Some pictures of Fall

A Late Summer Update

It's been a few weeks since our last post and I thought, for you faithful followers, that I would update you on what's been going on in our Burns household. Since Karis's birthday we've been keeping ourselves busy with our new chickens. We've finally built a pen and added a few more hens to the mix, so in a few weeks we should have a little egg production going on.
That's one of our newbies, Pidge. She, along with her mother, are Porcelain Booted bantam hens. You probably could guess why she's named Pidge. Anyway... we're excited to have a few more, and realize that raising chickens can get addicting. We're already thinking about getting more.

Some exciting news... I got a new job working as a math teacher at Camden Hills this year. I'm no longer in the Special Ed. Department, but a full-fledged teacher. It all happened quite fast actually. School started last week and so far things are going great.

We've discovered a new nature center not far from where we live. For the past few weeks we've been taking some short hikes to get some fresh air and exercise. Karis likes to walk Squeakers on the leash because he walks at her pace. She really would like to walk Duncan, but Duncan would pull the leash from her hands and run away.


We managed to survive Hurricane Earl. He wasn't that bad. Just a bunch of rain. We didn't even lose any branches from our trees. I guess we should be grateful, but as a weather geek, I was at least hoping for some excitement.

This afternoon Shannon and I made sumac lemonade from our Sumac tree tops. Don't ask how we found a recipe for that, but we did. If you have Sumac trees around (not the poison Sumac) you should give this recipe a try. It was actually quite easy to make and gave us a new appreciation for the crazy trees in our yard.

Fall is almost here. You can smell it in the air today. Some of the trees are already changing colors. This summer has been really really nice. You can't complain at all. It was very dry though and our ponds and lakes are a little low.

That's about all for now. My car is in the shop...AGAIN!! This time with a sensor issue. It should be done mid-week.

Happy Birthday Karis!

Karis is two years old! Can you believe it? We can't. Everyday she is getting bigger and learning new words and skills. Instead of having a birthday party today we decided to have a day of adventure. As mentioned in the previous blog, Karis has developed an interest in all modes of transportation. Everyday she asks to ride on an orange airplane, a boat, a train or "Thomas" depending on her mood. Our day care told us that Thomas the Train was coming to the train museum in Boothbay. I checked it out and he was going to be there on Karis's birthday!

The other fun and exciting thing for her birthday was that Grammy and Pop Pop were visiting for the week. So we decided that we would include an adventure for them too. Since we were already going to Boothbay for Thomas we would go Whale Watching too. We found a great deal on Whale Watching on Tropicana's juicy rewards site, and bought our tickets.

Needless to say Karis was fascinated by the train museum and Thomas. We could have stayed there all day looking at the antique cars, fire trucks, and trains. She loved the train ride on Thomas, and she wasn't the only little girl there! She got a temporary Thomas tattoo, and a Tshirt saying she spent the day with Thomas.


We had to tear ourselves away from Thomas because we had a boat to catch. It was a beautiful day, and perfect weather for a boat ride. Luckily, it wasn't very crowded, and we had a lot of space to roam on the boat.


We saw two minke whales, lots of harbor seals and porpoises, and a variety of sea birds. Karis was very interested at first, she even found her own little spot to watch.
But, like all two years old, her attention waned, and she started getting naughty. It was nap time. It took us a while, but she eventually fell asleep. She slept for most of the ride.

Towards the end of our ride, we came upon several small islands covered in seals. Pop Pop woke Karis up so she could see all the seals.

Needless to say, after a long day of adventure we were all very tired! We had dinner at Moody's diner, and headed home for cake and presents. Thank you everyone for all the cards and gifts. Karis is starting to understand presents, cards, and cake mean birthday!

Karis's first canoe ride

What a gorgeous day today! We decided to finally take Karis for a ride in the canoe this morning. Karis has developed a fascination with all modes of transportation, and she has been asking to ride on a boat. The was the perfect opportunity. She had a fabulous time, and we enjoyed getting out on the water again.




For the most part Karis spent the canoe ride sitting in the middle looking around. Unfortunately, Karis eventually realized there was water underneath us, and of course decided to lean out over the edge of the canoe when we were trying to make our way across the pond. She never fell in, but came close. Eventually, BJ convinced her to sit next to him, and they sat together for the rest of the ride.



We couldn't have asked for nicer weather today. The views were amazing.



We paddled around a small island. We decided that we will have to get an anchor for the canoe so that we can go back to the island to swim and have a picnic.



We made it back to the beach in one piece, and let Karis have some time to play in the water.

Some updates

So it's been a few weeks since we've put up a new blog, and I know some of you follow what we're doing and like to look at our pictures, so here's an update.

