Happy 4th of July!

We went to the Bath Heritage Days in Bath, Maine.  We said when we moved to Maine that we would do our very best to take advantage of all the wonderful small-town festivals and events that truly make Maine the quaint and wonderful place you think of.  We started last year with the Lobster Festival, but then once school started, things both got very busy in our lives and, as far as festivals go, calmed way down.  We decided to kick off our summer with this five-day event and it was a wonderful decision -- we had so much fun exploring Bath and we barely did a quarter of it!  Mick has me half-convinced I could live there.  :)

Bath is about an hour away from us, give or take.  We had a crazy Wednesday -- all the laundry in the universe, plus some -- so we got a later start than we wanted.  But we made it!  We went to a nice dinner at Beale Street Barbeque (part of our quest to find good bbq in Maine.  It was better than Buck's Naked in Freeport, but still expensive.  My pulled pork was good and Mick said his ribs were very good as well.  They hadn't taken off the silverskin, so the meat didn't fall off the bones but otherwise they would have.  Verdict: we would go back to Beale Street before we'd go to Buck's, but we're still looking for the perfect place.), and then spent the night at a hotel on the water. 

Thursday morning of July 4, we ran our very first road race!  We did a family fun run 1 mile race.   Mick and WHM were the very last two people to finish, but the important thing is they absolutely did finish!  (Important point of fact:  they were also the very last two people to cross the starting line.  I think that's worth mentioning -- they didn't gain on anyone, but they certainly didn't fall back!)  Even better, Mick said that WHM ran the entire mile!  Unbelievable!  CAM and I were a little bit ahead of the boys, which made it especially fun to cheer them at the finish line.

Before the run.

Family self-portrait before the starting gun. 

After the fun run, there was a five miler. We hung around the City Hall start/finish line to be able to see the racers off and then we went down to the river for a while.  We walked back up to see the first fifteen or so finishers. 

After!  We did it!

Our trooper boys!  Hooray!

The kids and me checking out the docks.  WHM was fascinated about how they bobble with the wake.

Then we went back to the hotel for showers, and headed down for the parade!

Here, CAM's checking out a map of Bath. 

While we waited for the parade to start, we actually ducked into Betty's Homestyle Cooking and grabbed brunch.  It was tiny!  I counted only 26 places to sit, including 6 barstools, but Ms. Betty made some delicious tea!  CAM and WHM each had big, delicious Belgian waffles, Mick had eggs, and I had a fabulous steak and cheese on a buttered, grilled lobster-roll-style bun.  Oh, my.  It was fantastic.

It was hot -- 93 degrees, I saw somewhere -- but with a mild breeze, so it wasn't bad at all.  It was not only the first nice day in ages, but it was glorious that it was such perfect weather to kick off the holiday weekend.

Somebody was tired and didn't want his picture taken.

No, really.  DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE!

I can make that face, too, Mommy!

Daddy and his girl.

A sleepy WHM waits for the parade to start.

WHM was exhausted, not just from the heat or the run, but from a few nights of not-quite-right-or-enough sleep.  He wanted a balloon.  When I finally was able to get him one, he lit up ... yes, like the 4th of July.  Sorry.  Couldn't resist!

Yeah ... I need me some Photoshop.  I'm not so much a fan of the background here!

Heading back to the hotel after the parade.

But we weren't done yet!  After the parade, we went to a family cookout.

Check out the dessert I made.  I was given the job of "dessert" for the cookout, and I went cruising on Pinterest for something different, and found this from the Jacks and Kate blog.  I knew I was taking my chances, testing out a new recipe for a family event, but this is totally a win.

This is a 1/4 sheet in a jelly roll pan.  I made two.

Carved.  I am single-handedly eating all the cutaway cake.  It is fantastic!

Decorated!  It's cake, homemade whipped cream, berries, and then the second layer of cake, whipped cream, berries.  This is before I finished Maine -- with blueberries, of course. 

The cake is delicious.  It's a sweet cake, and dense -- almost, but not quite -- like a pound cake.  Funny thing was that when it had a chance to sit in the layers overnight, it actually tasted more like a sponge cake on Thursday.  I loved it.  I did learn, however, that I should have placed the berries by hand at first.  I spooned them onto the whipped cream, and it made a mess.  As you can see from the first two photos, the United States really was the right shape to start with, but Alabama and Mississippi drooped into the Gulf of Mexico a bit because of my rookie mistake.

Now here it is, Friday.  I can't believe we fit all that in two days!


--Jen

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