Moose & Maine

Welcome to Maine Day! We had lots of activities today- but I'm going to give a sneak peek with our adorable Maine moose sock puppets! Maine has more moose per square mile than any other state- so if you're looking for a moose, that's the place to go! (Maybe that was my dad's issue- we always looked for them out west!) Anyway, my original moose activity wasn't going to work out, and I just pulled this out of nothing- and I think they're adorable! 

We started out the morning pretty late, as I super slept in (I'm not feeling all that well- I know my strained voice and sore throat is probably at least partially due to all my yelling at sporting events this weekend, but I've also got a stuffy nose, and feeling a little fever-ish, so that might not be the only reason my throat is sore) 

But, the boys pulled out their map and got to work on the road trip activity. 

While Vermont is most known for it's maple syrup, they take it pretty seriously in Maine too. We found a recipe to 'make' maple syrup (with sugar, water, and maple extract). It was so easy, Peyton did it pretty much from start to finish all by himself. 

To go along with it, we had blueberry pancakes. Maine produces 25% of lowbush blueberries in the US, and apparently it's the official fruit of Maine, too. 

Maine is the first state in the US to see the sunrise every morning (three different places in Maine-- depending on the time of year), so we had a sunrise craft. We used some water, food coloring, a coffee filter, and a bulb syringe to make pretty sun rises. 

Once they were dry, we glued them to construction paper and colored some pictures. 

Obviously, we couldn't talk about Maine without mentioning the Lobster (Lobster is a $300 million per industry for Maine). We'd done the cute hand and foot print lobsters before, so I wanted to come up with something different- and then I found an easy way to make lobsters out of paper plates (which is so fitting, because I remember having lobster off the docks on a paper plate in Maine when I was a kid!) 

I made one too, you know to demonstrate! 

Ninty percent of Maine is forest, so they are responsible for producing a lot of paper. I was a little nervous how the next project would turn out (and if I'd be ruining my blender), but I decided we were going to try and make paper! 

We tore up Newspaper and put it in the blender. 

Then we added water- and blended! (The boys and Asa all thought this looked super gross) 

Then each of the boys got a chance to dump out some of the mixture. 

Then they pressed the paper over a screen until it was pretty dry and flat. 

Their peices of paper are out in the garage on the chest freezer drying. It could take a couple days to dry, and it isn't as thin as it probably should be- so we'll have to see how it turns out. 

Then we got to making our moose puppets. Like, I said- I had something totally different in mind. I wanted to make stuffed wall hangings from old sweaters, but I didn't really have a tutorial- just a picture- and I never got around to going to goodwill to find some old sweaters. So, at the last minute, I came up with these. We used a sock, a plastic cup (to give the moose head the shape), some cereal box cardboard for the antlers, some felt, and some googlie eyes. 

A little hot glue, and the boys have Moose! 

Everyone did their Maine drawings, and I hung up some projects and high lights of the day, on a board that is getting very full. We're having shrimp chowder (I totally wanted lobster- but that's just not in the budget) and poutine for dinner tonight! 

Besides Maine, we've had a lot going on this weekend. Asa ended up with Saturday off so he actually got a full- normal schedule- weekend. It was perfect timing, so we were able to go to our very first Florida Gators game in Gainsville. 

It was so exciting to finally be in the Swamp! 

And it was perfectly fitting because the Gators were playing Eastern Michigan (where I went to school!) 

We were in the south endzone, 13 rows up from the field. 

Besides Anniversaries- this is probably my favorite date day ever! 

And to make it even better the Gators were scoring-- a lot-- right in front of us! 

The Gators ended up winning 65-0! (Good thing I was there to root them on- and not Eastern) 

We brought Calib back a shirt to thank him for holding down the fort while we were gone (Justin was on call just down the street at his house in case they needed anything, too) 

And then I went to put our tickets in our closet to hang up with all of our other random tickets, name tags and such we've kept over the years- and they ended up right next to my EMU id.  

It was a football fabulous weekend. Two days- two games! Sunday we headed out for the first Buccaneers game of the season. Since I wasn't at home pretty much at all on Saturday, I didn't have much time to prepare anything for tailgating, but the boys were totally happy to have some Little Caesars pizza and crazy bread (You can't beat $5 pizza!) 

I brought along some other sides- fruit and veggies and such and we found a nice shady spot under some trees. We decided this year that we would forgo parking in the season ticket lot, and instead pay-by-game at the park just across the street from the stadium. It's usually much more family friendly there, and not many opposing fans- which given some of our experiences last year seemed like a better place for us. 

Plus, it's a park- so plenty of grassy places to throw around the football. 

It was a late game- kickoff was at 4:35. (Have I mentioned lately how thrilled I am that the NFL is back!?)

Despite the late start, it is still early September- and it is still Florida- which meant we knew we were going to sit out in the sun and bake. Lots of sunscreen, lots of water, and a few breaks in the shade were in order. 

But by halftime, we had clouds- and it was AWESOME weather after that. We had a nice breeze, no direct sun, and despite the threatening clouds- we never got rained on. 

The game wasn't going particularly well though. The first half was rough- though not as bad as the last time the Bucs played the Panthers. 

But, I really still hate the Panthers. Just another reason to dislike them-- their kicker. Some random college marching band was performing at half-time (albeit they were late coming out), and the Panther's kicker was already on the field practicing when they came out. Somehow though, this guy thought it was fine to shove the band members out of his way. He just kept kicking, and when kids got in his way, he SHOVED them out of the way. After the first time, he got loudly boo-ed, yet he did it to a couple of other kids. Total jerk. The video went viral apparently, so you can google it. But, the video I've seen doesn't look nearly as bad as it looked in person. 

Things got a little better for the Bucs in the second half. 

But it ended up being too little too late- and so I present to you the 'cheer-dad-up-because-the-Bucs-are-losing picture sequence. 

The Bucs lost 20-14, but we're pretty much experts at having a good time at the game, even if the Bucs don't win. 

And, I mean, it's just week one. Lots more football to be played. We've got to see them win at least a couple of times, right? 

We came home, showered, and sat down for some Sunday Night Football- Peyton was happy he got to watch the Bronco's finally beat the Colt's (so Peyton Manning got to join Brett Favre as the only two quarterbacks to win against every team in the NFL). 

Next Up: Louisiana Day & Swaptember -- assuming I don't end up feeling worse.