All posts by Megan Alton

Fort Allen Park, Rockin' Baby Pouch, The Fisherman's Grill

A Walk To Remember

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Today we took a long walk around Portland, took a family nap, and finished the day at the Fisherman’s Grill. It was beautiful, sunny, warm in the sun and slightly breezy. Much of Maine shuts down in the winter and doesn’t open until Memorial Day, so we are a few weeks early for all the real action. The town is quiet and all uphill from the water. A walk was the perfect thing to get us in the east coast mood. Luke said that Portland is like San Fransisco meets Baltimore meets a small town. I’ve included pictures of some of the architecture. There is a lot of old brick work, gobs of siding, and of course bay windows. From what I gathered today, Portland has all the old school east coast history and buildings but is laid back and hip. It’s swarming with hipsters, hippies, all things REI/Northface, bars and coffee shops. I love it.

There are many many buildings that look like this or some version of it.

The Observatory

The previous homes all look out over the bay, in the next picture.

The Eastern Promenade Park, Fort Allen over looking the bay.

Porter rolled (and napped) in the Rockin’ Baby Pouch
And in dad’s arms.

It’s spring here too!

I thought the building in the middle of the channel was like a mini Alcatraz, but Luke informed that it is Fort Allen.

Portland is a deep water port with Trans Atlantic ships and many tug boats. We aren’t sure why this tug boat is behind the ship, hmm…

Our walk then hooked up with the greenbelt along the shore and an old rail road track.

Old railroad track complete with old rail cars.

Shrink wrapped and dry docked boats.

Random broken down coal car with plants growing next to a dry dock.

The actual, working, tour train.

“Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co.”

Previously a dock, I’m pretty sure?

Random rock wall on a trailer, just for fun!

So here’s how we came upon two heaping piles of fresh and fried seafood. Luke did a bunch of research about the best place for seafood and came up with The Fisherman’s Grill. It is a hole in the wall next to The Fisherman’s Net, which is where all the restaurants come to get their fresh seafood. So, the grill gets first picks of all the days catches. We go in, somewhat timid at first because this place looks really local, and are greeted by the cook, a very friendly former Deadliest Catch in Alaska type dude who regaled us with stories of Alaskan timber wolves (huge beasts who howl like they’re “gonna getcha”), bow hunting, and his almost deadly accident on the fishing boat in AK. He knew EXACTLY where each piece of seafood was caught that was on our “plattah”. Initially, I was planning on a bowl of chowder, but he recommended the Fisherman’s Plattah (yes spelled correctly). Being that he said everything was fresh, super fresh, we got it. Little did I know that everything here, fresh or otherwise, is deep fried. I mean really? Who fries fresh seafood? I guess we’re about as far from the Hawaiian islands as we can be, so I was silly to assume it would be grilled or seared. It was, however, delicious. We had shrimp, crab cakes, haddock, scallops, and clams. I will admit that I peeled off some of the fried breading to reveal tender sweet morsels of goodness from the sea. Next time, though, I’m asking for it to be seared so I can eat guiltlessly. But my oh my was it yummy. We also had to take a bunch of it home because there was so much. It had a side of home made Cole Slaw, super yum, and fries. Those were left untouched. I highly recommend going off the tourist trail to eat here if you’re ever in Portland, Maine.
This is what Porter thought of the whole experience, and how we ended the day.  Really the day ended with me doing laundry, but this is a better way to remember it.
knit sweater, Portland Maine, toe grab

Checkin’ In

Here are some quick pics from the last couple days. Enjoy!

Baby’s First Latte

At 4 months Porter has finally found his toes. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. Now he’s super cute.

The sweater from Sue that my mom got for her baby 20+ years ago that is now Porter’s. Perfect in the cold Maine wind.

Walking to get dinner in Portland.

Posh! All he needed to sit up was a king size bed with 5 huge pillows. Duh!
If there was any doubt that this boy is related to me or Luke? Just look at his thighs, they are getting thicker by the day. Now he’s really a rolly polly.
baby leggings, mother's day, santa cruz skate shop

Welcome To The Mommy Club

I finally made it! I’ve been waiting to join the Mommy’s Club for a long long time and Porter made 2011 my year of acceptance. My friend Chelsea has a beautiful picture of herself right after the delivery of her baby girl.

She has a smile on her face that I couldn’t understand until 12:53am 1/10/11, this moment Porter was passed by dad into my arms. What I expected to be a teary emotional time for me turned out to be ecstatically happy and thrilling time. I was over the moon to say the least.

Being a mom is a truly rewarding, sweet, and life altering experience. Everyday Porter learns or shows me something new and I never tire of loving on him. My love grows everyday, and with that comes the natural worrying that I’m sure will add many grey hairs and wrinkles in the next year, but I welcome them. In my Mother’s Day card from my parent’s my dad wrote, “You were born to be a mother.” I agree, there is no better job than this. I also have to thank my husband for working so hard so that I can stay home with our baby. I love my family and I love all my mommy friends new and old.

