Lobstah & Lighthouses - Our Family Vacation to Maine, pt. 4

The Monday after we returned from Bar Harbor was a needed day of rest. We slept in as much as possible, then spent the morning with James' family, and returned to the hotel for the kid's first proper nap in several days. That evening, we drove around and explored downtown Waterville, took a brief tour of the beautiful Colby College campus, and grabbed dinner at a local favorite - The Governor's Restaurant. One review described The Governor's as an IHOP on steroids. I'm not sure if that's totally true, but it had that vibe - with lots of comfort food and delicious baked goods. We were stuffed after a big meal, but took a large slice of blueberry pie to go. Daddy and Mommy enjoyed that treat in bed after the kids went to sleep.

The next day was bittersweet. Our vacation was drawing to a close, and that morning was our final time to visit with James' family. John and Kaden played with a cool wooden train set leftover from his childhood while Phil and James poured over old family photos and reminisced about the good old days. Audrey did her best to entertain and succeeded in delighting her great grandma. I love the picture below of Mary smiling down at the wiggly baby girl on the ground. I know it was emotional for James to say good bye since we're not sure when we'll be able to return. But we were very thankful for the opportunity to spend so much quality time catching up with his grandparents and uncle. I made sure to get some family pictures on the big camera before we left.

4 generations of Wentzels!

One final ride in the wheelbarrow before we left the farm

lots of love

That afternoon was rainy and grey, and so we decided to drive back down and spend a little more time exploring and shopping at L.L. Bean. Since Kaden was so tired and strung out last time, James didn't have time to look for anything for himself. So this time I walked around with Kaden and we spent a lot of time looking at the giant fish tanks while James found some new outdoor gear. We also found a small painting of the Bass Harbor Head Light to add to our travel art collection. That helped me feel like our vacation was truly complete.

On our way to dinner, we drove by "Eartha" - the world's largest globe, which can be seen through the front windows at the Garmin store. Kaden was enthralled and still talks about it.

After that we had one final meal, and then headed back to the hotel to get as much rest as possible before our big travel day home.

in the restaurant

For the most part, the kids did well on the flight home. It happened at nap time. Kaden did finally fall asleep during the last 20 minutes or so before we landed, which meant he was (understandably) a train wreck when we woke him up to walk to the baggage claim. Imagine our 2 year old splayed out on the floor like a starfish and screaming as if his world was ending. Poor guy. Audrey was a trooper till we got to the car. We let Kaden "drive" for 30 minutes while I nursed her and pumped, but apparently that was not enough for our hungry little girl. She cried and cried all the way home, requiring multiple stops to attempt to feed and soothe her. What should have been a 2 hour drive home took nearly 4 hours so, and it was very late when we pulled into our drive way.

Over all it was a wonderful trip, and definitely worth while. We made a lot of memories, saw some beautiful sights, and - best of all - got to spend a lot of quality time with family. But traveling with two young kids is certainly no picnic and we will be sticking a little closer to home for a while.

Lobstah & Lighthouses - Our Famiy Vacation to Maine, pt. 3

Initially we assumed that by visiting Maine in the off season, we'd pretty much have the state to ourselves. However, our visits coincided with the Colby college graduation. That meant there was no room in the inn and we needed to clear out of Waterville for the weekend. So, we arranged to spend a couple of days in Bar Harbor exploring Acadia National Park.

Before we drove down to the coast on Friday, we spent the morning with James' grandparents. They enjoyed spending more time bonding with Audrey. I love these sweet pictures of her holding Phil's hands. John was great about finding a few more ways to entertain Kaden that morning. He and James took him out for a drive through the woods in the truck, and then they played with some original Lincoln Logs. Kaden was more interested in building ramps for his monster truck than constructing houses but hey, that's fine.

We grabbed lunch on our way out of town, and then the kids napped in the car on our drive. There was some beautiful scenery along the drive. I just couldn't get over how beautiful the whole state is! James was surprised by how little traffic we met while driving into Bar Harbor. Based on his description of the summer crowds, I'm thankful we chose to visit during the off season.

After we checked into our hotel and got settled, we drove downtown for dinner at the West Street Cafe. James decided that was the perfect time to eat a traditional Maine "lobstah" with butter. I'm really not a fan of seafood but I've always told James that if he took me to Maine I'd try eating lobster - so I tried it. And I will admit, the flavor was good. I just can't get past the texture of shellfish so I passed and enjoyed my own meal. We also offered some to Kaden, but he chose to relish his pasta instead.

My favorite part of the meal - Maine blueberry pie!

 That night we experienced a beautiful sunset over the water. It was an ideal Maine evening!

The next day we took a long drive through Acadia National Park. We all enjoyed winding through the tree tunnels, seeing all the little islands off the coast, and taking lots of fun pictures.

I loved seeing Sand Beach about half way through our drive. Unfortunately, Kaden was frightened by the noise of the waves so we couldn't stay long. But I got some pretty pictures. It was a special day - Audrey's first time at the beach!

cool bridge

We stopped for lunch at the famous Jordan Pond House. In addition to our delicious meal, we devoured some fresh popovers with blueberry jam. It's safe to say that Kaden has inherited a deep love of bread.

How Audrey experienced most of the trip

After lunch, we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain. James took Kaden out to see the sights while Audrey enjoyed a meal in the car.

We were hoping Kaden would nap in the car on the way back to the hotel, but that did not happen. So we made him take a late nap at the hotel. After that we got some thai take out for dinner and then James took Kaden mini golfing to wear him out before bedtime. I would have loved to go but Audrey really had not been sleeping well so I figured the last thing she needed before bedtime was a whole lot of stimulation. Unfortunately, it was probably a bit too much for our worn out boy too. The golf course was pirate themed and some loud sound effects scared him pretty badly. Bedtime was rough that night. But the experience of the day was still worth it in my book.

Sunday morning, we drove out to see the famous Bass Harbor Head Light. Both kids fell asleep in the car on the way out there so I hiked down to see it on my own while they slept. It was good that we didn't attempt to take the kids because it was a little treacherous climbing down a steep flight of wooden, and then cut stone steps and scrambling across boulders to get these shots. But it was worth it! Beautiful!

James took Kaden to see the light house up close. This is one of his great fish eye shots

After that, we tried to find a place to eat lunch on our way back to Waterville. Unfortunately, since we were there the weekend before Memorial Day (when the tourism season official opens), NOTHING was open! We finally found the one little sandwich shop in town that was open and waited with all the other tourists for a basic turkey sandwich. Ah, well - at least Audrey really enjoyed herself. Check out that smile!

That evening, some good friends of James' parents invited us over to their house to roast hot dogs over their new fire pit and do a load of laundry. Kaden loved the slapstick entertainment of the two "big boys" and we were thankful for friendly company after another rough, napless day.

Over all, it was a memorable weekend but we were all a little worn out and in need of a day to rest and recover after that. So the end of our trip to Maine would be much more laid back. See the details in my final blog post - coming soon!