Life Is Beautiful.

Here's our recap of our birthday weekend in Maine.

My grandfather turned 80 on Monday.

It's always been fun to be exactly fifty years behind him.

(you do the math)

Between the two of us exists exactly one-half century.

And I don't think he looks a day over 68. I told him so.

To back up a little bit, Ian went to Grammy's house last Wednesday, and the rest of us joined him there on Friday night. (Friday was also my 8th anniversary, which will be celebrated this weekend. Though, on our way to Maine, we stopped at Becky's Diner in Portland for an anniversary dinner. It's pretty legendary to the locals, and Joe and I went there for breakfast the day after our wedding. It's been a nostalgic locale for us ever since!

^Our first errand on Saturday was to the tractor supply store to get some materials for moving the chicken coop (more on that later). Normally, I wouldn't really find a need to bring myself to the tractor supply store...however, it is chick season, and we had to go see them. Cheep Cheep!

You don't have to buy the whole tractor at the Tractor Supply Store. You only have to buy the seat. I think that's a very affordable option, don't you?

Ahhhhhhh. Cousin love. Here we have my cousins Libby, Andrea, Owen, Kelsey, and my sister, Natalie, reuniting. (They see each other all the time...but you know...cousin love is awesome.)

As always, much game-playing ensued. Clockwise from the I'll-take-it-for-the-team-so-I-can-post-this-picture picture of me are: me, Emily, Isaac, Sean/Blake, and Megan. We're playing the new expansion to Bohnanza (the bean game). If any of you are familiar with that expansion, let me know--I'm curious to know what you think of it!

So. Much. Food. It was fun, fun, fun.....I wish you could have had the quiche that Mom was making in this photo. It was everything that is right with the world. At that moment, I was chopping fruit for what seemed like 2 hours. (Though, in reality, it very well could have been two actual hours.) There are few things I love more than hacking up a pineapple, though, so a good time was had by all. (Except the pineapple).

Annnnnnnnnnd, it's the annual outdoor-ing of the grapefruit tree. I thought it was a little early (read: cold)....I sort of think my grandmother has a death-wish for this tree. It's just a theory, though. Someday I'll tell you the story of this grapefruit tree. Suffice it to say, it's survived more than a decade of Maine living. (And not many grapefruit trees can say that.)

After sending Joe to dump the fruit scraps into the compost, this is how I caught these two....Ian was scavenging a mango seed, and Joe clearly thought that my strawberry hulling left far too much waste.

Blake spent the majority of Monday outside (you'll see his sunburn later...oy!)...but he loved every minute with his aunts, uncle, and cousins. Every whim and wish was attended to (I can't say so much about that now that he's home...)

Scott washed a lot of dishes. He also served as welcoming committee.

Soon after guests started arriving, Ian thought he'd spruce the place up a bit. He found some forsythia clippings from the flower arrangements and decided to plant them next to Grammy's hosta. (After Grammy spent the lion's share of Saturday spreading and smoothing mulch.) Oops.

It was pretty, though. And a sweet effort.

Isn't my cousin, Emily, beautiful? Fellas, she's single!

So much glorious food. Someday I'll tell you what it took for me to acquire those croissants.

Ian was super excited to eat, can you tell?

And heeeeeeeeeere's the birthday boy!

I had suggested putting 80 candles on the cake. I was overruled. I did, however, inform my grandfather that I'm putting my foot down on his 85th birthday and there's nothing he can do to stop me!

Okay. The coop. This project involved hours upon hours of engineering on the part of Joe and Scott. The coop needs to be moved to another part of the yard....it wasn't as easy as it looks. I found engineering equations on the chalk board when I woke up on Sunday morning. Really. The result is quite impressive.

If you've ever thought to yourself, "Self, I wonder what the bottom of a chicken coop looks like," here you go.

We decided to play one more game before driving off into the sunset on Monday evening. Blake joined us (with his sad, sad sunburn---which is better now). He loved this balloon, and wouldn't let it go. (That was a sad moment....oy.)

...And Ian decided he wanted to play on "team grammy," and so he did! He was very good at rolling the dice and filling in squares. (He, too, is a fan of balloons. But who can blame him, right?)

**Edited to Add**

And here's the clan all together. Fantastic, no?