A Birthday and A Retelling

OK Back in Maine....we had a birthday dinner for Mom. Dad had done some grocery shopping and hid some things for our surprise celebration.


She even blew out a candle.


And then, Clay retold the story that made me laugh so hard. I think Mom & Dad enjoyed it too.






Mom even said afterwards, "Well, that wasn't so bad". I think they were expecting far worse.

After dinner we gave Mom her birthday present. We contacted a bunch of friends and family from throughout her life and had them fill out "Friendship", "Memory" or "Love" cards and then put them in a book with photos. It was great collecting these and Danielle Stewart, who designed our wedding invitations designed the cards and put the book together for us. She did a terrific job!


Mom couldn't even look when she first opened the package...


Just like me on my wedding day. Geoff wrote me a card and it took me 20 minutes to have the guts to open it because I knew it would make me bawl my eyes out. And it did.



Dad reads a little


Mom is done in by it all...



We had a lovely celebration! Just a few more Maine pics to share before we move on to vacation pics....

A Surprise in Maine

So as you know, the last couple of years we've tended to make a big deal of milestone birthdays in our family. Mom was the last to have hers, so several months ago Clay and I began to hatch our plan. I figured out that her birthday weekend fell on the opening end of the only week that Geoff and I could coordinate to manage a vacation. And we were needing one. Hm, a challenge. From there we moved on to telling Mom that I couldn't make it because of vacation and that Clay had a work conference in NJ, but that we wanted to reserve a weekend in October to see her at the Cape for her Bday. And she fell for it.

So after MUCH coordination and fun secret-keeping and leading her astray (including Clay asking friends to post things on his Facebook wall that would support our ruse), I flew up to Maine on a Friday night after work. Mom thinking that I was gearing up to help Geoff shoot a HUGE wedding. False. Clay picked me up at the world's smallest airport and we spent the night at The Claremont Hotel. It was awesome. It's on the national register of historic places and they have a croquet tournament every summer. I wished we were there for longer. And if you ever take a trip to Maine or Acadia National Park, I would highly recommend it.



We shared a room. With twin beds. Which was pretty amazing.


We got up super early the next morning and caught the early ferry over to Swans Island. Barely made it in time, but they let us on. I was so worried about Mom finding out our plan that when I called the ferry terminal to make our reservation I told the lady on the phone we were coming to surprise Mom for her birthday and not to say anything!

The ferry ride



Clay - saying, "Can you even believe this is finally happening?" or "How is it gonna go, do you think she'll be surprised", or perhaps, "Why do you take pictures of every single thing as it is happening, you crazy person."


Arriving on Swans Island


We got off the ferry and made a "warning call" to Dad (who was in on the plot). Clay called with yet another lie, that while he was "at his conference" he got a call from the Harbor Patrol at the Cape who were concerned about his boat looking very low in the water etc etc and "wanted to talk to Dad about his advice". Gave Dad the 5 minute warning and we were almost there. We parked down the road a bit so we could sneak up to the house and not be seen or startle the dogs.

This is Mom & Dad's house on our sneaky walk up the road. Tall & skinny (because of zoning).


Clay, moments before the big surprise


We crept up to the house and rounded the corner by the kitchen. So far so good. As we snuck up to the sliding glass door, the dogs started barking and Clay just made a mad dash and threw open the door and popped his head inside. I followed and popped my head in too.

She was shocked! There she was sitting in her robe having her coffee and watching the Today show at 805am on a Saturday morning. She had no idea that her socks were about to be knocked off.

Mom's Surprise sequence...







After we told her the whole story about how this trip came to be and how far the deception had gone, we went to check out the new work on the stone wharf.






Hayley did some standard fetching work

Going for it


Almost getting it


Got it


We walked over the the Boathouse/garage and found some more treasures. I love these signs. Mom made them. And I love that.


A letter/journal entry that my dad wrote to himself in 1961 at the tender age of nearly 14. Pretty amazing. It starts "The two girls of whom I am fond of are stated in this private document..." and goes on to describe them both in quite a complimentary fashion. I love it.


After those finds we headed up to The Top of the World. When we were kids, Clay and I thought that this rock mountain behind our house was the highest point on earth. The "hike" up doesn't seem to take nearly as long now. It took all of 3 minutes.

The view....that used to be clear of those trees...


There used to be a rope hanging over the side of a rock at the Top of the World that we used to faux "rock climb" with. It disintegrated years ago, but it looks like some neighbor kids have reinstated it. Clay relives his youth....


The Birthday Girl and her Lying kids


The Fam....A self portrait.


Much more to come!

Deb comes to NYC

Geoff had a shoot at a conference at the Homestead in Virginia all last weekend and so Mom came down from Maine to spend a girls weekend with me in NYC! We did all kinds of mother/daughter things. We bought new cleaning supplies at Home Depot. We went to the grocery store. We cleaned my apartment. She scrubbed the stove and claimed to be having so much fun. Apparently moms love to do things like that for their girls. She even said that her mom used to come visit and have a blast cleanling and polishing mom's toaster oven. Who knew?

So we did a TON of other domestic things. We repotted our basil plants, which had gotten terribly tall, but a little sad looking, and we realized there were bugs. So we took care of that. We went to an extra grocery store for spices that the first grocery store didn't have. We spent a ton of time on Facebook looking up old middle school/high school/college friends of mine, so mom could get an update. We bought hydrangeas, which died overnight. We went to brunch. We talked. We prepped some Provencal Beef Stew for my first attemt at Crockpot cooking, since our crockpot arrived last week. VERY fun. (And the stew was amazing...we've been eating it all week). And we went to Alice's Tea Cup. Which is THE NYC place for girls. Of all ages, really, even though technically it specializes in little girls.

The tutus available for wearing during a little girls visit to the Tea Cup. They give out fairy wings too.


And they sprinkle you with "fairy dust" if you want some. They tell you to close your eyes and make a wish. Mom couldn't resist.


And my friend Miles works there. He's the one giving mom her fairy dust. Please notice her pink wings.


Tea was lovely. They have a billion kinds. And great scones. And soup and sanwiches and salads. And it truly must be a magical place for little girls. I was thinking about it as we left....if I was a little girl I would want to go all the time. The fairy dust, the tutus, the wings, the fun quotes written all over the walls. SUCH a blast. And so great to see mom. Great for some girl time. We didn't have more than a day together over the holidays, so it was wonderful to have a girls weekend!

Lets do it again!!

The Birthday Girl

Today is my mom's birthday. I just want everyone to know how grateful I am for her. Without a doubt, I have the best parents in the world. No offense to any other parents out there reading this, but I'm sorry, my folks could totally take you.

Things I love about my mom:
She always wants everyone to feel welcome and special.
She is everyone's best friend.
She is a great secret keeper.
She lives on an island in Maine and picks berries from her own land and makes them into a cobbler (please!).
She volunteers when no one else will.
She loves you enough to never want you to feel any pressure to be anything other than yourself.
She is wise and understanding and a terrific listener.
She can put a positive spin on almost anything.
We have so much fun together.
She is the perfect hostess.
She is not afraid to talk in funny accents or dance around the kitchen.
She deals with the fact that almost the only time I ever have to talk with her is on my commute to work (which means competing with the noise of passing trains, the loud announcements at the station, and conversations being cut off when the train goes into the tunnel).
She loves and supports her family in what seems to me, a very selfless way.
She is a great example to me of the kind of mom I want to be someday.

Mom I love you so much. I hope you had a lovely birthday.
xoxo
kate