Trip to Maine '12

Our family rules for vacation:

No Arguing

No talking a lot at bedtime

No jumping in our house

No acting like a white belly go away bird

No going to bed before 9

Sammy kept saying "Goga" on this trip. We have no idea what it means!

This trip to Maine was our first as a family of four. Before checking into our hotel we stopped at the zoo. There we fed duck, goats, and deer. Matthew showed off his knowledge about everything he knows on the topic of Cheetahs and fell in love with a new animal, crocodiles. For the rest of vacation a foot long plastic crocodile named Crocky was toted along with us. 

Before we left we sat at the picnic tables to have a snack. I was eating a plate of fried dough when the wind blew knocking the plate of fried dough into me. From here on out we refer to that as The Fried Dough Incident.

That evening we ate dinner at the Clam Bake. I have blogged before about how it is a restaurant which encourages the feeding of seagulls. In between tossing fries out the window Matthew chatted about the Robin’s nest under our deck at home. “I’m telling them all my bird stuff,” he explained.

We ate breakfast on the beach the next morning. In theory this was a good idea as the kids settled on the towels with pancakes but the surf and sand proved to be too much temptation for them so their breakfast grew cold while they set off to play. Sammy chased seagulls and imitated their noise perfectly. Matthew jumped in waves and built sandcastles. 

Would like some pancakes with that sand?

Ode to Crocky

Crocky, the new adored family pet!

During vacation a dip in the pool is the same as taking a shower for the kids so each day we left the beach we swam in the hotel pool. Going to the beach and then to the pool became our morning tradition all week. 

Matthew's first time crossing the monkey bars!

We found this park by our hotel too!

There was a brief shower that afternoon but we had indoor plans at the Children’s Museum in Portland. They ran around for three hours there. 

The following day we hiked around Mackworth Island to find fairy houses.  

 We built two of our own:

A fairy! Wait, no that's Sammy

That afternoon we did some shopping in Freeport and stopped off for a snack here.

That evening we went to what Matthew called the “Mega Monster Amusement Park”. It seemed that this year he has outgrown some of the kiddie rides in favor for the older and scarier rides. When we went back the following night Bob proved his love for Matthew by riding the scariest roller coaster in the park with him. 

Sammy watching the roller coaster and looking as nervous as Bob!

Not far from our hotel we found a local ice cream spot that we liked too. Their smallest size is two scoops! On the last night that we were there we had to carry our heaping bowls of ice cream home in the pouring rain. Luckily the rain stopped in time for us to watch fireworks from the doorstep of our hotel. It was the perfect note to end our vacation on. On the day we left for home it was raining. Matthew said that it was because Maine was crying that we were leaving.

Bye Bye beach!