The Tale of the Skunk

The boys fought constantly about Roo's Ultimate Optimus Prime toy on the car ride to Maine and the first two days we were here. Monday morning tragedy struck while they were at the beach. A skunk ran through the beach house, in one door and out the other, and took Optimus. It's a shame, it's been peaceful ever since. Maybe one day I'll have the heart to tell them what really happened. But for now, they were both satisfied with our recollection of this event and why we couldn't chase the skunk.

Lighthouse and a Food Truck

As I mentioned, on Saturday before we picked up Uncle Matt we visited the Portland Head Lighthouse and have delicious lobster rolls from a food truck. All in a days work in Maine!

Fly in the Future?

We have finally arrived in Maine. Traffic was heavy almost the entire way from VA. We didn't really hit any real traffic jams but we never got in a real groove either. We made it from VA to our stop in MA in 10 hours. That's not bad but it's not as good as last year either. It stormed on the way driving through Hartford and that was when the boys were on their best behavior for the ride. Thank goodness, because it was really hard to see. Later at the hotel the storm caught back up to us and we weren't able to take the boys swimming, which was a bummer. I had made food before the trip, so we were able to enjoy a nice dinner in the room that evening and avoid going out in the storm.

The next day the boys were up super early. 0445 for Bug and 0500 for Roo. After letting them play for a few minutes I decided that they weren't really allowed to be up so I put Roo back to sleep and crawled in bed and coaxed him back to sleep and we finally woke back up around 0900!!! We got dressed and re-packed the truck and enjoyed the breakfast buffet and finally hit the road again a little after 1000.

Our first stop once we got to Maine was Old Orchard Beach. The boys had fun on the playground and even more fun on the beach.  Old Orchard Beach is a lot like Ocean City, MD. We left and headed to Portland and went to the Portland Head Lighthouse. I think the best part of the lighthouse was the food truck! They had a lobster roll food truck and the lobster rolls were really good, the good bread makes such a difference!

After that, we headed over to the Jetport to pickup Uncle Matt. We figured out that it's only an hour and twenty minute flight from BWI and one less hotel stay and just such a huge time save that it may be worth flying in the future!

They had great parking where there's a little lot you can park in for free while you wait for the planes arrival as long as someone stays in the car. Bug and I went in and waited for Uncle Matt. We walked up the stairs and went down the escalator and did that over and over again!

We squeezed Uncle Matt into the truck and off we went. We stopped at Red's Eats for lobster rolls and then finally got to Owls Head at 6pm. We got everything unloaded, visited with Grammy and PopPop ate our lobster rolls, got the kids to bed and then went grocery shopping and relaxed.

The weather is calling for a lot of rain, I'm hoping doing the anti-rain dance in my head prevents a rainy vacation week!

Vacation Really Was Wonderful

We had so much fun while we were on vacation that I just asked Daddy if we could go to Maine again this fall. He asked me if I was crazy. It is a really long ride and we're also considering a job change so maybe I am a bit crazy. Regardless, vacation was awesome and the beach house we stayed in was great. We'll probably want to stay there again. What we really like about it was it was decorated in a very relaxing style just like our house and it was right on a beautiful sandy beach. These kinds of beaches are hard to find in Maine. We had to walk down over rocks to get to the beach, but during low tide you could actually play in the sand and relax in a beach chair or even enjoy the ocean without worrying about a strong under toe or the kids going out too far since it was shallow for quite a distance.

The location was great too because it was fairly easy for family to visit. We had a great visit on Thursday from Michelle and her daughter Allison and her daughter's best friend Eva. The kids had a blast playing together on the beach, enjoyed a yummy lunch together and then played in the house. Roo and Allison got along great and Bug loved giving Eva kisses. It was great catching up with Michele and we can't wait to see them this winter in our neck of the woods!

In all, it was really a wonderful vacation, we got to relax, eat lobster and see family and friends, and it was a much needed break from the craziness of work. And the kids enjoyed every moment of it!

