Family Adventure - MAINE!!!!

I've been asking Dave to take us to Maine and Acadia National Park for awhile. With some free hotel nights accumulated, Dave with a lot of vacation time to use, with summer winding down, and cheap gas for "Big Red" a plan easily fell into place.

We left last Saturday - the 7th. I love how excited the kids get for our trips. Not only had they been asking for days "when are we leaving", but the night before, the girls came in our room at about 11pm and said that their beds were made - they were going to sleep on the floor and were ready to go. I've asked them this summer to start making their beds and to get dressed themselves before they come down for breakfast, so with beds made they thought they were one step closer to Maine! We left bright and early and after hours of I95 NE traffic through Connecticut arrived at our first destination - Hope Valley, Rhode Island (home to Ken, Cassie, Amanda & Kenny). The kids loved their time with their friends -playing in the pool, with the pets and riding the go-cart -oh yes, and their first sleepover with Amanda. Dave and Ken spent the night hanging out by the infamous fire pit. We had a great time.

We woke up Sunday morning, hung out and left for N. Conway, New Hampshire. We made good time, did not see a moose and arrived at our hotel with attached water park. The water park was Amelia's favorite part of the trip. She went down slide after slide and loved it. Jenna took a spill on the kiddie water slide - falling backwards down about 5 steps into about a foot deep of water. She landed face up and was under water until Dave rescued her in about a milliseconds time. Jenna was no worse for the wear, but we were freaked and that was it - no more pool for Jenna. At night, we set out for a moose hunt again, but no moose! The next morning we climbed (yes Drew too) up a rocky mountainside to check out the overlook which looked down on the town. After this treacherous feat we left for Maine!

We had lunch at a lake in Maine and arrived at Bar Harbour, Maine to find our hotel room reservation was incorrect, so we were upgraded to the property "Blue Nose Inn". I was worried to see only steps to get into the location and asked the front desk attendant if any buildings had an elevator, she said yes that we would be "very pleased" with the King Suite we would be staying in. I kept this tidbit from Dave, so he was super pleased to see all the space. The King Suite, (aka sparkly hotel) was awesome! Two rooms, sparkling chandeliers, a fireplace, huge bathroom and a view three stories up,overlooking the harbour. Awesome! We did eat a "fancy" dinner in the hotel restaurant overlooking the bay. Amelia had her first taste of lobster - which she declared was "chewy". We hit the spa swimming pool and then crashed after such a long day. A favorite for Dave and I, waking up before the kids and each sneaking out separately to enjoy a quiet cup of coffee as the sun rose over the harbour - really, really beautiful. We also watched as the 3000+ passenger cruise ship as it pulled into port. When we were all awake and ready to set out, we decided to head to the town and walk around. We had breakfast and went on a two hour nature cruise. We saw seals, birds, eagles, dolphin, caves, cliffs and Acadia National Park from a different perspective. After the cruise, we drove through Acadia, purchased Drew his Acadia National Park pin for his jacket (he's collecting them as he criss-crosses the country touring National Parks) and had to head about an hour away to our hotel in Bangor. I think I now need to spend more time in Acadia!!!

The hotel in Bangor unfortunately did not have a pool. We survived the night though walking outside in a very, very slight rain with our umbrellas to the nearby Toys R Us - where everything was SO COOL!

We left Bangor Wednesday morning and stopped in Freeport, ME at the LL Bean store. We continued on to our final stop in Hartford, Connecticut. More pool time and then back home. One last stop we hit the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. Here Ava did tell some boys she met who she was, and that she was on an "adventure". Home by 4pm with a very upset Amelia traveling accross the state line into Maryland from Pennsylvania shouting "KEEP DRIVING TO VIRGINIA - I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME TO MARYLAND!!!!!!!!!"....