Bar Harbor

This Father's Day Weekend, Ben and I went to Bar Harbor with my Dad and Ann. We originally intended to go whale watching, but due to the weather the tour boat cancelled the trip. It was overcast most of the day. Instead of whale watching, we ended up going to Wildwood Stables and took a carraige tour. We than went to Jordan Pond House for lunch, and ended by exploring the Asticou Gardens. It was a great day.

 The most delicious dessert ever, a Jordan Pond House popover with chocolate sauce and ice cream. Ever since I have been pregnant, I now consider chocolate an entire food group on it's own. (I ate an entire bag of chocolate covered pretzels yesterday in less than 5 minutes and still felt that I was craving chocolate.)  

Needless to say, this was even more delicious to me than it was before.

Things I want to tell Mackenna...

• You've already been to one semester of grad school. You passed :-)

• You will never get to meet your paternal grandfather, but you will write his name every time you write your own.

• When your dad found out that he was going to be a father, the first thing he said was... Nothing. He was speechless for at least two minutes. You'll find out soon enough, this is a record for him. The second thing he said was "We are going to save a lot of money on wine." True.

• I hope you aren't allergic to dogs, because Bailey is already in love with you. She has been constantly resting her head on my stomach since I was three months pregnant. And when Ben is away travelling for work, she paces back and forth nervously.

• I knew you were a girl since the beginning.

• You very possibly could have the same birthday as me. Ben thinks that's be great- only one day to remember instead of two. 3 Year and 30 Year birthday parties the same day? I could share.

Summer BBQ

I think its safe for me to call this an "Annual" Summer BBQ by now, since we've had one for two years in a row. I love hosting and getting all of our friends together at least once a year. The difference between 2010 and 2011 was kids! Many of Ben and I's friends have added additions to their family in the last year or two, and it was neat to see them all. We had great weather, great food and the best guests. My only regret was that I didn't take as many photos as I wish I had. . . I got pre-occupied with hosting. Thanks to everyone that came!

Ben's best attempt to take our photo through a few Miller Lites and the fire pit.. 

Pellet Stove

It only took two winters at 315 Gray Rd to realize that although we love our house, we don't love paying for oil to heat it. After exploring a few options of alternative heat, we decided to go with a pellet stove. Ben made the hearth for the stove and put it all in this month, thinking it would be a good project to get out of the way before Baby Siemen comes along. Little did we know that we would have nights so cold in June that we actually got to test it out. It's wonderful so far and I am looking forward to not seeing the oil delivery man very often this winter...

Making the hearth.

Our first fire. 

The Baby Room.

After finding out that I was pregnant, one of my first thoughts was how excited I was to create a baby room. It is no secret that I absolutely love interior decorating, and the nursery has been no exception. We didn't do anything in the room until we found out if we were having a boy or a girl. Once it was confirmed to be a girl; I knew I had a challenge in avoiding a particular color. I am not fond of the color pink, so I needed to be creative to keep this very popular girl's color out of her room- yet still have it be feminine. (Of course if we had found out it was a boy, my challenge would have been making sure the room wasn't wallpapered in Mossy Oak.) Ben made a few pieces of furniture for her room, and some were made by my father when I was younger. I love the finished space, and I hope MacKenna does too.

Some details that inspired the color scheme:

Dollhouse that my father made for me when I was younger, and Ben painted to match her room.

And... Her Room.

Outdoor Staircase

The first two years of living at our house, we did a lot of "indoor projects" from painting to chair rail to counter tops. This summer, we have been starting some outdoor landscaping projects. By "we," of course I mean just Ben. But I do have the vision that starts the project...

Here is our outdoor staircase that Ben put a few days of hard work into. It came out GREAT! We were able to enjoy it at our Summer BBQ that we had this past weekend.

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

And... Finished project!
Just waiting for the flowers to grow in the mulched area.