Early Morning Walk--Owl's Head Light

Bug really enjoyed going on rides this vacation. We decided to go on a morning ride on free donut day and on the way back stopped at the Owl's Head Light. We figured that since we're staying on Owl's Head we should go to the park there and see the lighthouse. It was a good morning walk and though a bit chilly it was a fun time with the boys. The views from these lighthouses have been amazing and the weather really couldn't be better!

Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

For another day trip we decided to head south and go to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. How amazing this place was! The rock formations coming up from the ocean were like nothing we've seen before. Just beautiful. And the ocean crashing so far below you was awesome. The boys had a lot of fun walking around on the rocks and watching the ocean, it was a great day!

Sebasticook Lake

We spent the afternoon on Sunday at Daddy's family friend's house on Sebasticook Lake. I always like hanging out with Donnie and Cheryl because they tell wonderful stories of how well behaved Daddy was as a kid. They've know Daddy since around the time he was born so they definitely know all the stories!

The boys had a ton of fun playing in the lake. It was cold but they didn't care. It was a beautiful afternoon and we sat by the lake and enjoyed the breeze. The breeze is great not just because it's relaxing but also because it carries the black flies away. Man, those black flies are pesky, I've got a few good bites behind both of my ears, ouch!

The boys got soaked and we had a really enjoyable afternoon relaxing and sharing stories.

**i've got more pics we need to get from our phones

Other Vacation Tidbits

As I'm sitting here updating the blog with all the pictures to go along with the stories, I'm thinking of all the other little things that happened on vacation.

Bug had a word explosion. He is talking up a storm and will repeat words right after you say them. He's even putting some 4 to 5 word sentences together. What's great is that he's able to tell us what he wants and is a lot less frustrated than Roo was at this age.

The best laugh looking back is probably when Roo hit the panic button on the alarm system in the house. He was walking down the stairs and the keypad to the alarm is right at the bottom of the stairs, easily within reach of a curious 3 year old. We heard him hit the button but didn't think much of it. That is of course until the alarm company called, the house lady called and when the very nice police officer showed up. Roo spoke with the police officer and didn't touch the alarm again. I still laugh when I think about this.

On one of the more dreary days, I let the boys have some popcorn. You can see from the picture that they're really enjoying it!

I taught the boys how to roll down a hill. This was so much fun. By the end of the 2 weeks, Bug had figured out how to do it as well. It's a bit different when you are not a kid anymore though, makes you a little dizzy!

There was a nice entrance sign to Rackliff Island. Just beyond it was a man and dog made out of lobster buoys. The dog was not always standing in the same place.

Daddy took Roo to visit Grammy at work one day and then visited Les, Sandy and Logan at the campground they were at for the week. Roo had a ton of fun playing with a little girl named Abby. She was also 3. Daddy said that they had very similar personalities and got along great.

I took Roo to drop Uncle Matt off at the airport with me; he enjoyed 4 popsicles along the way. He didn't want to see the airplanes but was in a great mood and wanted to get candy for everyone. After the airport we went to Freeport and he got to see the big boot at LL Bean. He really wanted to jump in the water in the store that had the trout in it. It's hard to shop with Roo so we wandered for a bit and he wanted pizza for lunch so we had pizza at a great little pizza place in Freeport. On the way home I stopped with him to get some starfish that would last a bit longer than the ones he was catching. He loved that stop and found the greatest thing of all, a giant pine cone.

We enjoyed so much of what Maine has to offer, lobster, clams, whoopie pies, blueberry beer; it was all wicked good. And lets not forget the beautiful view of the ocean, waking up to the birds and lobster boats and the salt water breezes.

And we loved having all of the family in and out over the 2 weeks. When everyone was gone it was really quiet and just wasn't the same. We were really grateful for everyone who watched the kids so we could go on a few dates, that was awesome!

What a wonderful vacation. It was so much fun and we enjoyed all of it. We miss everyone already!

If I've missed any stories or that sort of thing, let me know, I can easily add them to this post.

