It is hard to believe that the summer is nearly half over already. It seems like only yesterday I was wrapping up the school year. In some ways it was not very long ago at all. That teachers only work nine months of the year bit is not only tired and old, but woefully inaccurate, at least for me. The academic year is already about ten months. I didn’t wrap up until the last week of June.

Hadley also wrapped up her first year of preschool the same day and was decidedly happy about it, as the photo demonstrates. It was a far cry from the timid first day that she strapped on that backpack and just hoped beyond hope that it would be a lady who fetched her from the car and ushered her in the door of her new school.

The first weekend of the summer I was off to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to wrap up a project I spent the last year working on with the National Writing Project. It was grueling at times but ultimately enormously rewarding. Nevertheless, that accounted for nearly a work week of time spent away from the family.

Upon returning, we were off again, this time as a family, and not to quite as far a distance. We headed west to the Terwedow family getaway in the Berkshires for the Independence Day weekend. The girls and I (Ali, Keri, and Hadley) paid tribute at the other Fourth of July New England tradition, seeing James Taylor at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was lovely summer night, in an outdoor arena, with good food and music. There was even fireworks after the show. Hadley has turned into quite a James Taylor fan and was positively delighted to attend. She was rather awesome the whole show and even made it through the fireworks extravaganza, which ended up being a bit later than we expected. Still, she oohed-and-ahhed with the best of them and then promptly fell asleep the minute we entered the car for the ride home.

As there is no rest for the wicked, the next weekend marked the first weekend Ali and I have ever had away from the kids, as we headed up to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, for a pre-anniversary get away. For those not counting, it has been five years since we tied the knot amidst showers in my parents backyard. So a little child-free respite for Ali was certainly due.

Boothbay Harbor is a lovely little seashore town. It is definitely more of a weekender locale, unless you own a place on one of the islands and believe that summer is a verb. There are a host of touristy trappings that seem to be enduring despite some slower times. It also turns out to have been where part of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel (1956) was filmed. In fact it was the setting for one of the headline numbers, “June is Bustin’ Out All Over.” It is the backdrop for this number below (first shot with CinemaScope 55), “June is Bustin’ Out All Over,” and while there are a few more buildings, as well as a lot more boats and lobster traps visible in the harbor now, it doesn’t look radically different today. In fact, they named one of their local theaters after the film.

Still, it was rather lovely to check out the local offerings and just have some downtime together, where there was no rush to do anything or be anywhere for a couple of days. There were some kitschy sights to be seen, for sure. And, of course, we ate lobster. Even had some crab cakes that beat Bobby Flay on Throwdown.

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Regardless, summer is definitely upon us and the kids are already enjoying some trips to the beach, in order to beat the heat.

Next, Fritz’s Second Birthday Bash.