Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Our Vacation to Maine

If you have never been to Maine before, let me tell you, you need to make it your next vacation destination!! Hopefully the pictures below will convince you of that! We went on a vacation there at the beginning of June. This was Zack's 2nd and my 3rd time in Maine, but the other times we had just gone to the very bottom where it borders MA and only for a day trip. This time we went for a week and rented a cottage on the harbor. In a word, it was AWESOME!! It seriously was so beautiful. We loved all of it, excepting the rain and a bit of cold weather. First of all, our cottage was super nice which is always a plus when you get somewhere and it's nicer than the pictures looked, besides it was on the harbor and it was beautiful amazing views right on the water out our windows. Plus the place had an indoor pool and hot tub we could go to just a little walk down the street which was fun. I think Ruby was ready to jump in the water and cruise around, she loved it. Oliver spent most of his time on the side of the pool shooting us with a water gun and throwing balls to us in the pool.
The vacation started out a little rough since Ruby and I started out with a cold, and it was Ruby's first time sleeping in a pack and play. The coughing and pack and play were not happy combinations for Ruby so the first night we ended up doing a lot of rocking and basically holding her all night. But after that night, they progressively got better. Whew! The first night we ate on the harbor at an outdoor food shack. We had clam chowder and Oliver had a lobster! Ha, ha I'm kidding he had a hamburger, much more the speed for a 3 yr. old! Oh, and we stopped at an outlet mall on the way to our cottage in Edgecomb. Had to get some shopping in sometime on the trip right? Mission accomplished.
The next day it was suppose to rain, so we decided to take a drive to Camden and Rockland. The drive there was beautiful and the towns were fun little places to look at. I also got an awesome bowl of Creamy wild rice chicken chowder for lunch at a fun restaurant. Oh man, it was good. I wanted to get an IV and pump that stuff in! I think what Zack had was good too whatever it was, but all I remember is the soup. Anyway, Camden was fun to walk around and we got to see lots of boats and Oliver found his first seashells, he was very excited.
We did a lot of driving on this trip which we thought was going to be a little scary, but since Ruby was sick, she basically hit the car seat and was asleep most of the rides and Oliver usually took a nap every day as well. Can I say that this was the best part of the trip?? It allowed Zack and I to do what we love best, and that is to wander and see what we can find and view the beautiful scenery. This is one of our favorite pre-kid past times. And there was plenty of breathtaking views to be had in Maine!
We visited Boothbay Harbor and that was fun, but honestly most stuff was closed because it wasn't a warm day and it basically runs on people coming for good weather. That sort of happened a lot on this trip, so we missed the crowds, but at the same time there was less open. We managed to have a great time anyway. We visited a lighthouse, I forget the name, it's in the pictures. It was so pretty there. I wish it would have been a little warmer so that we could have climbed on the rock a little longer. But we had some fun there and enjoyed watching the water crash the rocks.
That night we ate at a restaurant called Sarah's near our cottage. I got the Lobster Quesadilla, ho man, it was good! And there was a ton of lobster in it. I know because Zack kept telling me so as he was trying to steal food off my plate! Once again, I picked the superior menu choice!! Way to go me! And they had some seriously good desserts there. Yum. So good that we went back the next night for dinner there.
We went to Augusta, the capital. It was fun, we went to a museum that had a little bit of everything about Maine's history. Oliver really liked it, Ruby not so much. We went on another drive when the kids fell asleep and saw some beautiful coast and lots of fun houses. Had dinner at Sarah's, and took a walk around town, threw some rocks in the harbor, you know, the fun stuff........ :)

Our last day there we went to Popham beach which was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL beach I have ever been to. Wow, Wow, and more Wow. It was just so fun to have tons of sand, plus rocks and landscape. Anyway, it's hard to describe, hopefully the pictures do it a little justice, but not really. Unfortunately it was really cold when we got there. (Even though the weatherman said it was going to be nice and sunny........errrrrr.) But we decided we would walk around. Oliver jumped right in and started to dig, build, and enjoy the sand, cold weather or not. He had been itching the whole trip to get to the beach and build a sand castle. So he played and then we walked the beach and collected seashells. It was fun. It was cold. Then the mist rolled in and it warmed up a little before we had to leave.
Then we headed over to Phippsburg, which was about 30 min from the beach where one of Zack's students lives. He had invited us to come over to his parents home there and have a lobster dinner! So there was no way we were going to turn that down! Let me tell you, they had such a great house! In the front across the street was the harbor and in their back yard was a freshwater lake! Wow, it was gorgeous, where do we sign up to live in a place like that? They were having a get together with other friends so we joined in with Greg (the student) and ate lobster, clams, corn, fruit, and all sorts of other delicious food. Oliver was in heaven since Greg had a huge bin full of legos and Ruby was in heaven because Greg's mom just took her and loved on her the whole time. And Zack and I were in heaven because we were eating lobster dinner in a beautiful home with a beautiful view, with no kids to bug us while we ate!! ha, ha. We had fun talking outside in their yard down by the water. Oliver fed bread to the ducks on their dock and even got to fish a little bit. And Ruby tromped around in the grass getting her face licked by their dogs and getting passed around to all the ladies. The people there were super nice and it was so fun we hated to leave and start the drive home. It was definitely a good ending to the trip.

Maine how we love you, we will miss you and hopefully we will visit you again soon!
Sorry Mom and Dad, you may have lost us to Maine! If anyone is wanting to visit Maine, we would be more than happy to come along!

** I know this was a long post, and there are a ton of pictures, but hey, I needed to gush about Maine.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Personal Day

I like being a mom and I like being with my kids. Most of the time I don't miss working one bit, it's awesome to have your own schedule and not be bored sitting at some desk job somewhere where someone tells you when you can eat your lunch and for how long. However.......jobs do have their advantages at times......
Don't you just wish that sometimes as a stay-at-home mom you could just take a Personal Day? I mean when you are working at a job there are usually the sick days, the vacation days, and you get the occasional personal day as well. Once in a while I would like to cash in on ANY of these days honestly, but..... there are times when I would really like to say "Hey, I'm taking a personal day today" and do this:
instead of this:


Unfortunately stay-at-home moms don't usually get that luxury. Sigh.......that should have been written in our contracts. For now I guess a box of BonBons will have to do! ha, ha. Better yet, does anyone want to watch our kids for us while Zack and I both take a vacation like the first picture??? Wouldn't that be dreamy? Not the beach, but no kids for more than a day!!! Any takers? Just asking...... :)

Thursday, June 10, 2010

2 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed



This is one of Ruby's favorite things to do with Oliver. Sorry about the shaky camera work. Even getting close to a bed with Oliver on it Ruby starts to squeal. This is a favorite pre-bedtime ritual! You know, get them nice and calmed down for bed! ha, ha.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

BOSTON!!






Ruby after she went to town on an Oreo cookie!!

A few weeks ago we decided to take a day and go to Boston with some friends of ours the Wulfs. We had a fun day just enjoying the sunshine, walking the freedom trail, eating and riding a taxi boat! It was a fun day although I always forget how windy Boston can be. We were dressed for the heat, good thing we took some jackets with us! It was breezy. It had been awhile since we had been to Boston, so it was fun to get back. Zack and I had some clam chowder and Japanese food. Quite a combo, I know. But it was all tasty. I think the boat ride was the biggest hit! Here are some pictures.

Around the House

Just some fun pics from around the house. Of course I still have to get our vacation pictures on here. But this is the kids just kind of chillin' around the casa! I'll try to get more on tonight.




 

 

 

 
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