WARNING- long blog post ahead. Not for the busy to read!
My family, along with my mom and dad, just got back today from almost a week out in New England. I swear, if I wasn't living in Minnesota, I could live out there for sure. Just love the area! My mom is from Connecticut/Massachusetts so we have a lot of family out there and of course I used to travel there once a year growing up.
We started out the trip in Glastonbury, Connecticut to see some family. We wanted my grandma to spend some time with the girls since it's hard for her to travel to Minnesota. It was great to see her! It was the second time the girls met her. The first time was when the girls were 8 months old. My uncle David and aunt Jane were gracious hosts- we stayed there two nights. Great hospitality! Thank you so much! We were also so lucky that my cousin Emily was able to spend the weekend with us too, back from NYC. My uncle Carlton and aunt Carol were able to join us for dinner one night too. I missed my other cousins but it's so hard with timing.
One of the fun activities we did was go to a big park in the city of Hartford, CT, which also had an old fashioned, restored carousel. The girls were OK to get on the horses, but once the ride started, they weren't thrilled.
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| The girls just LOVED the carousel, like I thought they would. NOT. It was fun for the adults, though! (Emily has Madeline and I have Josie) |
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The girls were fine once we got off. (Josie is with me, Madeline with Emily, and Sofia with my uncle David)
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Josie and Sofia checking out the ducks at the park. (" 'Fia Ducks!")
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Madeline chilling with Emily- she was quite content.
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| Four generations! (girls L to R: Madeline, Sofia, and Josephine) I am the only one to have more than one daughter! |
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| Our Goodbyes... Thanks for the hospitality, uncle David and aunt Jane! (S, J, M) |
At the end of the weekend, we made our way to Kennebunkport, Maine, where we spent the bulk of our trip. My mom spent some family vacations there when she was growing up. (They stayed at her aunt Effie's house, which is now an art gallery.) I have been there before, but briefly. It is such a quaint, beautiful town. There are no Walmarts or McDonalds in sight (or a Target, for that matter), instead, cute little shops and restaurants (and lots of ice cream shops, much to my happiness in my state). We ate lobster and/or seafood every night. Most of our activity was playing at a couple of different beaches. We also went on a "lobster cruise", which was fun. When I went to Boothbay Harbor, Maine as a kid we went on a whale watching tour, but it's 3 hours- much too long for the girls at their age. Someday!
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| We had to get to the ocean right away! This is the second time ever seeing the ocean for the girls. |
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| Beautiful scene. |
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| Grandpa, Madeline, and Daddy walking a rock pier. |
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| Love! |
Overall, the girls seemed to have a lot of fun. We didn't have a designated nap, but they all took one at some point every day, usually in the car. It was refreshing not to have to carve out a couple hours to spend in the hotel in the middle of the day! I think their favorite part of the trip was at the beach- running in the sand, building sand castles, looking for shells and hermit crabs- and avoiding the water. The waves weren't big, but it was no lake! They can even handle Lake Superior, but the ocean is another level.
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| Day 2 at the beach- we mean business now! |
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| Making foot prints! (Sofia and Madeline) |
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| Daddy showing a hermit crab to Josie |
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| I thought this was a pretty cool picture of Josie holding a hermit crab... |
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| Josie showing Madeline the crab |
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| This is a way to get Sofia to smile for the camera... Have her show hermit crabs to me! |
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| Only the second time we have brought them out to eat- it was pretty smooth but we didn't have to wait too long for food (S, M, J). |
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| Family picture (M, J, S) |
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| Grandma, Madeline, and Sofia working on a sand castle. |
When we ask about what they did on the trip, they recall:
"Madeline sleep on the beach!"Madeline did take one of the naps on grandpa at the beach. Why is it always she who takes naps at the most random places?
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| Madeline sleeping on Grandpa |
"Seal- seal sick. Seal went to the doctor"At one of the beaches there was a lone seal laying there. A life guard was making sure people were keeping their distance, but he told us it was "probably just resting". OK.... Later, my mom saw animal rehab take it away, so we told the girls that it was going to the doctor. They were concerned!
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| Sick (?) seal :( I wish we knew if it made it back to the ocean. |
"Lobster. Ow!!" On the lobster cruise, the guy driving the boat stopped at his lobster trap and pulled up the cage. There was a handful of lobsters and he showed them to us up close. No, the girls did not get pinched, but they saw those claws- ouch!
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| Daddy holding a lobster- Madeline is NOT going to touch it! |
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Group pic (Sofia, Madeline, and Josie). We're so lucky we got them to sit still... next step, 3 smiles!
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| In the airport! Byebye East coast! |
I think that is all! Have a great Labor Day weekend!
