I took the boys to the Concord-Carlisle High School football game this evening. After separating me from my money for the entrance fee, I was left to watch the game alone while they cavorted beneath the bleachers.

Maya playing after school pauses for a moment.

Today I turned 47. I have decided that I will not officially feel old until I reach 50. The family had a special dinner with my favorites, and I am seen here sporting one of my birthday presents. Maya performed a small piano concert in my honor, and Nicolai received his flute today and already has achieved a pretty good tone.

This is either prisoner #2662 or a freshly minted brownie.

On the way home, we stopped for lunch at a seaside lobster shack where Jeanine enjoyed a traditional lobster roll. We also stopped to do a little antique shopping and briefly detoured into Kennybunkport, where we found a quiet ocean overlook on which to renew our wedding vows to each other.

We really enjoyed the group we were hiking with. Each member was fascinating in their own right, and we got a chance to know them well over the many miles of conversation. When we arrived at the B&B, they had arranged a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of chilled champagne in our room in honor of our wedding anniversary.

This unusual mushroom had an inverted orphan mushroom growing on top of it.

This variety lactates a milk like substance when the underside is scratched, even slightly.

Also featured was the most varied assortment of mushrooms I have ever seen.

On our final day, we hiked both peninsulas of the Ovens Mouth Preserve, which features swift tidal waters, quiet coves, and salt marshes.

During the afternoon, we rented a tandem sea kayak and spent several hours in Booth Bay Harbor. Our furthest destination was Burnt Island, where we put ashore to investigate the lighthouse.

At lunch we dined on a rocky beach looking out onto the Atlantic Ocean.

Day two featured a morning hike on the Lineken Preserve with several stunning vistas of the Damariscotta River.

Everywhere you look in Maine, you are sure to see something that floats on the water. The small buoys in the foreground are connected to ubiquitous lobster traps, each color-coded to identify the owner.