Link's Seventh Birthday

Link is 7! Seven feels like such a big kid, but he is still my little guy. This has been a weird and tough year for everyone because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and though we are still right in the middle of it, we wanted to find something we could do together safely. He really wanted to go backpacking and camp outside, but we don't have cold-weather gear so we compromised by finding an AirBNB on Mount Desert Island to do a few days of hiking. We go camping there with friends every year, but this year the campgrounds were closed due to the pandemic. Now that it is off-season, we felt comfortable to go there. We got a house to ourselves so that we didn't have to come in contact with any people and so that we could bring our dogs safely. Most of the stores in Bar Harbor were closed, and the island was delightfully quiet and peaceful.

On our way there (it takes almost 4 hours), we stopped for some curbside lunch, which we ate in the back of an abandoned parking lot. While I was letting the dogs out to pee, Pippin managed to get COVERED in burrs. And they wouldn't come out! What a way to start the trip! But he was a trooper and we helped him as best we could be buying coconut oil and trying to rub them/break them out of his fine undercoat. We ended up having to cut a lot of them out with scissors when we got home. Nasty things! 

Fortunately, everything else that day went great. We got there in time to go out for an easy mile hike to the ocean (the Wonderland Trail), and caught a beautiful sunset. It was a beautiful way to say goodbye to being a six year old. 

Back at the AirBNB, we played board games and warmed up enchiladas for dinner. We didn't want to go out to eat at restaraunts or pack a ton of food for our trip so I pre-made the enchiladas as well as baked quino mac and cheese (Link's choice for his birthday dinner). It was really nice to have things already made so we could relax and enjoy each other's company.

After dinner we watched a bunch of DuckTales. The new shows have David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck, and we (especially me) are big fans.

In the morning, I found them reading from the pile of graphic novels they brought with them. We had yogurt with fruit and granola for breakfast (Link's choice), and let Link open one present before we left for our big hike. He got a Mars globe, and he really loved it. He is super into space.

For Link's birthday hike, we decided to do my favorite loop. We went up Gorham Mountain, down to the Bowl, up Champlain Mountain, then back down to the Bowl, walked towards Sand Beach, then hiked the Ocean Cliff path to Thunderhole and finally back to our car. It was 6.5 miles.

We don't usually bring our dog, Pippin, on hikes because he has been reactive in stressful situations since he got attacked by another dog a couple years ago. But we have been doing a lot of work with him to help him cope when he gets emotionally stimulated (with the help of @caninemovementlab ). So today when we were going to leave him at the Airbnb while we went hiking and the birthday boy begged to bring him too, we told him we could but we would have to cut the hike short if he started getting stressed out. We are so glad we brought him! The trail wasn't busy at all, and when we did pass by a handful of people he was completely calm. The ocean cliff trail on the way back is a mile next to a road, and he HATES cars so we were nervous about that stretch. He panicked when the first two cars went by but I had him lay down and collect himself and massaged him a bit to relax and when the other dozen or so cars went by he sat down calmly and just watched me. It was amazing...we were so proud of him and so glad today was a positive experience for him and all of us. 

Champlain Mountain happens to be where Robbie proposed to me with a dandelion ring 14 years ago, so it's a special spot for us.

At the AirBNB, Linky opened his presents. One of the presents was the Sorcerer's Stone (from Harry Potter), which he was very excited about.

We played a couple games of Sushi Go, ate dinner, and had ice cream sundaes with all the fixing for his birthday desert.

The third day is the day we headed back home. After packing up, we decided to do one more hike before leaving. We went on the three mile loop around Jordan Pond. It was SOOO cold and windy! We ran the first mile along the board walks to stay warm. Once we we were sheltered on the other side of the pond, it was wasn't so bad though.

One really cool part about this hike is that we so tons of signs of beavers! They have been very busy! We couldn't believe how many gnawed trees we saw! Eventually, we even found the lodge that they are working on. It was especially cool to see all this beaver stuff because Link was born under a beaver moon, so it was appropriate to see them while celebrating his birthday.

After our hike, we were frozen and hungry. I was very glad for heated seats, as by butt was a block of ice. We ordered pizza from the restaraunt we usually eat at when we go to Bar Harbor. But this time, we didn't dine in, we parked by the ocean and watched the wind rock the tugboats and toss the seagull about over the sea.

The day after we got back, Auntie Sam and Xena came over to give Linky presents and play outside with him. Linky and Aunty Sam had a competetive game of soccer!

Linky really had his heart set on seeing friends and family and having a birthday party. Usually we invite lots of people over and have a theme and all sorts of fun stuff to do. With the pandemic, we weren't able to do that with Meo's birthday, but we did see a couple friends separately to have a celebratory play date. Plus we went backpacking for the first time with some great friends to make his actual birthday really special. We have a small bubble of people that we have been seeing through the pandemic so the kids can still socialize and play. We decided to have a small, outdoor party with just those three families. We all wore masks, and instead of a usual full table spread of food, I just had cupcakes (which everyone ate scattered throughout the yard, away from one another). It is a weird way to have a party, but it worked and kept everyone safe. I feel bad we didn't get to invite all the friends we love to play with, but that just wasn't an option this year.

The theme for his little party was "Plants versus Zombies". It's a game that I have been playing a bunch with the boys. I got a bunch of carnivorous plants to give out to the kids to protect them from zombies.

Link helped me make chocolate cupcakes and buttercream frosting.

Meo drew all the cupcake toppers (and did a marvelous job!). We had warm cider too.

I think the highlight of the party for the kids was jumping into our huge leaf pile.
Joe enjoyed it too!

I got these blasters to pretend to be pea shooters so they could shoot them at zombies like the pea shooters in the game do. Link is so sweet and opposed to a lot of violence that he cried when he saw the blasters because he doesn't like guns. But then we converted them to pea shooters and he was totally cool with them and enjoyed shooting at the zombie targets Meo drew. We also set up zombie bowling; Meo drew pictures of zombie and we stuck them on upside down yogurt containers to stack and roll balls at.

Friends stayed until noon. We had lunch with the boys and a nice long walk in the woods with the dogs. Then around 2:00 Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie Jess stopped by to with Linky a happy birthday too. 

Auntie Jess got them a cool axe throwing game, and we had a lot of fun playing that. 
All day we had a fire going to keep warm.

That night, Aunt Alicia came to bring gifts and sit by the fire under the stars and chat for a couple hours. That was really lovely and a perfect way to end the evening. 

At age 7, Link is a bright light in our lives. He is full of energy and spirit. He is quick to learn new skills. He loves to learn, and has been really focused and motivated in his school work. He loves to draw, he can count past 200 forwards and backwards, he has been practically teaching himself to read since we haven't started covering that yet in his curriculum, and he is a natural at the piano. But the things he loves most are nature, space, and playing with his brother. Meo and Link would spend all of their time playing pretend and making up stories together. They also enjoy making obstacle courses and sparring with one another. Link is very loving and kind. He very chatty and outgoing and loves to play with friends. We love him so and enjoy growing with him everyday.