'bout ye

The group met up tonight for the first time since our return home, unfortunately only 9 could make the meeting but that didn't stop it being a useful session.

At last I get to update the blog, I'm having weird jet lag, one night I'm sleeping for 14 hours, the next for 3, now back to 14!!!!

Anyways here are the pix of our damp departure from Maine and our even wetter return to Ireland,

the bus ride home from Dublin,

Good bye Maine, thanks for a great summer,

more blog.......whenever

Well today is our last Saturday in Maine for this summer, so our host mummy and daddy (Frank and JoAnn Griffin) took us to Portland for the day and we went on the Lucky Catch which is a Lobster boat that takes people out and lets them join in the lobstering. By the way those from back home expecting to see your loved ones, well tough, this is an US US US blog!!!!

Here are JoAnn's pix from the trip


I feel like a surgeon preparing for his next big op....

Frank holding the bait trap and we are about to fill it with fish, it looks a bit like a pineapple when full,

no Phyllis the fish goes in the little bag Frank is holding...

Ok I'll taste it first, make sure it is fresh

Phyllis gets hungry....

we then have to measure the lobsters we caught to see if they are legal...

we had a little thing that let us know if the lobster was more than 3.25inches.....


Phyllis was a real Captain BirdsEye

watch out for that seagull Phyllis.....

...tooo late.....


I help Phyllis get rid of the crabs.....

Frank maintains a level of dignity the situation doesn't deserve...

see, more crabs....

...does my bum look big in this????

...and finally a pineapple....

we finished off with dinner in Demillo's floating restaurant, a very good choice....

more blog soon

Well I promised you a blog extra and here it is, sorry if my typing and grammar are more disconnected than usual. I was at the Red Sox game last night and it went to 3 extra innings so I didn't get home until after 230am!! Oh they won, just as well as it lasted almost 4 hours!!!

So lets start off with some more info from the Moreau family trip to New York, Laura writes,

 Here are more from New York. The Lamborghini was our rental car.  Okay in our dreams!

If you look closely at the one looking down on the city the Lamborghini is in it.

And we even saw the real Batman!

SCott has also sent in some pix of him at Peaks Island and Scarborough Marsh, here are the Peaks Island ones, including him with a Lobsterman!!!!

and here is his Scarborough Marsh exploration day...

And finally some more pix from the Farewell Supper,

Well we all know what Sam likes....

and for those who wanted to know what was under that towel.....

and finally a good night from Fabio...

more blog soon

It's hard to belive it's that time again, the Farewell Party is our chance to say a huge thank you to the host families. It is a little early this year as we fly out on Monday and St. Max Church Hall is busy over the weekend. That didn't stop it being an absolute blast as we turned the hall into a party arena, and even had a dozen or so scouts in for company.

So to repeat the makeover style from a previous blog, here is BEFORE

DURING

and AFTER

The group got involved serving the food

the crowd were getting hungry

see I told you there were scouts

I feel an AWWWWWWWWWWW coming up

AWWWWWWWW, JoAnn gets to hold baby Gemma

and just to prove that they do grow up here's a mummy with her first baby

oh and there was CAKE, there's always cake

mmmmmm I like CAKE, everyone likes CAKE

...it's Brett's saliva I'm not so fond of!!!!

Another AWWWWWWWW alert

AWWWWWWW, Frank get's in on the act with the holding of baby Gemma, I fear their dogs may get the elbow in favour of one of their own

Anyways as you all know I've got a bit of a curly bap this summer, well apparently it had to go for something more trendy as this was the Farewell Party, so I let Lauren and Zoe loose with the straighteners.
More makeover style, so here's BEFORE

well it was kinda DURING, and look at the faces of those watching!!!!

and here's AFTER!!!!!!!

Hey I'm a mixed up Beatle/70s Soccer Player!!!!

Random Lauren/Meghan shot....

and the party begins with Susan opening the celebrations

with a big thank you to the mentors Tim and Taylor

Scott explains the proceedings and introduces Fabio (the pineapple)

Robin springs a surprise on Phyllis and I



Thanks MICP, I love my quilt, it will be on my bed form now on.......

Liz also got a presentation for her perfect timing in giving birth just as the summer program was starting,

Then it was onto the acts, first up Jonah, Fu and Sam with Rock Star

Sam's role seemed to be to cajole the audience

He just wants to be a cheerleader, or groupie!!!

Blaithin delivered a poem on parenthood,

and then Frank was allowed on the podium for the 2008 installment of the Griffin Awards

Scott got one for getting his bits out in the pond, I thought it would be more amazinng if he got one for keeping his clothes on!!!!!

Lauren was awarded for her superb memory skills

and this straight haired bloke got one for playing with his nostril hair

apparently he used to fart in a previous life......
Somewhere in the dark Phyllis received her rear ending award for getting bumped in the back in Kennebunk.....car crashing a speciality

Jonah stayed awake (just) for his Rip van Winkle award

Fu managed not to get all choked up when he received his choking award

Edwin was celebrated for fighting off the stinging insects...

