The farewell party took place earlier tonight, and what a grand show was put on, unfortunately my camera battery died so I have no pix of the latter part so pleas e-mail me any you may have. Also as I was dragged into that first number I have none of it either so again please send those pix.

The scene was set for the host families to arrive, ballooons decored the chairs,

and the young people looked great

cake was served (you should all know by now about my dessert fetish),

and even dogs were allowed...well only cute 10 week old puppies like Bruce,

everyone...awwwwwwwwww

the show started with a rousing performance of national anthems,

then our competent pair of comperes took the floor

Adeva and Ben did us proud with their witty repartee,

Sadly the first act isn't recorded (yet) as I was dragged on stage...but I have to admit our version of Scooter was far from "null points"

Ryan performed a suitably off-beat rap act,

Zoe and Sara sung sweetly,

Morgan gave us a Japanese song, her voice was beautiful

Though there's no pleasing some of the audience...

come on boys...give us a smile!!!

Blaithin treaded on thin ice by performing part of my favourite musical "Blood Brothers"

...she did it proud, now I urge you all to see it.

Then there was the first of many drag acts...

I'm going to get shot for that!!!!! You were great ladies, it's a joke!!!!
Then it was time for the 23rd Annual Griffin Awards, where Frank recognises the great and the good...well actually he just touts on everyone!!!

at least he ahd the decency to present himself with one to start off, all about his deafness, and proclaiming his wife had been put down because of her broken foot,
Aimee was next victim,

last time she will think that corned beef is made from horses' skulls.

Mustapha was equally picked on,

and Brett has a hygiene issue,

just why does he shower so much???
Zoe and Aine got nabbed for sharing the Vaseline,

sorry girls that was me who shopped ya to Frank.

Then he started picking on me,

..so what if I don't like bugs...
...and as for them farting stories...

I've never been so humiliated in all my life, everyone knows Phyllis is the farter, you've seen her bum on the blog...but the air fresheners will come in handy whenever I give here a lift in my car!!!!

Ryan got doen for his huge guitar case,

Scott found his Daddy,

...well the American suspect!!!

Edwin got a flipping pancake award,

and Ben received a culinary recognition

Lauren and Phyllis got done for performing watersports in public places

Then Janelle got the award of the evening for her commitment to quitting smoking,

you go girl, and don't start again.

The entertainment went on with The Final Countdown

Scott and Katie dragged Bruce from the audience,

and the rocker showed what he's worth,

...you noticed I never used the adjectives "sad" or "old" before rocker!!

The Stephanie and Edwin showed how good improvisation should be done,

then my camera battery died...please help!!

Thanks everyone for making the evening go so well.
Oh and the Blog is now public on www.maine2007.blog.co.uk

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Dessert was amazing (Liz's white chocolate popcorn with craisins) so good that I forgot to take pix beforehand so this is the leftovers!!,

mmmm mmmm mmmm yummy yum yum

After dinner we linged on the sofa

Aine and Ben lounging

Phyllis and Scott played with some wooden puzzle and looked very pleased with themselves

stage grins

You can see the puzzle on Scott's lap,

I think it's wood,

Finally here are the happy family,

those grins are brighetr than the Osmonds!!!

Despite suffering sunburn and the worst Mapquest directions ever we made it to the Casco Bay Ferry for our cruise to Cliff Island on Thursday morning, the sailing over was beautiful,

Cliff Island was equally as beautiful even if it was a bit of a trek to the beach past the smallest ever "to the beach" sign,

As part of the beach fun a crowd decided to give Brett a new body,

Surgeons at work

Well what do you think??? Certainly an interesting anatomical view!!!

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Fun was had by all, especially the crowd who enjoyed the entertainment provided by our lot as much as the game, here we all are before hand in front of Slugger the Seadogs' mascot,

don't we all look well after 4 weeks....

The game started, and here's a Seadogs' whacker to prove it,

Scott got excited and started to dance

Slugger got excited and copied him

Mustpha, Zoe and Sara looked pretty

Then Scott and Mustapha pulled,

nice kitty......

But just what has happened to Jordan's ear?

You wouldn't catch me doing something as stupid as that!!!!

We all sang, we all danced, Scott found his long lost Daddy and did his best to insult most of the host families...and the Seadogs even won 4-2.