Home

After more than 12 hours on the road today, a flat tire caused by a nail and 2 other short stops, we are home from Maine. The boys did not enjoy the car ride at all. They were good little troopers and went right to bed when we got home. In fact, Roo fell asleep just a little after 7, you know, his bedtime, but in the car. Bug really wasn't thrilled about the ride at all and got to run around a bunch while we got the tire changed, have some soda (no, we don't normally do that) and then was good until about 3 miles from home. Whew, it was a long day. We have no a/c but Gene will be here early in the morning to fix it. Goodnight!

Men Versus Crab

The title says it all. Daddy and Uncle Matt spent hours at how tide trying to get a big crab from the rocks. Crab wins!

Roo's Big Boy Day

Today we took Roo out for a big boy day. Grammy and Papa watched Bug so Uncle Matt, Grandma, Daddy and I could go on a lobster boat ride with Roo. Grandpa stayed at the Resort to get a 9 holes in. We picked Grandma up at her hotel and then headed to McDonalds for coffee. Roo got to have a little bit of Grandma's ice coffee and some of Mommy and Daddy's Frappes...yes he likes coffee. Then we headed over to the middle pier and boarded Capt Jack's lobster boat.

The boat ride was awesome. We got to watch Capt Jack pull several traps around Rockland and Owls Head. He didn't get much lobster but did get some really nice crabs.

Roo was really excited about the crabs but most excited about the starfish on the traps.

The most random part of the ride was when we were cruising by the Rockland light and saw Grandpa golfing ...what are the chances of that!

The weather was perfect the ride was relaxing and it was just such a fun way to see the harbor and some of the local light houses.

And Capt Jack was really nice and his prices were totally reasonable. When we got back to the dock Capt Jack helped Roo find more starfish. Roo gave him a big high five to thank him. The best part after we got off the boat and headed to lunch was that Roo said he needed to call Bug and tell him about his starfish.
After the boat Roo and Uncle Matt requested McDonald's for lunch. Back to McDonald's we went and Roo enjoyed his meal of choice. Grandpa met up with us as well. After lunch we got Roo ice cream at Coldstone. He got blueberry ice cream with M&M's, he was a happy boy.

Lotsa Lobstah

One of our favorite things about Maine is lobster right off the boat. We're staying in Mid-Coast Maine which means there's good fresh lobster every where. Last night we were headed to Miller's but it was already closed. In a very thick accent the nice man told us to head to Tenants Harbor. I'm so glad he did. TH was another quaint seaside town and the lobster was great. Usually when you have lobster on the coast you have ity on a dock comprised of multiple shacks, one for serving guests, one for processing the lobster and some for storage, etc. Last nights place had special prices for double lobster dinners...yum!

We've enjoyed a lot of lobster on this trip, and steamers too. We had amazing lobster rolls from Red's in Wiscasset. I had one lobster roll fail at one nearby place but we've recovered from that...just wasn't enough lobster in the roll.

The best part about lobster though is listening to Bug say lobstah as he attacks you with his new lobster lobster that he takes every where.

Good Times On Vacation

Vacation continues to be fun and relaxing. Daddy got to play a couple rounds of golf at the Samoset with Grandpa and the next day a group of us went to Boothbay Harbor for shopping and clams and lobster.

On the way home from Boothbay we stopped at Moody's Diner for dessert...and it was delicious. I found an amazing hat!

That night Daddy and I went on a date to Primo and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Primo is great because everything is organic or grass fed, which is important to Mommy.

On Saturday, the boys had a great time playing in the pool at Samoset, they didn't want to leave!
Yesterday we had a wonderful party with our Maine family and friends. It was great for both sides of the family to meet. Roo had a great time playing with Allison. The food was great and nobody could tell that it was any different than the normal food they eat; everything was Bug friendly.

Today we're hanging out at the house. It's a lot warmer today than its been the rest of the week, so we spent a lot of time at the beach at low tide. The kids had a blast running around and the older boys found a bunch of crabs.

The plan is for a yummy lobster dinner at Miller's tonight.