Belgrade Lakes 2015

For the first time since we have been vacationing in Belgrade Lakes we had, mostly, beautiful weather!  We spent several days boating, kayaking, fishing and visiting with friends.  Noah has become a confident kayaker and all of the kids are becoming experts at jumping out of the canoe/kayak and swimming along side... they thought that this was the coolest thing ever!  One morning we even got in an easy hike with gorgeous views of both lakes.  The top left picture is of Audrey's latest potty training tactic... she desperately wants to stand and pee every time the boys do... oh the plight of being the younger sister with 3 older brothers;) Thanks friends for hosting us, we can't wait to visit again!

Bar Harbor Adventure

 

After leaving Nobleboro we headed to meet friends for a lunch stop in Belfast before continuing onto Bar Harbor for the night.  Coincidentally, Nannie and Grandpa were in the area for the day and got to meet us for lunch too! Our Bar Harbor trip started off in typical fashion when my friend left her wallet in the shopping cart at Target in Augusta... Thankfully someone returned it, but we weren't about to back track for it. As it turns out, when traveling with a large group (2 adults, 6 kids) it is way easier to just have one person pay:)

Our first stop on the island was at the Oceanarium to hear the lobster talk and see the animals.  Audrey even got to put an elastic on the lobster's claw!  After the wallet incident, everything else went surprisingly smoothly... maybe it just felt that way because our expectations were so low;) We managed to take all the kids out to eat at a restaurant and then let them run wild in the tide pools and across the sand bar. After they were exhausted, we bribed them away from the water and up the hill with the promise of ice cream.  I should have known better than to go to Ben and Bills... They aren't really set up to accommodate bigger groups with tired children.  Once we embraced the enormous kids sized ice creams, the fact that it cost more for ice cream than dinner and that I would wear more than Audrey would eat for the sacrifice of keeping her on my back we had lots to laugh about... I am pretty sure anyone seeing our moving group of chaos would have thought we were crazy.

In an effort to be economical on this trip we shared a hotel room... maybe we had an poorly thought out moment of weakness or a grand sense of adventure.  All I can say is that I am so glad that our kids like each other and we discovered that the kids can sleep anywhere.  The sleepover went way better than I had imagined.  Five out of 6 kids slept on the floor and Shannon had the whole bed to herself.  We did take a picture of just how much stuff it took to sleep over for one night... the positive note here was there were no pack'n plays or baby food involved, so things are getting easier:)

The next day was not great for weather, but given the heated pool we had the place to ourselves. Oh, and once again the Holiday Inn probably lost money with their "kids eat free promotion".  All in all it was a fun trip and we made it home just in time to pack for our next adventure!

Nobleboro 2015

Gabe was gone this weekend to his annual family golf tournament, so the kids and I took advantage in the form of a last minute road trip.  Our first stop was to visit our friends and neighbors at their family cottage in Nobleboro.  The kids spent the afternoon laying on the dock telling stories, fishing and using some positive peer pressure to get their friends to jump into the lake;) It was a wonderfully relaxing summer day at the lake.

Then Audrey started to have a bad day... She shared a room with Ben and I, and I could hear her being really restless all night, she was asleep, but constantly moving and talking in her sleep.  So, naturally, I ignored her hoping she would settle down. At 1 am she fell out of bed... she was in a slippery sleeping bag, so I fished her out from between the two beds and when consoling her I noticed she was really hot with a fever (probably why she was so restless in the first place). Luckily, I had packed the ibuprofen, so we snuck out of the bedroom (so we wouldn't wake Ben, although I am not sure how he was still asleep with all of the screaming) and into the bathroom.  In the bathroom I had to turn on the light to find the medication and I was a bit shocked to see a huge back eye on Audrey.  I didn't outwardly react since she had stopped crying, but did ask her if anything hurt... she pointed to her chin... under her chin was an even bigger bruise.  Mercifully, there was no actual broken skin for bleeding and I didn't have to break out my suture glue kit.  I gave her some ibuprofen and put her back to bed. She slept so well that the next morning Ben and I got up and left her sleeping... so, of course, when she woke up and got out of bed she locked herself in the room and couldn't turn the door knob to let herself out... I was just about to climb in through a window when my wonderfully handy friend successfully picked the lock... I am hoping that the rest of our weekend gets better from here:)

Overall, it was a great visit and we can't wait to visit again!  Thanks Abbotts!

Fresh Air Fund Week Part 3

On Saturday we traveled to Portland to visit the "ocean beach".  It was a perfect beach day!  The kids were all surprised by how cold the water was and, with the exception of James and Audrey, no one got in above their knees for long.  They all tried boogie boarding, but since the tide was on its way out they didn't have much success.  Ben was acting a bit odd only wanting to take a nap so he spent most of his time laying under the umbrella.  S enjoyed playing in the water and sand, but was not very excited about the sand getting EVERYWHERE including on the food;)

After the beach we went to the Sea Dogs game.  The older boys had a good time, but Ben, Audrey and I left before the game even started.  Ben had a fever and there wasn't any ibuprofen to be found at the stadium so I had to leave and buy some at the store. Audrey was very tired since she hadn't napped... it was super enjoyable.  I am sure people were looking at me like I was crazy carrying one kid on my back and the other on front, both screaming and me sweating trying to get back to the parking garage... the people in front of us were thankful we left... Anyhow, once we had some medication on board and pajamas on they both fell asleep and I waited in peace for the older boys to be done the game.

On Sunday everyone was back to normal and it was S's 8th birthday!  Gabe took Noah and S canoeing at Wilson Lake in the morning and the older boys all went to visit some horses and even had a ride down the trail.  While S was out for a canoe ride James wanted to stay behind and decorate his cake... he was quite proud of himself;)  We had BBQ and a little party for S at dinner time along with a final swim and time with the chickens.

We dropped S off early this morning for a long bus ride home and the kids were all very sad to see him go. Thanks so much for a great visit S!!