Trip to Maine

We have been home for over a week, but somehow I haven't written a post about our annual summer trip to Maine.

This year, we went from Monday to Monday, which is kind of strange for a vacation (or, it felt strange to me).  We chose our dates around Eric's aunt and uncle's visit from Germany- they had never met the kids and we so badly wanted them to.  But, because they were visiting and staying at Eric's parents' house, we had to find other lodging. Which we found, at Eric's grandparents' camp, a small house on a small pond.

The camp was a little rustic for me, but we settled in pretty quickly, and the kids were in heaven.  In the mornings, they would wake up, maybe eat, and then strip down and get to swimming.  Charlotte would squeal with happiness, "Ahahaha! I'm swimming NAKED!"  They played for hours, happily, in the water and the sand, which made my job very easy.

Naked lunch on the dock

Our first day in Maine, we went to the beach in Wells and met up with a classmate of the boys', who spends the summers in Maine.  It was a fairly cool day and the kids splashed in the ocean and practiced riding boogie boards.

Busy mornings led to excellent naps!  The boys shared a bed, and shared it well, Charlotte was alone in a "big girl bed" and also did well.

Sleepy heads

On our second day in Maine, we had anticipated bad weather, but instead got sun and clouds. We stayed at the camp, and Eric's aunt and uncle and grandparents came to spend the day with us.  They loved seeing the kids play and enjoy their special place.  Eric's aunt had a french fry cutter and deep fryer, and made french fries for lunch- the kids thought that was an amazing treat!

Breakfast by the water

Charlotte and her cousin Marcus in the hammock

Cousin Justin taught the boys to fish

My favorite part of all was nap time- I got to lie in the hammock with my chick lit books and read in complete quiet.  There was the occasional splash of a fish in the water, and the rustling of the wind through the trees, and that was it.  It was unbelievable- it was possibly the most relaxing hours I have had in 5 years and 3.5 months.

 We just enjoyed ourselves there, and loved having the run of the place.  We did spend some time over at Eric's parents' house, mainly for dinner, but the kids had so much fun at the camp that we had a hard time leaving.

Nighttime silliness

Breakfast al fresco

Skinny-dipping before 9 

A rowboat ride with Daddy

The boys with their cousin, Taylor

We ate plenty of ice cream.  We're so lucky to have an ice cream company in the family!

After 3.5 days in Sanford, we drove about 1.5 hours up the coast to Georgetown, Maine.  We were supposed to go cabin camping on the bay there, but it wasn't all we envisioned. There weren't enough beds, and yes, there was a bay off in the distance, but we were much closer to a mosquito-breeding swamp.  We met up with my mom's cousin Wendy and her family, and my parents came up, too.  Again, while the accommodations weren't what we expected, the fun was in watching the kids play and explore and enjoy their big cousins.

The boys had a sleep over with their cousin Colby- they all piled into a loft in one of the cabins and slept there together.  Our first morning there, all the kids slept in and I woke up on my own at 7:40 feeling surprisingly rested.  It was a dark, rainy day, and our main activities were going out to eat.  Saturday night we had a delicious lobster dinner on the water.

Lobster dinner view

 Meema came with many books, and she and Papa Nick read to all the kids all weekend long. Charlotte favored Angelina Ballerina.

Angelina Ballerina, first thing in the morning

We had lazy mornings, lots of good food, and generally cooperative children.  We came home on Sunday, and spent the sunny part of the day in the car on the highway.  Our trip was a little different from previous years, and we didn't get to spend all the time with Eric's family that we usually do, but we got the privilege of meeting and spending time with his family from Germany, who were warm, kind, and loving.  We also had the excitement of finding out that Eric's brother and his wife, who are expecting their 6th, are going to have a baby girl!  She has had 3 boys in the past 5 years, so this was big news and very exciting. 

The kids are now finishing up camp, and we have 5 weeks left of summer in which I want to cram way too much fun.  Every year, summer just flies by- I spend all winter pining for it and it passes in the blink of an eye.