Mount Desert Island

Another trip to Maine has come and gone. It was an activity packed, short 2 1/2 weeks! This was our first trip up to Maine without my father and for me his loss was felt much stronger there. We have always stayed in the same house as my parents and I have years worth of vacation memories and rituals that included my father. I missed our early morning coffee and chats before the rest of the house had risen. (Although Kim tried to help fill that void by walking over in the mornings to share a cup of Joe with me). It felt like he should have been with us on the green at night listening to the town band play while watching the kids run around the Gazebo and all the other family traditions that he so much enjoyed. Overall it was an enjoyable yet bittersweet trip.
The kids and I traveled up with my mother,stopping overnight midway through the ride. We can make it there in about 8-9 hours but with the kids being so young we have been making it a two day journey to make it a lot more relaxed for all involved. DJ was unable to join us until almost the last week because he had taken two weeks off for our Disney vacation in June and needed to get caught up at work. Luckily he was able to work in a business trip to Maine and leave a couple days early.
This year the vacationers included: my mom, myself, DJ, Zoe, Violet, Marina and Gavin in one house, Bob, Heather, Harrison and CJ in a second, Kim, Will and Annie in a 3rd and her parents Barbara and Art took residence in a 4th home close by. Friends Walter and Sarah stayed in their trailer at a local camp ground. All but the campground location is shown on the island picture below.

Here is a link to some pictures from Maine 2008.
MAINE 2008 Pictures
password-newenglandnatives

Over the next several days, I will continue to add more details, stories, and pictures of our latest Maine adventure with the Natives and Co.

My mighty man

Here is Gavin getting ready to get in the ring and take down one of his big sisters.

Surfs up!

We enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach with some friends. There are no Mommy pictures posted here as promised! (as long as I receive the blackmail money by Friday) hehe

July Birthdays

Happy Birthday Bob and Heather!
Officially Heather's (my sister-in-law) birthday is in June but we celebrated it this year with Bob's at Kim and Will's house. The kids had fun swimming and we were all enjoying a BBQ until a thunderstorm sent us heading for the house. Kim and Will were also celebrating the birth of some baby chicks in the chicken coop. Zoe, Violet and Marina got to hold one in their hands and the fuzzy little chicks were so adorable. Marina dropped one but hopefully it was only emotionally traumatized and did not sustain any bodily injury.
Happy Birthday Owen!
Owen turned 2! Joanne and Eric had a water park themed party for him. I can't believe he is already two years old. He is such a cutie.
Happy Birthday Zoe!
Zoe turned 11. OMG!!! where has the time gone and how the heck did she just celebrate her 11th birthday when I have only aged a couple years since she was born?
She opted to not have a party this year and instead spend a day with Mom at the mall. For her gift we gave her 100 dollars and I set her free in the mall while I followed her to the stores of her choosing. She ended up spending most of her money on webkinz and a Nintendo DS Animal Dr. game (Kim, you will have to let her know how realistic it is and if you feel you are missing work in Maine, I am sure she will share). We went to see the American Girl movie "Kit", which we both really enjoyed. Two thumbs up! Out of all the restaurants we could have gone to she picked subway. It would not have been my first choice but it made for a cheap date. Zoe spent her actual birthday in the pool with one of her close friends. Somehow the ice cream cake that was supposed to serve 15 got gobbled up by seven kids with voracious appetites. Zoe and I made a cake for after dinner and Zoe decorated it with way too many decorations! It made it not so tempting to the adult palate. We will have another birthday party for her and Bob in Maine. Hey, any excuse for a get together.
Below are pictures from the all the birthday celebrations.

Disney Vacation

Some Random pictures.

We have been home for about a week now but I have not had a chance to update the blog yet. It was two weeks of fun but we all came home exhausted and ready for another more relaxing vacation. I am definitely not up for the packing and unpacking again though so soon.
The trip there was much less stressful then I anticipated. It got a little hairy when we had to go through the airport security checks but we made it out with everyone and everything minus the water bottles. Each one of the girls carried their own backpack with toys, snacks and an extra change of clothes. They also had to pull their own luggage until we checked it in but they did a great job. I took the big double stroller loaded down with Gavin in the front, two car seats in the back and bags underneath and hanging off the handles. It was a lifesaver and we were able to check it at the gate and it was ready and waiting for us when we got off the plane! Daddy was in charge of the two big suitcases and we were off. This was Gavin and Marina's first flight and they really enjoyed the take off and landings and were generally content. The way home was a little harder because Marina was overtired and cranky and wanted to let everyone know about it! All in all though it wasn't too bad a journey.

We stayed at two different timeshares during our stay. The first one was smaller and had 2 pools and a couple of smaller water slides that Marina had a blast on. The resort company also had another timeshare down the road that had a full water park (Liki Tiki Lagoon)that we had use of so we spent one morning there. The resort had three levels and we were located on the top floor. It proved to be a hot trek up to the unit after a day at the parks. We had our groceries delivered by Garden Grocer so at least we didn't have to carry all our supplies up. They are like the Stopand Shop Peapod in that you order ahead of time on the computerand then they deliver it right to your kitchen. They even helped us unpack and put stuff in the fridge. From my limited experience with them I have only good things to say about their service and friendly employees.
We spent much of the first week visiting the parks early in the morning and the second week at the water parks and afternoon/night park visits. We stayed the second week at Orange Lake Resort, which is said to be the largest timeshare in the world. I believe it! They had countless pools, 7 restaurants, two water parks (one with a lazy river) a lake with boating and jet skiing and a movie theater. It was great to everything right there but because of it's size we still had to get in our car to enjoy all the amenities.

I will continue to add more posts and pictures as I have time. I hope I don't forget what I wanted to remember before I get a chance to write it down.

Getting there and staying there.


More pictures can be found at the following link.

Florida 2008 pictures
password: newenglandnatives