Sam just about found his way to the podium for his GPS skills

Taylor got a hug and an award for being so helpful, should be the Tesco award (Every Little Helps)

go on Kevin, pppppick up a penguin

and another Kevin gets recognised for his barging into the room skills!!! don't go near the toilet when this man is around girls....

Does this woman snore????? answers on a tape recorder to....

Morgan gets recognised for learning which way up a broom goes

Steve receives his for services to Pole dancing

Zoe's skills with the hairbrush and scissors gets recognised,

Liz gets hers for her timely birthing

Gemma gets hers for playing along with the aforementioned timing

AWWWWWWWWW (hey its mandatory after every gemma pic)

Our co-compere for the evening, Kevin, with Fabio introduces the next speaker

Beth Strassler, who thanked those that attended the synagogue session

and presented them with commemerative T-Shirts

Brett was especially pleased.....I can still see bits of cake in his mouth.....

Then some straight haired bloke got given a drum kit...

...and pulled a rock chick....

should they stay or should they go?????

Sam juggles

Sam cycles on 1 wheel

Sam cycles on 1 wheel backwards

and he juggled while cycling too....

Just who are these people????

Oh it's Katie, Kristin, Sara and Tom

They look like they are waiting for someone to dance with....

ah here he is, I knew it couldn't be long before he stripped off and tried on a dress...

and now for some audience participation...

Well after that things went downhill quickly....I'm sure I saw these pair get arrested in a recent rerun of Starsky and Hutch....

oh dear the shirts are off

I really hope those hats stay on......

ah more audience, ahem, participation????

oh no there go the hats

what next?? boxers???

are those flying boxers I see????

Just what is below that towel??? Tune into blog extras over the weekend to find out!!!!

Finally a mix of the old and the new, Kevin Mc, meets Clare Foley who was one of the founders of MICP

and finally finally.....

more blog soon

Hi all, it's time for another AWWWWWWW blog as we visited the Boissonneault home to get our regular dose of Gemma. She is now over 6 and a half pounds, which is great and she feels so solid. Unfortunately for mum Liz, Gemma is operating on Irish time but hey it gives Liz an opportunity to catch up on some late night/early morning TV (reruns of Law and Order at 3am!!!!!). Liz also cooked some Irish Stew and Banoffee (How she got the time I do not know). Also Kevin and Liz have been hosting Blaithin for the past couple of days, Blaithin had been hosted by them this year but got pushed aside by Gemma!!!!

Here are the pix, Banoffee first!!!

Awwwwwww the end of a perfect day......

Some of you may have noticed a distinct lack of Jordan in this year's blog. He has been busy with his host family at lots of stuff, the most recent being a weekend in New York (apparently it's a biggish village in one of the other states). Here is Laura's (his host mum) description of their trip,

 

We are back from New York and I am sending you a few pictures for the blog. I sent way more than I'm sure you want but couldn't decide which ones not to send.  So you decide which one's you want to use.

 

We had a great time!  The picture of Jordan and Derek sleeping was taken during a documentary at Ellis Island.  I guess we wore them out!  LOL

 

We did see Spamalot, it was very funny!  We also went to The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, The Empire State Building, Central Park, Time Square,Rockefeller Plaza, Grand Central Station, and ate real New York style pizza, YUM.  And we also saw Ground Zero.  4 Days of non-stop New York fun.

 

I hope everyone had a good time here, see you at the dinner tomorrow night.

The Moreau's and Jordan

....ahhhhh Adult Movies aren't as good as they used to be, personally I blame the internet!!!!


Looks like they had a wonderful time, next up the Farewell Party......

more blog soon

We had the wonderful opportunity of 2 days at a summer house in Lake Sokokis organised by Steve Beaudette who is a longstanding member of MICP. The summer house is more than a house it has 12 separate rooms on 2 floors as you will see in the pix and sits on the side of the Lake. This gave the young people an opportunity to hang out, evaluate the summer so far and to prepare for Thursday's farewell show.

some people shouldn't be allowed out to sea

this is a good view of the accommodation

well we knew that sailing malarkey wouldn't work out...

hide those hairy armpits Phyllis.....

no even better use a young person to wax for you

even better use two young people to......

meanwhile dinner is being prepared

oh back to the waxing, brave man Kevin...

oh look how much she got off....

now try explaining that to the Rugby team...

Jonah, wake up its dinner time, Jonah, Jonah...oh never mind, we will save you a hot dog...

Blaithin, you are supposed to sit on the dock, not in the drink!!!!

more blog soon

Well things started early on Sunday morning, we were all due at St Max church hall by 7am to prepare for the Pancake breakfast we were to serve. This is an important fundraiser for MICP and is done in conjunction with St Max Youth Mission.

