renewing friendships

Elizabeth made two identical bears at Build a Bear yesterday and gave one to Gemma. She'd picked out matching outfits (including high heels and a purse) for the bears as well.  The bears, and the girls, were adorable!  

We began our day with a visit to Jack and Elizabeth's school to meet Elizabeth's third-grade teacher, Miss Frederick.  She was hired over the summer so Elizabeth had not yet had a chance to meet her.  She sent us a letter to say that she would be at school today, so we stopped by.  I think she's really going to like her!  We then spent the rest of the day with good friends who were on their way home after vacationing in Canada.  We'd travelled together to China to bring our girls home in 2005, and this was the first time we'd seen each other in more than six years.  Gemma actually is a month older than Elizabeth, though from the pictures that would be hard to tell :).  The girls took to each other immediately, and Jack loved hanging with Gemma's older brother, Thomas (and his iPod Touch!).  They'd never been to Maine, so we went to Portland Head Light to see the lighthouse and walked around a bit and then went lobstering on Casco Bay (a first for all of us).  We learned a lot about lobsters and lobstering--which ones to keep, which ones to toss back, how to measure them--and the children even got to bait the traps and to push the traps back into the water.  As we were heading back to the dock, Jack actually fell asleep with his head in my lap--I think the sun and fresh air knocked him out!  We had lunch in the Old Port and then went to Willard Beach for a couple hours (after stopping at the store to buy Gemma a bathing suit).  And, guess who we saw at Willard Beach?  Elizabeth's teacher, Miss Frederick!  We waved, smiled, and said hello.  We left the beach and drove over to Spring Point, where we walked out over the granite breakwater to Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse.  We ended our day with a quick bite to eat at a restaurant in Scarborough before saying our goodbyes.  We had a fantastic day and hope that they enjoyed themselves as much as we did!