomorrow is step-up day at the middle school for him, but that is only vying for third most important event happening on Day 11.161. See you then!

Day 11.159: 0 for 2 at Thompson's Point

Last year we had tickets to see Phantogram at Thompson's Point only to hear a couple of weeks before the gig that it had been canceled. This year we had high hopes of redemption when we got tickets to see another of our favorite bands - alt-J at the same venue tonight. After a hot day had turned stormy we were less optimistic as we set out. Even less so as we drove through a violent storm.

By the time we arrived and parked, the storm was moving out to sea and we allowed ourselves a little hope that it would work out. Then we were ushered into this indoor space instead of to the outside stage area to wait for the storm to clear:

A few minutes later, they told us that the concert was canceled.

Hmph - we're oh for two as US sports fans would say.

We drove through another storm with some exciting lightning on our way home, so it was probably for the best.

Day 11.158: Exile #2's Sunday Column #209

Exile #2 writes...

Father’s Day got off to a bit of a slow start, with much of the family recovering from the show yesterday. Exile #3, in particular, looked almost boneless lying in bed this morning. But the kids managed to rally and wish their Dad a happy Father’s Day. He’s been working phenomenally hard this week, taking and editing photos and film footage of the dance show, with a bit of sermon podcast management thrown in for extra fun. There certainly has not been much time for idling. The pace lessens a little this week but there are still a few important events, including Exile #4's promotion from Middle School. She’ll be joining her sister in High School in September, while E5N1 will be arriving to take Exile #4’s place in Middle School. But first, vacation!

Day 11.157: Recital day

Considering the performances started at 11 am and were finished before 2:30 pm, the recital filled the day pretty effectively. I had the job of taking one of the two videos of the performances (and I will be editing the DVD together), but for now here is another of the photos I took of the dress rehearsal on Thursday:

Day 11.156: I filled the dance-gap with...

Today was the day between the dress rehearsal (yesterday evening) and the recital - one performance each side of noon tomorrow. I filled this gap-day with editing photos of the dress rehearsal. Tomorrow, I will be recording the show and then comes the video editing!

Day 11.155: Dress rehearsal

I was planning to stop into the dance recital dress rehearsal on my way home from work to check out the angles for doing the video recording of the performance on Saturday. Part way through the day, I got an email asking if I could step in to take some photographs since two professionals had let the artistic director down at late notice. This meant I was there for the whole evening and I have several hours of photo editing to do. It also meant that I got to see the whole show including the first time that Exile #3 and E5N1 have been in the same choreographed dance (it is a combined piece for both their hip-hop classes):

Day 11.154: City Hall

Like last year, E5N1 had the opportunity today to present some of his work to the School Board with his classmates at City Hall. The whole presentation was a lot tighter and more polished than last years (including the one by the 4th graders - so it was probably due to it being their teacher's second time more than anything else). E5N1 did a nice job with his bit about species adaptation:

Day 11.153: I'm up for it if she is!

Spotted while picking up pizza for Exile #4 and her friends on Friday evening:

Day 11.152: #4 = 14

Happy 14th Birthday to Exile #4!

Day 11.151: Exile #2's Sunday Column #208

Exile #2 writes...

As Exile #3 and Exile #4 have little more than a week between their birthdays, we quite often end up assigning them each one of two consecutive weekends for their celebrations. Although Exile #4’s birthday is not officially until tomorrow, this weekend was her celebration.

Friday into Saturday, she had five friends round for a sleepover. Happily, we have a finished basement in this house, so they took it over for a mammoth evening of playing games. They started at around 5:30 pm but I can confirm they were still going strong at 1:30 am. There were some bleary eyes the next morning, but they rallied after a bit of breakfast. We said goodbye to the last one soon after lunch, at which point, unsurprisingly, Exile #4 disappeared for a nap.

I expect it will be a case of rinse and repeat for Exile #3, but before that can happen, she has 4 days of exams, a dress rehearsal, and a couple of dance shows to get through. She will however be able to sleep in come Monday, unlike her siblings, who will still have a week of school to go. I guess that sums up the pros and cons of high school.

Day 11.150: More from the marsh

Our walk at the beach last Saturday was at high tide. We had never seen it so high at that location. It seemed to make it especially popular with boaters and paddlers:

I found a couple of nice in-flight photos, so here is the tricolored heron again:

Here are some of the other sightings - snowy egret, glossy ibis, willet, probably an American tree sparrow, willet in flight (always a stunning surprise!), willet again, some flowers and a few of the many oak apples on a small oak tree by the trail: