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| Vale That! plays again..reunion tour. With our first official fan and t-shirt! |
When we first moved to Spain, I vowed to
remain in Europe and not visit the States until we came home, whenever that
would be. My mom’s illness intervened,
and so I doubled down when I returned, determined to make the most of the rest
of our time here in Europe.
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| Gorgeous Spanish sunset on the aircraft carrier, Spanish Navy Ball 2015. Who would want to leave? |
But three years turned into four, then
five, and my family and friends back home started to think that we would never
come back! So I compromised, and we
planned an all-relatives, memory-lane trip to the East Coast.
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| Delighted to be back in the States |
Suzi and Ethan have a summer home in
Northport, Maine, my sister Simone would be in Maine for a week before her
conference in NYC, Todd’s brother Mark and family are in Boston, my friends
Steve and Laura in New Hampshire, and to top things off, Dan and Liz Hebert
became Suzi and Ethan’s neighbors in Northport!
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| Brushing up on U.S. history |
Besides, I love lobster. And there was a new boat! And it was summer in Maine…which is
glorious. And we could swing through
Vermont, where Todd’s family used to own a cabin on a beaver pond. And the Azores, our ancestral island home,
would be easy to visit on the way back.
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| Now THAT'S delicious! |
So off to the States we went for a
month. Steve and Laura, along with their
boys Isaiah and Abe, welcomed us in and took us to ice cream and swimming in
the Merrimac river. No wonder Laura
never leaves New Hampshire in the summer!
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| With my favorite radio voice Laura |
Next stop, Maine, where I celebrated my 52nd
birthday by chowing down not one but two lobsters plus an extra tail!
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| 52 and holding up fairly well... |
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| A birthday present for Aunt Steph! |
We went tubing and waterskiing, launched off
a rope swing, picked blueberries, jumped off the dock, went crabbing, and in
general enjoyed a good old-fashioned summer.
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| Lots of cousins to motor around with |
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| Todd tears it up on the Penobscot |
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| Clamming for Griffin's birthday dinner |
I woke most mornings before the sunrise and slipped out into the
mirror-like Pensobscot Bay in a kayak for an hour, watching the sun rise and
marveling at the beauty before snuggling back in bed for another hour’s sleep.
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| It's gorgeous out here! |
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| Summer is fleeting |
We next went to Boston via an overnight
trip to Vermont, where we found Todd’s cabin. Lucky for us, the renter there
was lovely and invited us into the cabin, where we found the fish pictures
drawn by Todd’s family still visible on the walls of the cabin!
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| Cabin built cerca 1880 |
 |
| No more screened-in porch |
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| But the beaver pond looks just the same! |
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| Inside is simple and homey |
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| Evidence of past catches...no big fish stories here! |
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| Mark's masterpiece from 1986...a "large-mouthed perch with springloaded intelligence." Hmmmm. |
Next stop:
Cousin Central. Mark and Bridget
have five kids, all blonde and blue-eyed, and with Tia and Sasha added into the
mix, there were a BUNCH of Swedish-looking offspring!! Everyone had a great time swimming, playing,
watching hockey, and dressing up. Todd
was able to spend some quality time with his mom, Linda, and everyone enjoyed
being together.
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| Oh my god, we DO look like twins! |
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| Germanic genes rule |
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| Reverse dress-up |
So after this extensive family vacation, we
were ready to search for our roots and launch into our next adventure: To the Azores!
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| A passel of kids |
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