Ahhh Maine! John lights up when he talks about Maine, meets someone from Maine, or drives across the border of this state. So, we couldn't make it through a summer without our annual visit. Since we were already on the coast, we decided to continue our vacation from Cape Cod and head north, thus extending our trip by another week.
Our first stop was Alex and M.J. Johnston's place in Cape Elizabeth. M.J. and Alex are almost through the child rearing years-- Zoe is a high school graduate and Isabel will be a Junior in high school. Even though they haven't had to deal with little ones for a while, they always embrace our children like they are the most amazing little kids they've ever been with. They embrace our children and make us feel like we are truly on vacation every time we visit.
We arrived in time to have a lovely dinner on the beach at Kettle Cove.
We spent the following morning at Scarborough beach (Cal was pretty fired up to get to ride in Alex's convertible). The kids got to jump around in waves and play on a beautiful beach.
For the afternoon, we braved the wind and took out the Tweed for a sail. The kids were troopers, but we knew we needed to head in when we were too preoccupied with keeping the kids from falling in the water and the boat from healing to much to relax and have a cocktail.
We capped off our visit with an absolutely perfect adult dinner out in South Portland (thanks to Zoe babysitting). We love our annual visit to Portland. Alex and MJ seem to truly love our kids and make us feel so good about the parenting that we are doing.
Next stop was Acadia National Park to meet up with Ryan, Bryan, Isaac, and Oliver Aubin. Our kids are almost exactly the same age it was such a treat to spend three days together. We camped right near each other and the kids were constantly bopping between campsites. Isaac inspired Cal to really "get" the whole Strider bike thing, hike on her own to the top of a few different "mountains" and eat a lot of marshmellows. And the two younger boys just kept us on our toes! We did a lot in those three days:
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cocktail hour at Seawall
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| Eagle Lake |
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| Feeling the fish |
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| Carriage Road Buddies |
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| beach boy at Echo Lake |
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| Beach Babe at Echo Lake |
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| Climbers |
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| Hiking Bubble Rock |
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| Trying to push Bubble Rock off the cliff |
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| Strider Riders |
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| Hiking up to Beech Cliffs |
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| Top of Beech Cliffs |
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| Hiking to Beech Cliffs |
Isaac is one of Cally's "oldest" friends. They camped together in North Carolina and we try to see them when our busy lives allow for it throughout the year. The hugs that they give each other and the conversations they have together could melt your heart. Seeing that friendship blossom between Hazen and Oliver is wonderful to see, as well. Plus, their parents are some of the easiest going, fun folks to travel with. I think this might become a tradition!
Wrapping up the tour du coast, I was given the unique opportunity to spend three days with some of my favorite ladies in the world. These fine women spent four years with me at Middlebury and since most of us turned 40 this year, we decided to get together as a birthday present to ourselves. After much deliberation, we decided to descend on our friend Marett's boyfriend's family home in Lincolnville, ME. This meant people arriving from California, New York, Virginia, Idaho, Boston, and Vermont. For me, this would be the first time I left my family for more than 24 hours. As hard as it was to break up the "team" after such a great tour in Maine and Cape Cod, I was thrilled to spend three full days with these inspiring ladies.
Amongst us there is an artist, an actress, three teachers, an activist, a surgeon, a pilates instructor, and a world travel executive. For three days, we ate amazing food, laughed almost constantly, hugged, laughed more, and rekindled friendships that were brought to life more than twenty years ago. I felt like no time had elapsed and loved both walking back in time, but moving forward with these lovely ladies.
I'm honored to call these fine people some of my oldest friends. They reminded me that there is a lot more to me than being a mom or a teacher. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard and cheeks ache from smiling so much.