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So we came back from Maryland on the 16th and made a side trip through New York City. We even saw WWE (wrestling) headquarters in Connecticut. My family lives in Rhode Island so we stopped there for dinner. Arriving home by 10:30 that night. Man were we beat!
I've included pictures from Aine and Ryan's Sling Shot ride. Kevin was finally able to download them off his phone.

and here are the accompanying pix,



Liz's aunt with the crew

Liz with her cousin Lisa

I bet our insurance company would love these pix

The victims after their slingshot ride.

Saturday started up early for Phyllis and I, we went to the Sanford's, Scott's host family. A little break from tradition, a breakfast pic instead of dessert,

the maple syrup comes from a tree in their garden, and Scott picked the raspberries fresh this morning.

We visited the garden and saw the chickens

Scott with chicken (Scott is on the left)

The the Harry Potter books arrived so Rob and Scott made a dash for the mailbox,

...but being the sweet family that they are they had ordered 2 copies so Scott got his own,

so everyone was happy, the Sanford's son Morgan joined for a photo,

under the maple tree where the syrup pictured earlier came from (gee isn't it amazing how seamlessly this blog fits together!!)

After the Sabford's we headed off to the Cressey's, where Zoe is staying, to celebrate her 16th Birthday.

Isn't she such a sweet 16.

At the sound of cake everyone dashed to the table,

She huffed and puffed,

and blew the candles out on her THREE cakes (3 cakes!!!!)
The to stop anyone else getting one she took a big bite out of them,

though Brett tried to get a bite too,

messy cheek, but Brett licked it off after...honest he really did but I didn't get the camera out in time.

However they all then went mad throwing poor Zoe in the pool,

what a wet birthday.
Then they became madder and manhandled me,

this shouldn't happen to a youth worker,

in I go.

Hey it's not bad in here,

Why didn't I bring a change of clothes?

Anf finally a very pretty(and wet) birthday girl with her host sister Sara,

Sunday was car wash day, we all headed down to VIP in Saco and well basically washed cars, though some people had it easy trying to attract customers,

Sara's mini got special attention (I'm going to steal it but don't tell anyone)

Natasha's cousin, and aunt, joined us

and finally (we earned almost $300)......

what a Hummer...I meant the car not Lauren!!!! honestly

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Despite the wet weather, we made it there, the family have sone building work going on at their house and the sound of the rain on the tarpaulins covering the newly laid foundations brought back memories of camping.

Ben had baked a cake (which he had tested before hand hence it's incompleteness in the pic),
It was delicious, as was Andrew's spaghetti sauce, Sophia is off to Guatemala on Saturday and Izaak travels to China next April...anyhting to make up for two years hosting Ben!!!!

Here they all are with dog, Marti

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the chucked ball then gets whacked by the whacker,

picture of a whacker whacking

the whacked ball then goes to the catcher,

picture of a catcher not doing very much.

If the catcher catches the whacked ball then thats a goal, simple isn't it?

Oh and the Boston Red Sox lost by 6 goals to 5.

Here are our lot enjoying the game and the atmosphere

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Ben building a sandcastle!!

These Beach Babes certainly enjoyed the sun!!(Robin Vaughan, Linda Richardson and Susan Schuyler)

After the Beach we took Natasha home with her host sister Emily. We stayed for a while and caught up with all their summer adventures including a trip to Niagara Falls last weekend (lucky them, the most exciting trip I've had is to Christmas Tree Shops!!). Here is a pic of them in their garden.

Joann, Steve, Natasha, Emily

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First things first, dessert......it was excellent,

Apparently there are some things in the world more important than dessert, but what they are totally escapes me.

Vaughan, Linda and their daughter Morgan are having a great time with Adeva, they have been doing different things every day. She has been out and about in the village of York, swimming visiting Portsmouth,generally galavanting around the country, going out on the boat and her host daddy Vaughan's 50th Birthday.

As you can see in the pictures she's the colour of teak (I could have said something a lot ruder Adeva but ya know I luvs ya too much to do that!!)

So sweet at the dinner table.

They love each other...reallly,

see....

Happy family, Morgan, Linda, Vaughan and Adeva.