Happy Mother’s Day!!!
My Mother’s Day pic with all my goodies: Porter, lovely card from Luke, a latte, beautiful flowers, kitty over my shoulder, and a pile of folded laundry (that I didn’t fold!) Thanks Luke!

Porter is rockin’ the fashionable baby skater outfit, complete with Santa Cruz Skate Shop onesie and stripped baby leggings.

Thanks to the Larson’s for making this awesome outfit possible.

He’s entranced with the cat.

Boppy, creeping thyme, gardening, high country gardens, spring, weeds

It’s About Thyme

My thyme lawn that is! In an effort to be a good steward to the earth we planted a low water garden in our front yard. Since regular lawn tends to be water hog, and Boise is in the high desert, I decided that I wanted to do a dark green thyme “lawn”. A few years ago Luke and I took the time to plant 100+ tiny Reiter Creeping Thyme plants from High Country Gardens. It has taken a few years and many many many hours of weeding before it grew in, but now it looks like this,

Getting ready to burst into tiny purple spring flowers- gotta support the local bees!
It’s not as smooth as grass, but it is really cushy, smells wonderful, is virtually pest free, doesn’t have to be mowed and only needs minimal watering in the hot summer heat.
The first few springs Luke and I would spend hours and hours pulling weeds from between our growing plants, but it has finally grown in enough to choke out most of the weeds, dandelions especially. I was able to get almost all the weeds this year in about 2 hours, and that’s because I pull them all by hand. It’s the only way to make sure they never come back and it keeps my garden organic. Porter joined me outside, under an umbrella, on a lovely Spring day. He was the supervisor, cracking the whip, while I was on my hands and knees yanking those suckers out of the ground. I had 2 piles that looked like this,
If I was really good, I would have picked the dandelions before they bloomed and then washed the leaves and eaten them, but I’m just not there yet.
My supervisor, propped up on the Boppy.
Thanks Arleen @ Napili Point for knitting this awesome baby beanie.
What a life!

 

baby rolls over, Ergo, family hike

Rolly Polly

This is for my mom, Gramma Mikie, who I know would want to see how happy Porter is with himself when he rolls from his back to front. Every time I put him on his back he rolls to his front, even though being on his tummy for long periods of time drives him crazy.

And here are some pictures of our family walk, yesterday, in the Hollow behind Luke’s work.

Rockin’ the Ergo

It was a windy Spring day so we were using the Ergo hood to keep Porter’s head warm. His body stays toasty next to momma on long walks.

It’s a family affair.
baby and me, baby support group

Support Groups Are For Winners!

Every Tuesday Porter and I go to the Baby and Me Group at the local medical center. It’s a place for moms and babies to get together and talk about what they’re experiencing and it’s totally free. I highly recommend it for any new moms. There is usually a topic, today’s was about introducing solid foods. The topics vary in range, and are really helpful. I find it most helpful to be around other moms who are in the same place as I am and to hear from moms with older babies about what we can look forward to. For instance, I was happy to hear from another mom that her son had the same sore leg reaction to his vaccinations as Porter. It’s also great because where else would I find such a big group of mommies who don’t think I’m too head over heels for my baby. Porter loves the group and loves talking to all the other babies, and yes, he’s talking with them. He’s a chatterbox. Hmmm….I wonder where he gets that?? Today Porter got to make a new friend, and so did I. Her mom and I are going to join a Meet Up group for first time moms that goes on hikes around the Boise area. Yay for networking mommas!

Porter shares his favorite dice with his new friend

Babies holding hands = tender!
father, husband, married

Love For A Lifetime

There are many things I’m grateful for, but today I owe my sweet husband a whole heap of gratitude. I met my husband Luke in college at UCSC @ Porter College, on the very first day we moved into the dorms. We began dating a few years later, moved in together a few years after that, and for the last 6 years have lived in Boise, Idaho. We got married 8 years after we started dating and 3 months ago we had our first child, a son. We are nearing 11 years together this summer. That’s a long time, and considering that we began dating when I was 19, we have both gone through a lot of changes to become the people we are now.

Luke has seen me through many incarnations of myself: college sorority girl, retail sales lady,  sophisticated city dweller, country bumpkin, teacher, doula, blissfully happy, furious, depths of despair, lover, friend and most recently mother. He is brave, kind, loyal, dedicated, smart, quiet, hardworking, gentle, open to adventure, an attentive father. I knew from our first date that I could spend my life with him, and it has worked out just so.

Thanks to my husband Luke for being my best friend all these years. For being brave enough to tend to me during the birth of our son, and to catch him from my body, with his big loving hands. I love that Luke smiles when I sing to Porter and reads him books before bed. I appreciate his level headed-ness when I jump off the deep end, and I am grateful that he is constantly working to be a better human being. My life is so full of joy because of the life we have created together. There is no one else I want to spend my future with, even after all these years. I love my husband, and even better? He loves me back!

Dedicated Daddy

Lovable Son-in-Law

Family Man