I've been working a lot and keeping myself busy this summer. Finally got the chicken coop up and running smoothly and the chickens seem to like their new digs. Still haven't painted it yet, though. We bought the paint last weekend, but it's been raining and we need to wait for the wood to dry a little. The next couple days are supposed to be nice, so we'll probably get it painted this weekend. It's fun to watch the chickens get bigger each day, and we're thinking that our white hen (a.k.a. Parmesan) might start laying in a few weeks. Wouldn't that be nice!!
Shanon and Karis took a week to head out to Illinois to visit some family for the 4th of July. Karis hadn't been out there since she was 3 months old, and a lot of family was wanting to see her. I didn't get to go. I had to work, plus, Brandle and Amy came up for a visit that weekend. It was a nice visit. (I think they'd agree) We went for a hike, picked wild blueberries, saw a lighthouse, watched fireworks, had a campfire, and hung out. A good long weekend vacation. I suppose what we did was nothing compared to what Shan and Karis got to do while they were in IL.
Karis went rock climbing, took the train into Chicago, and went to the zoo, just to name a few. She got to experience a lot of new things. From what I understand, she was quite spoiled while she was out there too.

It took a few days to get her back into a routine when she got home, but nothing we couldn't handle. We'll all be heading back out there for Christmas this year.

So, we're all back to work, back to daycare, and back to the normal day-to-day.
That takes you up to date on the last 4 weeks or so. In another 4 weeks, Karis will be having her 2nd birthday. Holy Smokes!!!

If anything exciting happens before then, you'll be sure to know.

An Early Summer Update

Just a quick update.

Summer's here. Karis has been keeping us really busy. She's always on the move. We've had to find some productive outlets for her energy so we've signed up for a little toddler gymnastics class.Her favorite part of gymnastics is swinging on the bars and during open play time, it's the first thing that she goes to.


Karis is doing really well at daycare. She knows all of her letters and can count up to 13. (That's the highest I've heard, but she probably knows more.)

She still has an Elmo addiction, although every week there's a new Sesame Street character obsession. This week it's Bert and Ernie.

At the end of the school year we got a new chicken. Not sure if it's a roo or a hen, but we'll find out eventually. My big coop won't be finished until next week, so Shan and I had to whip up a temporary coop for this little guy. We managed to build a pretty decent coop with nothing but scrap wood laying around. I think I paid all of $5 to finish it. The new coop should be big enough to house about 6 hens, so that's our plan.

I'll post more pictures in the next couple of weeks. I actually have quite a bit of work this summer. This tutoring gig is keeping me busy.

Our April Vacation

A few weeks ago, we went out to Arizona for a little vacation. We haven't been there in a couple of years and thought that we would take advantage of having an April vacation and make the long journey across the country to visit some family. We were a little anxious since we haven't flown with Karis since she was a few months old. That was a short little 2 hour flight to Chicago. This time we had a long day of traveling with layovers and everything.
We did manage to get to Phoenix and when we landed it was about 90 degrees. But anyone who knows me and Shannon knows that we have the worst luck. The typical temperature in Phoenix for late April is 87 degrees. Hot and dry. The four days that we were there it rained and was about 65 degrees. Now, we didn't leave Maine for 65 degrees. Needless to say, we didn't need to worry about sun block.
There was one semi-decent day and we took advantage of that and went on an adventure to Mexico. That was interesting. Apparently, Arizonans go to Mexico when they feel the need to go to the beach. A few hours from Phoenix is the Gulf of California and a town called Rocky Point. The Mexicans call it Puerta Penasco. We did eventually get there and had a good time while we were there, but it was super windy and a little cold once you got out of the water.

Our friend Jenn drove from Albuquerque, NM to visit us in Arizona. We haven't seen her in a few years and she had never met Karis. Jenn is a really good friend and it was great seeing her again. Jenn is a veterinarian and fortunately had some time off to come see us.

Despite the weather, we did have a great time. Chris and Heather we able to take the time off of work to have fun with us and Karis we a good girl the whole time. We got to go to a "ghost mining town". It really was just a tourist trap, but that's the kind of thing that Shan and I enjoy doing. We're not above silly tourist traps.
Shannon and I think that a trip to Arizona every other year will be great, and one of these times, when Karis is a little older, we'll get out to Disney Land, which is only a few hours away from Phoenix.

At the end of the trip we got to walk around Scottsdale and do a little shopping. Actually, I don't think we bought anything in Scottsdale, but we had a good time walking around. We ate lunch at this restaurant owned by some Italian guy from New York. Man, that food was great!!! The owner is such a character too. He loved Karis and gave her a biscotti- probably to keep her quiet for the rest of the patrons, but hey, it worked. That's him in the middle, with his arm around Jenn.


We had a great time in Arizona and will definitely be back in a couple of years.

Karis broke her arm!

That's right! Karis fractured her wrist Monday night. We aren't sure what happened because I walked out of the room to let Squeakers in from the rain. It took only a few seconds and she was down. She has a green bucket fracture of her right wrist. That's a weird toddler fracture. Her bone is actually bent, not broken, but they still consider it a fracture.