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We spent Thursday July 12-14 in Ocean City, MD. Fun was had by all. We stayed at Parrot Lagoon near the famed OC boardwalk. Not the best hotel I think the kids would say, but a place to lay our heads. The girls loved Splash Mountain, sort of a cross between Slashtown USA and Aquaboggen in Maine. Ryan was happy to sleep all day. Ah, that's my boy! We walked up and down the boardwalk, had pier fries and fried dough and rode the amusements. Ryan and Aine braved the Sling Shot and we are trying to convince them to let us post the video of it. The ride is almost like backwards bungee jumping. You start at the ground and go up, ie like a sling shot. You could hear Aine screaming for miles, but if it weren't for the high price tag, she'd have gone again and again! We forgot our cameras that night but took pics with our phones so we hope to send pictures along soon of them on it. Blaithin got her hair braided. She looks so cute! Aine scored a pirates mask, Arrrrrrrrrrrr!
I grew up in Maryland and my best friend Erica lived across the street from me, but we both moved away, well I had no idea she would be in town the same time we were, so that was a special treat for me, so there is a picture of me and my best friend from primary (elementary) school age. Well over 20 years now!

...and here are the pix to go with it,

Meanwhile back in Maine, Sunday morning saw an early start for all, we were doing fundraising breakfast at 2 churches, St. Maximilian Kolbe in Scarborough and Christ Church in Kennebunk. Phyllis and I were at St. Max from 730 until after noon, the parishioners after each mass were very welcoming, many of whom just stopped by to leave a donation and hear our accents!! Others stayed for breakfast which we co-worked with the churches youth group. Jordan, Zoe and Ben worked hard alongside Marissa, Sara, Stephanie and anyone else I've forgotten (it was early!!). Zoe even gave a message from the pulpit during the 730 mass.

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This is Blaithin being interviewed for Maryland Zoo's online TV, it will be on the website in the next 2 weeks, www.marylandzoo.tv so watch out for it.

Whay are Liz and Aine wet????

Ryan & Blaithin with Mabel from the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum (they are running the exhibit)

Lunch at Kelly's Irish Times restaurant.

Ryan & Blaithin at the National Crypotologic Museum at NSA (National Security Agency) in Ft. Meade, Maryland

Meanwhile back in Maine a crowd of us all went to Funtown, here are some of them on the rides,

Whay does anyone want to do the Dragon's Descent??/

Then they spotted an old-fashioned photo shoot booth, why do the boys have to always dress as girls???

It got worse when Mustapha decided to hit the bottle,

Then the girls joined in,


Don't shoot don't shoot!!!

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Went to Washington yesterday and got caught in nasty thunder storms however we ended up taking shelter under a tent. They had just finished a folk festival. The irony? The tent we ended up under was the NORTHERN IRELAND tent complete with a mock house with a mural from the bogside in Derry. We also ended up meeting people from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra. Nice lady from Antrim. They had a big Titanic exhibit and were promoting the Titanic Quarter in Belfast. The kids liked Washington. We rode the Metro (underground) and went to an"Irish" restaurant called Kelly's Irish Times which is next to the Dubliner. They are owned by the Donlan brothers who hate each other. LOL We went to the Air and Space museum as well as the Museum of Natural History.
We are for Baltimore today to the Zoo and Science center.

Meanwhile back in Maine Phyllis and I went to Old Orchard Beach to meet up with some of the young people, I had a delightful lunch with Niamh before we all wandered Maine's equivalent of Portrush

Niamh getting some dessert.

Mustapha and me enjoying the view.

Brett chilling,

Me, Mustapha and Aimee,

Does Phyllis' bum look big in this??

We then went to do a bit of shopping, Brett found this cheeky little number,

The scarey thing is he knew exactly which size to choose!!

Mustapha also tried getting in on the game,

doesn't work quite as well on you Mustapha, that colour doesnt match your eyes!!!

Later on that evening we visited the Moreau family where Janelle and Jordan are staying. Apart from sleeping in late they are having a busy time. They have been to watch David, their host dad, stock car race and are heaing off to do some go-karting soon.

We had excellent dessert there as these remnants show, the trifle was great (prepared by host granny Diane). Janelle aand Jordan had cooked brownies...in fact from what I can work out host mum Laura has nothing to do in the kitchen anymore!!! (just joking)

mmmmm mmmmm mmmm yummy yum yum

From top left, David, Derek, Laura,Diane, Janelle, Jordan and Marissa.

More blog soon.

