Mackworth Island, Maine

Kirsten and I enjoyed each other and the gorgeousness of Maine on Tuesday. I received a tweet last week about Mackworth Island and planned to take Kirsten after her class. Kirsten wanted to go to the beach. So we did both.

The temperature reached an unseasonably warm 96.5 °F, which is a bit warmer than my preference.

The hike around Mackworth Island was very nice. The tourists aren’t here yet so there were only a few people and plenty of available parking. Neither of us had ever hiked the 1.25 mile perimeter trail around the island. The vistas are beautiful, of course. The center of the island is the Baxter School for the Deaf, so Kirsten said we could make as much noise as we wanted. On the east side there is a fairy village in the woods. The girls will LOVE that when we go back. Kirsten and I held hands as we walked and spent a long time relaxing on a swinging bench on the south side overlooking Portland.

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bay view · beach · brent · date · kirsten · mackworth island · maine · saco · summer

After voting this morning Kirsten and I went to Ferry Beach here in Saco to read, talk and just enjoy each others’ company.

What could be better than a coffee, bagel, Maine beach and Kirsten?

Kirsten studied anatomy and physiology on our date this morning.

This friendly and enterprising gull enjoyed part of my bagel and Kirsten’s veggie eggwhite flatbread sandwich.

Kirsten noticed a bit of a rainbow in the contrail, so I took a picture of it.

Kirsten is a very dedicated student.

Aren’t I the coolest?

beach · brent · ferry beach · maine · saco

Today Kirsten and I performed one of our basic democratic duties; we voted. Voting absentee on our own terms was a much better way to go than waiting until Tuesday and standing in line with everybody else. We sat alone in the conference room at City Hall in Saco, Maine and filled in the bubbles on our ballots. It was fun.

Kirsten and I in front of Saco City Hall just after voting.

Kirsten weighs the pros and cons of the candidates’ positions on critical issues.

November 2008 ballot

2008 · america · maine · saco · usa · vote

Saco (sock-o) was recently chosen as “the greenest city in Maine” by Going Green Magazine. Yippee. As such, it will host the Maine Going Green Energy, Building & Living Expo in September.

One of the factors in the decision was our two wind turbines.  The new train depot and city offices will be powered from electricity generated from a new wind turbine on Saco Island.  Anybody can visit the Saco website to see electricity production performance. Pretty cool, eh?

environment · green · maine · saco · turbine · wind · windmill

brentdanley

Jenna and Skye started school today. We are excited the girls are in great schools and have excellent teachers. Jenna is in a multiage (1st and 2nd grade) class at Fairfield and Skye is in a multiage (3rd and 4th grade) class at Burns School. We had never heard of the multiage concept but think it will be great. Not all the classes in their schools are multiage so we are fortunate they were placed in them. The advantage, we’re told, is that the younger pupils can be assisted by the older ones or work at an advanced pace while the older pupils benefit from tutoring their younger classmates. We’ll see how it works but I think it’s a promising idea. Being in a multiage class environment with two teachers also means they’ll have the same teachers and classmates next year. It was neat to see the teachers and students interact at the open house last night. They knew each other and had a good rapport. I think the continuity will be beneficial especially early on in the second year.

brentdanley

Friends and family who know that Skye was a first grader last year may be wondering why she is in a third/fourth grade class this year. Yesterday we finally won our long battle to have her placed in a grade appropriate to her academic level. Last year in Kansas we asked to have her placed in a second grade class and were told it was against the district policy. Her teacher was able to arrange to have her attend a second grade class. She was technically still a first grader. This was acceptable to us only because we knew we were moving. We were hopeful Maine would be more accommodating.

The principle at Burns School initially denied our request to enroll her in third grade. We asked him to consult with her teachers in Wichita and scheduling conflicts prolonged their communications. When we met with him to present our case last week he again would not acquiesce. He had many concerns about “skipping” her because he didn’t know her and didn’t know us. Every parent, he said, thinks their child is a genius. He was concerned she would be overwhelmed in a class of older pupils where she wouldn’t be the star. While we appreciated his time and geniune concern we knew enrolling her in second grade was the wrong decision for Skye. So I argued my case in a letter to the district superintendent. Two days ago Skye was evaluated by a reading specialist and yesterday she met with a teacher who evaluated Skye’s abilities in mathematics. Skye did awesome!

