Maine 2011

This year we squeezed in a trip to Maine despite our Halt On Travel To Save Money For Australia plan.  We didn't go last year, and we got a great deal on the flight to Boston, so I caved.  I love that my kids are as enamored with the Maine house that my grandparents built and jumping off the dock at Moose Pond as I am.  When it comes to classic family summer vacations, it's just so darn hard to beat Maine.

Because we now have 385,284,275 house projects left before we leave for Australia (we managed to complete 2 but added 6 more), and I'm competing in a triathlon next weekend, I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking for this post.

We spent every one of our 7 days in Maine at the lake, loading up with boogie boards, oars, and a stocked cooler shortly after breakfast and returning home after lunch for a rest.  Before dinner, we'd head back for some more swimming, and after dinner a group would venture out yet again for fishing.  The beach chairs are an upgrade from when my grandparents sat and chatted there 30 years ago, but everything else is amazingly, wonderfully, the same.

Pleasant Mountain, view from the beach

my boys, on the rock that seemed so huge when I jumped off it as a kid

cousins out on the dock

Sam enjoying a sand castle meditation

The fish didn't bite much this year; I didn't catch a single one.  My brother clearly had the magic touch and caught something each day, but the kids definitely got an exercise in patience.  Jackson and Alex never got a nibble in the brutally hot fishing tournament, but they were excited to fish every day nonetheless.  

Jackson, Lexie and Alex

Alex in a moment of heavy concentration

Is it just me, or should this be a rain slicker ad (hear me, Target?)

Patience paid off, and there were some successes.

Nana with her catch

Kenyon keeping a lookout for the giant snapping turtle

Kenyon, Jackson, Alex, and cousin Dylan waiting for the results of the fishing tournament

As the next step of stretching his wings, we allowed Jackson to go out fishing on a boat, with just his 10-year old cousin and a friend.  For two hours.  I had a knot in my stomach in the beginning (okay, for at least an hour), but they came back right on time.  They had caught a fish and rode to an island, where they made a fire, cooked the fish, and ate it.  That's the stuff 8-year old boy dreams are made of right there, and I'm so happy that he got to do it.  

Whenever I applied sunscreen, Alex asked me to make sure I protected his freckles.  I love this one.

At one point, there were 14 people (eight of them children) in the modest 4-bedroom home, providing a hearty dose of togetherness.  It's tough enough as a parent to decide when to step in during your own children's disagreements, but even harder with friends or cousins that are used to different norms or parenting styles.  It went well, considering, but there of course was a certain amount of cousin-torture and drama.

reading with Uncle Matt

cousin bunkroom with the same sheets I used 30 years ago.  Are multicolor swirls still all the rage? :)

cousins shucking corn

lobster and mussel feast for Nana's birthday

Lexie and Captain Eyelashes

Maine, we will miss you next year, but as always, we can't wait to come back.