We just ate lunch, so it must be time for ice cream.

Even Sadie is powerless against Maine's ice cream.

Farm stand bounty-- we're on the veggie wagon now.

The happy couple--Brooke and James on their wedding day

My sister Sarah, me, and my brother James

Viv turned into a lobster and Hud caught her!

If you've spent any time on the East Coast, you know this: food is good here.  No offence Colorado, but in the epicurean department, Maine's got you beat in a major way.  The seafood advantage is obvious, but it's more than that- the way food is prepared here is just, well, BETTER. And there's LOTS of it-- restaurants serve up gigantic portions of  all things cream-based, battered, fried, and chowder-oriented. Dessert is ALWAYS part of the meal.   At my parents' house (where we were happy, grateful guests for 3 weeks) my Mom served fresh berry pies, enormous chocolate chip cookies and/or whoopie pies every single night.  Did you catch that, people?  EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT.  And she always served it with ice cream.

About that ice cream...

In Maine, ice cream is everywhere.  On every country road, on every street corner, ice cream stands are there. It's scientifically proven that ice cream in Maine is better than anywhere else in the world and it's made with secret ingredients that make you crave it with every cell in your body.  After a few weeks in Maine, ice cream becomes part of your routine like brushing your teeth.  You eat, and then you eat ice cream.

Around September 1st I pulled on a pair of pants  that I hadn't worn since Telluride and found them a bit...snug.  I looked around at my family members and saw fuller cheeks and rounder bellies.  I got on the scale.  I had gained SEVEN POUNDS!!! SEVEN.  DAMN YOU, ICE CREAM!!!

And there's more-- we've been keeping track of every cent we spend so that we stay on budget while we're traveling, and we write down everything in a little notebook.  I went through the expenditures for the month of August and found that we had spent NINETY-ONE DOLLARS on ice cream.  And that's what WE spent on it, that doesn't count all the ice cream that other people bought for us, or served to us in their homes.
That's a serious amount of ice cream, folks.

So this vegetarian family is now on the straight and narrow path to health and pants that fit. No more dessert until further notice. Luckily, we are in farm stand country and yesterday we filled our fridge with tons of fresh fruits and vegetables.  We are on the salad wagon.  For now.

In other news, we've moved into my father in law's beautiful house on 3 Mile Pond.  It's empty (for sale, if anyone's interested!) and it's so lovely to be living on a lake.  My brother James married our fabulous new sister-in-law Brooke last weekend-- it was an amazing, love-filled event that I am still happily obsessing over.  Our family is bigger and better than ever.  Love and more love.