That's A Wrap

As I sit here in the air-conditioned, sand-free comfort of my Brooklyn lair, it's time to reminisce about the fantastic month of August.

Mother Nature made up for any practical jokes from last summer by providing us with an exceptional summer this year. Over the span of five weeks we only had three or four rain days. Luckily, the supply of summer kid-movies lasted just as long as the rainy days (Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, Cats & Dogs). Only Cats & Dogs was a dog.

This year's list of visitors is impressive:

• The Imhoff/Stefanoff clan
• Nana and Papa Shepard
• Nana and Papa Hoffman
• Aunt Carol and Uncle Norman
• Aunt Toots
• Brian, Jill, Tyler and Delia Hoffman
• Marcy and Hannah Leiman
• Martin, Jennifer, Andrew and Julia Weaver
• Laurie Shayler and Ricardo Leon (aka Sin La Ropa Interior)

And, just to spice things up, we introduced some brand-new destinations and activities:

• Portland Head Light
• Booth Bay Harbor
• The Maine Lobster Festival
• Candlepin bowling at VacationLand
• Whale watching (sans whales)
• Cliff Walk at Prouts Neck

Some memorable moments:

• Stella and Marni can now (with supervision) cross the street and visit Cousin Beverly at will. And they did!
• The girls bonded with Cousins Janet and Julie
• Stella developed a crush on Cousin Nick. So much so that one night they bid him ado by waving their underwear at him from the porch as he headed home.
• Marni singing the Enrique Iglesias song, "Baby I Like It" with her own special lyrics... "Baby I farted".
• The girls declaring that they are Shepards after I explained that Shepards do not wear shoes to the beach.
• The annual "Run into the water and play in the sand in your clothes at dusk when Tyler and Delia arrive" festival.
• Terrified parents letting their kids play with sparklers for the first time.

As always, hats off to Lisa who ran this crazy Bed & Breakfast. It's a tough job running a popular beach destination for 5 weeks with no time off.

In a couple days we head back up to Old Orchard to move out the remaining furniture. Later in the month The Cottage gets knocked down to make room for a brand new, improved, winterized cottage. So many memories. So much history. Hopefully the girls will remember the old cottage. The new cottage is theirs to start all new family traditions and memories with their children and grandchildren.

And now, what better way to wrap it all up, with a collection of photos and videos from the summer of 2010:

(This post contains video that can only be viewed from the website.)