When Kirsten and I met with the principle after the examinations he felt better about letting us enroll Skye in third grade. Although his concerns remained he allowed us to make the decision. We had made up our minds two years earlier and were elated to have finally won. We hope Skye will find challenges in her new class and learn what it’s like to have classmates who know the answers before she does.

Skye considered herself a second grader last year. Therefore, while putting her in third grade is technically skipping, enrolling her in second grade would have been tantamount to holding her back. She is where she needs to be and is excited to be there. Because her classmates consist of third and fourth graders she’ll be able to do math with the fourth graders and other things with the third graders. It’s all going to work out beautifully!

Today Skye got to open a box in class because she was so polite (her words, not mine). It contained a watermelon which the class ate outside. Also, the cafeteria is huge and she can sit wherever she wants. The fourth graders in her class are assigned third grader “buddies”, so Skye has someone to show her around. She exclaimed, “You should see the art and music rooms! They’re amazing!”

I think her favorite part, although she won’t say, is being a third grader. She finally feels validated. She was frustrated doing long division and fraction arithmetic at home and addition, subtraction, and graphs at school.

brentdanley

Jenna is excited about her teacher, Mrs. O’Neill, who she met yesterday when Kirsten took her to Fairfield to show her around. She is also excited that there are twice as many boys in her class as girls. She didn’t say much when she got home today but it was obvious she likes her school and is excited to be back with kids her age.

She didn’t eat her lunch today because her sandwich was squished. The lunch lady was telling kids to eat neatly and Jenna was afraid the sandwich would make a mess. She left it alone and only drank her water. Tonight Kirsten bought her a plastic container so future sandwiches won’t be smashed.

Since the end of the last school year I quit my job and we moved to Maine. All of our time has been spent as a family on one adventure or another. So today the house was quiet. Hayley especially missed her sisters. She kept bringing her toys to wherever Kirsten was so she’d have someone to play by. Kirsten softened up on the rule about leaving toys in the bedroom when she realized Hayley was lonely and missed her sisters.

education · maine · saco · school

Skye goes for a strike!

The rain didn’t prevent us from adventure today. We decided to go candlepin bowling at Vacationland Bowling and Recreation Center here in Saco on Route 1. I’ve wanted to candlepin bowl since the early ’90s when I lived in Massachusetts.

We had a great time! The balls are small and light and don’t have holes. Their small size makes it VERY difficult to hit the balls. They try to make up for this by allowing three rolls per frame and by leaving the fallen pins (dead wood) down during the frame. Also, each player played two frames before their turn is up.

While we were playing our first game “glow bowling” started on our side of the alley. They played fun music, turned off the house lights, and turned on the disco lights. We will definitely be glow bowling again!! It was a blast!

After bowling we drove down Main Street to Rapid Ray’s for hot dogs and clam cakes. The food was what you’d expect and the staff was very friendly. It’ll be a nice place to stop by while I’m riding my bike around Saco.

Kirsten and I LOVE this place. Everyone is friendly and there’s an endless list of fun things to do and see.

bowling · candlepin · maine · saco

brentdanley

We live four miles from a white sand beach in Saco, Maine. Could life get any better? I don’t know how. Especially since our high speed internet was installed yesterday ;)

To be fair I’ve considered what might be better about Wichita, Kansas than Southern Maine and have come up with a very short list.

1. Clouds – They seem to be about the same; no better, no worse. This is important because I love looking at and photographing them.

2. Driver’s license – The Maine driver’s license is ugly and is in serious need of an update.

3. Parking at the baseball game – There’s never a parking problem at the Wichita Wrangler’s Lawrence Dumont Stadium. If Kansas has one thing in it’s favor it’s plenty of wide open spaces that could be utilized for parking. We drove past the stadium here just before game time and parking was a mess and expensive. It won’t keep us away though since the Sea Dogs are affiliated with the Boston Red Sox and are sure to be much better than the Wranglers.

4. Quiktrip – Maine seems to be completely void of the best gas station/convenience stores anywhere! Oh well. We do have Dunkin Donuts on every corner. I suppose that makes up for it :(

Besides these few things Maine is superior in every way! The weather is perfect, the scenery is natural and beautiful, the cities and towns have character and charm, the people are super kind and–for the most part–love being Mainers.

beach · maine · saco