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Upon arrival everyone got to reacquaint themselves,

Aimee, Jordan, Adeva

Janelle, Emma, Marissa

Luis, Scott, Brett, Mustapha

Natasha, Emily

Ryan, Katie, Sara

Mustapha mans the campfire

Brett and Scott get friendly on the hammock

Camp fire was cosy that night,

Morgan sang beautifully,

Niamh, Edwin

Saturday was workshop day, everyone took part in the scrapbook workshop learning how to make pretty pictures, and to stamp pleasant designs,

Some people took the stamping a little to far, making indelible marks on their body!!!!

Smile Adeva

Brett loves his mum

Scott got his hands dirty

Jordan goes for a belly tattoo

Now Ben you do realise that when that finally washes off you will have a great tan line spelling your name on your forehead!!!!

Lauren sends a message hone from the workshop jailhouse!!

But there is always time to wash off all that ink in the campsite pool,

I, of course, was working hard, 24/7, never taking a rest....

....well apart from one small popcorn break.

And finally, by public demand, the only person in the world who can make skinny-legged jeans look baggy....

Brett, the Schwarzenegger diet isn't going too well!!!!

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Oh and Happy Birthday Ben; Phyllis, JoAnn and I left a singing Happy Birthday-o-gram on your answering machine.

There was another birthday on July 5th, Susan Schuyler, MICP President, turned 60. There was a gathering here at the Griffin's house and you can see the fun below,

I didn't know that drinking Whiskey made your ears big!!!

Some of the young people joined in the fun,

Aine and Zoe

Lauren being reflective

Taylor and Blaithin

Zoe with Phyllis

Ah if they ever wanna remake the Charlies Angles movie!!!

Stephanie and Ryan getting acquainted.

Niamh and Lauren.....did Niamh test out Susan's Whiskey??

The cake.....mmmmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmm yummy yum yum!

and finally the Birthday Girl wearing her new necklace.

More blogging after camping.

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Our charges were all in great form, we started off with Mustapha's hosts, Mike and Kate. When we arrive Mustapha was in the yard with Mike playing catch, maybe he'll try out the the Red Sox later in the summer but he has to lose that Yankees cap first!!

Mustapha took some time to catch up on his sleep, including falling asleep on a boat, he has also been getting politically active by joining a protest march about the Putin visit.

Our next stop was with Emma at the King family. Emma is settling in well, filling in her journal every day like everyone else (NOT!!!! come on gang you should all be filling it in). Emma is now a 7am girl which is a big change from her usual noon-time wake up in Bushmills, her mum will be expecting her up at that time everyday now!!! Here she is with her host patrents Susan and Kevin, and her host sisters Kristin and Katie.

Our Kennebunk tour continued with a visit to the Vaughan's where Aimee and Brett have become attached to a strange contraption called the iGallop, I had to give it a go!!!

Just what it's supposed to do, and what I was supposed to be doing is anyone's guess but it was fun iThink. Brett and Aimme are doing well keeping busy on the beach, helping out on a farm Robin is looking after and Brett has bought some skinny leg jeans which make his legs look...well skinny actually!!!!! Here they are with Taylor their host sister.

Final stop of the night was just across the road at the Boucher family where Lauren is staying, when we arrived her host mum Beth was cooking dinner but it wasn't long before Lauren appeared in the car with Meghan her host sister,

Before dinner the ladies had some chat with Phyllis on the couch,

Lauren and Meghan are inseparable even at the dinner table,

After dinner there was CAKE, well done Beth!!

And it all finished with a nice family photo including Lauren's host dad Tom, host brother Adam and his girlfriend Britney.

More blog to follow, and please can we have some stories and photos from all the host families, just e-mail them to me at francis.loughlin@neelb.org.uk

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We all arrived safe and well, Scott had a short encounter with a security guard wearing a latex glove at Dublin Airport.(that will teach him for wearing shoes with metal bits). The flight was early and we arrived at Boston Airport to find NO ONE waiting for us!!!!

Finally the MICP people arrived and we all set sail for St Max where all the host families were waiting. Everyone got carted off to their repective homes and I got bit by 2 mosquitoes in the parking lot (but I ain't complaining...mainly because Phyllis won't listen).

We all met up again at Fort Williams, Cape Elizabeth where we saw how everyone was doing.....apparently Emma asked for a bin when she arrived at her host family's house and her host mum (Susan King) took her to the bathroom (isn't a common language wonderful!!!).

Here are sone photos from that event and please e-mail me stories and photos so we can build this blog into a great record of the summer program.

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