Before we left Windham we gave Scott his pretend birthday present because 27 July is his pretend birthday,

only Scott could have two birthdays, well apart from Paddington Bear and The Queen!!!!

Anyways, onto the big business of the day and our trip to Scarborough to St Max Church,

for those that don't know, St Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan who died in Auschwitz after offering himself to the guards to replace a married man picked for execution. He was made a saint in 1982, this is a statue of him.

I was a little luckier than St Max but only just.....

the young people worked well providing breakfast for the 100+ people who popped by after the Masses.


We raised over $500 which will be split amongst the two groups, good work everyone,
now I know you have all become fans of Scott's random out of the car photos (apparently he has decided to make this his career) well Edwin has joined in and here is today's collection of photos from the car....

This guy works for a living by holding a sign!!!!!!

In other news, Scott was at Peak Island for a Lobster trip, here he is munching away, and apparently he met a life size lobsterman...pix to follow,

and finally Sam sent in some pix of him and his family on their "OTHER" boat on Lake Sebago.....some people live in multi-boat families, the rest of us have to make do with noodles!!!!!


I don't think these guys will ever go home again!!!!!

more blog soon

What a busy day with the hot weather back. We were up early, well not THAT early and off to the Sanford family, who are hosting Scott for the second year, for breakfast.

Robin cooking pancakes,
her and Rob have recently started stain glass classes, here are their first pieces,

Scott has been snorkelling with Rob in the Presumpscot River and has found some treasure, including this old scouting flask,

and these, things!!!

Rob has also finished converting the garage beside his house to a games room, with a pinball machine, I'm a pinball wizard so I had to have a go,

Robin took Phyllis out to the garden to pick Zuccinni

this is a dangerous plant, that's why it is in a cage

and this is a Humming Bird Moth

Scott with Rob and Robin in their grape arbor (that's Miho the chicken on Scott's lap)

Thanks Sanford's for a great visit and hosting Scott the past 2 summers,

Afterwards we took a road trip to Kennebunk for the Rich family party, Scott came too and took some "wonderful" pictures in the car, which need no captioning!!!!

can you tell what they all are??

Hollie Rich had gone to as lot of trouble to create a fun filled day, we had use of their pool and go-kart and a whole range of  sports!!!!

The 3-legged race


Phyllis on a swing

Phyllis trying to get onto the hammock



what a silly......

next up the sack race....

and then the limbo, I like the way it looks like different people have different heads....

that was Kieva with Keely's head and this is Scott with Brett's head...

Kevin mc, was an absolute star, just how low could he go???

one by one they all fell.....

...until Kevin mc was left Limbo King

next up the wheelbarrow race

then throw the waterballoon


which always ends in a water balloon fight

then how far can you catapult a potato game (the Olympics have nothing comapred to this party!!!)

then the nastiest game in the world, the rules are simple, pick an egg and smash it on your head...and hope that it is boiled not raw, spot the unlucky ones...



I sacrificed myself to the cause, just how did they find a raw egg???

then back to the pool to wash off...



this is what dried in egg looks like after a few hours in the sun...

nasty nasty nasty

this is the after effects of karting through the mud....

it was all too much for some though...


and all too soon it was time to go home, thanks for a great day to the Rich family, and for hosting Keely this summer....

The drive home was uneventful, with Scott in the back of the car being suspiciously quiet, until I checked the camera later......

after 3....3....Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea.....

more blog soon

Well today we got invited to the Hewnoaks Center of Camp Susan Curtis for some leadership training organised by Walter Corey. Walt was involved in MICP a long time ago and is now involved with Seeds for Peace who work with young people from Israel, Palestine, Pakistan and India. Together with Dick Romeo, Walt developed a leadership course and facilitated it for some High School Seniors, it took off and they now do it for all kinds of programs including prisoners...as Dick said even murderers are nice guys!!!

We spent the day with Walt and Dick, it was a very early start for those in Kennebunk (6am) but the weather was good again and all had fun as the pix show,

the day started with breakfast,

then outside for our first session

just how good are you at playing imaginary ping pong?

yes and, no but.....

keep that helium stick level!!!!

some non-verbal communication,

what age, height are you anyway..opps not allowed to speak

before our lunch we took a walk down to the lake,

some locals under a tree!!!!

a strange local in a tree

I'm a Youth Worker Get Me Outta Here!!!!

after lunch some bad listening....

then the invent an unsellable product game......

would you buy a turd from this man???.....

the final plenary




and a thank you from Zoe, on behalf of the group, to Walt and Dick

Thanks guys,

Elsewhere Sam, Fu and Jonah have been karting and sent these pix in,

and finally Scott stayed over with Phyllis and I on Wednesday, we even went to the cinema to see Mama Mia, he promised he wouldn't tell anyone that I sung all the songs, well if he does tell I'll just point out that he forgot to take his toothbrush home with him.......

thanks Scott, it made a great job of cleaning under the rim!!!!!!!!

more blog soon